Текст книги "The Dragon's Favorite Strays"
Автор книги: Ruby Dixon
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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 26 страниц)
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CHAPTER 43
DAKOTA
“I’m just saying, Mom,” Rabbit says as we walk. “If you wanna date him, I’m totally cool with it.”
“We’re not dating!” I tell her for what must be the eleventh time that morning. “It was just sleep!”
It’s my fault she caught us this morning. I’d sworn to myself last night after the kissing session that I’d wake up early, make sure no one saw that Murr and I were bunking behind the customer service desk and snuggled up.
Did I wake up early as planned? I did not.
My daughter found me, wrapped in Murr’s arms, drooling on his chest. I haven’t slept so well in years, and even after Rabbit woke us up, Murr just pulled me tighter against him, as if he was in no hurry to let me go. It was nice. Too nice. I’m still warm and giddy thinking about it, hours later.
Rabbit’s giddy about it too, but for the wrong reasons. “Just know that I approve if you want to settle down.”
Oh dear god. “No one’s settling down! There’s nothing to approve of!” She wiggles her eyebrows at me, and I clasp her face in my hands, holding her still. “Go find Aggie and see if they’re ready to put the plan into action.”
She races off, practically skipping across the parking lot, as if she’s having the best day ever. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen if I got caught kissing Murr…but somehow in the light of day, it’s not so terrible. Rabbit has been razzing me, and Aggie won’t shut up about big meat, but all in all, I’m in too good of a mood to care that much. Maybe if I had time to sit and stew on my feelings, but today is a busy one.
Today, we’re going to catch our nomad.
This morning, over a breakfast of smoked meat and a few mouthfuls of freshly plucked dandelion greens, we talked about the plan to capture Curtis. Aggie and Dottie have a signal that they are supposed to give Curtis when all is clear. It’s a green triangle flag, like the kind a kid would have sticking off the top of their bike. The green flag tells him all is clear, and in the trunk of the car, they’re supposed to leave a bank drive-thru canister with instructions on where to meet. It sounds convoluted, but Dottie explained to me that he won’t want to meet them near the bookstore, because it’s not a “neutral” location. He’s too worried that Murr will come back.
We put in the address of a nearby diner instead, one off the highway. There’s another strip mall nearby, and Dottie is up on the roof there with a telescope, and Murr is at her side in human form. I’m hiding inside the old diner with binoculars and a whistle. Rabbit’s going to set up at the far end of the old, pothole-filled parking lot with a telescope of her own. Aggie is going to be our bait, because I refused to let Rabbit do it. Once we give the signal, Aggie is going to wander in the parking lot near the diner, pretending to look for her thick eyeglasses and to hopefully lure in Curtis.
We all have whistles, and the moment one of us blows, Murr is going to shift forms and spring into action. Once we get eyes on Curtis, we’re going to spring Murr on him. Murr has promised not to eat him, only to hold him captive.
Now we just need our nomad to show up.
Aggie signals that she’s ready, and I give her a thumbs up and climb into a broken window of the diner. I settle into the nearest booth, my binoculars at hand, and scan the area for a bicycle-riding jerk.
I shouldn’t be thinking about Murr and kisses.
Or how it was the best night of sleep ever, because he was like a big sexy space heater.
Or how his mouth was impossibly warm, his tongue like liquid heat against mine.
Or how my mouth tingled when we were done kissing.
A new, horrible thought occurs to me…oh god. What if I’m allergic to kissing Murr?
I wonder how many times I’ll be able to kiss him before the allergic reaction gets too bad? Because I really, really want to kiss him again.
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CHAPTER 44
DAKOTA
I scan the parking lot with my binoculars, but my brain is busy dreaming of kisses and warm golden skin and even warmer golden eyes. I’m so focused on the thought of kisses that when I hear the shrill sound of a whistle, it makes me jump. Biting back a swear word or seven, I lean forward, looking for the culprit. I can see farther with the binoculars, but they feel limiting and I ditch them.
A blur moves at the far side of the parking lot, nowhere near the diner. I squint, just in time to catch someone on a bicycle riding away. I don’t get a good look at them because there are at least a dozen broken-down cars between them and where I am, but I’m pretty sure there’s no dog.
Aggie shouts, and the whistle blows again.
“Get him,” I bellow, even though that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. I surge for the window, adrenaline surging through my system. “Someone get him!”
