For the Heart of Dragons

by Julie Wetzel

Kara just smiled. “How about we start at warm, and you can tell me if it’s too cold?” When Byrd nodded, Kara played with the knobs until it was cooler than she would have picked, but still warm. “Okay.”

  Byrd sniffed at the spray. Reaching a foot into the tub, he batted at the water.

  Smiling, Kara reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “Why don’t you go on and get in there? I’ll get some soap.”

  Batting at the spray again, Byrd hopped into the tub. With the water now hitting him in the chest, he snapped at it, trying to bite the stream.

  Giggling, Kara reached up and pulled her loofah and bodywash down. “Now, be still.” Grabbing the sprayer, she pointed the water at the little dragon.

  After one more attempt to catch the water, Byrd dropped his head and let Kara soak him down.

  Once he was damp, Kara dropped the wand back into the tub and squirted an ample amount of soap on the loofah. A moment of squeezing gave her a rich lather.

  Byrd arched his neck in pleasure as she slid the loofah over him, working the soap across his scales.

  Sliding her fingers up his neck, Kara stopped when she hit something hard. The bite of magic tingled against her skin. Surprised by the unusual item, she slid her finger along the leather band wrapped around Byrd’s neck. “I completely forgot about this.” Dropping her loofah, she grabbed the collar and tried to turn it so she could reach the buckle hidden under Byrd’s boney crest. “Let me get this off you so we don’t ruin it.”

  “No!” Byrd screeched, startling Kara into releasing the band. Jumping out of her hands, he crammed himself into the far corner of the tub as she jerked back. “Mine!”

  Surprised, Kara raised her hands up between them, unsure how to respond to the dragon’s adamant reaction. “Okay,” she said meekly. “You can keep it on.”

  Slowly, Byrd relaxed back down into the tub.

  Kara picked up the loofah and reached for him again.

  Byrd flinched away.

  “It’s okay, Byrd. I’m not going to touch it,” she reassured him while she rubbed the soap down his side. As she worked, she stole glances at the leather band around his neck. The black leather blended into his hide so well that it was hard to see if you weren’t looking for it. Curiosity ate at her. Why is he wearing a collar? Why doesn’t he want it off? She recalled the tingle of magic she’d felt as her hand brushed it. What does it do? More questions swirled in her head as she washed him, but his reaction to her touching it kept her from asking.

  A musical note broke into Kara’s musing. It took her a moment to realize her new doorbell had just been rung. “The pizza!” she yelled as she remembered the food they were waiting for. Jumping up from the tub, she raced out of the room. How could she have forgotten about food? “I’m coming!” she yelled as the doorbell rang again. Grabbing the door, she yanked it open before the guy could leave. “Sorry!” she huffed as she leaned on the door.

  “It’s cool,” the pizza guy said as he pulled open his bag to get her food. “That’s $34.85.”

  Shaking her head, she cleared the fluff from her brain. “Hang on while I get my purse.” Backing away from the door, Kara tripped over something large. She shrieked as she fell over the unknown object. It took her a moment to realize the large, wet thing was Byrd.

  He sniffed at her for a moment before turning his attention to the guy at the door.

  Cursing to herself, Kara pushed up from the floor and went to get cash from her purse. She hadn’t considered the possibility of Byrd following her out of the bathroom. Glancing back at him, she rolled her eyes. Not only was he dripping with suds, he’d backed the pizza guy out onto the porch. “Byrd!” she called as she went to save the poor man.

  Byrd glanced at her but turned his head back to the man standing on the very edge of the porch.

  Reaching out, she grabbed him by the collar around his neck and pulled him back before the delivery guy bolted. “Enough,” she said, pushing him behind her.

  Byrd circled around her and looked up at the guy from her other side.

  She smiled warmly at the man. “Sorry about that.” She held out the money for him to take. “He’s just excited about the food.”

  The man chuckled as he took the cash and pulled the pizzas out. “I completely understand. Do you need change?”

  Kara shook her head as she took the food. “No, keep it.”

