Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

OGDEN

" Come along, kitty cat." I waved Simon closer. " It's time to go with the nice Officer Hellhound ."

The hellhound rolled his eyes.

Simon's eyes, on the other hand, were wide as his gaze bounced between me and the police officer before darting to the nearby trees and shrubs. I knew he wanted to run. Anyone with eyes would have known that. But I couldn't let him get away yet. If he walked away now, the magic that brought me here might decide we were done and send me back before I was ready.

I set my hand on his forearm. I didn't grab him, but I could if he tried to bolt. Okay . I might have given it a little squeeze. He wore a jacket so I couldn't get a good feel, but his forearm was nice and thick. I liked it.

I was also half tempted to put my hand to his cheek and reassure him everything would be okay, but I didn't think he was ready for that. I couldn't risk scaring him so much that he ran off. Then I'd have to go hunting for him and that'd just waste precious time. And I didn't have time to waste right now.

At least that's what I'd heard.

Polite company never discussed summoning, not that I ever worried too much about being polite. The mere idea of being transported somewhere against your will and tortured until you submitted to the summoner's will and agreed to serve them forevermore made people antsy. Nowadays , summoning someone just wasn't done. I wasn't aware of anyone being summoned in the last hundred years or so. Although , when you were as old as me, time blurred, so that timeline might not be entirely accurate.

The Supernatural Council , for all its flaws, had been remarkably effective at eradicating the spells and talismans used in a summoning. Apparently , I was na?ve to think that, since they'd obviously missed at least one. And where there was one, there would always be more.

I hated it when the world tried to make me cynical.

Still , if anyone had to be summoned, it was better for it to be me than someone else—not because I was self-sacrificing. Nope . I had no interest in such a defeatist attitude. But I'd been around long enough to know things many younger supes didn't, like how to navigate my way through a summoning without losing my autonomy.

At least I hoped I did.

The first step was to secure a hostage as quickly as possible. The best hostage was one who held a position of power, but any hostage was better than no hostage. Okay . I'd done that. Although … I'd since let them go because of what had happened during step two. I hoped that wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass.

I liked a bit of a nip on the ass now and again, but not like this.

Step two was all about interrogation. The goal was to discover who had used the magic and why. This was where things usually got dicey, because how could anyone summon another supe and have honorable intentions?

Well , except maybe Simon .

But this was an unusual summoning.

There was no coven, no mob of power-hungry assholes trying to make me submit to them. I didn't need to eliminate the hostage to prove my point. Keeping hold of the hostage in this case would have been pointless, regardless of how much I enjoyed having the cute little cat shifter in my coils.

I also didn't think you were supposed to find your summoner adorable, but here we were.

Step three was tricky because it involved biding your time. If the summoned supe agreed to any terms offered by their summoner, the magical trap would snap shut and bind them to the summoner.

However , if they avoided agreeing to anything, the magic that had pulled the supe to the summoner would eventually collapse and set everything back to how it was. The summoned supe would return to where they had been, and both continued with their lives. That was usually the goal. Every survival story was adamant about needing to bluff at this stage, pretend you still had full access to every bit of power and magic that you normally had.

Why not fight for your freedom? Well , because the other thing about being summoned? It made you weaker than a hatchling who'd just popped out of its shell.

Any sane supe would think I'd lost my mind, having already released my hostage and not having agreed to Simon's generous offer as soon as he presented it. Except this whole situation demanded the rules be broken. Simon had unintentionally summoned me, which meant he didn't plan on keeping me. With that sorted, I needed to capitalize on the time I had. I refused to return to that blasted cage without weapons, armor, and a way to break out.

Nope . No thank you.

I didn't want to go back there at all, but needs must and all that. No one should lock up and threaten an average law-abiding supe with a cattle prod.

My hasty plan had a lot of problems. The most challenging obstacle was the magic reinforcing those cages. I did not know how to overcome it. It'd been tough enough to fight the troll when I had full access to my magic, but the summoning had thoroughly fucked that up. My fire wasn't responding. My electricity wasn't working. I doubted I'd be able to do anything but shift, which wouldn't do me much good without my fire and my electricity. Stupid summoning spells.

