Never Dare a Dragon

by Ashlyn Chase

  Jayce glanced over his shoulder at Dante and called out, “Before you ask what’s going on, come into the dining room and sit down. Do you want some of Mom’s tiramisu?”

  “Are you serious? When have I ever said no to tiramisu?” Dante strolled into the dining room and took his place toward the end of the long wood table.

  When everyone was gathered except Gabriella, who was making coffee in the kitchen, Jayce decided he would let them in on what he could.

  “I was in New York visiting that FDNY firefighter I met at Ryan’s funeral.”

  “You mean Ryan’s fake funeral, right?” Sandra asked, as she spread napkins around the table in front of everyone and placed a spoon on each.

  “Of course.”

  “I thought she wasn’t speaking to you,” Noah said. “She seemed mad, as if you were really breaking up.”

  Jayce smiled and shrugged. “Things change. I went to see her while I was in Manhattan on vacation. All is forgiven.”

  “So did you call us all here to tell us you have a girlfriend?” Dante asked. “That ain’t news, bro. You get more tail than any of us.”

  “Dante! Really!” their mother called out from the kitchen.

  His brothers chuckled.

  “No, smart-ass. That isn’t the news. She may need my help, and I don’t know what to do.”

  Mr. Fierro cleared his throat. “So instead of trying to figure out how to solve problems so you can lead your brothers, you want to drag them into solving someone else’s problem?”

  “You want me to lead by example, right? Well, Dad, that’s what I’m doing. I’m just more democratic about it than you are. When someone we care about needs our help, I thought we banded together to help.”

  “So you care about this girl?” Miguel asked.

  “Yeah. I do.”

  “I never thought I’d see the day when you’d get serious about a woman. I thought you were the perpetual playboy,” Mrs. Fierro said as she reentered the dining room with tiramisu and plates on a tray. “Antonio, will you please serve this while I get the coffee?”

  Antonio rose and took the tray from her, albeit reluctantly.

  “So, this girl… What can we do?” Noah asked, looking at Jayce.

  “That’s just it,” their father said as he dished up dessert. “He doesn’t know. He wants you to tell him.” He gave Jayce the stink eye.

  “I have to swear you all to secrecy first.”

  “Jesus. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Dante asked.

  “Swear none of this information will leave this room,” Jayce demanded, resolute.

  All the people in the room raised their right hands and swore themselves to secrecy. Jayce nodded. “Her name is Kristine Scott. It’s kind of a long story, so get comfortable…”

  Chapter 5

  A few agonizing hours later, Kristine’s phone rang, and she pounced on it. The kidnapper explained that he wanted her to go to Central Park. There was a bridge as part of the jogging trail through the woods, and nearby behind a rocky outcropping, she’d find a murse.

  “What’s a murse?”

  The kidnapper sighed. “It’s a man-purse. Like a messenger bag, but thicker. It’s made of heavy leather. Very manly. And this one is fireproof.”

  “Okaaay—”

  “Hey, don’t get fresh. It’s spring and might rain. I don’t want the papers you’re going to steal for us to get wet.”

  So, “us” means there’s more than one of them. “From that building on Madison Avenue?”

  “Yeah. You’re not as dumb as I thought.”

  Kristine was tempted to give him a piece of her mind. But when dealing with her mother’s kidnapper, who probably thought he was smarter than everyone, it might be smart to play dumb.

  “Okay. Tell me what you want me to do.”

  Kristine received her orders. She’d have to show up at work when she wasn’t expected or needed, and that was a little suspicious right off the bat. But she couldn’t think of another way to do this. She had to get the proximity card.

  Some older buildings in the suburbs left keys to the outer doors in the trusted hands of the local fire department. Or there was a locked box on the wall outside, and the fire department had a key to all the boxes in that area. In the city, anyone who wanted to get in could and would break into one of those boxes, so there was a special access card. Protected by none other than the captain himself.

  Now Kristine had to hope the proximity card was in the kitchen drawer in the firehouse as it usually was and not in the captain’s pocket. He had been known to accidentally go home with it on occasion.

  Strolling in at 9 p.m., she waved to a couple of surprised firefighters having a card game. They had been playing for money, but paused. One of them asked, “Scotty, what are you doing here?”

  “Hi, Alex. Hey, Murphy. I was out for a walk and had a hankering for coffee, but then realized I’d left my wallet at home.” She chuckled at her lame-ass excuse and hoped they’d buy it.

  The one called Murphy eyed her with suspicion. “You wanted coffee, and you came here? You could have walked a couple more blocks to get your wallet. Sounds like an excuse to me. Does it sound like an excuse to you, Alex?”

  “It sure does… Maybe she misses us.”

  “Or did you lose all your money playing against this asshole?” He tipped his head toward Alex. “And you’re here to win it back.”

  The other guy laughed. “Get your coffee and sit down. We’ll deal you in.”

  “Thanks, but I’d rather hold onto my paycheck.”

  Alex bellyached, “Aw, c’mon. I haven’t got quite enough for my Gold Coast mansion yet.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Murphy asked.

