He set the two sleds on the ground, sat on one, and motioned to Mara to sit in front of him.
“Are you sure?” she asked, laughing.
He nodded, and she sat down in front of him. “Grab the rope,” he said.
She did, and he put his arms around her and took hold of it, too.
He looked over at Quade and Heather, who were ready to go, too. “Race you to the bottom,” Quade called out.
And then both sleds were racing to the bottom, bouncing and zooming.
Quade’s toboggan slid diagonally, and they flipped over in the snow.
Mara cried out as their own sled began to do the same thing. When it flipped, Ty wrapped his arms more tightly around her and landed underneath her with a whomp.
She was laughing as she rolled off and lay beside him. Actually laughing.
He curled his arms about her and held her to his side. He never wanted to let her go. But she pulled free a moment later, pushed a tendril of satiny red hair out of her face, and smiled at him. “Thanks for saving me, big guy.”
“My pleasure.”
He stood and helped her up, holding her hand for as long as she’d let him. She looked up into his eyes.
His lungs contracted and he rolled his eyes, releasing her hands, tugging off his gloves, and aiming his own into the sky, where a huge blast of flame erupted a moment later.
Quade and Heather squealed and turned to him.
“Sorry,” he said. “Hard to predict when that will happen.”
Well, other than it always seemed to happen during or after encounters with Mara.
He wanted her for his own with an ache that surely must be as bad as her ache for her coat. She was his other half and he didn’t think he could be whole without her.
He, the impenetrable last dragon in the world, finally had a vulnerability. Who would have guessed it would be the most beautiful Swan Maiden in the world?
As they trudged back up the hill for about the tenth time, Mara realized Walter had been right.
This was exactly what she’d needed — time spent laughing with other people, time having fun, time not worrying about her coat.
Ty pulled the sled with one large hand and held her gloved hand with the other. He smiled down at her and made her feel dainty, even at her height. She was not a tiny woman, but next to him she felt petite. Feminine.
Wanted.
He made her feel wanted, with his intense looks and smiles and words of encouragement.
At the top of the hill, Ty said, “Why don’t we go into town for some hot chocolate?”
Heather squealed. “Yes. That sounds delightful. And warm.”
The men dragged the sleds around to the garage, and the women followed several feet behind.
Heather nudged her gently. “I think Ty is really smitten with you.”
“Really?” Mara asked.
Heather nodded. “I have never seen him like this. Ever. And I’ve known him for ten years. He has it bad for you.”
Mara studied Ty.
He wasn’t a Swan Prince, but neither was he a human who wanted to steal her coat to force her into marriage.
Would it be so bad to marry someone like Ty? Someone who treated her so well? Someone who accepted her for the incomplete Swan that she was? Someone who lit her fire?
Someone who looked at her as though she was the most beautiful woman in the world?
Part of her sang at the thought. She tried to tamp down that dreamy part of herself. She had to keep a clear head.
The next morning, Ty awoke to the sound of laughter in Walter’s kitchen. He’d slept in? He glanced at his phone. It was seven. They’d gotten up early. He had one more day before his next shift, and he planned to spend it with Mara.
He got up and quickly showered, dressed, and joined the others in the kitchen. “You two sound like you’re having way too much fun in here.”
Mara’s smile nearly stopped his dragon heart. She was so beautiful. “Breakfast is ready, sleepyhead.”
Walter shook his head. “I told you he was relentlessly lazy, did I not?”
Mara nodded. “Along with lots of other fascinating details about him.”
“Oh, great.” Ty groaned and dropped into a seat at the table. “You two are ganging up on me.”
Mara patted his shoulder as she set down a small platter before him filled with eggs, bacon, hash browns, and pancakes. “There, there, big guy. It’ll be okay. We come in peace.”
He snorted a laugh. “I blame Walter.”
Walter leaned against the counter with a mug of something steaming in his hand. “Of course you do. You’ve done so for many years.”
“Project Nerd Girl hasn’t already begun, has it?” Ty looked suspiciously at the two of them.
Mara exchanged a glance with Walter, and they burst out laughing.
Great. An inside joke. Though he was glad his best friend and his Flame had hit it off.
When they stopped laughing, Mara sat beside him. “No. Walter and I just discovered that we are friends, as well as being your friends.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Now eat.”
So he did. He ate that full platter and then nearly half of another.
When he pushed the second platter back, he sighed contentedly. “That was great. Thanks. So, what’s the plan for today?”
Walter said, “Mara has a good idea.”
Ty looked at the pretty Swan, who said, “I can’t feel my coat any more, right? So I thought maybe if you flew me over the entire town, maybe I could get a feel for it. Pick up the scent, as it were. The trail.” She shrugged. “I’m grasping at straws here.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said. He couldn’t think of anything better than flying with Mara in his arms.
The wind blew past Mara’s face.
She loved the feel of it, the sense of flying in the wind currents, the strong flapping of Ty’s wings above her.
It was almost like she was flying again in her swan form. Almost.