At the same time I shout, Murr’s dragon form explodes into view. His wings unfurl atop the roof and then he’s diving like a hawk, chasing after the bicycle. With a hoot of delight, I climb through the window after them.
Or I try to. My foot gets caught on the bolted-down table and my crossbow lodges in the hem of my T-shirt. Instead of slithering through the window, I end up tumbling to the ground and smacking my chin into the asphalt. Grace, thy name is Dakota.
Everything throbs, and my face feels like it’s been flattened. I roll onto my back, spread eagled in the weeds that spring up in the asphalt cracks. This is how I die, I think dramatically, as I stare up at the sky. In a parking lot, tripping over my own two feet.
There’s a ferocious dragon roar, and it sounds angry. It’s followed by the sound of a man screaming.
I sit up, my head throbbing, as Murr circles overhead. He’s got Curtis in his claws, but his gaze is on me. His eyes are whirling black, and he settles down onto the ground a short distance away and reaches for me.
“I’m fine,” I protest, as a big dragon hand—foot?—wraps around my waist. I’m lifted into the air and Murr’s snout runs up and down my front, breathing in my scent. “Get the nomad, Murr. I’m not what’s important right now.”
A big, wet dragon tongue drags over my cheek. Urgh. Somewhere, there’s a muffled man’s bellow of outrage, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from.
“Mom? Are you okay?” Rabbit comes running up to Murr, fearless. “Your face is bleeding! What happened?”
“I tripped and fell,” I try to explain as Murr keeps nosing me. I push at his face, trying to glance down at the ground. “Where’s Curtis? Where’s the nomad?”
She puts her hands to her face, shielding her eyes as she gazes up at me. “It’s all good, Murr’s standing on top of him.”
“We don’t want him dead. Just captive.” I grab one of Murr’s nostrils and try to look him in the eye. “Not dead, hear me?”
He snorts, but I notice the darkness in his eyes seems to be fading away.
“You can set me down now,” I suggest, and stroke his nostril to make up for manhandling it. “I’m fine. Really.”
Murr doesn’t set me down, though. He continues to hold me in his talons, clutching me to his chest as he sits upright like a roosting cat and waits for Aggie and Dottie to join us. The two women seem to take forever to arrive, and I watch them crossing the parking lot, and all the while, Murr nuzzles my hair and holds me tight in a dragon paw that’s the size of a mattress. Rabbit sits on the hood of a nearby car and kicks her legs, waiting. She seems completely unbothered by the fact that I’m being clutched like a teddy bear by a giant dragon.
I guess there’s no way to keep this thing between Murr and me very secret. If he acts like this when I scrape my chin, how’s he going to be when something seriously bad happens?
“You can come down now,” Dottie says, wheezing as she collapses against the nearest car. “We’re here.”
As if I’m in this spot on purpose? I tug on Murr’s claws, but he’s not releasing me. “This…wasn’t…my idea. Someone check on our nomad. See if he’s alive.”
Aggie mops her brow with an old, wrinkled red handkerchief. Her wig is askew again, but her expression is determined as she approaches Murr’s powerful hind legs. I lean over the side of the dragon’s hand so I can see things, and underneath Murr’s claws, I see a utility boot and part of a leg. Aggie moves towards the leg and kicks it.
The man flails, yelling again. “Let me go! Let me go, you dragon-loving bitches!”
Aggie squints up at me. “He’s alive.”
“What now?” Rabbit asks.
“Now we torture him until he admits where he’s got Stella,” Dottie says, and pulls out a pair of pliers.
“Guys!” I yelp, because torturing was not on the docket. I hammer on Murr’s claw, shooting a worried look at my daughter. “No one is torturing anyone. I have a teenager here!”
Aggie gazes up at me. “You’re right.” She turns to Rabbit. “Look away, honey.”
“No torture!” I bellow again.
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CHAPTER 45
DAKOTA
It takes far too long for me to get Murr to set me down, but he eventually does. I immediately move to my daughter, running my hands over her arms and legs. “You’re okay, aren’t you, baby?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Mom. I’m fine. All I did was blow a whistle.”
