Dragons For Hire: A Dragon Shifter Romance

by Sadie Sears

  “Before you ask, yes, she’s fine. Still no problems on the mountain.” He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. “I really don’t like them being back in that house, but everyone is rotating through shifts watching over it. That’s the best we can do if they insist. Have you found anything yet?”

  I leaned against the wall. “No, not yet. That’s actually why I came by. I was hoping Lila could help me with something.”

  Leath raised an eyebrow. “Lila? What could she help with?”

  “Yeah, what could I possibly help with?”

  Leath spun comically to find Lila standing right behind him, arms crossed, as her clients filed out the door. “Oh, I didn’t mean—”

  She held a hand up, effectively cutting him off. “What’s up, Cam?”

  Fighting back a smile, I nodded at the desk. “I was hoping to take a look at Sophie’s client book, actually.”

  “What are you looking for?” she asked. She propped her hand on her hip and smirked. “Not trouble, I hope.”

  I shrugged, but my shoulders were tense and kind of stiff and jerky. “Might be trouble. I’m looking for information on an unusual client she’s seen a few times. I’m hoping it’ll help me out on this case.”

  “Everyone in Spruce is unusual in some way or another, but okay.” She led me over to the front desk, where she pulled a large notebook out of one of the drawers. “I spoke to her last night, and she’s taking some time off of work. I had to call and reschedule her clients for this week. Shae is messed up about all of this, and Zoe came home last night crying after they had a fight.” She met my eyes and handed me the book but didn’t let go immediately. She tugged on the book so that I leaned in and looked her in the eye. “Please, whatever you need to do, please help my friend.”

  That was already the plan, but I nodded, and she released the book. I would do anything Sophie needed me to if it helped find and stop Mary. “I promise.”

  Lila pointed behind me. “There’s still another half hour before my next class, so if you want, you can use one of the back rooms to look it over. That way no one will bother you.”

  “Thanks, Lila.”

  And I was grateful, not just because she didn’t make a big fuss about client privacy, but because she was just as concerned for Sophie and Shae as I was. It made me happy to know she had such a good friend to help watch her back. Taking the book, I stepped into the yoga studio and sat on a bench that they stored the yoga blocks under.

  Sophie had the book divided into three sections: Sacred Spaces Appointments, Home Appointments, and Client Information. I flipped to the Home Appointments section and started there, scanning for Mary’s name. When I found it, the entry only listed her first name and no additional info. Two more times her name appeared, and I was able to verify that she was indeed the last person Sophie had seen in her home studio. That didn’t help me much, though; it only told me that I was already on the right track. I already knew that.

  How was I supposed to find anyone without a last name, and a first name as common as Mary? I turned to her Client Information and was surprised to see how many people in the small community went to her for readings. Some had even come from as far as Burlington. I scanned each page and found two matching names, but they were addresses that I had already checked in my online search.

  I sighed and closed the book with a snap. Vince’s idea had been great, but it’d still produced nothing. Maybe, and it was a long shot, Sophie would know something about her that she’d never written down. That was something I would ask when she came by.

  My chest squeezed. She would be by that night, and I was no closer to an answer than I had been three days ago. I walked up front and put the book back in the drawer. When I looked up, an unnaturally beautiful face smiled back at me from across the street. She looked as if she was made of plastic. I only saw her for a second, but it was long enough with my dragon sight that her face imprinted on my mind. Without a second thought, I bolted out the front door, but between one blink and the next, she’d disappeared. How? I’d moved so fast.

  Did Mary know I was onto her? I couldn’t shift in the middle of town without blocking traffic to follow her trail, but I already knew there wouldn’t be one to find. There never was. The entire situation was starting to get to me. To rattle me.

  With nothing left to do, I headed for home to bounce some more ideas off of Vince and wait for Sophie to stop by so I could tell her I was a total failure.

  The evening was falling, and I ended up pacing again. I did at least have the good sense to change into something better than jogging clothes. The kitchen and dining room were full of the delicious aroma of stuffed chicken parmigiana, the most complicated dish I could attempt in my state of mind. After Vince stole his fill, I chased him off so I could wait on Sophie in peace.

  Of course, there was no guarantee that she would stay long enough for dinner. There was no guarantee she hadn’t already eaten. But it was worth the effort, in my mind. Maybe she would accept my offer to eat, and I could keep her just a few minutes longer.

  I felt her even before she knocked on the door and was ready to open it when she did. She looked stunning, but that was no surprise. Her blonde curls were down, and the fitted blue dress accentuated curves that I longed to feel under my fingers again. Her smile radiated sadness, but I pushed past it.

  “Please, come in,” I said, stepping aside. Lavender filled my senses as she walked past me into the living room. I would never tire of that scent.

  She looked around nervously. “I’m sorry, did I catch you at dinner? I can come back another time—”

  "No, Vince already ate." I moved toward the kitchen, hoping she would follow. "I made this for you. You know, if you want."

  “Cam, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

  I smiled through the pain those innocuous words caused. “It’s just food, Sophie. Normal adults can have conversations over meals all the time, right?”

  She huffed a laugh. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been a normal adult.”