  The banter wasn’t unusual, so Kristine felt she hadn’t tripped any alarm bells among the guys. That was good. As soon as they went back to their game, she surreptitiously glanced over at the drawer that held the card she needed.

  The tones rang out. The guys rose and stuffed their money into their front pockets, leaving the cards where they were.

  “I guess your summer house is gonna have to wait a little longer,” Murphy said as he exited the kitchen.

  “Don’t touch our cards, Scotty!” Alex called over his shoulder.

  “I won’t.” She pretended to sip the coffee and casually listened to the announcement. A possible gas leak on Eleventh near the ports. Good, she’d be able to avoid her cronies on her way to Madison Avenue. As soon as she heard the trucks rolling out, she grabbed the card from the drawer and stuffed it in the flat fanny pack she had hidden under her sweatshirt. She didn’t want to risk losing it by tossing it into the kidnapper’s murse.

  As a dragon, she couldn’t exactly fit into her sweatpants. She did what Jayce had suggested earlier and left a pair of sweats on her roof…right next to the ones he’d left there. When she’d spotted them earlier, she’d smiled. Realizing he might be coming back despite her tossing him out on his ear made her feel wonderful. She had been abandoned by the most important men in her life and was beginning to wonder if she could trust any man to stick by her when the going got tough.

  Kristine had to hurry. The sooner she got this over with and returned the card, the better off she’d be. If someone noticed it was missing, they’d probably assume the captain had it. Unless it was the captain looking…

  She really couldn’t get too caught up in the “what ifs” or she’d panic and blow the whole thing.

  * * *

  Jayce wasn’t sure he should be doing what he was doing. If Kristine found out, she’d probably rip out his tail feathers. But he had to do something. She had no idea what she was up against. It could be one human or a whole pack of werewolves. She needed backup—a lot of it.

  That’s why six phoenixes followed him, soaring above the New York skyline. Every one of h
is Boston brothers, including rule-following Miguel, was defying their father and getting involved.

  Papa Fierro had lectured Jayce on his responsibility to the family. Jayce was to take over for him someday, and he’d better start becoming responsible…lead by example, put family first, and blah, blah, blah… Jayce believed that’s exactly what he was doing right now.

  Of course they had their mother’s blessing. She said Jayce had changed, and she suspected the woman he called Kristine had everything to do with it. She kissed each of her boys and whispered a short prayer with her hands over her heart…and then distracted the old man so they could get as far away as possible before he found out and decided to take off after them.

  Before Jayce left New York, he’d found six black sweat suits and stashed them on an adjacent roof—just in case he needed the cavalry. He’d had to find a secondary hiding place since Kristine had stashed some black clothes next to his dark-blue FDNY sweats. He didn’t want her to know he might be bringing his whole family to her rescue. She’d kill him—or want to.

  He’d had only one idea on his way to Boston, and it was a bit mad, but his brothers were on board. That’s all that mattered. They landed where he did…on top of the building next to Kristine’s. When the brothers shifted, they put on the black sweat suits, and then Jayce flew to the next rooftop to shift and change into his. He pointed them toward the door to the stairs, and they jogged down to the sidewalk.

  He gave two of them the address of the Madison Avenue building that Kristine had visited that night. They were to keep an eye on that building’s entrances. He asked three more to keep an eye on Kristine’s building. And his little brother Luca went shopping with him. He needed a very special item to complete his plan.

  After they bought what they needed, they checked with the brothers at Kristine’s apartment building. They hadn’t seen her exit. He returned to the roof, stashed what he’d just bought, and shifted into his winged form.

  He flew to the Madison Avenue building and saw his brothers—one in front of the building, one across the street. As he swooped over each one, they just shook their heads to let him know they hadn’t seen her either. So he returned to the apartment building in Hell’s Kitchen and flew by Kristine’s windows.

  There she was on the couch, speaking on the phone and nodding. He landed on her windowsill and watched. After a few minutes, she hung up and then dropped her head in her hands. Her whole body shook as if she were crying.

  Jayce knew she would be upset if he were to get involved, but he was glad he’d made the decision to do something whether she liked it or not. He couldn’t stand to see her like this.

  She rose, straightened her clothing, marched to the mirror over the fireplace, and looked at her tear-streaked face. She wiped at her tears and disappeared around the corner, probably to go to the bathroom and pull herself together. Jayce’s heart broke for her.

  Soon she exited the building and was on the move.

  * * *

  Kristine jogged to Central Park as instructed. She was unsure if she’d find the right place. She finally found the rock with the murse behind it. Lifting it, she realized it was heavier than she thought, but the long strap would make it easy to put around her dragon neck, and her dragon strength wouldn’t have a problem carrying it from the building on Madison Avenue to her building in Hell’s Kitchen. The trick would be making sure nobody saw her as a dragon. With so many tall buildings and many apartments with curious onlookers using telescopes, it would be almost impossible not to attract some kind of attention. All she could hope for would be that whoever reported seeing a full-size dragon flying around the city would be considered a nutcase.

  Looking both ways for anyone using the jogging trail or coming out of the woods, she found that she was alone as far as she could tell. Just out of curiosity she glanced up. There was a bird in the trees above her, but she couldn’t be sure if it was Jayce because she hadn’t seen his other form. She hoped it wasn’t. This mission would be hard enough without interference.