Yes, but that whistle ratcheted up my anxiety. I hug her close and turn towards the others. Aggie and Dottie are waiting, not so patiently, beside one of Murr’s big back legs. They want to torture our captive, or at least make him think we’re going to. They’re doing a good job of being convincing, too, because I’m not entirely certain that they don’t want to torture him. I’m going to have to supervise closely. “Have you asked him about Stella yet?”
“Thought we’d wait for you, fearless leader,” Dottie says.
Am I the leader? Ugh. I don’t want to lead anyone, but I also don’t want to see a man slaughtered in front of my daughter if he says the wrong thing. Man, it sucks to realize you have to be the responsible one. I ruffle Rabbit’s hair and move towards Murr’s foot. He’s still got the man caged in his claws, but it doesn’t look like it’d take much to flatten him. Just a quick shifting of weight. “Hi there,” I say, bending over to address our enemy. “Fancy seeing you again.”
The man lets out a long string of nasty, four-letter expletives.
“I’m going to ask you not to say that sort of stuff in front of my daughter,” I tell him, keeping my tone cheerful. “If I get upset, the dragon gets upset. Understand?”
Curtis goes silent.
“We’re looking for a dog,” I say. “I heard you took her from Aggie and Dottie. We want her back.”
There’s a long pause, and a scrape of fabric against the concrete, as if he’s trying to wriggle out from under Murr’s claws. “You’re wrong. Those old bats are crazy.”
“We are not!” Aggie yells, pushing forward. I put my arms around her and hold her back before she can kick Curtis again. “You stole my dog! You’re keeping her because you want to sell her puppies!”
Murr’s head tilts and his wings flutter.
“Don’t know nothing about that,” Curtis says, bluffing. “You’re either going to have to let me go or kill me.”
He’s not afraid of us, that much is obvious. But I’ve noticed that Murr’s paying attention. I think he picked up on a few words of our conversation, but it’s hard to tell what. I decide to repeat some of the conversation back to see if I can figure it out. “You stole a dog from Aggie and Dottie.” Those words elicit no response from Murr, so I continue. “We want her back, and her babies.”
The word “babies” makes Murr twitch again. Aha.
“You might not be afraid of us,” I say. “But this big dragon loves babies and if he thinks you’re keeping us from them, he’s going to be very upset.”
Curtis just makes a dismissive sound. Funny how someone can have so much piss and vinegar while trapped under a dragon’s foot.
I look up at Murr and tap his leg. “He’s keeping Aggie’s kittens from her. Aggie’s babies.” I point down at Curtis. “Bad man.”
A low, dangerous rumbling starts in Murr’s throat. I know him pretty well and it’s still chilling to hear.
“Hey,” Curtis protests, more nervous. “Shut the fuck up, lady—”
“Give us back the dog and her babies,” I demand.
Curtis scrabbles under the claws, trying to wiggle free. He yelps, his hands flailing. “He’s stepping on me!”
My heart flutters nervously.
“Good!” Dottie says, arms crossed.
I shoot Murr a worried look, because there’s a thin line between scaring a guy and squishing a guy, and it looks to be a few inches under the dragon’s toes. “Just tell us—”
“I don’t know if we’re going to be able to control him much longer, Mister,” Rabbit says, moving to my side. She sounds really worried. “He gets nervous if he thinks animals are being hurt, and he can understand everything we’re saying. You might want to tell us where she is.”
“Rabbit, hush,” I begin. “Let me handle this—”
“Oh my god,” Rabbit continues, feigning terror. “He’s going to do it! Murr, don’t—”
Murr shifts his weight, and Curtis screams again. “Get him off me!”
Rabbit’s voice raises a hysterical note. “He’s going to kill you! Quick! Tell us! Tell us!”
“Okay!” the man blurts out. “Okay! Just don’t let him kill me!”
She leans over him, screaming. Her tone is so urgent it’s making me panicky. “Tell us where she is! Hurry! We can’t hold him off much longer!”
Murr obligingly growls and shakes his wings, and my imagination fills with the thought of Curtis, popping like a bubble under Murr’s foot. “Guys, wait—”
“She’s in the vet clinic up the road! Locked in a kennel!” he shouts. “Get him off me! Get him off me!”
Immediately, my daughter stops shrieking and winks at me. She straightens. “Cool. Call him off, Mom.”
Call him off? As if I’m in control of this situation?
I don’t know whose nerves are more shredded—mine or Curtis’s.
