Maybe she could find someone for him to stay with, even though she was probably stupid for doing so. But she had a soft heart, and never could turn down someone in trouble. Not until she knew his circumstances a little better.
“Okay,” she said. “Come back in the salon until closing and we’ll talk after.”
“Sounds good, love,” he said, opening the door for her.
She felt tiny as she walked under his arm, scowling at him. “I’m going to help you, but I’m not your love.”
“We’ll see,” he said with a grin.
And as he took his seat and leveled his dark gaze on her as she went to help her next client, prickles went up her back.
What had she just gotten herself into?
Erin tried to focus on her clients, chatting pleasantly with them as she gave them what they wanted in regards to their hair. Pink highlights for one sweet old lady who had been coming to her for years. A buzz cut for a guy who was going into the army. Normally, she was able to immerse herself in the world of her clients, lose herself in cutting their hair and looking forward to the end result.
But all she could think about was the handsome man awkwardly staring at her from his seat in the corner. Sitting there with his long legs spread like he owned the place, a predatory gleam in his eyes.
With those edgy clothes, his long, silky black hair, and pirate-like demeanor, she could almost imagine him being a dragon, if it wasn’t the craziest thing she’d ever heard. Was he just messing with her? Whenever she looked over her shoulder and caught him staring, he’d give her a little smirk, like they were sharing a secret.
He couldn’t actually believe what he’d said, right?
He was clearly the kind that enjoyed screwing with people. Coming down here to this part of town when, with those clothes and that jewelry, he could probably go wherever he wanted.
She was comfortable with people who needed a hand up. She wasn’t comfortable with cocky-as-hell men who seemed to think they owned the world.
After her third client, she had a break, so she went to the counter and sat on a stool there to balance the register and look over employee schedules to see if there were changes to be made. Though she basically ran everything, and had for years now, it wasn’t her salon, and the owner would hold her accountable for anything that wasn’t perfect.
She felt the stranger’s gaze again, and a prickle of irritation ran up her neck. She snapped toward him. “If you’re going to be staring at me like that, you could at least tell me what name I should be cursing in my head.”
He raised an eyebrow and leaned back lazily. “Zach.”
She sighed. “Odd name for a dragon.”
“It’s not my full name,” he said. “And yours?”
“Erin,” she said, letting out a long breath and trying to release her tension with it. She wasn’t sure if she was angrier with him for putting her off guard or for making her attracted to him when she didn’t want to be.
But he was just that hot.
“When do you close?” he asked.
“A few more hours,” she said. “Why?”
“Just wondering.”
“You could go do something else if you want. And talk after.”
He leaned back in his chair lazily. “No thank you. I’d rather continue my observations.”
“Observations of what?” she asked.
“Humans,” he said. “Whether they’re worth fighting for.”
“Right,” she said under her breath for only him to hear. “Because you’re some kind of prehistoric dragon here to save us all.”
“Not prehistoric.” He scoffed. “Medieval. And I didn’t say I was saving anyone yet. That was never supposed to be my job.”
She gave him a sidelong glance, not sure how to react anymore. He was the oddest person she’d met, and that was really saying something. “Anyway, as I said, we’ll close in a few hours, and there aren’t really observation hours, but if you behave, you can stay there.”
“Behave?” He scoffed again. “Are there rules for sitting in a chair and watching people?”
She folded her arms and cocked a hip. “Yes. Don’t be creepy.”
“And it’s creepy to look at you?”
“The way you do, yes,” she said. “Like you want to devour me.”
“No, no, I have no intention of eating you. I’m not one of those dragons that likes eating people.”
She blanched. “What?”
He frowned. “Never mind.”
“Anyway, I meant metaphorically. You look like… you’re after me.”
He crossed his feet at the ankles and put his arms behind his head. His dark hair had dried into soft waves that framed his face and made him look like a medieval knight, or maybe a pirate. “Maybe I am.”
“For what?” she asked.
“I told you,” he said, touching his necklace. “I need you to help me understand humans and perhaps save the world. Though, I’m not sure I care about either.”
She gave him another sidelong glance. “But you care about me.”
“You’re different,” he said.
The door rang, and she glanced up as a man walked in. She scanned the schedule to see if there was someone she didn’t recognize on the calendar. The man was tall, head shaved, pale, and had a handkerchief obscuring the bottom of his face.
Zach glanced over at him, bored, then turned back to her and continued his staring.
“Can I help you?” she asked the man, staying behind the register. Several of the other stylists had left for the day, and two others were cleaning their stations and not paying any attention.
The door rang again as two men followed the other one in. All tall, all muscled, all wearing leather, bandanas obscuring their faces.
A chill went down her spine. She pulled out her phone underneath the counter and started texting the two other stylists as she pretended to greet the men in a friendly manner.
Go to the back room and lock yourself in.
