Flipping the file open, Terra found a picture of a beautiful woman pinned to the top of what looked like one of those police identification pages they used for suspects. Terra read over the page. The description of the girl was just as fascinating as her picture. Terra gasped and glanced back up at the picture when she reached the woman’s birth date. She didn’t look more than thirty, but the listed age was over three hundred years old! Holy freaking cow! A box further down the page labeled the woman as a red dragon.
How freaking old do dragons get! Terra glanced up at the man stretched out on her floor. And if he looks to be in his mid-twenties, how old is he?
Turning back to the file, she read on. At the bottom of the page, there was a handwritten note. It was an eyewitness account of the woman’s last sighting. Apparently, she had gone missing within the last month and was presumed dead.
Terra turned to the next page. This one had a picture of a smiling man—another dragon—and again, it listed him as missing, presumed dead, with an account of his last sighting. Terra flipped through the twenty or so pages. Each was a description of a dragon that had gone missing. None of the pictures matched the man on her floor. Folding the file back together, she returned it to the pouch. Searching the rest of the bag revealed a bunch of nothing: a few dollars, a book of matches, and some gum. Boy, this guy wasn’t making life easy.
Dropping the bag back to the floor, she shoved it under the couch and got up. Her stomach was telling her it was time for food. Terra pulled the melted vegetables off the dragon man’s face and checked on the lump. It was starting to look pretty good. Still a little red, but the swelling had gone down. Given a little more time, the mark would be gone, and she wouldn’t have to explain how she had dropped him on his face.
She considered him for a minute. With that file full of missing persons, he could be some kind of cop or a private detective. But didn’t they have to keep a badge or something? And what had made him crash in her cornfield? Tossing the bag of vegetables in the air as she walked, she went into the kitchen to start dinner. Maybe he would be awake by the time it was ready, and she could ask him.
2
What the hell! Terra cursed to herself as she dropped her spoon in the pot and headed out of the kitchen. She was going to beat whoever was banging on her front door like that. She paused to check on her sleeping dragon. He was still breathing. Good. Heading over to the door, she yanked it open. The sight that met her stopped her before she could start yelling. Shit.
“Where the hell have you been, woman?”
Derrick, her ex-boyfriend, stood on the porch with two bags in his arms.
“Open this goddamn door and let me in.”
“Derrick!” She gasped. “What are you doing here?”
What in the hell could this asshole want now?
Having left her three months ago, Terra had never expected to see Derrick back at her door. He had dumped her faster than a knife fight in a phone booth when the hot chick he’d been chasing had finally given in. It had torn her up at first, but a little reflecting on their relationship had changed her mind. In retrospect, he hadn’t been the nice guy she had taken him for.
Derrick tugged on the locked screen door. “A tree fell on the shop. Now open the door.”
Clutching the inside door, Terra looked at the horror revisiting her. At first, Derrick had been a great guy—loving and sweet. But, man, once he’d moved in, he had turned over a few new leaves. Suddenly, nothing she did was right, and oh, the temper tantrums he threw! It took her a while to realize that the problem wasn’t her. And thankfully, he’d left before things had gotten physical. She would put up with a lot of things in the name of love, but abuse was not one of them.
Terra pulled her shoulders straight and glared at him. “What happened to your girlfriend?”
“That bitch didn’t deserve me. Open this damn door.” He rattled the screen door again.
Apparently, this shithead doesn’t realize he’s out of luck.
“No,” Terra answered and went to slam the door in his face.
“Damn it, bitch!” Derrick jerked the screen door hard enough to crack the frame. “If you shut that door, so help me, I will kill you.” He tugged on the loosening door again.
Terra was sure Derrick had meant every word he’d said, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let some abusive shit back into her life.
“Leave before I call the cops.”
She tried to shut the door, but it wouldn’t move. An arm wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her back into a very warm body.
“The lady told you to leave,” a deep voice rumbled from behind her.
Whoa! Terra glanced back to see the dragon man holding her against him. When the hell had he woken up?
Derrick stopped tugging on the door and glared at the man. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing with my woman?”
“I’m the one that’s going to beat the hell out of you if you touch her, and I don’t think she’s your woman anymore. Leave. Now.”
With that, the dragon man pulled the door from Terra’s hand and slammed it in Derrick’s face.
Nice!
Derrick’s scream of outrage echoed through the door, but he stomped his way down the steps and out of her life again. Apparently, he felt at ease threatening a woman but wouldn’t stand up to a man.
Good riddance! Hopefully, he will stay gone this time. Now she just had to deal with the naked man holding on to her. This was going to be… interesting.
Alex dropped his head to the young woman’s shoulder as his world spun. He really shouldn’t have gotten up from the floor, but listening to someone threatening the girl had pissed him off.
“I didn’t mean to intrude on your personal business,” he apologized.
“Much appreciated,” the young woman answered. They stood there together for a long moment with him leaning on her shoulder. “Umm… You can let me go now.”
“Ha!” Alex let out a mirthless laugh and shook his head. “I would, but you’re the only thing keeping me on my feet right now.” If he loosened his hold on her, he was going to fall over.
She turned in his grip and wrapped her arms around him, taking his weight. “God, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right.” He leaned on her as she led him across the room to the couch.
“I’m Terra, by the way,” she said, introducing herself as they walked. “What’s your name?”
Alex opened his mouth to answer, but his brain flatlined. He couldn’t recall his own name! In fact, he had no idea where he was or why he was naked. He stopped, waiting for the answer to come to him, but nothing did.
“At the moment, I have no idea,” Alex admitted. His head was pounding. Maybe he’d hit it or something.
Terra looked at him, concerned. “It will come back to you,” she offered.
He let her pull him back into motion.