Chapter 6

Chapter Six

SIMON

A little shock of electricity zinged over me. My skin vibrated until every little hair on my body stood on end and my hands trembled. I lowered the whistle.

What was that? I scanned the shoreline but didn't see a mage practicing magic out there tonight.

A thick ripple rolled over the calm surface of the lake. It started way out in the middle. Was it Weston ? The local merman swam in the lake a lot. Or maybe it was?—

Whatever I'd been thinking dropped out of my head like a bowling ball through tissue paper as a large shimmering creature breached the surface of the lake in an explosion of water. It shot straight up into the air. Water glistened over its body before the droplets fell like a fine mist to the lake below as the creature went higher and higher into the air.

That was not Weston . Or a fish. Or a tentacled supe like the couple who owned the bakery .

I gaped.

It was a dragon of some kind. Or a basilisk?

No , I was right the first time. It had to be a dragon.

The creature wasn't big and bulky like I'd always envisioned a dragon would look. You know the image: curved horns protruding from its head, sharp-looking spikes along its back, thick reptile-like legs, and gigantic wings. Yeah , well, this creature was nothing like that. This creature was sleek and lean and long, with surprisingly small wings on its back. Its whole body was more snake-like than not.

Its body undulated through the air, surfing the air currents the same as fish swam along the currents in the water.

Then the creature's body jackknifed. Now , rather than shooting up, it blasted back to the ground or the water or…

Oh …

Oh no…

It wasn't heading for either of those. The creature was coming straight for me.

Uh oh.

What had I done?

I was definitely losing one of my nine lives tonight.

Hovering over the middle of the lake, the creature hadn't seemed too big. But my eyes must be broken because as the thing came closer, it appeared more and more enormous.

I gulped down a breath and prayed it wasn't going to eat me.

In my shifted form, I was on the smaller side—more house cat than lion—but right now? In my human form? I was big enough I'd catch in the creature's throat, and that didn't sound pleasant. For either of us.

" Hi , nice dragon-y person," I choked out as I raised my hands in surrender. " I'm pretty sure I'd taste awful. I eat too much processed meat and sodium and sugar—no, forget I said sugar— I meant… uh… artificial coloring… So , yeah, you definitely don't want to eat me."

The dragon was close now. Every undulation of its long body mesmerized me as it glided toward me. Was that how it incapacitated its victims? The glow from the town's evening lights caught on its scales, which appeared to glitter and glisten as it moved. I swallowed hard. The creature was beautiful and utterly terrifying all at once.

The part of my brain that loved having all its nine lives, which until this moment had always been the most dominant part of my psyche, couldn't even motivate me to move. I had to see what was going to happen next. I had to know more.

And then it was too late.

The creature was on me. Its long, thick body whipped around me, encircling me, until I couldn't budge if I wanted to. Its coils squeezed my soft belly, making me keenly aware that I wasn't super fit like my brothers. I wasn't beer-belly fat, but I'd never seen my Adonis belt either. Of all the ways to lose one of my nine, I'd never imagined being crushed to death. This was the worst moment of my life… even worse than when I'd coughed up a hairball on my biology exam in high school and made the girl next to me throw up. It'd been awful. My classmates—especially my brothers—never let me forget it .

But this? This was awful in a different way.

What if the creature took more than one of my nine? What if it took all nine? Wiped them out? Gone . Kablooey . Poofed into thin air.

I started counting down to my impending death.

I would be down to eight lives in three… two… one…

My lungs sucked a breath in and let it out. And again. The creature wasn't crushing me. It hadn't bitten me yet either. Hope surged through me.

" I'm sorry." The words rushed out. " I'm sorry. I don't know why you are mad at me. I didn't mean to do anything. Please don't hurt me."

" Who are you?" A drawn-out hiss punctuated the dragon's question as its long, thin, forked tongue curled through the air in front of my face. A slight English accent coated the words. I usually found accents sexy, but not this time, not when spoken by an angry dragon.

" S … Simon …" I stammered. " Simon Rivers ."

" Simon the Cat ." That tongue hissed the "s" before it unrolled and drew a long lick up my cheek.

I shivered. " J … Just Simon is fine."

" How am I here, Just Simon ?" The tail tightened around my body. If it wanted, the creature could kill me. We both knew it. I really didn't need the demonstration.