  Regardless, she followed me through the dining room to the smaller breakfast table. I’d covered the dishes and set them out already, so all I had to do was lift the lids. Sophie inhaled deeply, smiling as if I’d just set five-star gourmet food in front of her instead of something I’d fumbled around my kitchen for an hour to make.

  “This smells amazing, Cameron.”

  My heart skipped a beat when she said my full name. I loved my name on her lips. I wanted to hear it every day. The only thing she could say that would make me feel warmer and happier would be telling me she loved me.

  “Would you like some wine with it?” I offered. I started toward the wine fridge, but she shook her head.

  “Driving. But maybe some grape juice?”

  I had grape juice. I could do that. It wasn’t fresh like my orange juice usually was, but I always kept bottled stuff on hand in case my moods changed. And they did that a lot, especially lately. Snagging a couple of glasses, I filled them and brought them over.

  “Oh, is there cheese inside this chicken?” Sophie lifted a piece to inspect it.

  I grinned at her amazement. “Stuffed chicken parmigiana. Probably not a real Italian dish, but it’s close enough to the original. I had it once several years ago and always wanted to replicate it.”

  She took a bite and groaned. “Oh, it’s so good.”

  “So, how is Shae doing?” I asked cautiously. After what Lila had said earlier that day, I was a little concerned about her. “I was kind of hoping to see her.”

  Sophie kept her eyes down as she scooped up some pasta. “I wish I could say she was doing okay, but she’s not. I’m honestly not sure what's going on in her head anymore.”

  “Lila mentioned earlier that Shae and Zoe had a fight about something.”

  She finally lifted her blue eyes, and I saw how worried she was. “She’s trying to wedge their friendship into Zoe’s choice to take Lila’s bite.”

  Yikes. That was
n’t good. “The whole ‘if you do this, you won’t be my friend anymore’ game?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Poor Zoe was so upset.” She twirled another bite and stared at it hard like there was an answer in it. That look didn’t sit well with me.

  “Did you manage to get the spell on her reversed?”

  I already knew the answer to that. Dom, Ben, and Theo had been keeping me in the loop on everything that’d happened around their house. After they’d informed me that Glenda had stopped by, I had contacted her and set up another meeting. Unfortunately, that wasn’t until Friday. She seemed to be a very busy person throughout the week. Quite the popular witch.

  “Oh, yes. Glenda came by and fixed her up.” She sighed and set down her fork. “Not that Mary wouldn’t know where we were anyway.”

  Jumping at the topic, I asked, “Do you happen to have any personal information on Mary? Like, where she might live or anything?”

  “No,” Sophie replied. “She always said she was a very private person and didn’t like giving her information out, so I respected that. She phoned in her appointments from an old pay phone in town.”

  I inhaled slowly and picked at my food. “I just don’t like the idea of you two in that house while she’s still out there. I know the guys are watching, but…”

  “I understand,” she said. “Shae doesn’t want either one of us to leave the house anymore. She keeps telling me that the dragons are waiting outside to take me away from her.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” I said. “But did you ever have her, or have you considered putting her into therapy after her father died?”

  Sophie nodded, rubbing her hands on her legs under the table. “I took her for months, and her therapist said she would clam up as soon as she walked into the room, and then just sit there silently for the entire hour. It was the only idea I had at the time, so I pulled her out and just let her be.”

  So it wasn’t just me. She’d always had issues coping with the loss of her father, and then I came in and stirred everything back up. Damn it. Before I could get another topic in, Sophie cut me off.

  “Cam, we can’t see each other after this.”

  The breath whooshed from my lungs. It was nothing I hadn’t seen coming since she’d said we needed to talk but expecting it didn’t lessen the pain. “Sophie, wait, please. Don’t make anything final. We can wait—”

  “Cam, please, don’t—”

  “No, we can wait as long as we need to.” I sounded desperate even to my ears, but my dragon was already wailing inside me. “I just need to know that you’ll still want to be with me one day, someday, whenever that may be.”

  Her blue eyes were full of tears when she looked back up at me. “Cameron, I can’t promise something like that. I have no idea how long it’ll take for Shae to be ready for someone new in our lives, or how I’ll feel when she does, and I…I just—”

  She covered her mouth and stood suddenly, tears trailing down her cheeks. I sat motionless for half a second before jumping up and grabbing her hand as she started to leave the kitchen. “Sophie, please, please wait. We can take things one day at a time, we’ll take everything slowly. Please don't make this a permanent thing.”

  “That’s impossible, Cam.”

  “Why?” My voice cracked on the word, and my eyes burned and blurred.

  And then her mouth was on mine, and it felt like such a final thing that we both fell apart. I’d had a number of anxiety attacks in the past that had brought tears to my eyes, but I hadn’t truly cried since my brother died. I tried to hold on to her, to her soft lips, to her vibrant curls, just a little longer, but she slipped away between my fingers.

  “If I get close to you, I want to be all in with you.” Her voice scratched like she was fighting back more, and I was afraid mine would sound the same. “I’m so sorry, Cameron.”

  I didn’t stop her as she backed toward the door. I didn’t fight the tears that fell or wipe them away. And when she was gone, I sat on the couch and stared into the fire, trying not to feel anything.

