Never Dare a Dragon

by Ashlyn Chase

  Kristine leaned on her elbow and rested her chin in her hand. “That’s fine. But what do you plan to do if you find her?”

  Jayce scratched his head. “I think that’s when we should get the authorities involved. Kidnapping is a crime. Anyone in that house with any knowledge of your mother being held against her will should be arrested—at least as an accessory. I can ask for a SWAT team. They’ll make sure your mother is safe before they storm the place.”

  Kristine closed her eyes. She tried to picture the scene Jayce had described. So far, she didn’t see anything wrong with that plan. “Okay. I think that sounds reasonable. Promise me you won’t do anything about it yourself. Just call the police and give them the address. Make sure they don’t come in with sirens blazing.” She leaned forward and whispered, “You know how they are sometimes.”

  Jayce laughed. “Yeah, they can be real cowboys. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they know exactly what’s going on.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I do feel better having a plan we can agree on.”

  If you find her. Kristine didn’t feel much better at all. They finished their dinner, and she paid with her credit card.

  “I wish I had a couple of cards on me. I’ll pay you back,” Jayce insisted.

  “Tell you what, if you find my mother, dinner’s on me.” She managed a small smile, hoping to make him feel better. “It’s not like you can carry your wallet in your beak.”

  They walked hand in hand back to Kristine’s car, and she wished they could enjoy the lovely evening. She would’ve loved to watch the sunset with him, holding hands on the beach. But logic dictated she should get back home. She had called in sick. If her shift came around and someone called to check in on her, it would be suspicious if she didn’t answer. The captain had been known to do that before when he was concerned and had the time.

  When they arrived at the car, she turned toward him, and they held both hands for a moment. “I’d better get back,” she said.

  Jayce leaned in and pulled her close to kiss her. He only let go of her hands to wrap his arms around her and hold her in his warm embrace. Any time his lips touched hers the passion sprang up, and Kristine never wanted that feeling to end.

  When they tore away from each other, Kristine took a few deep breaths, bit her lip, then said, “Man, what you do to me… You’d better let me go, or I’ll never get home.”

  “I know what you mean. If you don’t hear from me by eleven o’clock, wait for me. I want to be there to protect you while you carry out your orders.”

  Kristine opened the car door and slid inside. “What are you going to do? You can’t hold a king-size sheet open and shield me from view all by yourself.”

  “I can act as lookout. If I see anything, I’ll give you a couple of squawks so you can find a hiding spot.”

  She closed the car door and rubbed her temples, trying to ease the headache that was starting. “Okay.”

  Jayce cupped her chin and leaned down. “I know it’s not ideal. What would be perfect is finding your mother. I’m going to concentrate on doing that.”

  Kristine nodded. She was just about to drive away when Jayce said, “By the way, there’s one more thing I think you should know.”

  Kristine groaned. What now?

  Jayce tapped her nose. “I think I’m falling in love with you.” Then he stepped away from the car, smiling.

  Kristine didn’t know what to say to that. She felt like she might be falling in love too, but this just wasn’t the time. Instead, she rolled her eyes, took off, and checked her rearview mirror as she left him in a cloud of dust…but she could still see the cocky smile on his face.

  As much as she felt it was inappropriate—maybe downright absurd at a time like this—she smiled to herself. How did the ludicrous man know that’s exactly what she needed to hear? This was just like him. Her heart was a little bit lighter as she drove home.

  * * *

  Jayce was more determined than ever to find Kristine’s mother and return her safely home. As darkness fell, he was able to get closer to the homes, worry less about the color of his feathers, and worry more about finding this needle of a woman in the haystack of gorgeous oceanfront homes.

  He flew by several palatial estates, some of which were very private with large grounds separating one from the next. There were a few more modest mansions sheltered by woods, hedges, or walls. Even those were multimillion-dollar homes.