" I … I …"

Suddenly I knew the whistle was no ordinary whistle. I'd always suspected it was special, but… Davina was right, unfortunately. The whistle was dangerous.

I gulped. I couldn't lie my way out of this. With the way I lied—or rather couldn't lie— I'd just anger the dragon if I tried. I had to be smart about this, except I wasn't the smart one in the family. That was my brother Justin . My heart pounded faster. But I did have the whistle still. If I surrendered it to the dragon, maybe that'd be enough. Holy Magic , I hoped so.

Only because the creature allowed it was I able to move my arm and free it from the dragon's coils. I presented the whistle to the dragon.

" I think this did it."

The creature's electric blue eyes narrowed at the whistle. I'd never seen eyes that color. They were shockingly bright and vivid and very pretty.

And wasn't that a stupid thought to entertain as I was about to be eaten? Weren't you supposed to have your life flash before your eyes or something? I shouldn't be mooning over a dragon's pretty eyes.

" You are a dragon summoner," the dragon spat the words at me. " How many of my kind have you captured? Who else is here with you? Where is your coven? Are they hiding as they perform the spell to capture me? Do you plan to hold me down? Torture me until I submit? You might have been told I'd be weak and vulnerable after being summoned, but you can see you are wrong." The creature swung its massive head around with its long tongue fluttering through the air, as if searching for more threats.

" Uh . No . I mean I don't think so? Just a cat, remember? Not a summoner. No coven. Shifters don't form covens. And I haven't captured anything. Or I mean anyone." Although was that technically true? " I mean I guess I've hunted for mice. That's what I was doing when I found the whistle. Just a bit of hunting. But , uh, no supes. Just field mice. Really . Promise . And definitely no torture. I don't even play with the mice I catch. Nope . None of that."

" Well , Just Simon , Just a Cat , if you aren't a dragon summoner, why do you have that whistle?"

" I … I found it?"

" Are you asking me?"

" No ?"

Its eyes narrowed again.

I cleared my throat. " No . Definitely not asking a question."

" Any dragon worth his gold would eat the person who dared to blow a whistle like that." The tip of the dragon's long, long tail brushed my cheek again, then it followed the same route with its tongue. Was it sampling me? Checking to see if I was tender or if I'd taste good?

" Did I mention how much processed meat I eat?"

The dragon laughed, tilting its head from side to side as if it didn't know what to do with me. " But you are too adorable to eat, aren't you? I can think of all kinds of other things to do with you instead."

My mouth went dry. Was that an improvement? What kinds of things did he want to do? They wouldn't be sexy things, would they? No . Of course not. Why had my brain gone there?

" I am inclined to trust you," the dragon said.

" Oh , thank Magic ," I gasped.

The coils unwound, leaving me quivering on my own two feet again. I slumped in relief. Then the dragon's body started to glow. It grew brighter and brighter until a blast of white light blinded me. I lifted my hands to my eyes with a cry.

When I shifted into my cat form, the process was a lot less dramatic. There were no bright lights. Nothing glowed. Truthfully , I'd never considered the ability to shift forms to be particularly magical before. It was just something all the other shifters in Willow Lake did. There was nothing overtly special about shifting, except this guy's change had been beautiful and strange and, yes, definitely magical.

In the next moment, everything was dark again. I drew my hand from my face and blinked. When my eyes cleared, I blinked again. There , standing in the dragon's place, was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.

And he was completely naked.

The man's blue eyes sparkled as he smiled at me. His dark brown hair was short, and he had a scruffy sort of beard on his jaw like he'd forgotten to shave this morning. Although , honestly, it would take me at least three weeks to grow that much, so it was hard to tell. I gauged him to be older than me, but with supes you could never really tell how old someone was based on their appearance alone. He could have anywhere from five years to decades or even centuries on me.

Despite sensing he was older, I felt an instant sort of connection to him… like he was a homeless puppy I'd found in an alley. I wanted to take him home. Except he was no puppy. He was a strikingly handsome man, one that was way out of my league. I knew that at just one glance .

His lean frame was smaller than mine, which probably contributed to why I felt a little protective of him. Not that he needed my protection. When he'd had me wrapped in his coils, he could have ended me. But he hadn't. I still had my nine, which was more than I thought I'd have when he burst out of the water and swooped toward me. But despite his obvious strength and abilities, my burgeoning and misguided protective instincts weren't going away.

And he was naked.

Did I mention he was naked?