  “Thanks, ma’am,” he tipped his cap. “I hope you and your boyfriend enjoy it.” Before Kara could correct the man’s assumption, he was gone.

  Kara let out a deep sigh and looked back at the small dragon. He was still soaking wet, but at least he was dripping soap on her porch and not on her living room carpet. Squatting down, she rested the stack of pizzas on her knee and reached out to scratch Byrd’s head. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Byrd ignored her touch and shoved his nose into the boxes, sniffing.

  Letting out a laugh, Kara grabbed the boxes and stood up. “Come on,” she said leading the way into the house. “Let’s finish getting you cleaned up so we can eat.”

  ***

  “Byrd!” Noah yelled, frustrated that the dragon hadn’t listened to him since Kara had bolted from the bathroom.

  Overjoyed with the prospect of food, Byrd continued to ignore Noah as he started into the house behind Kara.

  Noah’s irritation got the better of him. “Stop!” Concentrating hard, he locked his knees, forcing the dragon to stop.

  “What?” Byrd snapped back.

  “Get back outside!” Noah yelled.

  Byrd stood in the doorway. “Why?” His eyes followed Kara as she made her way through the house.

  “Because you’re soaking wet!” Noah growled. “We’re going to ruin Kara’s carpet.” He eased his control over the little dragon.

  Shifting from foot to foot, Byrd stood on the threshold, unsure what to do. Desire pushed at him. “Hungry!” he whined, watching as Kara set down the boxes filled with yummy-smelling stuff on the bar.

  “I know you’re hungry—so am I,” Noah snapped, “but we need to stop and wait. Ask Kara to get something to dry us off with.”

  “Hungry!” Byrd snapped angrily. He danced around in the doorway but didn’t go in.

  Noah sighed heavily in exasperation. There was no way he was going to make the single-minded dragon understand the complex social concept of being polite. Well, at least not until he’d gotten some food in him. But at least Byrd was listening to him enough to stay where he was and not drip soap all over the carpet.

  Kara grabbed up a dishtowel from a box. “I’m sorry,” she said as she rushed back to the door where Byrd was waiting impatiently.

  Backing up, Byrd wiggled as Kara got closer. “Hungry,” he whined again.

  “Just give her a moment, Byrd,” Noah soothed him. “She’ll get us dry, and then we can go in.”

  Unwilling to wait anymore, Byrd shook violently.

  Raising the towel up to protect herself, Kara squeaked as soap and water flew off the small dragon, covering everything around him. Sighing, she dropped her hands and shot Byrd a sharp look. “Really?” she asked in disbelief.

  “Hungry,” Byrd answered, prancing in place. He gave her a desperate, pleading look before glancing inside to where she’d left the boxes.

  Letting out an exasperated sigh that matched Noah’s, Kara shook her head. “Go on.” She waved Byrd inside. Taking the towel, she brushed the soap and water from the front of her shirt.

  Byrd stood his ground for a moment longer.

  Noah felt the pleading thoughts swirling around Byrd’s mind. “Go on,” Noah said, echoing Kara’s words.

  Squeaking in joy, Byrd raced inside, eyes trained on the boxes.

  “No, Byrd,” Noah yelled as he felt the muscles in his legs bunch as the dragon prepared to spring on to the counter.

  Stopping mid-leap, Byrd growled. “Hungry!”

  Racing up behind him, Kara grabbed the top box on the stack. “Here!” Flipping the pizza open, she slung
it down on the kitchen floor.

  Byrd attacked the food with a vigor that made Kara jump back and check to make sure she still had all her fingers.

  “Calm down!” Noah snapped at the overexcited dragon. “It’s not going anywhere.”

  Byrd paused and growled at Noah before shoving his face back into the food, gulping it down without tasting it.

  “You’re going to make us sick!” Noah snapped again.

  After another growl, Byrd slowed his pace just slightly.

  Letting out a mental sigh, Noah mentally shook his head and let the dragon go. “We’re going to talk about your manners later,” he promised.

