“You took a nasty fall.”
Well, that might explain why he felt like a truck had hit him, backed up to see what they’d hit, and then run over him again. God, he hurt. He looked down, expecting to see bruises and blood everywhere, but there wasn’t any. Just him, naked.
“What happened to my clothing?” Alex asked as she helped him to the couch and handed him the afghan from the back. He tucked it around his waist.
“You weren’t wearing any when I found you,” Terra said. She picked up the blanket from the floor, folded it, and laid it over his legs. It was bigger than the afghan and covered him all the way to the floor. “In fact, you weren’t even human when I found you,” she added casually.
Okay, well that explained why he didn’t have clothing. He must have been in dragon form. Oh that’s nice! He remembered he was a dragon, but he still had no clue what his name was. The little voice in the back of his head that he recognized as his dragon part snickered at him. He felt the bright flash of scales slither across the back of his mind, reminding him that he had something important to do, but the pain in his head kept him from coming up with what. Lifting a hand, Alex pressed his fingers into his temple, trying to get the pounding to subside.
“I don’t want to impose on you further, but do you have anything for pain? I think I might have hit my head.”
“Sure,” Terra answered.
Is that amusement in her voice, or something else? Does she know something I don’t? Before he could work out what to say, she called to him from the kitchen.
“Anything in particular?”
He didn’t care what she gave him, just as long as it made his head stop pounding. Alex shook his head no and instantly regretted it. He leaned it on the back of the couch, hoping the extra support would help. It felt like someone had tried to get into it with a sledgehammer.
“Here.” Terra held out her hand towards him.
Alex sat back up and took what she offered. “Thank you.” He looked at the two mismatched pills and the can of coke. What in the world?
He glanced up at her, confused.
“Aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine,” Terra explained. “The two meds work differently, and the caffeine will help them along. The sugar in there might do you some good, too.”
Whatever. As long as they worked.
Popping the pills in his mouth, he washed them down with the coke, then pressed the cold can to the sore spot on his forehead. God, that felt good! Closing his eyes, he listened as Terra found a seat on the loveseat next to the couch.
“So, how do you feel?”
That’s a stupid question. He’d just told her that his head ached.
“I hurt.”
He took one more drink of the coke before resting it on the couch and leaning his head back again.
“I don’t doubt it a bit,” Terra said. “You did manage to dig a massive furrow in the cornfield.”
Rolling his head over, Alex cracked an eye to look at her. She was smiling at him, but it wasn’t an amused smile. It was more sympathetic.
“You were either moving fast or came down hard.”
He closed his eye and rolled his head back into its place. “Both, if I had to guess by the way I feel.”
Oh yes, hard and fast. What in the hell could take a dragon out of the sky? A quick flash of memory skimmed through his mind—blue sky and a flash of light. Had there been a lighting strike? That could potentially drop a dragon. He tried to get the memory to come back, but it just made his head hurt worse. Great.
“Is there anything I can do for you? Someone I should call?”
Bells and whistles went off in his brain as his dragon growled. There was something he was forgetting. Well, he couldn’t remember a lot of things, but there was something really, really important that he needed to remember. And it had to do with contacting—or not contacting—someone.
Unable to figure it out, he shook his head slightly. “No. I just need to rest for a bit.”
Yes, a nice nap should help greatly! Leaning his head over on the couch, he let go. The tingle of magic raced across his body as his dragon half took over. A few hours in his lesser form should go a long way to making him feel better. And maybe being closer to his instincts would let him remember the things he’d forgotten. Like his name.
Terra gasped as a shimmer of magic swept across the man’s body, reducing him to a miniature dragon. She had seen him shift from his large size to human, but she didn’t know he could shift to a smaller size. Amazing!
The small dragon wiggled around on the couch until his head was tucked into the corner under the pillows. He pulled his wings in alongside his body and relaxed.
Terra studied him for a moment, fascinated. He’s adorable in this form. With a body the size of a small Labrador, she could almost imagine him as a dog. But his neck and tail were both much longer. Small versions of the back-sloping horns he’d had in the large size poked out from under the pillows, and his tail curled down to the floor. His scales were the same amazing blue. Standing up from her seat, Terra picked up the blanket and spread it over him.
“Rest as long as you need to.” She patted him on the back.
He snorted into the pillow and let out a sound that was something like a purr.
Oh, how cute! Smiling, Terra picked up his can of pop and took it back into the kitchen. Last thing she needed was for him to knock it over accidentally, and it wasn’t like he would be able to pick it up and drink it in this form. Maybe she should pour it in a bowl for him? Nah. She placed the open can in the fridge and went back to the stove. Hopefully, she hadn’t burnt dinner too badly.
3
Another pounding on the front door pulled Terra away from the kitchen. If that asshole is back, he is going to get what for!
She grabbed her baseball bat from the broom cabinet before heading out. The weight felt good in her hands. Glancing at the couch, she found that her dragon man had moved and was now curled up completely under the blanket. Just a large lump under the comforter. So cute.
Turning her mind back to the knocking, she jerked open the door, ready to knock someone’s head in. Two men dressed in suits stood on her porch.
“Hello,” she said, dropping the bat down to her side. Their suits told her they were here on some kind of business. They didn’t look like cops.
Maybe they’re Mormons.
One of the men glanced at the bat before looking back at her face. “Good evening. Sorry for disturbing you. I’m Parker, and this is my partner, Brett. We’re here with the FBI.” He flashed some kind of badge but didn’t leave it out long enough for Terra to read it.
Terra eyed the man. His white shirt shone brightly next to his dark skin. He seemed the FBI type, but his partner… well, that was another question altogether. The man’s suit was nice, but he needed a shave. Badly. He was rather pale, and his short, brown hair stuck out in odd angles.
“FBI?” Something didn’t sit right with her.
“Yes, ma’am,” Parker answered. He tugged on his jacket like that could make him more presentable. “We’re looking for a suspect and wanted to know if you’ve seen anything strange today.” He glanced down at the bat again.
“A suspect?” she asked. These two didn’t have the right feel for FBI. Hit men, maybe.