Like all of him. Right there. Hanging out. In front of me.

I tried desperately not to look.

But he was right there.

Did I say that already?

There was absolutely no reason for him to be naked. Every single shifter I knew kept their clothes when shifting. Unless he was doing something that required him to be sans clothes when I'd whistled. Oh ! Sweet mother of kittens. Had he been in bed with someone? And why had my brain gone straight to sex? I mean, sure, he could have been having a shower or something… But this guy oozed sex appeal. He probably didn't sleep alone very often. Heck , maybe he didn't shower alone either.

I'd never understood the appeal of showering with someone else. I showered to get clean in the fastest way possible. Showering was a functional necessity. But … Maybe if I was in a shower with a guy like him, I might consider ways to draw it out just to be close to him naked.

Great . Now I was picturing his very naked body glistening and wet .

It was so wrong to get a boner right now, but my body was doing its own thing without consulting my brain.

" Hello , Just Simon , Just a Cat . My name is Ogden Walsh ." His English accent was stronger than it had been when he was in his dragon form. And this time, it was definitely sexy, which was wildly confusing. I'd spent my whole life protecting my nine, only to suddenly discover my libido had no sense of self-preservation. What was even happening right now?

The dragon extended his hand toward me. I stared at it for a long moment before I realized he meant for me to shake it. I put my palm against his. His firm grip made me shudder and suddenly I was imagining all kinds of ways he could use that grip on my body.

A rumbling noise rolled out of me. I didn't know if I was trying to purr or growl, but whatever my body was doing, it needed to be shut down. Fast . I tightened my control.

The guy's eyes crinkled at the sides, like smiling and laughing were common things for him. It looked so natural and good on him.

" Hello ?" The word I said was only two syllables, but my voice cracked anyway. It hadn't done that since I was going through puberty. How embarrassing. Heat shot over my face, and I hoped Ogden couldn't see my blush in the dark.

" So , Simon Rivers , Dragon Summoner , we need to have a chat."

" Oh ?" I glanced down at the whistle in my hand, then I thrust it toward him, even though some part of me still wanted to keep the pretty whistle. I'd been carrying it around for months now. I wasn't sure what I'd do without it. But this obviously wasn't any normal whistle, and I really shouldn't go about summoning dragons. Sadly , it would probably be better if a dragon had it. " I think this is yours."

Ogden shook his head. " It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid."

I stared at him.

" You don't know what's going on, do you?"

I shook my head.

He reached out, as if to take the whistle, but his fingers passed right through the metal. He looked at me like that explained everything. But it didn't. It really didn't. He huffed out a breath and rolled his eyes.

" For better or worse, you've activated an ancient magic and summoned a dragon."

" Okay ." I nodded like an attentive student. " I , uh, got that. Now what?"

" Summoners usually try to control my kind, try to make us call them master and that kind of ridiculousness." Except he didn't sound like he was laughing. He sounded dead serious and rather angry about the whole thing. " Whistles like that have been banned for a long time." He narrowed his eyes at me again. " But here you are with one. Do you think I'll call you master, little kitty cat?"

I jerked my hand back and dropped the whistle like it'd burned me. I rubbed my hands on my jeans. The possessive thoughts I had about the whistle and how I'd just ogled the poor naked dragon caught in its magic made me feel dirty. My stomach turned. " No , that'd can't be. I'm no one's master. Definitely not a dragon's. "

Ogden scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. " I'm not all that fond of the idea either, believe me." He pointed his bare toe at the whistle on the ground between us. " But let's not leave that lying about, m'kay? The last thing we need is for someone else to come along and blow on it."

" Are you sure that's what it is?" This had to be a mistake.

Ogden shrugged. " I'm sure you've heard the stories of witches summoning demons. There are always memes like that floating around on social media, like it's some joke." He scowled. " Anyway , it's like that. There have always been people who want to control other supernaturals. This particular whistle is for dragons, but there are others for different shifters or… well… you name any kind of supe and there will have been people who tried to enslave it."

" I've enslaved you?" My stomach rolled again, and I was suddenly thankful I hadn't eaten at the pub earlier. I doubted the dragon would appreciate me throwing up on his bare feet.

Ogden tipped his hand back and forth. " Not exactly. Now we negotiate."

Okay . That didn't sound so bad. " Okay . I'll start. You are free to do what you want. I don't want anything in return."

