Seed of the Dragon: A Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance (14 page)

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CHAPTER 13

“Shawn”

“How’d Michael do?” I asked as Rachel kneeled next to him, fixing up his hair.

“He did just fine, in fact even better than that, he’s smart for a four year old,” Kathleen said.

“That’s good to hear,” Rachel said.

“Must have inherited your smarts,” I complimented.

Rachel smiled up at me. We seemed to have met a sort of understanding after sleeping together in the apartment. We were to be together, as what, we did not know, but it was monogamous, sexual, and parental. We were going to raise Michael together as partners.

My cell phone started ringing suddenly which made me jump. “Hello?” I answered, not knowing who in the world would be calling me.

“Shawn! Help!” a familiar feminine voice cried on the other end.

“Missy?! Missy is that you?!” I said in a rush.

There was weeping on the other end, then silence.

“Shawn,” a masculine voice answered me.

“Boss?What have you done to Missy?”

“Nothing… yet,” Boss answered.

“What do you want?” I asked with a violent tone.

Rachel and Kathleen gazed at me with worried looks.

“You know exactly what I want: the other dragon shifter,” said Boss.

“Why would I give you that?” I asked.

“If you don’t, Missy here won’t be living much longer,” Boss threatened.

I looked down at Michael and Rachel. I had to pause for a moment.

“I’ll call you back in five minutes, by then give me your answer,” Boss said before he hung up.

I looked at my phone in disbelief. I knew that boss was mad at me for failing the mission but now he wants the dragon shifter? How did he even know I found the shifter? Missy must have told him something that made him suspicious.

“Who was that?” Kathleen asked.

Rachel looked on in worry.

“My old boss, he wants Michael and will kill Missy if I don’t give him what he wants,” I explained.

“Missy?” Rachel asked.

“She’s like a sister to me. She came with me from Dublin to the states along with her parents in order to finish her training,” I replied.

Rachel and Kathleen looked at each other. “What are you going to do?” asked Kathleen.

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed. “I can’t give Michael to him, but I also can’t let Missy die!”

“We can,” said Rachel.             

“What?!” Kathleen and I exclaimed.

“I have an idea,” she explained, “a way that we can do both.”

Kathleen and I leaned towards Rachel.

“What if we don’t bring Michael?” she said.

“But how would that even work?” I asked.

“Listen to me, what if I come with and carry a
dummy
?” Rachel said.

“This isn’t a movie!” I replied.

“No, wait, Rachel has a point, it’ll get you close enough to save Missy and not have to put Michael in danger!” Kathleen said.

“What if they figure out that it’s a dummy?” I questioned, “Missy’s life is on the line!”

“Would you rather put Michael in danger?” Kathleen said.

“No…” I replied.

“Then this is our best bet-“ Rachel began but was interrupted by my phone.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Your answer,” Boss demanded.

“On one condition,” I said.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The mother wants to stay with the child,” I said.

“We will take the mother too,” said Boss, “I see no problem in that. Tomorrow I expect to see you in the office.”

“Understood,” I replied. I felt a sigh run through my lungs as the phone beeped informing me that I had been hung up on.

“What did he say?” Kathleen asked.

“He bought it,” I replied. “I just hope that this plan works.”

“Well we sure aren’t bringing Michael along.”

“I know I know,” I repeated.

We had to prepare… we had to pack, we would need to leave early in the morning so maybe we could get the jump on them. I can’t believe Boss would stoop so low to take his own secretary hostage just to piss off a former employee. Besides, what would he use Michael for? He wasn’t even trained in killing yet. Unless maybe he had people that he had that would train him. Perhaps he just wanted another mythical creature shifter on his side. What was the point? He had had me and his lack of information could have cost me my life against that phoenix shifter.

“Shawn?” Rachel called.

“Yes?”

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, sorry I was just deep in thought,” I answered. Just what exactly did Boss really want? What was it that was so important that he’d drag innocent lives into it?

“It’s fine to worry, but you should sleep at some point and rest, you have a long day ahead of you,” Kathleen said.

“I’ll put Michael to bed,” Rachel offered.

“I’ll take care of Michael while you are away, so just leave him here with me,” Kathleen said.

“Are you sure?” Rachel asked.

“Absolutely,” Kathleen replied.

The two women smiled at each other.

“Rachel”

I could tell Shawn was worried but I couldn’t do anything to soothe  him. We went to bed at the apartment but he was completely silent and lost in thought the entire time. I wanted to say something, or do something, but I actually did not know what might cheer him up. He laid with his back to me on the bed. His shoulders were scrunched up in stress. I felt my heart reach out to him in this hard time.

“Shawn,” I called out.

He did not answer me.

“No matter what happens, I’ll support you,” I said repeating his words to me.

Shawn turned around to face me and I saw the frown etched into his face. “I’m just so worried for Missy, and what might happen if our plan goes awry,” he explained.

“I know, but we can only hope for the best,” I said. “No matter what, I’ll be here for you.”

“Thanks, Rachel,” Shawn said but his eyebrows were still knit together.

I shuffled closer to him and pulled his head to my chest. I then began to rub circles on his back in hopes of comforting him. I felt the tension slowly release from his shoulders and his body relax into mine.

“Whatever will happen will happen,” I whispered.

