“Byrd!” Noah yelled, frustrated that the dragon hadn’t listened to him since Kara had bolted from the bathroom.
Overjoyed with the prospect of food, Byrd continued to ignore Noah as he started into the house behind Kara.
Noah’s irritation got the better of him. “Stop!” Concentrating hard, he locked his knees, forcing the dragon to stop.
“What?” Byrd snapped back.
“Get back outside!” Noah yelled.
Byrd stood in the doorway. “Why?” His eyes followed Kara as she made her way through the house.
“Because you’re soaking wet!” Noah growled. “We’re going to ruin Kara’s carpet.” He eased his control over the little dragon.
Shifting from foot to foot, Byrd stood on the threshold, unsure what to do. Desire pushed at him. “Hungry!” he whined, watching as Kara set down the boxes filled with yummy-smelling stuff on the bar.
“I know you’re hungry—so am I,” Noah snapped, “but we need to stop and wait. Ask Kara to get something to dry us off with.”
“Hungry!” Byrd snapped angrily. He danced around in the doorway but didn’t go in.
Noah sighed heavily in exasperation. There was no way he was going to make the single-minded dragon understand the complex social concept of being polite. Well, at least not until he’d gotten some food in him. But at least Byrd was listening to him enough to stay where he was and not drip soap all over the carpet.
Kara grabbed up a dishtowel from a box. “I’m sorry,” she said as she rushed back to the door where Byrd was waiting impatiently.
Backing up, Byrd wiggled as Kara got closer. “Hungry,” he whined again.
“Just give her a moment, Byrd,” Noah soothed him. “She’ll get us dry, and then we can go in.”
Unwilling to wait anymore, Byrd shook violently.
Raising the towel up to protect herself, Kara squeaked as soap and water flew off the small dragon, covering everything around him. Sighing, she dropped her hands and shot Byrd a sharp look. “Really?” she asked in disbelief.
“Hungry,” Byrd answered, prancing in place. He gave her a desperate, pleading look before glancing inside to where she’d left the boxes.
Letting out an exasperated sigh that matched Noah’s, Kara shook her head. “Go on.” She waved Byrd inside. Taking the towel, she brushed the soap and water from the front of her shirt.
Byrd stood his ground for a moment longer.
Noah felt the pleading thoughts swirling around Byrd’s mind. “Go on,” Noah said, echoing Kara’s words.
Squeaking in joy, Byrd raced inside, eyes trained on the boxes.
“No, Byrd,” Noah yelled as he felt the muscles in his legs bunch as the dragon prepared to spring on to the counter.
Stopping mid-leap, Byrd growled. “Hungry!”
Racing up behind him, Kara grabbed the top box on the stack. “Here!” Flipping the pizza open, she slung it down on the kitchen floor.
Byrd attacked the food with a vigor that made Kara jump back and check to make sure she still had all her fingers.
“Calm down!” Noah snapped at the overexcited dragon. “It’s not going anywhere.”
Byrd paused and growled at Noah before shoving his face back into the food, gulping it down without tasting it.
“You’re going to make us sick!” Noah snapped again.
After another growl, Byrd slowed his pace just slightly.
Letting out a mental sigh, Noah mentally shook his head and let the dragon go. “We’re going to talk about your manners later,” he promised.
Kara stood there in shock and watched the small dragon devouring pizza. For a moment, she had been hopeful that Byrd and Noah were starting to communicate, but this reaction made her think otherwise. No matter their form, most dragons retained their humanity through their shifts, but Byrd’s reaction was what she would have expected from a wild animal, not a highly intelligent being. The fact that he hadn’t leaped up on the counter and helped himself had astounded her.
Seeing that he was almost done with the first pizza, Kara opened the second one and dropped it onto the floor next to him.
He grunted in acknowledgement but didn’t stop eating.
Taking one of the slices from the final pizza box, she folded it in half and took a bite. She watched Byrd finish the first pizza and start on the second. For such a little thing, he can really put food away! A stray thought hit her. It made sense that he was ravenous. The past day had been really long for Byrd. And with as much pizza as he was eating, he was in for one hell of a food coma tonight. Kara finished her slice as she watched Byrd gorge himself. Tucking the top down on the last pizza, she took it with her as she headed towards the steps. It was rude to hoard her food, but she had things she needed to do upstairs. If she left the rest down here, Byrd would have it devoured before she could get back to it.
Heading into her room, she dropped the pizza on her bed and went in to shut the water off. She let out an amused laugh as she looked over the mess Byrd had made. There was soap and water everywhere. She added ‘mopping’ to her list of chores to do before bed. But first, she needed to get her guest room put together. Then, she could start on the rest of the house. So far, this little dragon was more of a pain in the ass than she had expected.
5
The morning light crept across Kara’s bed, waking her. She rolled over, trying to hang on to the evaporating wisps of her dreams, but the morning sun burned them from her memory. The only thing that stuck was a vague feeling of scales against her skin. Cracking an eye, she glared at the bare panes of glass letting the light shine into her room. That was something she was going to have to fix today. Waking up to an east-facing window blazing sun across her bed wasn’t her idea of an excellent start to the day. She added ‘hanging curtains’ to her seemingly endless to-do list, but it was a lot further down the list than she would have liked. There were more pressing issues to tend to first.
Grumbling, Kara pulled herself out of bed and dug in the box next to her bed for her bathrobe. She pulled it on over her pajamas as she headed for the kitchen, hoping Byrd wasn’t awake yet. She needed her daily dose of caffeine before she could face the little dragon and his issues. Her mind turned over the events of yesterday and her plans for today as she walked.
She’d thought long and hard about the poor dragon after she’d put him to bed. He hadn’t been much help in anything after his huge meal. It had been all she could do to get the pizza sauce cleaned off him before coaxing him into the freshly made bed to pass out. He seemed more at ease with himself than when she had first met him, but there was still a long way to go. The most important part was to get him to relax and trust her so they could work on getting him in touch with his human side. She had come up with the perfect idea last night before she had fallen asleep—a nice flight was just what he needed, but she had to clear her schedule first.
Thoughts of her day escaped her as she came up on Byrd’s open door. “Byrd?” she called as she poked her head into the room. Her eyes fell on the rumpled bed. Stepping into the room, she glanced around for her guest. Not here? His bed was used, or at least messed up, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Gathering his pillows from the floor, she fluffed them up and placed them back on the bed where they belonged. As she straightened out the bedding, she paused. Something wasn’t right. The quilt was missing. She looked around for the wayward bedding, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found. Dropping the sheets, she went to find her houseguest.