Crush

by Vivienne Savage

  He chuckled and tried to push back the anxiety spawned by his lie. In truth, he was looking forward to the time away at sea, despite the activity bound to occupy every second. “It depends on who’s cooking in the Officer’s Mess, but yeah, I’d like that.”

  “What happens when you go out for your mini-deployment things?”

  “Drills. The ship has to meet certain qualifications before they can deploy for real, so we go out and test their security teams. What are you going to be doing?”

  “Same as usual. I have a necklace I’ve been commissioned to make, so I’ll use the break to focus on that.”

  “Break, huh?” He leaned in and nuzzled her throat.

  “Well, you are rather distracting.”

  Beside them, Echo flopped to her belly and let out a low groan until both humans gave belly rubs.

  “Hey, what will you do with Echo while you’re gone?”

  “My neighbor will—”

  “Leave her with me.”

  Echo’s head lifted from the blanket and her ears perked.

  “You sure about that? I mean, she’s a bed hog and can get pretty vengeful if you delay when she wants to go out. She took a dump in my shoes once when she was a puppy. I’m positive it wasn’t coincidence.”

  “Yeah, I do. Isis is lonely now that the kittens are gone, and this way Echo won’t be bored until your neighbor goes to let her out.”

  “You didn’t keep the one kitten? I was positive you’d end up adopting her yourself.”

  “I considered it, but this little girl came to the Kitten Korner in the shelter. Real shy and tiny thing. She didn’t touch any of the cats at first, but Cleo scampered over and climbed right into her lap. The girl’s smile made her mom cry. She’s autistic and nonverbal, but she loved Cleopatra.”

  “You’re incredibly soft for a dragon,” he teased. “But I’m proud of you for letting her go. No better reason than to make a kid happy.”

  “Yeah, she was. So… Echo? Can she stay with me?”

  “If you feel like it’s okay, fine by me.”

  Astrid leaned against him and placed her cheek on his shoulder. “Great. I’ll pick her up tomorrow night then?”

  “I’ll drop her off at your place tomorrow.”

  She frowned, and he knew she saw through him.

  How much longer could he lie?

  Better yet, how much longer would she allow it?

  ***

  Astrid pulled her sporty little four-door coupe into the end of the estate’s drive and glanced at her passenger. Echo proudly wagged her pink tongue from the rear seat.

  “You ready for some good ol’ fun in the sun, girl? There’s so much space here and so many things to chase, you won’t know where to run first.”

  She grabbed her purse from the front seat and slung it over her shoulder before letting the shepherd onto the driveway.

  “Puppy!” Brandt rushed forward and wrapped his sticky hands around Echo’s neck.

  “Hey, little guy. C’mon, you know better. Always let a dog sniff you first.”

  To Echo’s credit, she remained still and tolerated the toddler’s manhandling. She sniffed his hair and licked the melted popsicle on his hands. He giggled.

  “She certainly is pretty,” Chloe said. “What a beautiful animal. Is it okay to pet her?”

  “Sure is. She seems to love Brandt already.” Grinning the whole while, Astrid watched the bonding between her little brother and Echo.

  Perfect. Everything had gone according to her plan. She’d have time away from Nate to cool her libido and think without lust stirring her emotions, and she could also spend time with her family. Echo was a sweet bonus wrapped in black and brown fur.

  Her father appeared in the doorway. “Your arrival is a pleasant sur—”

  A snarl tore from the shepherd’s throat. Brandt was forgotten as she twisted and leaped toward the open door. Echo charged with her jaws open, snapping toward Saul.

  “Whoa, girl!” Astrid looped the leash around her fist and tugged back on the harness. Echo resisted. The dog’s ears flattened back against her head, and she tried to lunge again. A deep, low growl reverberated through her chest.

  In the months since meeting the dog, she’d become certain Echo was an enormous, soft-hearted therapy dog for Nate’s PTSD or some other thing. She’d never actually asked why he had a service dog. In Saul’s presence, she became a vicious attack hound, startling even her father.