At least I hadn't needed to defend myself against Simon . I wouldn't have been able to do anything but squeeze him to death and, frankly, that sounded horrible. Can you imagine the viscera and other goop that would have gotten on my scales when his body burst like an overfilled water balloon? So unhygienic.

" Simon , give your friend your jacket," the police officer said. " Last thing we need is for someone to post on social media about skinny dippers at the lake. Whenever that happens, we end up with a bunch of perverts with binoculars hiding in the bushes."

Simon's gaze darted down to my junk and back up again, as if he'd forgotten I was naked until the hellhound reminded him. He shucked his jacket and flung it at me. Truthfully , I'd kind of forgotten about being naked too after having been without clothes for most of the day. It wasn't like dragons ever felt cold. Although , admittedly, being without clothes when the others were dressed was a little weird. I didn't mind a bit of kink, but being naked in a crowd of fully dressed people had never interested me. Bondage , though, might be fun to do with the kitty cat. I'd rather enjoyed having him at my mercy in my coils.

Of course, my arm chose that moment to start itching again, distracting me from imagining the sexy cat shifter tied to my bed. I rubbed at that irksome little bite quickly before pulling on the jacket.

Simon's body heat lingered in the lining in the most delicious way. I wasn't cold, but like most of my kind, I loved heat. My sister had thought I was crazy for moving so far from the equator and its blistering year-round sun. I doubted I'd ever convince her of the merits of cuddling with someone under a cozy blanket in front of a roaring fire. She preferred her solitude too much. Her favorite way to spend her afternoons was napping in her enclosed courtyard, where the tiles were hot enough to fry an egg on. No , she wouldn't like it here. At all.

I pulled Simon's jacket tighter around me and reveled in the warmth. The cat shifter wasn't a big guy like the hellhound, but he was still larger than I was. His jacket, which fit over wider shoulders and thicker arms, was too big for me, and it wasn't something I would have chosen for myself, but it'd do. The hem fell to mid-thigh, so it covered my twig and berries, which was the hellhound's goal.

Although dragons didn't have as strong a sense of smell as some supes, enough of Simon's scent infused the jacket that even I could enjoy it. It was all freshly mown grass and wildflowers, and I wanted to push my face into the fabric and close my eyes. It reminded me of home and safety and hope—things I wasn't sure I'd ever experience again after waking up in that stupid cage.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and blinked away the burning in my eyes. Simon didn't realize it yet, but he'd saved me. And I was going to reward him. On my terms. After we saved those other supes.

Of course, my brain conjured all kinds of delightfully decadent ways to reward him, but I wasn't sure the cat would be onboard with any of those. I was sure he was an adult—because ew, I could not be attracted to someone underaged—but he seemed a bit young. A little na?ve. I'd hate to shock him so much I scared him away. But , if I had my way, I would have fun teaching him a few things as a thank you.

I let my gaze wander down his body again. I'd already felt the bit of softness around his middle and the sturdy thickness of his thighs when I wrapped him in my coils earlier, and now I regretted letting him go as quickly as I had.

He was stocky with nice husky arms—perfect, I was sure, for holding his lover tight… or, better yet, bracing himself to be taken on all fours. His face was a little too broad to be considered classically handsome and his nose a little too round and cute to be elegant, but the gentleness in his eyes reminded me of how I imagined a romantic poet might look when eyeing his love.

I could easily imagine this cat shifter sprawled across the fainting couch in the vault where I kept my hoard. He would be naked, of course, wearing only a gem-encrusted crown nestled in his dark brown hair. Divine . It was a shame he didn't wear any jewelry because his skin would be lovely adorned with gold. And his pale eyes… I was sure I had a gemstone that precise color. But if I didn't, I could always buy more until I found the perfect match. And then I'd cover him with them.

Were his eyes in his shifted form the same color? If they weren't, I'd collect that color too. My chest warmed at the idea of adding to my hoard. There was nothing I enjoyed more.

But first things first. The hellhound was right. I had things I needed to say. People to save. Et cetera. Et cetera.

I wouldn't have been so quick to talk about the cages to just anyone, but hellhounds were remarkable creatures. There were fewer around than there used to be, but that was true for all supes. Magic was fading, and as far as I could see, no one was fixing it. I hoped the SC held think tanks on how to save magic, even if no one thought to invite me, a lowly bartender and entertainer. That didn't stop me, though, from philosophizing with my regulars when it got close to last call on quiet nights. That was when thoughts turned to all those big life questions. Those were always the best conversations.