Outside, I could hear the faint chirping of crickets and the tinkling of wind chimes. The night seemed so calm and yet something so worrisome was just on the horizon. Once sunrise came  we would have to go and try to solve this problem. Shawn nuzzled his head into my chest and muttered something, but I did not dare ask him to repeat it. It sounded like three words proclaiming an important emotion and perhaps I imagined it, so instead, I held him closer until sleep took us both into its arms.

When morning broke, the tension of last night returned, but now Shawn had a twitch of a smile when he saw me. We got ready in silence but there was an unspoken bond that we had created by supporting one another. It was weird how these events brought upon these relationships and feelings, had I not had Michael I would have never seen or heard from Shawn ever again, and now we were partners.

It was crazy to see how fate wound its thread around us and binds certain people together. Or perhaps it wasn’t fate but pure coincidence that brought us to this point. Either way, I was happy with the outcome because I had something to look forward to in my life even if it wasn’t what I had always wanted.

“Please take care that Michael brushes his teeth before and after bed!” I said to Kathleen.             

“Of course, Rachel, you shall have no worries about that,” Kathleen replied.

Michael groaned from the corner. I pulled her into a large hug. I couldn’t really express just how grateful I was for her support in this entire situation.

“Here’s the puppet,” Kathleen said as she handed me straw covered in Michael’s extra clothes.

“Much lighter than a child,” I happily noted as I carried it in my arms.

“Be careful now, you two!” Kathleen said as we exited her home.

We waved goodbye and made our way to the entrance we had first come into the city. We walked up the many flights of stairs before finally coming in contact with the pudgy and bald Bartley.

“Bartley!” Shawn greeted.

“Shawn!” he greeted back. “Leaving so soon, eh?”

“We’ve got some business to attend to,” said Shawn.

“Well I wish you luck, mate,” Bartley said.

“Thank you,” I replied.

Bartley opened the hatch and let us out into the daylight. Although there were those lamps in Sub-Dublin nothing could really compare to the real sun. Something about it was magical. I relished in the feeling of it on my skin after so many days underground.

“New York is about five hours behind us so we’ll arrive early in the morning,” Shawn said.

“And how will we be getting there?” I asked.

“Same way we got here,” Shawn said.

I looked at him incredulously.

“I even got you an oxygen mask,” he said, pulling it out of his backpack.

“Oh no,” I said.

“It’s the only way,” Shawn replied.

I sighed full heartedly. This was going to be a terrible trip.

“This time I’ll hold you in my front claws so it’ll be much more comfortable,” said Shawn.

“I don’t think it’ll be very comfortable either way,” I commented.

“Don’t be a baby,” said Shawn.

I groaned. “You don’t even know what it’s like to ride a dragon!” I complained.

Shawn looked at me humorlessly, which made me laugh.

“Don’t deadpan me!” I said.

“I was not!” Shawn replied.

We both laughed.

“Okay we need to go, so put on your oxygen mask,” said Shawn.

I obliged. Shawn then put down his backpack for me to carry. He passed me his clothes to put into the bag and then began to shift. I watched in wonder as the man who I consider my partner begin to change into a large, scaled, winged, ferocious, mythical creature. His eyes remained golden but his skin turned into crimson scales, his nails into claws, and his shoulder blades into wings. His spine elongated to a tail and he gained an extra pair of eyelids.

Shawn gazed over at me and opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted him in my curiosity, “Can you breathe fire?” I asked.

He looked at me for a moment and then up at the sky, letting out a little plume of fire.

“So small!” I commented.

“I can’t exactly let loose right outside of the city you know,” Shawn said.

“Oh, that’s true,” I replied in understanding.

Shawn flicked his head and opened his front claws for me. I took that as a sign that I should get on. He created a sort of seat for me with his hands, which I gratefully got comfortable in.

“This seems like it might be a tad safer than last time,” I said.

“I’ll be going much faster this time so I advise that you hold on tight,” he said.

I put my oxygen mask on and then wrapped my arms around one of Shawn’s claws. “Ready!” I shouted.

Shawn took a running start and then leapt into the air. As we were in the air, Shawn flapped his wings and we went higher and higher. We began to pick up speed and my grip tightened unintentionally out of fear. The wind hit my ears heavily and I could hear nothing. I closed my eyes and decided to just trust Shawn. He wouldn’t let me or the puppet Michael I was currently holding onto, get hurt. He would never put me into the heart of danger without good rhyme or reason.

Once we got to the right altitude everything seemed to slow down and it felt more like we were just gliding atop the air. Suddenly, everything seemed to calm down and become serene and peaceful. I felt like it was safe enough that I even let go of my killer grip on one of Shawn’s claws.

The flight was beautiful. It felt wonderful to feel the wind and the sun, and just the world spinning round. It felt as if nothing mattered up here, felt as if it was just me and Shawn. I wondered if there has ever been anyone else to every experience this. It was so amazing and soothing. It felt as if those hours were more like minutes since the surroundings felt so magical.

“Rachel?” Shawn called.

“Yes?” I answered.

“Check how far we are on the GPS,” Shawn said.

I took out his phone from the backpack and opened the map. “We’re not too far off,” I shouted.

Just as I spoke the phone started to beep.

“Hold on tight,” Shawn requested.

I obliged. Our descent was like our ascent: rocky and scary. The wind began to blow painfully at me again and it felt turbulent and I would have fallen off had I not been gripping Shawn’s claw so tightly with my arms. We landed gracefully atop a large skyscraper in the middle of the city. Shawn shifted back before I could even say a word.