  Saul stepped back. “I believe I’ve upset her. She’s quite protective of you,” he said. “Certainly a sign of a good dog.”

  “Echo, no!” Another sharp tug on the leash dragged Echo back. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I don’t know what’s gotten into her. I should go.”

  As tears rolled down Brandt’s plump toddler cheeks, he covered his ears and huddled close to their mother. Chloe swept him into her arms and took a few steps away from the angry canine.

  “No, no. It’s fine. I appear to be the only one she dislikes, and to be fair, I wanted to do the same to her owner.” Saul grinned toothily but kept his distance. “Don’t go, please. Your mother has looked forward to having you home for a time. I’ll simply give the dog a wide berth while you’re here.”

  “She’s never acted like this before, I swear.” She worried if distance would be enough. The dog’s focus never wavered. With her teeth bared and hackles raised, she became the complete opposite of the playful companion Astrid had come to love.

  Once her father was gone and out of sight, Echo remained on alert. Her ears pricked high, and she paced the immediate area, sniffing their surroundings as if some latent patrol dog training had come into play. She refused to step one paw inside the house.

  “C’mon, girl, it’ll be okay. You can stay in my room if you want.”

  One sharp bark preceded a low whine then Echo backed away from the door.

  “I wish I knew what troubled her so much about Saul. Maybe she senses he’s a larger creature?”

  “Maybe,” Astrid said. She nibbled her bottom lip and glanced from the shepherd to the door. “I’d ask if Uncle Teo would talk to her and find out what she wants, but if she’s afraid of dragons…”

  “But why isn’t she afraid of you? You’re a dragon, too.”

  Astrid shook her head. “I guess I have enough of you in me that I’m not as scary. I’ll just make her comfortable outside then.”

  “Good idea. I’ll set up her stuff over on the east side of the house.”

  During her childhood, they’d only had Felix for a household pet. And while he had been beloved, Astrid had been eager to convince her parents it was time to have a new animal in the house. A puppy for Brandt to grow up alongside.

  So much for that. They kept no pet supplies on hand, but a single wish from Mahasti provided a spacious doghouse in addition to the canine’s dishes. Another wish littered the area with toys of all squeaky shapes and sizes.

  “C’mon, Echo, we can go see the zebras. Just don’t chase them, hey? They’ll stampede you.”

  The trio her grandfather purchased for her years ago had doubled. Safe on her father’s property, with more than enough room to roam, they’d flourished and earned Astrid the respect of sanctuaries across the west coast. She’d accepted two more lame geldings since then, and she’d been present when the lone mare birthed a miracle foal her original keepers predicted she would never have. They had thought her sterile and the one stallion aggressive but lame.

  By the time they reached the fenced pasture, Echo was at ease, with a spring in her step and a grin on her doggy face. After a brief hesitation, Astrid leaned down and unhooked the leash. Echo stayed by her side, but her tail wagged, and she turned her face into the breeze.

  “Go on, run to your heart’s content.”

  With no one requiring her attention, Astrid took the opportunity to gather her thoughts. She climbed the fence and sat on the top rail, content to watch Echo chase dragonflies across the tall grass. The contrast between the current gentle giant an
d the hostile beast of a half hour ago stunned Astrid.

  Her thoughts turned to Nate. She’d have to let him know.

  Was he thinking about her at all, she wondered, or was he too busy with work? And why had he lied to her on the beach?

  She kept turning the conversation over and over in her head. The way he’d avoided her gaze. Did he know something? Was he ashamed? Did he think she’d look down on him for being a male witch? Her inquiry had only led to more questions.

  Despite his unusual act of dishonesty, one thing remained certain for Astrid: whether he was human or a witch in hiding, she would love him no less.

  Chapter 9

  Several breaths had passed before Astrid realized she’d awakened. The dream remained fresh on her mind and tears soaked through her pillow.

  In gradual increments, she grounded herself in the reality of her bedroom. Her heavy, satin blanket. Moonbeams slanting through the window. A soft dog beside her, groomed and lilac-scented after an impromptu visit to the groomer.