  He tried to remember that staying in bird form was aging him much more quickly than he would age as a human. His brother had reincarnated and reached his prime in a little over two months. What will I look like in a week if I keep this up? Then he shook that thought out of his brain, realizing that helping in this way was better than worrying about a few gray hairs.

  At about 10 p.m. he was getting more and more worried he’d fail when suddenly he spotted someone sneaking out of a side door, leaving it open just a tad, probably so no one would hear it shut. He tried to get a better look and saw a woman wearing a black bathrobe. Rushing off on bare feet toward the beach, she seemed determined to get away. A dark scarf slipped off her red hair.

  My God, that’s her.

  Jayce wasn’t sure how to reveal himself without scaring her to pieces. If he shifted into a full-size naked man, she might freak. According to Kristine, Amy was high-strung, and he didn’t want her screams to alert whomever she was running away from, so he followed her from above. She smartly ran along the edge of the water on the hard sand where the waves would wash away her footprints.

  At one point far down the beach, she headed toward some woods. This might be my chance to show her she’s not alone and still have some cover.

  When she reached a spot where the woods were fairly thick, he found a low bush and landed behind it, and as she came toward him, he shimmered into his human form. She gasped but didn’t scream.

  “It’s all right, Amy. I’m here to help.”

  “Who the heck are you?”

  “I’m a friend of Kristine’s. Are you all right?”

  “Yes. I need to talk to her. Is she here?”

  “No. She was. We’ve been looking for you all day. I need to let her know you’ve been found. She’s about to do something she really doesn’t want to because the jerk holding you hostage was threatening you, but your daughter was fucked either way. Sorry about my language.”

  She looked down at herself. “I’m not exactly dressed properly for a rescue, but I didn’t know what else to do. Please tell me you have a fast car hidden somewhere.”

  Jayce groaned. “I wish I did. Kristine took the car back to the city. I have some sweats stashed, and I can carry them in my beak and meet you somewhere. Then we can find a way to call Kristine.”

  “Beak? Were you the bird that was following me?”

  “That would be me. I’m Jayce Fierro, by the way.”

  “I think it’s nice to meet you, Jayce. Since I don’t really know you, I’m a little nervous about trusting you, but I don’t have much choice right now.”

  “I promise you can trust me, and I’ll tell you more about how I know Kristine after we’re both dressed so we don’t get arrested.”

  She gave him a weak smile.

  “You seem to be well hidden. Wait here for me.” Jayce shifted and took off. He went straight to the place he had left his sweats about two miles away. He didn’t want to shift and take forever to get back to her, so he scooped up his clothes in his beak and carried them to the woods where he’d left her.

  Jayce was no ordinary bird, and he was able to fly carrying a lot more weight than anyone would think possible. He could yank a full-grown man off the ground if necessary. Hopefully, if anyone spied a bird carrying men’s clothing, they’d figure a skinny dipper was in for a surprise when he went to get dressed. Fortunately, the darkness would hide him from most onlookers.

 
When he landed, Kristine’s mother, Amy, was trudging on foot through the woods toward civilization. He wondered if she’d decided not to trust him after all. He wouldn’t blame her. She was a New Yorker… Probably even more suspicious and careful than a Bostonian.

  Jayce found another rock further down the path, shifted quickly, and slipped on the pants. By the time he donned the top, he’d caught up with her.

  “Okay, where do we go from here?” Jayce asked.

  Amy hesitated and finally said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been out here, but I was heading toward the town center. I figured I could find some kind of pay phone, if they still exist.”

  Jayce smiled. “From what I saw of the towns around here, not much has changed in the past few decades.”

  “I know where there used to be a pay phone. Let’s go there.”

  “How long will it take us? I told Kristine I’d call by eleven.”

  Amy glanced around. “It seems to be fairly deserted and dark tonight. It’s not high season yet, so most of the summer people aren’t even here. How do you feel about flying next to someone who also has a secret identity like yours? Well, not exactly like it—”

  “I know about Kristine’s secret. Is yours the same?”

