Royal Dragon (The Bride Hunt Book 1) (3 page)

The bastard! Julie had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying her piece.

“Excellent, Susan. Thank you for your time and thanks for coming in this morning to clear this up.”

“Anytime. I’m glad I could help.” Susan finally looked her way. Her smile tightened and her eyes narrowed just that little bit.

“You can go now.” Mrs. Harridge nodded and gave the barest ghost of a smile to Susan.

Once the door closed, she turned back to Julie. “Please be sure to return both sets of uniforms by the end of business tomorrow. They should be laundered to hotel standard. Should there be any damage, the cost will come out of your last paycheck. Should you not return your uniform on time, the charges for them will be deducted from your wages. I’m disappointed.”

“He was wanking off in front of me. I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the one that you should be disappointed in, not me.” She rose to her feet. “I don’t want to work for an establishment that doesn’t look after its employees anyways.” She didn’t wait for a reply. Julie turned and walked from the room. She didn’t slam the door behind her even though she was sorely tempted. She wouldn’t give that beady eyed, troll the satisfaction.

She was a temporary employee, there was nothing she could do. It would be her word against his. She already knew how normal he looked. How clean cut and good looking. Asshole!

Maybe James would give her one last chance. She could only hope.

****

Five days later…

To think that everything she owned in the world fit inside this suitcase and the backpack on her back.
Everything.

Julie huffed out a breath as she walked. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. There weren’t many options. Shelter, bus stop or alleyway. At least the weather forecast was mild with no rain predicted for the next couple of days. The only person she knew well enough to help her out for a couple of nights was Cloe but she wasn’t welcome at her house anymore.

Julie wasn’t any good at keeping her mouth shut and when she’d spotted telltale bruises on her friend’s arms, she’d said something about it. Especially since this wasn’t the first time she’d seen bruises on her friend’s body. The first time was a split lip. The second was bruises around her neck, which she’d tried to cover with a scarf in the middle of summer. Enough was enough. She wasn’t about to stand by while Cloe got beaten to a pulp.

The two of them had shared one of her many foster homes together. They hit it off immediately and had stayed in touch since but apparently calling her out on her abusive husband was a no no. A hard line. Hopefully her friend would see the light and hopefully it wouldn’t be too late.

The one other person she had cherished was Lucinda. One of her foster moms. One of the few really good ones. Only Lucinda was more like a granny than a mother. She could still recall how standoffish she had been to her foster mom for the first couple of months. Lucinda had given her, her space. The only thing she had insisted on was that they ate dinner together every night. She’d thrived under the woman’s care. One day Lucinda became ill and three months later she was dead. It had been a particularly aggressive cancer.

Julie swallowed down a lump that formed in her throat. She still missed that woman.

Her suitcase was ripped from her hand. A young guy sprinted away with her belongings. Almost everything she owned.

“Hey!” Julie cried. “Stop!” She shrieked, sprinting after the punk in the hoodie. After an hour of lugging the thing, her arm felt dead and her legs didn’t feel much better. Thing was, there wasn’t anything of real value in there.

Still, that was it. All of it. Her clothes. Her shoes. Her life. Most of it was in that bag. The last few bits and pieces were in the backpack on her back. Everything else was in there.

The guy was much faster than her, but she was determined. Julie picked up speed. A low growl of anger and frustration was torn from her. Her arms pumped at her sides and her lungs burned. She wanted to shout at him again but she didn’t have the strength to both run and call out.

Bastard.

Little asshole.

At first he pulled away from her. Now she was keeping up with him. Pretty soon, the tables were going to turn and then he’d be sorry, he’d be worse than sorry. Julie ignored the voice inside her that begged her to stop. She ignored her fatigued muscles. She ignored every thing and… tripped.

No.

Julie tried to right herself. She staggered. For a moment there it felt like she might just be able to stay upright, then she plummeted down, down. The pavement raced to meet her. Make that the solid edge of the pavement sprinted towards her. She tried to twist away. There was blinding pain as her head hit hard. Almost immediately, darkness descended.