The fact there was a hellhound here now, just when I needed one, when there were so few in the world, felt like a sign. Hellhounds were inherently trustworthy. And they could be deadly if you broke any of the big supernatural laws. Or so I'd heard. I'd never actually seen one mete out justice. But hellhounds were the stuff of legends. They inspired countless stories, which were usually told to baby supes to make them behave.

I grabbed Simon's hand and pulled him along as we followed the hellhound away from the lake. Which reminded me…

" Where are we?" My senses picked up all kinds of magic in the air and in the earth beneath my feet too. What a strange sensation.

" Willow Lake ," Simon said.

I knew where that was, which meant I hadn't gone too far from my home in Aspen Bay . I'd never been to Willow Lake , though, so everything was unfamiliar, particularly all that magic. The town must sit over a nexus of ley lines. It would explain why other supes were drawn here, because there were a lot of supes here. I could tell that much. The strange mishmash of their magic washed over me, colliding and dancing and shimmering together to form a heady and delightful cocktail.

I partially shifted my feet when we arrived at a gravel road. I sighed. My dragon feet weren't a good look at the end of my human legs, but without shoes, it couldn't be helped. This would at least help save the pedicure on my human-shaped feet. Luckily , the pedicure on my paws wasn't as susceptible to damage. Had Simon noticed my neatly trimmed and shaped claws with their glossy coat of clear polish?

When we arrived at a parking lot in front of a large old building with a sign that read Willow Lake Inn , Van guided us to a police vehicle. He glanced down at my dragon paws at the end of my legs when he opened the passenger door for me.

" Sorry , I didn't think about your feet," he said, and it sounded like he meant it. Wait , of course he did. Hellhounds couldn't lie.

" It's fine, Officer Hellhound ."

" You can call me Chief Clark or Van ," the hellhound said, but we both knew that wouldn't happen.

I patted him on his chest before I climbed into the front seat of the SUV . It wasn't the most graceful of movements, but I made the most of it. Okay , I may have bent over a bit more than necessary as I crawled into the seat and maybe I extended my legs one at a time as I let my feet take on their human shape again. I had great legs. I knew it and I didn't see any reason not to show them off a little.

Behind me, Simon purred. The kitty cat liked what he saw.

Then he abruptly stopped, coughing as if to cover up his reaction. But it was too late, I'd already heard. Apparently Van had too, since the hellhound chuckled as I plopped my bottom onto the seat and situated myself. I caught Van patting a blushing Simon on the back. I took that as a good sign for my plans to reward Simon for saving me, even though the cat shifter was currently looking anywhere but at me.

" Why don't you take the back seat, Simon ?"

Simon swallowed and did as the hellhound suggested. I wouldn't have minded sitting on his lap in the front seat, but Simon had jumped into the back before I could suggest it.

" When we get to the office, I'll grab you some clothes. We've started keeping a few things on hand, just in case. They won't be pretty, but they'll be better than what you have," Office Hellhound said as he drove us through town.

The police department filled a boring little one-story building close to what appeared to be the town's main commercial district. True to his word, soon after Van ushered us inside a little meeting room, he disappeared, only to return a few minutes later with a dreary looking set of clothes and an equally awful pair of paper-like slippers for my feet. I sighed as I accepted them, knowing I wasn't in any position to be picky. Van and Simon left the room long enough for me to change.

The bland gray T -shirt and generic gray sweatpants were hardly my style. Not only that, the shirt was way too big for me. I tugged on the bottom hem of the shirt and tied it into a knot. That helped a bit. But there was nothing to be done about the pants. When the two returned, Simon gulped. His eyes widened as he eyed me from top to bottom. His pupils changed, taking on the slitted appearance of his feline form, which suggested he liked what he saw. I looked at the travesty I was wearing, and I didn't understand his reaction.

Simon's gaze darted to Van with an accusatory scowl on his face.

Van chuckled again as he patted Simon's shoulder. " Sorry , kid, that's the best we have."

That just made Simon's scowl deepen.