  She answered simply by sloughing off her black bathrobe, shifting into dragon form, picking up her robe, and holding out her talons to indicate that she would carry his clothing too.

  Jayce grinned and pulled his sweatshirt over his head, then shifted and flew out of the sweatpants. She picked up his clothes and took off into the sky, flying higher than he usually did unless he was avoiding tall buildings.

  At last, she found a rooftop on a dark street. The small town seemed very quiet. An outdoor ladder led from the rooftop down to the wraparound porch. They shifted and dressed quickly.

  “I wish we could just fly back to Manhattan,” Amy said, “but I’m apt to attract attention, being a dragon and all.”

  As Jayce chuckled, they sprinted toward the sidewalk. Only about fifty yards away Jayce spotted the phone booth. When they arrived at the old booth, Jayce nervously asked, “I don’t suppose you have a quarter on you, do you?”

  Amy pulled a heavy sock out of the pocket of her robe and smiled. “I may have borrowed a little money from my captors before I left.”

  Jayce laughed when she pulled a wad of twenties and a roll of quarters out of the sock. “Hallelujah. You really thought of everything.”

  “I planned this for a couple of days. I simply had to cooperate until they let down their guard. I knew they would. They’re stupid and lazy. Still, it’s strange that they never changed the combination to the safe.”

  “You know them? You’ve been there before?”

  Amy stepped into the phone booth and inserted the quarters she needed, and as she dialed, she said, “I used to live there. Kristine doesn’t know it, but I’ll tell her everything when I get back.”

  Jayce knew how much that would mean to Kristine. She had been through so much, and she’d said that a hidden piece of her background caused the rift between her and her mother. Certainly it seemed like knowledge she deserved to have now.

  Kristine answered on the first ring. “Hi, honey, it’s me,” Amy said.

  “Mom! Where are you?”

  Amy turned and smiled at Jayce. “I’m with a nice young man who says he’s a friend of yours. Do you know someone named Jayce?”

  Kristine burst into tears but managed to eke out the word “yes.” Then she sniffed and said, “Please tell him thank you and to guard you with his life.”

  “Don’t worry, honey. We’re going to be careful. It might take a little while. We’re still an hour away as the dragon flies.”

  Jayce said, “I wish we could take public transportation, but your mom is wearing a bathrobe, and I’d rather put some distance between us and her abductors, so I’m not too keen on waiting around for an Uber or taxi.”

  Kristine said, “I still have the car. I can bring some clothes to my mom and drive us all home.”

  “That sounds great,” Amy said. “Bring me my blue sweater, the cashmere one. Oh, and my Isaac Mizrahi skinny jeans.”

  Kristine laughed. “Always the fashionista.”

  Amy’s face blushed a bit. “Hey, a girl has to look her best even when she’s running from her captors.”

  “Are you safe from discovery?” Kristine asked. “I want you to stay hidden, but I need to know where you are so I can find you.”

  “We’re in Southampton. I’m not sure of the name of the street.”

  Jayce said, “Hang on, I’ll run down to the corner and see what the sign says.” He did that and saw they were on the corner of Main and Harrison. Then he ran back, took the phone, and relayed the information.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Stay out of sight.”

  “We will, hon,” Jayce said.

  Amy raised her brows and looked him straight in the eye. He could imagine the wheels turning as she figured out his relationship with her daughter.

  “I’ll tell you all about it while we wait,” Jayce said.

  Chapter 8

  “So, it seems we both have stories to tell.” Amy settled into a rocking chair on the wraparound porch of a house that appeared to be vacant at the moment.

  “It would seem so.” Jayce sat in the chair next to hers.

  She chewed her lip and stared out at the street.

  “I’ll go first,” Jayce said. “My story seems a lot shorter than yours.”

  “Thank you. I’m afraid my story is a bit long and convoluted. To be honest, I’m not looking forward to explaining everything to Kristine.”