Julie awoke to the sound of something vibrating. A knocking noise. It was loud. Her body hurt. Oh god, her head hurt even more. She opened her eyes and moaned, putting a hand to her forehead.

The noise. The knocking sound. It was her teeth chattering. She was cold. Freezing, bloody cold. It wasn’t the worst of her worries. She couldn’t see. Not a thing. Panic welled up but she pushed it down. The pain in her head was making it hard to think.

Julie quickly realized that her eyes were fine. If she really tried, which hurt her head even more, she could make out dark shapes. The freezing room she was in was dark. She moaned again. The sound echoed within the space. Her suitcase was gone. Bloody punk kid had run off with her clothes. What the hell was she going to do now? Where was she? She rubbed a hand on the floor. It was smooth and cold. It was also clean and had a buffed feel. She wasn’t outside. The last thing she remembered was hitting her head against the side of the pavement.

“You’re awake,” a woman said. There was a high pitched edge to her voice. “She’s awake.” The same person added.

“Oh good.” Someone close by, another woman, sighed out the words.

“Where am I? What happened?” Her voice was a croak. Her lips were dry, her throat and mouth felt the same. “How long have I been here?”

“Not long.” The nervous sounding woman said. “Maybe a half an hour or so.”

“Where am I?” Julie hugged herself. She rubbed her arms to try and generate some warmth. She felt the heavy weight of her backpack as she moved to a sitting position. Thank god she still had that. It was truly all she had left. Her toiletry bag, a few bucks and some snacks. The thought of the bottle of water and cereal bar within it had her mouth watering. A wave of nausea rolled through her almost in the same breath. Damn, she must have a concussion. It had been a hard fall and it sounded like she’d been out for some time, so it made sense.

“I have no idea where we are.” The woman definitely sounded afraid. Her voice quivered and she sniffed. It sounded like she might be crying. “Oh god. Oh god.” She chanted. There was more sniffing. She was definitely crying.

“Calm down.” The woman closest to her said. “It’s going to be okay.” Thing was, she didn’t sound like she believed that herself. “I’m sure it was all a dream. They must’ve given us something. There must be some logical—”

The other woman made a sound of frustration. “Logical explanation…” She’d gone from upset to hysterical. “You were picked up by a dragon. A freaking dragon. I experienced the same thing as you. How could we both have dreamed up the same thing? I had his clawed feet around my body. I could feel the scales.”

Say what.

These women were nutters. Julie heard the woman closest to her swallow hard. The tempo of her breathing increased. She sounded like she was trying to calm herself down. “It can’t be though. It doesn’t make sense.” Her voice had lost its calm tone. “There has to be an explanation.” Yup, any calm was long gone. Her own included!

“A dragon?” Her teeth still chattered. Julie wished she’d put a sweater into her backpack. She wished she still had her suitcase. Nausea continued to afflict her. She sucked in deep breaths to try and calm her rolling stomach. She wasn’t sure whether it was the latest revelation or the concussion that caused her upset stomach.

“Yes,” the panicking woman said. “An honest to god dragon. He swooped down and picked me up. Ellis is going to be mad. He’s going to…”

“Your pimp is the least of your worries.” The woman closest to her spat.

“I shouldn’t have confided in you.” The panicking woman threw back.

“We were abducted by…” The other woman let the sentence die.

“Dragons.” The panicking woman sobbed. “That thing that carried me was a dragon. There is no other explanation.”

“Maybe,” the closest woman said. “It can’t be though.”

The back and forth was making her headache worse. “Wait. Stop.” She held up a hand, which was silly in the dark room. “Please stop talking for a second.” She groaned. “I hit my head and your arguing is making it worse.”

A noise came from the other room. It sounded like someone screaming. It was muffled but slowly drew closer.

“They’re bringing in another one!” The panicking woman whispered, her voice was high pitched. The screaming grew nearer and nearer and then there was the sound of a door opening.

“What’s going on?” A woman screamed. She was crying and sounded shocked and beyond upset.