  Despite Echo’s presence, she pushed her hair back from her face and sat up, unable to deny the incredible urge to sob. They came from her in great heaves and shakes of her shoulders, a sense of pervasive wrongness digging talons into her heart.

  Something was going to happen to Nate. The sense lingered, compounded with a vision of living beside another man who had been his inferior in every way.

  In a panic, she twisted around to stare at the glowing face of the digital alarm. A quarter to midnight. Earlier that night, Nate phoned to report his return to dry land. He wasn’t at sea. He was home again and safe.

  They’d chatted on the phone during his drive from the base to his apartment, and even after he crawled into bed. The conversation ended when his slurring voice prompted her to shoo him off to sleep.

  Sensing her human’s distress, Isis leaped onto the rumpled blankets. The Bengal's furred head bumped beneath Astrid’s chin and her rumbling purr filled the dark room. She smelled like mint, the scent from a habit of rolling in the huge planter of it Astrid grew on the balcony.

  “I’m so scared,” she whispered against the cat’s soft fur.

  The dream clung like a burr, the sense of wrongness refusing to fade away. Every detail remained clear in her mind, unlike her usual nightmares. The tenacious, disquieting aura led her to reach for the phone and punch down on her contacts list.

  The call connected after the third ring. “Grandma?”

  “Astrid? It’s nearly three in the morning here. What’s wrong?” The drowsiness vanished, replaced by sharp words of alarm.

  “What’s wrong with Astrid?” Max asked in the background.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you, especially for a dream.”

  “Don’t apologize, sweetheart. Did you want to talk about it?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” Her breath shuddered from her lungs.

  “Start from the beginning.”

  While recounting the events out loud to Ēostre, Astrid entered the kitchen and poured a glass of fruit-infused water from the fridge. “I was visiting Nate’s grave at the cemetery to leave flowers, only it didn’t feel like a dream. It was like a memory of something I’ve already done and lived. The sensations are still on my skin. I can still smell it. Have you ever had those, Grandma?”

  “A prophetic dream? Once or twice,” Ēostre said. “Do you believe you’ve had one?”

  Astrid coiled a lock of hair around her finger and paced across the room. She wiped tears from her face again and struggled to control her voice. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never had a dream affect me this way. Ever. It was like reliving a memory.”

  Ēostre listened to Astrid’s recounting of the nightmare, and after a moment of silence, she murmured, “It could be a true vision of your future. Were you able to see the date on his gravestone?”

  “Yes.” Astrid sucked in a deep breath. “Two days from now.”

  “Then tread carefully with each step you take, Astrid. Anything you do, or choose not to do, may be the catalyst to taking that path. Perhaps a reading with a witch could add the clarity you seek.”

  Astrid knew a handful of true witches with the gift.

  “Astrid, I know this is delicate, but have you…?”

  “Marked him? No. No, I haven’t.”

  “But you want to.”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Tread carefully, hon, and call me if you need to talk. No matter the hour. Okay?”

  “Okay. Thanks, Grandma.”

  She disconnected the call and tossed the phone onto the kitchen counter. “Witches, witches, witches.”

  Was Nate also a witch? She’d wanted to ask her grandmother and grandfather if they’d sensed the same magical aura around him, but she’d feared their answer.

  Of the many witches in Astrid’s acquaintance, she only trusted one with her deepest fantasies and secret thoughts. She scurried to her laptop and flipped up the lid to open a Skype video chat. The musical ringtone filled her room until a tired voice greeted her over the line.

  “Little late for a chitchat, don’t you think?” The video went from black to an equally tired young woman’s face.

  “Hey, Yasmin, long time no see.”

  The dark-haired woman on the screen scrunched her nose and twisted a tight spiral of hair around her finger. “That’s because rumor mill has it you’ve been busy with some hunk of a sailor. I’m hurt you didn’t share that tidbit yourself.”

  “Sorry, Yaz, I guess I did sorta get wrapped up in him… which is why I need your help.”