  Jayce crossed his feet at the ankles and stretched out. “I think Kristine will be more understanding than you realize.”

  Amy looked over at him. He seemed sincere, but how could she trust him? She didn’t know this man, and she thought she knew all about Kristine’s boyfriends. Could this be the guy from the other night?

  Jayce steepled his fingers and said, “Kristine and I met a few months ago in Boston. There was an instant attraction, but acting on it at the time wasn’t, well…appreciated.”

  “You mean to say that Kristine rejected you?”

  Jayce smiled as if he were remembering the scene. “I don’t consider it a rejection so much as just poor timing. You see, we met at my brother’s funeral.”

  “Oh! I think I remember her saying something about that.”

  He looked hopeful. “Really? She talked about me?”

  “In a matter of speaking. I heard her muttering to herself something about the only man to spark her attention recently was a jerk at a funeral. And something about how she had the worst taste in men and should just give up and become a nun.”

  Leaning back, Jayce laughed. “She did say something about taking a vow. Fortunately for me it wasn’t a nun’s vow. She had vowed not to sleep with firemen.”

  “So, it sounds like you’re saying you’re sleeping together.”

  Jayce looked over at her and simply asked, “Is that a problem?”

  Amy thought about how this guy had saved her. If Kristine trusted him, knowing she wasn’t all that trusting of men—at least when it came to romantic relationships—he must be a special guy. “No. No problem at all. As long as you treat her right.”

  “I’ll let you ask her if she’s being treated well. But to ease your mind, I care about her, maybe more than I should. We’ve only been together for a few days, and I’m already in love with her. I live in Boston, but we’ve agreed that making the effort to overcome the distance and our crazy schedules is worth a try.”

  Amy nodded. “So you’re the guy… The one from Boston that she was muttering about.”

  Jayce shrugged. “Unless there was some other jerk she was attracted to who frustrated her by hitting on her at a really bad t
ime.”

  Amy laughed. “I doubt that very much. Kristine keeps most men at arm’s length. I’m sorry if that’s my fault. I’ve told her nothing about her father for good reason.” She took a deep breath, knowing she was going to launch into the story.

  “Kristine’s father was a very dangerous man. I was young and naive. We had a whirlwind romance during which he took me to Paris, gave me beautiful jewelry, and quickly moved me into his mansion in Southampton. He promised he’d help me with my acting ambitions, and he paid for private coaching.” Amy worried her lip and began wringing her hands. “By the time I realized who and what he was, I was already pregnant.”

  “I have a sister-in-law who is also a dragon. She mentioned that she can only have children with another dragon. So she and my brother will never have any kids. Is that true?”

  Amy nodded sadly. “I’m afraid so. I knew Kristine would be my one and only, and I couldn’t allow her to be in danger all her life. Plus this man had become incredibly possessive, not allowing me to go anywhere without him or one of his most trusted guards. I felt like I was living in a prison. And if I tried to get away, he could shift into dragon form and come after me.”

  She looked Jayce in the eye and said, “He wanted me to get an abortion. He wanted me all to himself. I couldn’t let that happen, so the first chance I had, I ran.”

  “How far did you get?”

  “I managed to hitchhike my way to Hicksville. I found a job waitressing and saved enough money to pay for the delivery with a midwife in my little basement apartment.”

  “You must have had to use a fake name—”

  “No. Not on the birth certificate. I didn’t want Kristine to have anything that raised red flags hanging over her head. I had planned to tell her that her father died before we got married, so that’s why she has my maiden name. We couldn’t get married anyway. We were…related.” She felt like she was sucking on a lemon. “I’ll elaborate on the bombshell after I talk to Kristine.”

  She sighed. “I still wanted to become an actress. I took a stage name and began my career as Amy. By that time we had moved to Hell’s Kitchen. It wasn’t the nicest neighborhood, but it was all I could afford, and it was right in the heart of the off-Broadway theater district. And being stronger than humans, I wasn’t really worried about our safety the way a normal woman might be.