“What can I help you with?” she asked in a slightly high voice, smiling at the men.
The one in front grinned; she could see it in his meanly sparkling eyes and the way his bandana moved over his covered mouth.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her two staff members send her a confused glance and then head together to the back room. When they were safely in, the door quietly closed behind them, she held back a sigh of relief.
She needed to keep the men distracted. And call the police.
She glanced at Zach, who looked cool as a cucumber. Like he didn’t sense anything wrong with the situation at all.
Maybe he really was from a different world, or time, than hers.
The salon had been held up before, and she inwardly groaned at the bad location and the fact that the owner scoffed at putting in better security measures.
That same owner would hold Erin accountable for the robbery and probably dock her pay.
“I said what can I help you with?” she asked gently but firmly.
The man in front strode forward, the men behind him chuckling.
Zach leaned slightly forward in his chair, curious now. Was he actually out of his mind, or could she depend on him? Or should she be defending him?
Who knew? This day was getting weirder by the minute.
“I think you know what you can help me with,” the guy said, shoving a bag toward her and gesturing toward the cash register.
She saw Zach look around the store, noticing everyone else was gone. His eyes widened slightly and then focused on her. His head cocked in curiosity.
She grabbed the bag from the man and began filling it. One of the men from behind him stepped forward, a metallic clink of an opened knife drawing her attention. He held his weapon out threateningly, pointing it at her.
“Don’t try to trick us,” he said. “No funny business. And hand over your phone.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Bullshit,” the third guy said, coming around
the counter. As he approached, she grabbed the phone and chucked it as far as she could across the room, shattering it on the wall.
The man growled and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in.
Zach stood with a snarl. “Unhand her.”
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, princess?”
Zach’s face twisted, and he stared at the man’s offending arm on Erin. “Let her go.”
Erin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. The man who thought he was a dragon was going to attempt to interfere in an armed robbery. What if he was hurt?
“Be careful,” she said. “They’ve got a knife.”
Zach looked around the empty salon and then grinned at her. She was surprised that despite a good amount of anger, he didn’t seem to feel the slightest bit of fear. In fact, she could swear she saw a sort of feral satisfaction as he eyed the robbers around him, cracking knuckles.
“I should thank you guys. After the week I’ve had, I need this,” he said.
The man who was holding her tightened his arm around her. The man with the knife turned on Zach, switching his weapon from hand to hand in a threatening manner.
Zach just laughed, folding his arms. “That little thing?”
She bit her lip. Why was he being so stupid? At this point, she wished he really was a dragon. It would help, probably.
“This wouldn’t have been a problem before, but since I’m feeling newly protective of humans, I’m afraid you’re going to get hurt. So this is your last warning.”
The guy with the knife looked at the one holding her. “This dude is nuts.”
Zach growled. “Face me.”
The guy did, lunging forward with his blade as Zach dodged blindingly fast to the side. “Crazy or not, I’m going to murder you!”
Zach laughed and knocked the knife out of his hand with a swift slash of his hand. It went skittering across the floor, and he didn’t even try to go after it. Just blocked his opponent from doing so.
The man took a step back, and his friend who had been ordering her to empty the cash register pulled out a knife from his waistband as he walked forward behind his friend.
Zach was busy taunting his opponent, and Erin tried to warn him about what was happening, but it was too late.
She winced as she saw the man lunge forward, his weapon aimed right at Zach’s midsection.
And then her heart seemed to stop as she waited, listening, while Zach let out a loud laugh and grabbed the man’s hand with the knife with one hand and laid him out with a punch to the face with the other.
He held up the knife, which was bent like an accordion.
What the actual hell?
Then Zach tossed the knife aside and stepped forward, his eyes blazing like black diamonds as he stalked the man holding her. He was no longer amused.
“Let my mate go,” he said, and the guy who’d first had a knife looked at his friend.
“This dude is crazy. Let’s go,” he said, scrambling out the front door, dragging his downed friend.
The guy holding her seemed to consider his options and then released her, stepping carefully around the tall, muscular, pissed man in front of him to scoot out the door.
The bell jingled, and she let out a stressed breath and leaned onto the counter for support.
Zach went to the door and stared after them. “Wish I had my dragon fire. I’d burn them to a crisp.” He turned to her. “Are you okay?”
She pushed around him and strode to the door to lock it. Then she went back to the counter and slumped on the stool.
She didn’t know what to say. Should she have gone after the guys? Report them to the police? She didn’t have any faces. They didn’t have any security cameras. Would they be back?
Panic ripped through her as she tried to think, and she felt a steadying hand on her back.
“Calm down,” Zach said in a gruff voice. “As if I’d let anything happen to you.”
She pushed away from him. “Who the hell are you? You… bent a knife?”
“I already told you,” he said, folding his arms, making his impressive muscles bunch even farther. “But even with proof, you’re determined not to believe it.”