“Sit down.” Someone said in an authoritative hiss. It was definitely a woman that spoke. She didn’t sound very friendly.

“No. You can’t do this.” The new arrival shrieked.

“Sit down and shut up.” Their abductor was a woman. Not a very kind one. “There’s a good human.” She laughed, sounding spiteful. Instantly reminding Julie of the bullies she’d had to contend with at the orphanage. Bigger, older girls who loved to push around the smaller, weaker ones. Girls that got a kick out of beating and humiliating others for no reason other than that they could.

Julie ignored the human comment. The whole dragon thing couldn’t be true, could it? Right now was not the time to think on it. “Hey!” Julie shouted. “We’re freezing and hungry.”

“Tell someone who cares.” The bully spat. “Pretty soon you’ll wish you were dead anyway so enjoy the peace and quiet while you can.”

It didn’t make sense. It was starting to look like they had been abducted. There must be a reason why. Julie didn’t want to dwell on what that reason might be. It would cause her to panic and panicking was not going to help them out of this situation. Point being, whoever had taken them must want them alive. At least for the time being.

“I could use some headache pills.” It was worth a shot. “We’re thirsty—”

The door slammed shut. The bully clearly didn’t give a shit.

“And we can’t see!” She shouted even though she realized it was useless, since their abductor had disappeared.

Aside from the odd sniff and whimper, the new girl was quiet.

“Hello.” The closest woman to her said.

“My name is Julie.” She said, to no one in particular. “Can we please introduce ourselves and try and get to the bottom of this?”

“I want to go home.” The new girl broke into a fit of sobs which lasted for about a half a minute before she calmed down enough so that they could talk. She sniffed and hiccupped.

“I’m Lisa.” The calmer one closest to her said.

“I’m Candy.” The panicky one said.

The new girl kept on crying and whimpering.

“Candy? Seriously?” There was a sneer to Lisa’s voice. “Is that your real name? You’re not on the street trying to pick up a trick you know.”

“You don’t have to be so mean,” Julie chimed in. Why did people feel the need to be so nasty to each other? Throw people in a bad situation and watch their true colors come out.

Lisa made a snorting noise. “You are a hooker, aren’t you Candy?”

“I’m a high paid call girl. I have a few select, exclusive clients so you can stop being such a bitch now.” Candy sounded much less panicked. In fact, she sounded angry. Julie couldn’t blame her.

“I am, was, a room attendant. I had a temporary position at Lofty Heights Hotel in Walton Springs.”

This elicited another snort from Lisa. “Oh my god. A
call girl
”—she pronounced the words carefully—“and a cleaning lady. I’m stuck in a room with a bunch of misfits.”

Julie felt irritation rise up in her. “Can we try and not be nasty to one another? Like it or not, we’re in this together. We need to help each other and band together.”

“Who made you the boss?” Lisa asked.

“No one. I’m not the boss of anyone. I’m stating simple facts. If I were you, I’d be working at becoming part of the group instead of alienating yourself. If we don’t work together….” She let the sentence die. Julie didn’t have a good feeling about this. Not at all. “I was fired last week and kicked out of my apartment this morning for not making rent. I’m essentially homeless. It’s been one hell of a day.” She felt her cheeks burn. It sucked that she couldn’t stand on her own two feet.

Candy sniffed and Julie could hear her shuffling around. “I’ve been trying to get out of the business for a few months now but Ellis… my boss… he owns Kitten Escorts, wouldn’t let me go. At first he upped my rate, then he let me work less, then he started threatening me.” She sniffed again. “He wanted me to go and see a new client. He insisted on driving me himself… he hit me when I refused to get in the car. It isn’t the first time he’s done it. Truth is, I would’ve left months ago but I’m afraid of him. I only started working at the escort agency to save enough to go to med school. I never planned on having sex with anyone but one thing lead to another.” She sucked in a big breath. “Ellis wanted me to meet with this new client and I kept insisting that I wanted out. Kind of my luck as of late, one minute Ellis was hitting me and trying to get me into his car and the next, I was abducted. A dragon swooped down out of the sky. A dragon.” She huffed out the last like she couldn’t believe she was saying it.