But the closest she’d come in a long, long time.
Ty rumbled, “Over town now.”
She nodded. “Yes. Maybe start in the center and fly in larger and larger circles until you’re flying over the countryside?”
He nodded his large head and flew over Town Square, where tourists pointed into the sky.
“You’re like the most popular attraction in town,” she noted.
He didn’t answer.
They flew over the other attractions in town, the businesses, and the square, itself. Ty was flying high enough that tourists couldn’t make out too many details about him or see that he held a woman in his arms, but still low enough she could see and recognize stores and landmarks. City Hall. The dance hall they’d never made it to. The Black Lagoon Saloon.
“Anything?” he asked.
She closed her eyes and sent out her senses, probing, searching. Hoping.
But there was nothing. No coat.
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
He circled around, one block away from the square.
Still she felt nothing. “It’s not working.”
He huffed and a small flame came out over her head.
“Watch it, Sparky.”
He chuckled, a rumble in his chest. “Sorry.”
Another circle, another block. Two more circles.
Now they were over what Ty announced was the Troll Knoll, and the Moonchuckle Bay Studios, then fields with beautiful white horses.
“I didn’t know the town had a horse ranch.”
“It doesn’t. It has a unicorn ranch.”
“What? No way!”
He chuckled again.
She stared at the beautiful creatures. She thought she could see flashes of color — blues and pinks and purples. “I want to go there someday.”
He nodded. “I’ll take you.”
He continued to fly until they were miles away from town. “Anything?”
“No. I still don�
��t feel my coat.”
“We’ll find it,” he assured her. He gave her a reassuring squeeze with his large but gentle dragon arms.
She leaned into him and absorbed the strength she found there, finding inexplicable peace.
Back at Walter’s house, Mara took a turn fixing dinner for the two men. Walter had steaks and potatoes, so it was easy enough to fix a man-sized meal. Or, in this case, a dragon- and wolf-sized meal.
As they ate, Mara told them she needed to return to work, but they convinced her to wait a few days. Four, to be exact. Since Ty offered to call Stanley to clear it, she agreed.
After the meal, Walter helped clean up, then turned to them and shook his head. “I still haven’t come any closer to finding who might have your coat or where it currently is.”
Mara said, “That’s all right, Walter. I ...”
She stopped. She really couldn’t say anymore. It wasn’t all right. It was catastrophic for her — and they all knew it.
Ty reached out and took her hand, squeezing it. She squeezed back.
Walter sat back down across from them. “There’s got to be a clue somewhere. I’ve gone back to all the reservations around the lake for that period of time. There were several couples renting, but no single men. There were also several groups of women on vacation there. I’ve followed the trails on all of these people. Most of them settled back into their lives around the world and nothing changed.”
“Most ...?” Ty asked.
“Two of them disappeared from sight shortly after returning home. The first was a woman school teacher who’d recently retired and had just been diagnosed with cancer. She moved away and I lost her trail.”
“And the second?” Mara asked. She knew the thief was a man. It had to be, even if he hadn’t followed the usual pattern.
“A man from Norway, recently divorced. I lost his trail for a couple of years, but then picked it back up. He’d moved in with a woman and stayed home being a house husband.”
Mara sighed. “Then he didn’t need a wife. And neither did the woman. We’re at a dead end.”
“I’ll keep looking,” Walter promised. He looked at the two of them. “What have you learned?”
“I took Mara flying all around the area. She couldn’t sense her coat at all.”
That would have brought her to tears again — except Ty was still holding her hand, gently stroking it, and somehow, she held together.
After all of these years of feeling incomplete, Ty filled something within her. She’d never feel exactly herself without her coat, but around Ty the loss didn’t overwhelm her.
In some way she didn’t understand, Ty at least partially filled the gaping hole left behind by her missing coat.
She didn’t know what to make of that.
Some Magic of Her Own
THIS IS MY DUE. FINALLY. I have worked all these years for this moment. My moment in the spotlight. Literally.
This coat has brought me youth and beauty. I grow more beautiful by the day.
As I leave the Moonchuckle Bay Studios with the cast after shooting, some of us go out to party.
Unfortunately, they all want to go to Fangs.
Where the Swan Maiden works.
I am, at first, nervous, but realize this is the perfect test of the warlock’s spell. If I can walk into the bar and the Swan doesn’t feel the coat, then I am safe. For at least five years. Enough time to make enough money in movies to be able to afford a hit man for the Swan. She will have to go in five years. Or maybe I can find another warlock to cast another spell. Divine would obviously not.
I wrap my outer coat — the one that goes over my feather coat that none can see — about me close. The day is cold, in the forties. I’ll be glad when spring comes.
I stand on the sidewalk with my new friends, pretty people making a Creature Feature, and lined up to work in the second romantic comedy in the new Love Bites line of Moonchuckle Bay Studios.
I am actually nervous. Me. Can you believe that?
But I realize that if the Swan senses the coat, I can just walk back out, as I did the other night, before she can get a lock on it.