Her heart pounded. Was it actually possible?
He turned to face her, his back to the rest of the empty salon as he unbuttoned the front of his shirt.
She squeaked and put a hand up. “What are you doing?”
“Proving it,” he retorted. “Actually, I’m lucky, because I wouldn’t have been able to show you this if I wasn’t in mortal peril. My collar assures that.”
She gasped as she saw something shiny under the buttons. Something suspiciously like scales. And then before her eyes, they melted back into smooth, tanned skin over rippling muscles.
Had she imagined it? Was this a crazy dream she was going to wake up from?
She pushed back against the wall, leaning as far back as she could on her stool.
“You have nothing to fear from me,” he said. “Like I said, that’s unusual. You may be the only human who could truly say that.”
“So you’re here to test us?” she asked.
“Here to study you,” he said.
“But you hate us.”
“I hate most humans. They are selfish and petty. The men who were just in here threatening you proved my point.”
“But why me?” she asked. “Why am I the one you’re staking all your hopes on?”
He went silent at that, his handsome face considering. “I suppose we’ll find out as we go. But as a dragon, I follow my instincts. You’re the one I need to stay with. I’m not leaving your side.”
She ran a hand through her hair as her employees began to trail out of the back room. “We have to talk about this after closing.”
“Of course,” he said. “But you aren’t going home without me. You could be in danger.” He tossed the last comment over his shoulder as he went to sit down again.
She watched him go, wondering if it was really possible there were dragons in this world, hiding among people, wondering whether to help or to kill them.
3
Zach stirred uncomfortably in his seat as he watched Erin deal with the fallout of the incident with her employees.
He’d read her mind during the incident.
He usually wasn’t interested in going inside human heads. It felt odd and mundane and a little icky, and he generally didn’t care what they were thinking.
With her, he thought it was more interesting to just watch her and try to figure out what she thought of him from her actions and her nervous little looks.
And the way her body reacted to him when he was near.
But when the men had come in and he’d sensed immediate fear from her and hadn’t known why, he’d had no choice but to read her thoughts.
Dragons often spoke telepathically, so reading minds was more like speaking, whereas human thoughts were the things they were afraid to say out loud.
In this case, he saw her fear for her employees, the text she was writing, and her thoughts that the men were there to rob her or harm her.
He’d been wondering if she was paranoid. After all, the men didn’t seem particularly threatening or large, though their clothing was odd.
And he’d been admiring the way she was protecting her human colleagues. Just another thing that proved she was the one he needed.
But then someone had put a hand on his mate, and Zach felt it like someone had started a bonfire right on top of him. Anger and possession had surged into a twisted mess in his head faster than he’d ever thought possible.
More proof that after hundreds of years as a bachelor and then hibernating, he’d actually found a mate.
He had no idea how that typically worked for a dragon, but he could work the rest out.
At least his mate was safe, for now. The measly humans had used a lame knife, and it would take more than that to hurt a dragon like him. Even one with his powers mostly lock
ed away, except some of his defensive ones.
The only thing that could potentially threaten him was one of the dragons from his day, and as far as he was aware, there were none of those around.
“Should we call the police?” one of the employees asked, biting her nails.
“I don’t know. We have no cameras,” Erin said. “No proof. They were wearing gloves, so no fingerprints. And what do the cops care about this area anyway?”
“Good point,” said another employee, a male with long hair, flipping it over his shoulder.
“For now, I just want to close up and go home,” Erin declared.
“What about that guy?” The male employee gestured at Zach, and Zach glared at him. “He isn’t going to follow you or something, is he?”
Erin sighed and brought her employees over to him. “Zach, this is Rachel and Robbie. Rachel and Robbie, Zach. This guy saved me during the robbery. So no, I guess I’m not too worried about him.”
Robbie raised an eyebrow but then smiled at him. “I guess I should thank you.” He put out a hand, but Zach ignored it.
“Why?” Zach asked, eyes flicking to Erin. “Is she yours? Do you have some claim on her?”
Robbie looked at Rachel, and both of them laughed. “No competition from me on that level.” He winked and looked Zach over. “If you know what I mean.”
Zach didn’t.
“Anyway, are you going to be okay if we head out?” Robbie asked. “Rachel is pretty upset.”
Erin nodded. “Zach will take good care of me, right?” she said, sounding tired.
He almost protested. Yes, the female employee looked distraught, but it was Erin who had been through so much on her own. She should be the one leaving, or having them there to support her. After all, she didn’t really trust Zach at all.
But he saw Erin shake her head at him and sat back.
“Good night,” she said.
The two waved and left, and Zach stood and locked the door behind them. “Why did you let them leave?”
She shrugged, her rounded shoulders looking droopy and tired. “They would have been more trouble than help.”
“That’s too bad,” he said, mentally assigning them a negative point for humanity.
Onyx Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 1) Page 2
