Alice's Dragon (The Challenge Series) (6 page)

“Yes, I think I prefer your way.” He added the fox blood to the bowl. Walter’s talons clenched and unclenched. One eye and then the other opened until he pushed to his feet and ambled to the meal.

Bade sat beside her on the bench and patted her knee. “The young look fantastic today. Their scales glisten in the firelight. That’s a sign of strength.”

He skipped words on occasion, especially when angry or excited.

“And the cobbler smells good.”

The rough quality of his tone grabbed her attention from the babies. She turned to find his eyes on her, glistening like the dragon scales he’d described. Firelight danced in the dark color, but the warmth glowed from within. Every day she grew closer to him. They walked the floor at night when the dragons fussed. They ate side by side, slept foot to foot.… To the best of her knowledge, she was the first in generations of her line to have an actual relationship with a man. Had the others known what they were missing?

He drew closer, stopping every other moment. In their late night talks, she’d learned he’d spent the same amount of time with the opposite sex as she had—virtually none. Still, she followed his lead and leaned toward him. Their lips a breath apart, she stopped, unsure of herself and the next touch. She reached up and grasped his arm, ready to have her first kiss.

Bade’s eyelids drifted closed but Alice kept hers wide open, wanting to see it all. His breath brushed her lips, and her heart raced.

He jumped, jarring her hand from his arm. Bade swore and hopped from one foot to the other. She looked down to find Rustyann with her mouth wrapped around his ankle. Alice laughed and pried the girl off.

“What’s gotten into her?” He scowled at the orange toddler.

Alice picked her up and patted her head. Rustyann nipped her finger and gave her a purely feminine scowl.

“Well.” She held back her chuckle. “I’d say she’s jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Apparently she doesn’t think you need to be kissing any girls but her.”

She held Rustyann to Bade and though the big, tough Bulgarian claimed dragons didn’t gain from human contact, he lifted her in his arms and patted her head.

“You silly girl,” he muttered, scratching between her pointy ears.

Though the moment for their first kiss passed, thanks to a dragon with a crush, Alice couldn’t be totally disappointed. Bade spoke and cuddled Rustyann, showing again the soft, nurturing side she’d come to adore. It made that first kiss they would share in the future much more enticing and much more…permanent. When they took the steps to be together, they would be lasting.

He quirked his eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing.” She sat back at the table and stretched her arm. “Now, let’s get down to business. Stealing Henry’s alligators—this is going to be fun.”

Chapter Ten

The black cloak had belonged to her mother, the black slippers to her grandmother. Alice had kept them around in case she wanted to go sneaking around some night when her usual clothes were wet. Seeing Bade in both made the space they’d taken up beneath her bed worthwhile.

“I don’t see how this is helpful,” he groused.

Alice, also dressed in black, crept beside him and tried to contain her excitement. “If Henry or Stewart sees us, they’ll think two women stole from them. Now, they’d assume I’d do something like this, but know I don’t have friends to pull it off with. They’ll never know it’s us.”

They most likely wouldn’t get caught, and if they did, the worst that would happen was a scolding from Henry. He had no real power, and the people of the island didn’t give two shits what he ordered or decreed. Thwarting him was just the syrup on the cobbler. The real mission was getting alligators to feed the babies. If they could acclimate to alligator blood, transitioning to the plentiful, giant fish of the ocean would be smoother—or so they hoped. The plan was worth a shot.

“I still don’t see why I am wearing these shoes,” Bade muttered.

“Your boots are very distinctive,” Alice replied. “These won’t leave a solid print. Okay, hush, we’re almost there. We get in, grab a small gator and a few babies, and split.”

“Split?”

“Run like hell.”

He nodded. In the light of the crescent moon, his face glowed with the excitement she shared. They’d spent the night with their heads together, planning while the dragons played. With a food source, even a transitional one, the babies would grow to adulthood and lay eggs. From there, the alligators, formerly unchallenged, would be in check. Alice figured she was adding a circle of life at the same time she stole livestock from the lord of the island—the two balanced well and tickled her warped sense of humor.