He looked like he would accept, but then he shook his head. " As much as I want to agree to those terms, I don't think I should. Not yet."

" No ? I don't understand."

" If you'd listen for a minute, you might." The dragon shook his head at me like I was the ridiculous one .

If I was in my shifted form, my tail would be twitching like crazy about now.

" If I agreed to your terms now, the magic might sense we are done and send me back before I could finish the first line of ‘ Tutti Frutti ' and I'd be no further ahead than I was before. I can't risk that. Not yet."

" But —"

" I can't return there empty-handed. I was running out of my regular repertoire of upbeat songs, and the ‘80s hair bands and ballads have never been my jam, you know? And as much as I hate to admit it, music can only do so much." Ogden shivered. " Honestly , I'd prefer to stay here, but that can't happen either. I need supplies and a plan."

" I don't understand." Was he trying to confuse me? Or had the summoning magic broken his brain somehow?

" We don't have long. From what I remember…" Ogden tilted his head to the side and stroked his chin. " I think most summoning magics stay active for about three, four, or seven hours, depending on the strength of the coven."

" Without a coven?" I asked, although I wasn't sure I believed any of this. And yet, what other explanation for his sudden appearance could there be?

He eyed me and nodded like I'd said something important. " A bit of an unknown, isn't it?"

A bright beam of light flashed over us.

" What in the name of Magic is going on, Simon ?"

" Oh , uh, hey, Van … Uh , I mean, Chief Clark ." I squinted into the light and inched away from Ogden . Could I make it to the tree line before Van caught me? Probably not. The guy was a hellhound. His job was all about policing everyone in town and catching people who ran, particularly if they were doing something wrong. I hadn't meant to enslave a dragon, but would Van see it the same way? My scalp tingled as panic screeched up and down my spine. I swallowed hard. " Uh … How's it going?"

" Who is the naked guy?"

" Uh , this is Ogden ." I glanced at the dragon. " Ogden , this is Van Clark . He's the hellhound in charge of our local police."

Ogden inhaled, as if to confirm Van was a hellhound, then his eyes lit up. " Perfect . I would like to report a crime. Oh , and I need to make a call."

Drat .

" I didn't mean to do it. I swear," I blurted.

Fur sprouted all over my body. I was seconds away from bolting, but running away wasn't a long-term solution. I'd never been more than a few miles from Willow Lake . It was all I knew. I couldn't imagine trying to make it out there in the world on my own. Cats were supposedly independent creatures, but this cat shifter liked the comforts of home.

I was no alley cat. I'd never survive.

Even now, my instincts told me to run back to my apartment… or to my parent's place. Ugh . I was so predictable. If I escaped Van now, he'd know how to find me. In fact, all the hellhound would need to do was phone my mama. She'd turn me in with a slap on the back of my head for her troubles. Pops wouldn't snitch on me, but Mama held us kittens to higher standards.

Ogden cast a confused look in my direction .

" Someone better start talking." Van's words sounded more like a growl. His fiery gaze, betraying how close his hellhound was to the surface, peered at me from his shadow-covered face.

" I was kidnapped," Ogden said.

" I didn't know. Please . Believe me. I didn't know." My heart was beating so fast. Too fast probably. Like a ticking bomb counting down to detonation.

" Simon ? Are you saying you abducted this man? Did you take his clothes too? And here I always thought you were the best of your litter." Van tsked like I'd disappointed him.

Ogden huffed and clapped his hands twice to get our attention. " Quit talking. Both of you. This is important. I was kidnapped and held in a place with a bunch of other supes. Simon saved me by summoning me. Now we need to get to work. Preparations need to be made. I have until the summoning magic time runs out to do that, so I'll need your help. I can't leave everyone there either."

I gaped. " Someone kidnapped you? Besides me?"

" It surprised me too."

" Okay . We're going back to the office. All of us," Van said, pointing at me. " That means you too, Simon Rivers ." Then Van pointed at Ogden . " And I'm finding you some clothes." The hellhound shifted his flashlight. Little blobs of color danced over my eyes as they adjusted to the dark again.

What would my mama say when she found out I'd been dragged into the police station alongside a naked man?

Because she would hear .

She knew everything that happened in Willow Lake —from the current odds on when Hayden would step up as our alpha to the latest fad pastry at the bakery. Knowing which of her children was being escorted to the police station for questioning was kitten's play for her.

This would be almost as bad as losing one of my nine.