  ***

  Kara stood there in shock and watched the small dragon devouring pizza. For a moment, she had been hopeful that Byrd and Noah were starting to communicate, but this reaction made her think otherwise. No matter their form, most dragons retained their humanity through their shifts, but Byrd’s reaction was what she would have expected from a wild animal, not a highly intelligent being. The fact that he hadn’t leaped up on the counter and helped himself had astounded her.

  Seeing that he was almost done with the first pizza, Kara opened the second one and dropped it onto the floor next to him.

  He grunted in acknowledgement but didn’t stop eating.

  Taking one of the slices from the final pizza box, she folded it in half and took a bite. She watched Byrd finish the first pizza and start on the second. For such a little thing, he can really put food away! A stray thought hit her. It made sense that he was ravenous. The past day had been really long for Byrd. And with as much pizza as he was eating, he was in for one hell of a food coma tonight. Kara finished her slice as she watched Byrd gorge himself. Tucking the top down on the last pizza, she took it with her as she headed towards the steps. It was rude to hoard her food, but she had things she needed to do upstairs. If she left the rest down here, Byrd would have it devoured before she could get back to it.

  Heading into her room, she dropped the pizza on her bed and went in to shut the water off. She let out an amused laugh as she looked over the mess Byrd had made. There was soap and water everywhere. She added ‘mopping’ to her list of chores to do before bed. But first, she needed to get her guest room put together. Then, she could start on the rest of the house. So far, this little dragon was more of a pain in the ass than she had expected.

  5

  The morning light crept across Kara’s bed, waking her. She rolled over, trying to hang on to the evaporating wisps of her dreams, but the morning sun burned them from her memory. The only thing that stuck was a vague feeling of scales against her skin. Cracking an eye, she glared at the bare panes of glass letting the light shine into her room. That was something she was going to have to fix today. Waking up to an east-facing window blazing sun across her bed wasn’t her idea of an excellent start to the day. She added ‘hanging curtains’ to her seemingly endless to-do list, but it was a lot further down the list than she would have liked. There were more pressing issues to tend to first.

  Grumbling, Kara pulled herself out of bed and dug in the box next to her bed for her bathrobe. She pulled it on over her pajamas as she headed for the kitchen, hoping Byrd wasn’t awake yet. She needed her daily dose of caffeine before she could face the little dragon and his issues. Her mind turned over the events of yesterday and her plans for today as she walked.

  She’d thought long and hard about the poor dragon after she’d put him to bed. He hadn’t been much help in anything after his huge meal. It had been all she could do to get the pizza sauce cleaned off him before coaxing him into the freshly made bed to pass out. He seemed more at ease with himself than when she had first met him, but there was still a long way to go. The most important part was to get him to relax and trust her so they could work on getting him in touch with his human side. She had come up with the perfect idea last night before she had fallen asleep—a nice flight was just what he needed, but she had to clear her schedule first.

  Thoughts of her day escaped her as she came up on Byrd’s open door. “Byrd?” she called as she poked her head into the room. Her eyes fell on the rumpled bed. Stepping into the room, she glanced around for her guest. Not here? His bed was used, or at least messed up, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Gathering his pillows from the floor, she fluffed them up and placed them back on the bed where they belonged. As she straightened out the bedding, she paused. Something wasn’t right. The quilt was missing. She looked around for the wayward bedding, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found. Dropping the sheets, she went to find her houseguest.

  She pondered over his whereabouts as she made her way downstairs. He had probably gotten hungry and come down to help himself to some leftover pizza. A smile crept across her face as she recalled his foraging trip that had left her kitchen in a mess yesterday. Hopefully, he hadn’t gotten his head stuck in anything this morning. “Byrd?” she called as her feet hit the carpet. She glanced towards the kitchen, but it was empty.

  Turning to her living room, she smiled when she finally found her missing dragon. He was curled up in the corner of the living room. The blanket from his bed was wrapped around him as if he’d been nesting. Kara felt her dragon stretch. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to nest in anything, and the desire to go over and cuddle up next to Byrd pulled at her.