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CHAPTER 46
DAKOTA
Rabbit and Aggie take off for the vet’s office, after getting some very grudging instructions from Curtis. Dottie and I sit on the hood of a nearby car to wait for them to return. We’re more or less babysitting Curtis, who’s still trapped under Murr’s claws.
Dottie can’t resist being a little mean about it, either. “I bet Murr wouldn’t mind a little snack. He looks hungry.”
“I told you where the dog was,” Curtis yells back at us. “You need to let me go!”
“And we will,” I promise. “Just as soon as they return with Stella.”
“I told you where she was. I don’t have a reason to lie.”
“You have every reason to lie,” Dottie scoffs. She scowls in his direction, as if his very presence offends her. “You’ve been lying since the day we met you. How many other helpless poor old ladies have you robbed?”
“You’re nuts if you think you’re helpless,” he says. “You two have been a problem since the day I met you. All of you.”
“For the record, you came after me and my daughter,” I say. “That’s on you.”
“And if that dog isn’t where she’s supposed to be,” Dottie warns, her tone menacing. “I’m going to fuck you up.”
“Oh please,” Curtis says. I see a hand come out from between Murr’s massive claws, but he’s not able to grab on to anything. “You’re lucky you’ve got a dragon protecting you.”
I’m well aware that Murr gives us a huge advantage. I’m choosing to see it as a good thing and not a bad thing, however. “And you’re unlucky that you don’t. Guess it sucks to be you.”
He mutters something under his breath.
Dottie puts a hand to her ear. “What’s that? We didn’t hear you.”
“I said you’re all dragon lovers,” Curtis yells back. “And you’re gonna get what you deserve!”
She looks over at me, feigning surprise. “What we deserve? Oh, I dunno… a full belly and our dog back from a criminal? Doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
I grin at her. “No, it doesn’t.”
“And you’re the only one loving up on the dragon at the moment anyhow,” she comments.
My grin turns to mortification. “I am not!”
“You are, and it’s all right, honey.” She reaches over and pats my arm. “I don’t judge. He’s ten times better than this sack of shit called Curtis.”
I laugh.
“Oh, ha ha,” Curtis yells at us. “Yuck it up now, ladies. You won’t be laughing when the fort comes after you.”
We exchange a look. Dottie calls back at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You think you’re hidden out here because you’re not in the fort?” Curtis says, his tone strident and carrying across the parking lot. “I told them all about you. How a bunch of ladies were holed up in a bookstore with a dragon. I wouldn’t be surprised if they come after you sooner rather than later, and then we’ll see who’s laughing.”
I stare at him, trying to discern if he’s joking or not. What’s the point in telling a fort about us? We’re not bothering them. We’re not hunting for food anywhere close to the fort. It’s in the Downtown Dallas area and we’re in Fort Worth. There’s plenty of room for everyone, especially given that no one drives a car anymore. Ten miles might as well be a hundred.
But my instincts are prickling a warning anyhow. “The fort doesn’t care about us,” I say. “Why would they?”
“They’d care if I told them you had a ton of food and batteries. Told them I saw some solar panels, too. Imagine they’ll come by to check it out.”
My jaw drops. That lying sack of shit. We don’t have any of that. Or rather, we don’t have solar panels or batteries—those are rarer than unicorns in the After. And the only reason we have a ton of food is thanks to Murr. If what he says is true and he’s told them that, they won’t be able to resist checking out our home and raiding it to steal whatever we have.
“He’s lying,” Dottie says, seeing my reaction. She doesn’t sound convinced, though.
“What if he’s not?”
“If he’s not, then you have a big damn dragon that will protect you.” She gestures at Murr. “And dragons are supposed to be invulnerable.”
Maybe in their dragon form, but I remember shooting Murr in the arm with my arrow. I also have a young, vulnerable daughter, and the thought of her being dragged to a fort terrifies me, because I’ve seen how women get treated when they lose any power they have. Murr might be safe, but he can’t be at our side at all times.
And I’ve seen the collateral damage that happens when two angry, fire-breathing dragons take to the skies. Even if they’re trying to be careful, it’s too easy to set their surroundings on fire. Like it or not, Murr is a liability as much as he is protection.
Is it time for us to move on from the bookstore already? The thought makes me sick to my stomach, but I’m not sure what other choice we have.