  Yasmin’s hazel eyes brightened. “Yeah?”

  “I think I had a prophetic dream, and I wanted to get your thoughts on it.”

  “Oh. Wow, you want a reading then. You sure you don’t want me to get my mom?”

  Astrid and Yasmin met during a supernatural enclave hosted at Teo’s island ten years prior. Aunt Marcy, Chloe, and Yasmin’s mother were old college pals, and when the girls met, they’d become distant but close friends who often chatted over the internet when they weren’t meeting each other over the summer.

  They had that kind of low-maintenance friendship that didn’t require everyday conversation, but when they did reunite, they were inseparable.

  We need to hang out more, Astrid thought. “No, not yet. I feel more comfortable talking to you about it.”

  “Okay. Understood. Let me get to the channeling room. I haven’t done as many readings as her, and it’s always easier there.”

  The image on the screen shifted to a bumpy visual tour of Yasmin’s Texas home and a glimpse of her father in passing.

  “Are you still on the computer?” he asked in an exasperated voice. “Do you ever sleep?”

  Astrid winced. “Sorry, Mr. Silva. It’s my fault.” Until she met Yasmin’s father, she had never understood the way her friends stared at Saul. With only the word “hunk” available to describe the sexy Brazilian man, she’d harbored a secret crush for years.

  “Ah, hello, Astrid.” His handsome face came into focus on the screen. Faint touches of silver showed up against his dark hair. “What did I say about calling me Mr. Silva?”

  “Sorry, Zac.”

  “Much better. Now, what are you two girls up to? Are we hexing cheating boyfriends?”

  Yasmin groaned. “I told you I wouldn’t do that again. It’s nothing to be worried about, Dad. I’m just helping her out with something, okay?”

  “Fine, fine. Don’t be up too late.”

  “Your dad is seriously dreamy,” Astrid whispered to pass the time until Yasmin reached her destination. She didn’t know him as well as her Uncle Teo, and considered him safe to ogle.

  “Dreamier than your sailor?”

  “No,” she replied without hesitation. “But definitely dreamy.”

  Yasmin set the laptop on a table and struck a match. “I don’t see it. He just looks like boring, fun-killer Dad to me,” she said while lighting candles.

  “Pretty much what I see whe
n I look at mine, yet you were starry-eyed for, like, days.”

  “Shush or I’m gonna disconnect.”

  Astrid had needed the laugh. Her giggles bubbled forth, loosening the tight knots in her shoulders and easing the churning in her stomach.

  The young witch settled in front of the laptop and dropped both hands to her lap. “So, tell me about this dream and everything that’s bothering you. If there are circumstances in your life that could be affecting your sleep, I need to know so I can interpret the signs and any visions I receive.”

  For the second time that night, she repeated her dream to another soul and left nothing out.

  “After I left his grave, I went home to my family, but I didn’t recognize them.”

  “You mean your parents?”

  “No, to my place. There was a man there, someone I cared about, and a little boy was with him. I was happy, sort of, but it was like a huge piece of me was missing.”

  “Nate. It wasn’t how you feel for Nate.”

  “Yeah.” Another tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away, angry and confused.

  “Anything else?” Yasmin asked.

  “I think he’s a witch or something, and maybe too ashamed to tell me. He’s hiding something.”

  “Male witches don’t exactly have the best rep in our community. For some reason, they tend to be psycho warlocks raising the dead and shit.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I don’t get that feeling from him.”

  “Could be nothing then. Residual energy from an ancestor in his line.”

  “But why lie about it? I mean, I’m a dragon. It’s not like I could judge him for being different.”

  “Like I said, male witches have it bad, girl. I probably wouldn’t own up to it either if I were a boy. Sometimes just admitting it is enough to get you up shit creek.”

  “But my granddad made all of those laws—”

  “Murderers and magiphobes don’t care about laws, Astrid. And he’s an officer in the Navy, right?”

  “He is, yeah.”

  “Well, if that got out for any reason about him, he could probably kiss his career goodbye. He’ll never get another promotion.”