  So when Vince came down and sat beside me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, the dam broke. And I felt everything.

  15

  Sophie

  When I got home, I couldn’t help but be thankful at first that Shae was upstairs in bed. I hadn’t wanted to separate us, but Gretta and Lila had come over with Sam and Leath so I could go to Cam’s with my regularly scheduled contingency of guards.

  “Thanks for staying,” I whispered. “It didn’t go well.”

  “Oh, honey.” Lila came over and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry. Are you sure that ending it totally is the way to go?”

  I’d explained things to her and Gretta before leaving for Cam’s.

  Nodding my head, I pulled away. I wasn’t in a place to be comforted. Any sort of hug would make the tears start to flow, and I wasn’t sure I could get them to stop again.

  “Okay, honey, whatever you need, we’re here.” Gretta gave me a sympathetic look over Lila’s shoulder. “Can we get you something to eat or anything at all?”

  “No, thank you. I’m just going to go to bed early and get some rest.” They both looked like they wanted to grab me up in a hug again, but they refrained, luckily.

  Leath and Sam shot me sad looks as they walked out and said goodbye. “Shae said she wanted to go to bed early,” Gretta said. “She wouldn’t talk to us. Just grabbed those jewelry boxes off of the coffee table and went upstairs.”

  She was putting all the stuff we’d taken to Cam's back up. That was fine, especially if it meant she wouldn't be pushing me tonight. I was the world's most understanding mother, but by giving my daughter what she needed, it had meant I just gave up the only man I’d had feelings for since Riley died. I wasn’t extremely happy with the rock and a hard place I’d been pushed between at the moment and didn’t want to take it out on her.

  As much as I wanted to go to bed and cover my head, it was still light outside.

  When I’d mourned Riley, Shae had been the only thing that had kept me from taking to my bed. I’d promised myself then that unless I was physically ill, I wouldn’t go to bed when the sun was up. I’d known if I did, I might not have gotten back out for a long time.

  Depression wasn’t a place I could slip, even in my grief. Not when my daughter had been battling her own intense, aching grief.

  Now, if I wanted a nap or some rest, I hit the couch. It was better than the bed.

  As I puttered around, straightening already neat couch cushions and wiping off the clean kitchen counter, I contemplated Riley.

  This house reminded me of him, but it wasn’t painful anymore. Instead, I lamented the fact that Cam wasn’t in the kitchen with me, whipping up some cookies or brownies.

  With a sigh, I looked around and my gaze landed on my laptop and the book I’d gotten from Cam’s. In all we talked about, and how upset I got, I’d totally forgotten to talk to him about the house, the hidden room, and what it all meant.

  With nothing else to distract me, I headed to the attic to find the trunks and boxes of my old family stuff. I wanted more proof that it was relevant.

  My father had raised me, and as a teen, I hadn’t been all that interested in my heritage, aside from the jewelry.

  But now, as an adult, I wanted to know. Plus, the possibility that I was half-witch was beyond intriguing.

  The attic light gave just enough illumination to go through the trunks. I hadn’t laid eyes on them in years and had never paid much attention before that. I pulled out old dresses, some dating back so old that it was a wonder they hadn’t fallen apart. Shae would love them. I set them by the attic door to take down and do more research on.

  The photos were of people I didn’t recognize, besides my mom and her sister. I kept thumbing through them until I reached the end of the two photo albums. None of the pictures showed the house clearly enough to be sure it was the same one. There was one snapshot of a woman who looked remarkably l
ike Shae, labeled “Grandmother Rose.” I set it aside both to compare to the family tree and to look at the stairwell behind the woman in better light downstairs.

  When the last trunk was empty, I strummed my fingers on the bottom of it, annoyed. I’d hoped to find confirmation about Cam’s house. If it was truly my family home, I wanted to find a way to buy it. Maybe if he gave me a fair price and I sold this place, I’d be able to find a way. I could open some sort of bed and breakfast and tarot reading business to support the enormous house. Goodness knew I couldn’t afford it any other way.

  My senses tingled, the spirits nudging me the way they normally did when I read cards. “What is it?” I whispered. “What am I missing?”

  The attic was quiet and still, with no outward indication I was being led around by ghosts, but I knew they were there. I looked down at the trunk, about to stand up when I decided to press on the bottom. I had no reason to do so, nothing clued me in, but I simply did—and it sprang upward. I tilted the false bottom and peered underneath. There was a spring-loaded mechanism down there, as well as another book.

  This one was really intriguing. It was bound in black, perhaps leather, and stamped with a gold filigree. I opened the cover, but the light above me flickered. Giving it a worried look, I gathered up the photo albums, dresses and clothes, and turned out the unsteady light. With full arms, I very carefully maneuvered the rickety attic steps, headed straight to my bedroom, and dumped it unceremoniously on my bed so I could go back and close the pull-down attic door.

  When I settled on the bed amid the mounds of clothing, my nose twitched from the smell of old clothing, but I ignored it and grabbed the black book.

  It was a grimoire. And it was gorgeous. The beginning of the book told the story of my ancestors’ flight from Scotland. They’d been accused of being shadow workers.