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CHAPTER 47
MURR
There is a lot of talking amongst the females, but one thing is clear: I am not to eat the male under my claws. He deserves eating, or at the very least being chewed up and spit out, but perhaps Dakotah will not like putting her lips on mine after I have eaten this man. It makes sense, even if it’s disappointing.
I watch my humans and look for cues, instead.
Ribbit and Ah-gee return after a time, and they have with them a fat, wiggly, long-legged creature. It slobbers everywhere and pushes its nose in between thighs, getting scents, but it seems happy and harmless enough. Ah-gee is delighted to have it with her and keeps hugging the thing’s head.
“Das notta doodle,” Dakotah says to Ah-gee. “Dassa grate dayn.”
Ah-gee just shrugs and gives the creature’s face a smacking kith. This is her child, then, like my cats are mine. Well, I can feed one more mouth easily. The presence of the wriggling creature makes everyone happy. If my humans are happy, then I am happy. Ribbit’s face is radiant, and she hugs her mother, then Ah-gee, Doh-dee, and the animal.
Dakotah turns to look at the male under my claws, who keeps screeching. Her hands go to her hips and she gazes at the male, disapproval evident on her face. “Wut dewidoo wittim?”
I don’t understand her words, but I know Dakotah well enough that I can guess. She wishes to dispose of the male and go home. I curl my claws around him, transferring the squirming, stinking male to my forelegs, and lift him to my open mouth in a suggestion. Then, I wait to see her reaction.
I can eat him for her, if she likes.
The male bellows in fear and anger.
Dakotah chuckles, the sound filling me with warmth, and her gaze is on me. She puts her hands up in the air to stop me. “No eat.”
“Yes eat,” Ah-gee says, her eyes huge behind the strange frames on her face. “Bad man. Big meat, Murr.”
Dakotah glares at her. “No, Ah-gee.”
I close my mouth and settle in, watching the females as they argue. The closer the male gets, the more he stinks, and I’m not keen on eating him anyhow. I could just bite off his head and toss him aside, but it seems Dakotah wants him alive for some reason I have not entirely figured out yet. The females argue for a time, Doh-dee and Ah-gee protesting and Dakotah crossing her arms and shaking her head. Ribbit glances up at me, thoughtful.
I trickle a bit of smoke from my nostrils and blow it in the male’s face. If not eaten, maybe charred instead.
A moment later, the smell of urine tinges the air. Disgusting.
Ribbit speaks up, gesturing at my wings and then flaps her hands, indicating the horizon. My name comes up in her babble of words, and when she makes another gesture that indicates distance, I can guess what she wants. They do not like the male, so since I can fly, I can take him far, far away.
Even if he is not dead, if I fly him far enough away, he will no longer bother my females.
Dakotah seems to like this idea. She considers it, then eyes me with a speculative look. “Murr?”
I pick her up gently with my other claws and bring her to my face, nuzzling her with my snout. Even if I do not have the words, I hope this is clear to her. Whatever she wants, I will do.
The male says something, and Dakotah stiffens, her scent changing.
Immediately I turn to the male, snarling, fire tickling my tongue. He screams and cringes back, plucking at my claws as if he hopes for release.
My Dakotah’s small hand pats my muzzle. “No, Murr. We dondoodat. Murr good.” When I turn toward her, she continues to stroke my face with her fingers, tiny against my battle-form. “U takkim far, far away?”
I catch the word “far” in that and can guess the rest. I nod my head and set Dakotah down again, unable to resist one more nuzzle of her. She’s just so…enticing.
Ribbit beams up at me. “Ur good, Murr. Dankyew.”
I pick her up and give her a quick nuzzle, too. Then I set her down and reach for Doh-dee, so she does not feel neglected. She puts her hands up and takes a step back. “Nahmee.”
Ah-gee eyes me and puts her arms around her creature again. “Mgood.”
“Takim far,” Dakotah says to me, gazing up from below. “Far, far, far.”
So my new family can be safe. I understand.
I launch myself into the air, beating my powerful wings until I catch an air current heading away from the human settlements. I fly for quite some time, until the sun gets high in the sky and begins its descent towards the horizon. The land changes, becoming thick with trees and no longer smelling like the area we live in.
When I see a large body of water, I swoop low and dump my filthy, piss-stinking human into it, and fly away.
He will not bother my Dakotah or my Ribbit again.
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