The new girl whimpered loudly. “Oh god. Please help me.” She moaned. “It can’t be true. It can’t.”

“Hey. Try and calm down.” Julie used a coaxing voice. “Did you get taken by a dragon too?”

She whimpered. “Yes.” Her voice was thick with emotion.

“What happened?” Candy asked.

“My parents both died in a car accident last year. I’ve been struggling to keep up the payments on the house and eat. I work at the Titty Twister bar on 2
nd
Avenue.”

“Oh god!” Lisa groaned. “Another sex worker.”

“It’s not like that. Not that I would ever judge,” the new girl added. She sniffed a few times. “I’m a bartender. I wear tiny hot pants and a bikini to work, which is humiliating enough. A lot of the ladies that work at the club are awesome. They are single moms or, like you, Candy, working at the bar to put themselves through school. They are not all sex workers,” she half growled. “You shouldn’t judge like that. I wish I had more guts, I’d totally do it. Anyway…” she sighed. “The bank foreclosed on my house. I got the letter just yesterday. It’s been such a struggle. I was about to lose everything.”

There was a definite common thread between them.

She swallowed hard before continuing. “My boss sent me home for looking so glum on the job. Also, I snapped at one of the customers and called him a pig. He grabbed my ass. He totally was a pig.” She huffed out a breath. “Apparently he was one of the high rollers and I’m supposed to just let him put his hands on me. No way! I was lucky he sent me home with a warning though.” Then she whimpered. It sounded like she was trying not to cry. “Or at least I thought it was luck… It came down from out of nowhere. One minute I was walking to my bus stop and the next I was flying up, up. A dark winged beast had me in his talons. Literally. It didn’t hurt or anything. I couldn’t see very much when I got here. Wherever the hell here is. One minute there was a dark shape looming over me and the next there wasn’t.” She paused for a moment. “It was weird. In its place was a guy who told me not to be concerned. He said I was safe. I was so afraid, he came from out of nowhere. That horrible woman brought me here and you know the rest.”

“Yup, the same chickie with the bad attitude also threw me in here,” Candy added. “She wouldn’t listen to anything I said.”

“She referred to us as humans,” Julie said. “We know that wolf shifters and vampires exist so why not dragon shifters? You said that one minute there was a dragon and the next a man. It’s the only logical explanation.”

“She also said that she couldn’t see anything. Your whole dragon shifter theory is a stretch.” Lisa huffed.

“Not really,” Julie said. Her teeth had finally stopped chattering but her head still ached. “All three of you were airlifted here by a dragon. How would you explain it?”

“Drugs,” Lisa said. “We were all drugged.”

“And saw exactly the same thing? It doesn’t make sense,” Candy said. “We wouldn’t all hallucinate the same thing. That’s crazy.”

“I wasn’t drugged,” the new girl said. “I was picked up and carried here. How was I drugged? Surely I would need to have swallowed a pill or been injected or something.”

“Candy,” Lisa said. “You should have experience with drugs. How did they administer them to us?”

“How would I know?” Came the irate response. “Oh, just because I have sex for money… a lot of money, automatically means that I’m an addict as well? I hate to burst your bubble. I’ve never so much as smoked a joint. My sister…” She paused. “I have my reasons and they’re no concern of yours. I would never take drugs.”

“I’m Pauline, by the way.” The new girl said, sounding much less freaked out.

“What about you?” Julie asked. “What’s your story, Lisa?”

There was a long moment of silence. “I don’t have a story,” she finally said.

Yeah, right! There was definitely a story there. “I’m only asking because we all seemed to be in a bit of trouble at the time of the abduction. I had my bag stolen and hit my head on the pavement, it’s why I was unconscious. I lost my job, my apartment. Candy was trying to get out of doing what she was doing, her boss was beating on her. Pauline was about to lose her house and possibly her job. There’s a definite correlation.”