  She started over but stopped when something caught her eye. The cushions on the couch were missing. Shocked, she turned back to look at Byrd and his nest. The blanket covered most of it, but she could just see the edge of a cushion poking out of his nest. Horror filled her as her mind, doing quick mental calculations, determined that Byrd’s nest was wider and flatter than the couch cushions should have been. “Byrd!” Kara gasped as she rushed over and flipped the edge of his nest up.

  Byrd raised his head and looked at her sleepily.

  What Kara found under his blanket made her want to cry. Yes, the cushions of her couch were making up the padding for his nest, but they weren’t whole anymore. “How could you?” Kara cried as she dropped to her knees next to the pile of torn-up foam and cotton batting. “My couch!”

  Byrd just blinked.

  Biting back her anger, Kara got up and turned away. The desire to scream welled inside her, but she schooled herself into not crying or yelling as she forced herself to walk away. She needed to stay calm despite what damage he had done. Yelling at Byrd would only upset him, and she needed him to trust her so she could help him. Flying into a rage was not going to do either of them any good. Summoning the patience of a saint, she turned and pinned the little dragon with an angry stare. “I’m not happy, Byrd,” she said as calmly as she could through clenched teeth. “We will talk about this later.”

  Turning away from him, she left the little dragon to his own devices. She couldn’t deal with this right now. Maybe after she had a hot shower, she would have her temper well enough under control to explain things to him. Then again, maybe not. She had loved that couch.

  ***

  Movement and a loud cry woke Noah from his dreams. Turning his head, he found Kara standing over him. Her face was red as a beet, and she looked on the verge of tears.

  “How could you?” she cried as she dropped to her knees next to him. Her hands touched the edge of his bed but pulled back with clenched fists. “My couch!”

  Noah blinked at her again, not understanding what was going on. What in the world was she talking about? Blinking again, he looked down at the bed he was lying on. It was really comfortable, but it wasn’t the bed he remembered going to sleep on. Movement from Kara had him turning back to her. Her spine was ramrod straight as she turned away. The quiver in her shoulders gave away exactly how mad she was, but Noah didn’t understand why she was pissed.

  She took a few steps away before turning and glaring at him.

  Noah cringed at the anger in her eyes.

  “I’m not happy, Byrd,” she said through clenched teeth. “We will talk about this later.” With a sharp st
ep, she was off and up the stairs before he could say anything.

  Unsure what was going on, Noah looked around. This was not the room where he’d gone to bed last night. This was most definitely Kara’s living room, but he didn’t remember coming down. Getting up, he stumbled out of the nest and looked around for what had caused Kara’s outburst. She had mentioned the couch, so he turned to look at it. The cushions were missing. A sinking feeling hit Noah, and he turned to look at the nest he’d just crawled from.

  Flipping the covers back, he revealed a mess of shredded batting and foam pieces. “Byrd!” Noah roared. He startled himself when the sound actually echoed in the room. It had been the first time he had been in control since Byrd had taken over his body. He felt the sleepy mind of the dragon stretch as it woke up. “Wake up now, Byrd!” Noah shook his head, rousting the dragon. “Explain this!” Noah’s senses dimmed a little as the dragon woke up and reclaimed their body. Noah tried to hang on, but Byrd had more control in this form.

  Byrd rumbled his disgust in being awake.

  “Don’t give me that,” Noah snapped. “Explain this mess!”

  Looking over the nest he had made, Byrd shrugged. “Comfy.”

  Noah bristled at the answer. “What do you mean comfy? We tore up her couch!”

  Letting out a jaw-cracking yawn, Byrd shrugged and headed back into the nest. He curled up and draped the end of his tail across his nose.

  “Oh no!” Noah snapped at the dragon. “We are not going back to sleep.”

  Byrd grumbled and cracked open an eye to glare out at the world.

  Noah could feel the dragon’s annoyance, but he wasn’t going to let him get away with this. Misbehaving was one thing, but destruction was something else. “We are going to get up and clean this mess up.”

  “Why?” Byrd grumbled and rolled over in the bedding. “Comfy.”

  “I don’t care if it’s comfy,” Noah ranted. “We can’t just lie here! Kara is pissed off that we tore up her couch.”