Bade took out a pry bar and used it on the side of the gate. Alice watched closely so the bar didn’t jingle the gate bell. The dark holding offered no relief. They’d chosen to go under the cloak of midnight, counting on the two inhabitants to sleep through any moderate growling. Without the aid of a torch, they relied on moonlight. Bade squeezed through the fence, and Alice followed.

She led him to where she’d noticed alligators resting during nighttime. Her late evening bill collecting paid off again. They didn’t need a full-grown alligator; something much smaller would be less dangerous. The soggy ground squished and sucked at her feet. Every time she pulled extra hard against the mud, she nearly fell in the opposite direction. It was stirring bread all over again. She shifted her burden higher over her shoulder and wished for her other arm. She’d be more help to Bade with both.

He froze and held his hand up. After a moment, he twisted his wrist and waggled his fingers. Alice passed the bag to his waiting grasp. They stood nearly on top of an adolescent beast bigger than a dog and twice as mean.
Perfect
.

She pulled a long length of rope from her pocket and looped it into a noose to be tightened around an alligator neck. Bade circled the beast a moment before stopping at the tail and tossing the fabric over its head. The alligator thrashed, but Bade threw himself on top of it, subduing it with his weight. She rushed forward and threw the noose around the bag and the snapping mouth, cinching it tight.

Bade took her other rope and tied the back legs. She fashioned another noose while he worked. He stood and hefted the beast over his shoulder, face flushed.

“That was some rush,” he whispered. “It is strong. I cannot carry two.”

Alice nodded. She could only imagine the creature’s strength, and Bade’s heavy breathing and bowed posture showed fatigue. One was a great start. They could always sneak in another day for more if they needed them. She turned to lead the way out the gate and froze when the heavy door to the holding opened, the glow of a torch preceding a white-nightshirt-clad person.

Alice pushed Bade into the bushes. He fell, burden slipping from his shoulder as he scrambled to regain control. Alice wrapped her second noose around the alligator’s snout, hoping to keep it quiet. Its tail snapped back and forth, rustling the leaves. Bade stretched on top of it, but even with his strength, he couldn’t control the awkward, flailing creature.

Stewart swung the light toward them. Alice didn’t think, just jumped on the alligator’s tail and held it with all her might. The added weight stilled the movement, and Stewart moved on, stopping at the outhouse before heading back to the holding after a few moments.

Bade glanced over his shoulder, excitement alive in his eyes. He grinned, the white of his teeth showing in the dim light. He leaned toward her and crushed his mouth to hers. With adrenaline rushing through her veins, she met the kiss without the nervousness she’d always associated with a first kiss. When his tongue delved between her lips, she joined hers with his in a duel. He kept his eyes open, a fire building there, and she hoped he read the same in hers.

When the holding door slammed shut, the alligator jumped, along with whatever else lurked in the bushes with them. The lusty moment broken by the slam, jump, and growl, Alice and Bade surged to their feet. She grabbed a stick and thanked her lucky stars when she spun to find a hissing lizard smaller than their catch. She kept it at bay while Bade hefted their captive.

“Come on.” He led the way through the gate.

They sped through the night back to the cottage. Alice felt as light as a cloud, matching Bade’s every step. Once they arrived, he dispatched the alligator and hung it over a bucket to collect the blood for their hungry dragons. Alice stepped into the cottage and tossed her cloak aside. Bade did the same, his distaste with the apparel no longer showing in his expression.

“It worked.” With the exciting moment past, shyness infiltrated her mind. They’d shared so much in the past months, and tonight brought everything to a head.

The low fire offered just enough light to see Bade’s intense expression soften. He closed the short distance between them and wrapped his arms around her waist. If he felt shy, it didn’t show in his gentle kiss. His lips brushed hers, once, twice, and then settled in place, sharing warmth and spark.

The soft scent of baking apples and the crackling of the fire relaxed her. She looped her arm over his shoulders and wondered what was next. His tongue glided over her lips and she opened them, welcoming more. The man could slay dragons, yet preferred to raise and nurture them. He’d taken the same actions with her and stolen her heart. She couldn’t be in better hands.

Epilogue

Seven years later
.