I take a deep breath and follow my laughing friends into the bar side of Fangs.
I immediately search behind the bar. The Swan is there, working. I walk more slowly behind my friends to a table, and sit in a chair where I can keep my eye on her.
As the minutes pass, and she doesn’t react, I grow exultant.
She doesn’t even know that her coat is within twenty feet of her. She truly can’t feel the coat! I am safe! I laugh. The warlock had actually done it.
Though the Swan is smiling, she doesn’t look happy. I find I’m glad she is suffering. She deserves it for all the misery she has put me through these past thirty years. The relentless stalking she’s done.
Well, I want it to end. Now.
She still has one feather left that belongs on my coat.
I purchased arsenic. If the Swan dies now, I won’t even have to worry about her any longer. I actually mix a little in my drink without my friends noticing. I raise the glass to my lips and fake taking a drink, but I don’t drink.
Then I walk toward the bar, every step watchful of the Swan, ready to run to escape.
The large, hirsute owner of the establishment shuffles by and sniffs, muttering, “Swan. Mmm.”
A man steps in my path, a young cowboy. “Hello, pretty lady. How about a dance?”
I get a better idea. I look up at him and bat my eyes and he gives me a slow grin. “Sure, cowboy. But, first, would you do a favor for me?”
“Anything, dollface.”
“One of my guy friends is really shy and wants me to give this drink to the bartender. Let me do that for him, and then I’ll be right back,” I say. “You wait right here for me.”
The bar in front of the swan was, for one miraculous moment, empty. I step up and look the Swan in the eyes. She still doesn’t react. “One of the guys at the table I’m at wanted to give you a drink, but he was too shy to bring it over.”
The Swan smiles. “That’s very nice. Thanks. Would you point him out to me?”
I shake my head. “He’s so shy that he wouldn’t like that.”
The Swan shrugs. “Tell him thanks.”
“I will,” I say and wander back to the cowboy, who has obediently stood there, waiting for me.
“Want to dance here? Or at my place?” I ask.
His eyes widen. “Let me get my coat, babydoll.”
I get mine and say goodbye to my group.
As the cowboy and I leave, I look back. The Swan is clutching at her neck, doing her swan song, as it were.
I smile and step outside. Now to go play with this handsome cowboy.
Mara clutched at her throat, which burned with pain.
What was wrong with her?
Stanley shuffled over to her. “What’s wrong, babe?”
She couldn’t answer.
He sniffed again. “What the—?”
She turned away and vomited.
Stanley jumped back. “Audrey, call the ambulance. She needs to go to the hospital. She’s been poisoned.”
“Yes, sir,” Audrey said, and called.
Poison? Someone had tried to poison her? The man who’d so generously sent her a drink was trying to poison her?
Who would do that? And why?
It had to be the man with the coat — but what had he done with the coat that she didn’t feel it anymore?
Why had he waited all these years and not forced her to marry him?
And why was he trying to hurt her now? Maybe even kill her?
Nothing made sense.
Vertigo hit her and dropped her to the floor.
Stanley leaned over her, concern on his big, ugly, hairy face. “Mara?”
She heard sirens in the distance and, as they grew closer, she shivered. Audrey knelt beside her. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.” She stroked her arm. “Please be okay,”
she whispered.
Mara nodded.
Then there were men with a stretcher. Stanley picked her up and set her on the stretcher. The first really kind thing he’d done for her. “Thank you.”
“Get better,” the bear said gruffly. He told the EMTs, “Take her to see Dr. Johnson or Dr. Andrews. I think someone poisoned her.”
As they wheeled her outside, she heard Stanley say, “Clean up this mess.”
Back to his normal self.
The EMTs gave her activated charcoal to absorb the poison, which she didn’t want, but she forced some down anyway, in between bouts of vomiting.
Lying back on the stretcher, sweat beading her brow, she knew she couldn’t keep going on by herself. She needed more protection than she could provide by herself. She was either going to have to return home to Sweden to her family, her wedge of swans, or figure something else out.
She needed a protector. But she couldn’t stay with Ty all the time. That was unrealistic.
Anger rose within her.
This thief had stolen everything that made her life worth living. He wasn’t going to take her life, too.
Frantic, Ty dropped down a block behind the hospital in a deserted yard.
He almost didn’t care who saw him land and turn into a man.
He had to get to Mara.
He raced around the block and into the hospital’s Emergency Department.
A nurse looked up from the desk and asked, “May I help you?”
He stopped. “I need to see the woman who was brought in from Fangs. I was told she’s in with Dr. Johnson.”
She nodded, pointing. “I’ll buzz you back. You’ll need to ask which curtain she’s behind.”
“Thank you.” He was already running, hearing the buzz seconds before he would have crashed through the door if it hadn’t been unlocked yet.
Everyone’s eyes turned to him. Without a word, a male nurse motioned him back. “She’s in here.”
The man pulled the curtain back to reveal Mara, looking pale and small in the hospital bed.
The Fireman Finds His Flame Page 6