  If she could carry fifty pounds on her back up several stories of a burning building, she could certainly handle this stupid murse. It wasn’t balanced very well, so she wore it cross-body, with the bulk of it resting against her butt. Then she jogged out of the park, which took several minutes.

  It was quite dark and pretty late, so she figured a lot of people might have gone to bed. It was a weeknight, and she prayed most people wouldn’t be partying into the night. They might call New York the city that never sleeps, but some people worked for a living and had to go to bed at some point. Fortunately Madison Avenue was mostly dedicated to daytime businesses.

  Several minutes later she arrived at the target building, huffing and puffing. She checked up and down the street. Cabs drove by, but not a steady stream of them. She’d just have to work to avoid headlights. She retrieved the card, walked up to the front door, and scanned the pad, and, thankfully, something clicked. Then she snuck inside, closing the door behind her. She didn’t think anyone saw her.

  Jogging up thirteen flights of stairs rather than using the elevator and possibly alerting a security guard, she found the office with the lawyer’s name on it, and then she had to get in. She opened her fanny pack, found the card again, and slid it into the spot between the doorjamb and the lock, and sure enough the door popped open. “I’m surprised people don’t update their locks in this day and age. Someone could easily break in,” she muttered while at the same time realizing the irony of her words.

  Leaving the door open, she strode in, found the pile of mail, and started going through it. She was looking at the return addresses for the one she needed. At last she found it. It was a PO box, but it was the right one. A PO box on Long Island. Interesting.

  The mystery of her birth and parentage seemed to be coming into play—maybe. If she knew whom she was dealing with, she might be able to complete the puzzle. Is that why the kidnapper—kidnappers?—knew who and what she was? She shrugged off the thought, knowing it was a stretch. Clearly her father was on her mind.

  Opening the envelope, she slid out the papers. She wasn’t supposed to, but she couldn’t help being curious. Besides, there might be a clue as to where her mother was being kept.

  It was a contract, all right. And oh my God. It was a contract to kill someone. “Holy fuck,” she whispered. Stuffing the contract back into the envelope and making it look as if it had never been opened, she tucked it into the murse. Now she had to make it back up to the roof…but the kidnappers wanted a fire started. How the heck was she supposed to do that? She was a firefighter. That went against every ethical bone in her body.

  And then she thought of her mother. Carrying out the kidnappers’ instructions to the letter might be the only way to get her mother back. The building wasn’t much higher than the floor she was currently on. She could shift into her dragon form, scoop up her black jeans and jersey, blast the place with fire, and then jog to the nearest staircase. After padding up three more stories to the roof, hopefully it would be unlocked or she’d be able to punch her way out. Like she told the monster on the phone, a lot could go wrong.

  She looked around for a logical place for a fire to start. To look innocent, it would have to be an electrical fire. With no one in the office, anything else would be suspect. There was one outlet with a lot of extra electronics plugged in, and she figured that might be looked at as an overload. It would have to do.

  She shifted and blew fire on that section, making sure the wall caught. Then she spread her fire breath up to the ceiling until that caught too. Then she torched the desk as she grabbed the murse and her human clothing and backed out of the room. She made sure the door locked behind her, hoping to put it back the way she’d found it and minimize the damage to one room.

  Now she had to get out before the smoke alarm went off. She flew to the nearest stairwell, managed to open the door even in her dragon form,
flew up to the top floor, and then found the door to the roof. There was a lock on it, but it was on the inside and hooked up to an alarm. She shrugged. Oh well…the smoke alarms would sound soon anyway. She broke the lock with her dragon strength. Pushing her way onto the roof, she was shocked to see seven birds clutching black satin sheets in their talons. Three on each side of the door.

  Holy shit. Jayce had come to her rescue after all, and it looked like he brought his brothers. She slipped between the two rows of birds, which took off when she did, their black sheets shielding her from both sides as she flew through the night.

  She landed on her apartment’s roof, grabbed her clothing, and raced around to the opposite side of an air-conditioning unit. One of the birds dropped out of formation and landed on her roof. The others flew to the next building. As soon as she’d hopped into her clothing, she ran back to where Jayce stood, holding the FDNY sweats she’d given him.

  His brother-phoenixes landed in two straight lines, holding the sheets in their beaks, and then they rose up as full-sized men, covering their nakedness with the black sheets held between their smiling lips. Jayce waved to them, and they waved back. They shifted again, dropped the sheets, and flew off.

  As soon as Jayce and Kristine were both dressed, they made their way to the rooftop entrance and quietly jogged down the stairs to Kristine’s apartment on the third floor. The fanny pack had served her well, holding her keys and phone.

  “I take it those were your brothers.”

  “Yup. You guessed it,” Jayce said.

  Kristine fiddled with the lock until the door opened and they were able to scoot inside, closing it behind them with a soft click. She threw herself in Jayce’s arms and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

  “I can’t believe we got away with that. At least I hope we did,” she said.

  “Do you mean as long as nobody saw a group of weird-colored birds flying in formation and thought it was strange enough to take a picture…”