Rustyann sat at the edge of the cliff, watching as her brothers and sisters soared over the white capped sea. Alice’s heart hurt for her sweet, gentle dragon. The little one had come so far. She’d beat Bade’s six month prediction by being the strongest of her siblings. She’d been the first to eat meat, the first to hop onto the table with the signs of being ready to fly. She’d done everything first until the day Walter stepped up and took to the sky, followed by Mimi, Abner, and Fatty. That day, Rustyann stayed behind and watched from the cliffs.

“She might not do it,” Bade whispered, their own young one far from flying and asleep on his shoulder.

Once they’d stolen the alligator from Henry, they’d been partners in crime and life. While starting their own family had taken a while, Erica came at just the right time. With the dragons finally out of the home, well trained and charmed by both her and Bade, they had space and time to raise a young of their own species.

Their darling Erica, with her fire-red hair, embodied Bade’s mother, or so he said when he rocked the baby to sleep. Alice saw much of her own mother in her daughter, which made her leery, even as she fell further in love every day. She patted Erica’s back before she strode toward Rustyann.

The fall wind blew the salty air, so similar to the afternoon the dragon had struggled from her egg. Rustyann didn’t turn away from the sea, where Fatty and Walter dove into the ocean, grabbing fish and spinning in circles of joy. Alice remembered the desolation after she’d lost her arm. For a short time she’d thought death better than living with a single appendage. Rustyann’s left wing had never grown to completion, but the dragoness was strong. So strong, Alice had no doubt she could fly if she’d take the first step.

She rubbed her hand up and down Rustyann’s foreleg. Before another two years passed, she would be too large to approach without ample space and warning. Still a juvenile, she allowed Alice to pet her without fuss.

“You know,” she said. “I was like you. The autumn you were born, I lost my arm to your bastard namesake. Rusty bit it right off. I thought I’d never be whole again. Not only was I out an arm, but also the livelihood I loved. I might have been all right on my own. Hell, I would have been, eventually—I’m a stubborn bitch like that. But then Bade came along and getting better took on more joy than anger. Before you were in love with him, he helped me find my balance again.”

She gazed over her stump to where he kept a distance, having confessed earlier he didn’t want to be tempted to interfere. He probably didn’t hear her words, but he smile and waved. The years had been kind to him, and to her as well. The island had a way of keeping a person young and healthy. They’d been blessed. Even without her arm, she’d done all the things she’d ever dreamed and a fair few she hadn’t realized she wanted.

“I had to take the first step myself and decide I was ready to go on,” Alice whispered. “It wasn’t easy, especially when I wanted to lie in bed all day. But I chose to keep going and make the best of it. After I made that choice, Bade helped me see it through. Just like he and I have been there for you. Don’t you want to fly, Rustyann? Can’t you taste that fish in your mouth? You’re a better hunter than Walter—but I would never tell him that. You know you want to, girl, but it’s up to you to take the first step.”

Rustyann thrashed her giant head, the orange having tamed down to the same burnt color her namesake had sported so long ago. Alice patted her arm again.

“You can do it.”

Alice headed back to Bade, content to leave the dragon work to dragons. She took Erica and held her close, managing an infant not nearly as terrifying as it had been in her dreams while pregnant. The little one curled her fist around the necklace Bade had given Alice when they formalized their vows with a visiting clergyman five years earlier. The purple and gold agate that symbolized his homeland was aptly called “dragon’s eye.” She stared at her man, the rock who’d stood at her side through ups and downs, who she’d walked with through his as well.

“Think she’ll fly?” he asked, always the mother hen.

She turned back and watched Rustyann pace. “It’s up to her. If not today, it’ll be soon.”

Energy lit the air, excitement and anticipation growing. Alice took back her words. Rustyann would fly, and it would be today. The dragon took half a dozen steps back and drew in a huge gulp of air. Alice held her breath and beside her Bade leaned forward for a better view.

Rustyann ran and jumped, no stutter or hesitation. Her giant body took to the sky like a feather, hurtling up and riding the air until she began flapping her wings. The left moved slower than the right, more of a glider, but the right held enough strength to steer and keep her aloft.