Glancing at Principal Morrison, he saw that the man’s face had gone white. Cain wondered what the principal had to hide, but that would be for another day. Cain reached toward Nora and Ashton and said, “Come, let’s go.”
“What?” Nora stepped away from him. “I can’t leave work.”
“Well you’re not going stay here with this threat hanging over the school.” He turned to Principal Morrison and said, “You should shut down the whole school.”
“I can’t do that,” Principal Morrison said.
“It’s almost the weekend, it won’t delay the school year,” Cain insisted.
Nora stepped forward and said, “But it will delay it just enough.”
Cain couldn’t believe his ears. Nora was clearly terrified, but she wasn’t willing to make herself safe, and the principal wasn’t taking it seriously at all. He still thought it was a joke. Cain couldn’t stop whatever Principal Morrison decided, but he wasn’t going to let Ashton attend school, and he wasn’t going to allow his mate to remain in danger now that he had found her.
Mate. The words flew across his mind so smoothly it almost helped calm the emotions mixing in his gut.
“Fine,” he bit out through clenched teeth. “But I’m not going to stand by while the people I love are in danger. Ashton, out.”
Ashton walked out the door quickly, and Cain grabbed Nora’s wrist and dragged her out of the school. Nora protested about being man-handled, but Cain could hardly identify a word she was saying past the blood roaring in his ears. He had just found his mate, and he wasn’t going to lose her.
He opened the passenger door to his car and pushed her inside. He had the door closed before she could get out again. He was thankful she didn’t open the door.
“Cain, you cannot keep me from working. Take me home, and I’ll just get into my car and come back.” She folded her arms, and looked away from him.
“Nora, I don’t know how to explain it, but I can’t leave you there. Please don’t ask me to.” He clutched the steering wheel as if it was a lifeline.
“Cain, let me out. Let me go back. Cain!” Her voice was rising adding to the droning sound in his ears.
Nora unbuckled her seatbelt, and reached for the door lock. “Nora, please. Stay in the car.”
“Let me out, Cain!”
Cain pulled the car over to the side of the road. “Ashton, stay in the car!” He got out and pulled Nora with him. They barely made it into the trees lining the road, when Cain let go and screamed.
Nora stumbled back, and tried to run back to the road, but Cain stood in front of her. “Please, just listen to me first.”
Cain paced, trying to figure out how to explain things to Nora. It was now or never, and he needed to be quick. She looked like she was ready to run again.
“I work as a private investigator. The catch is it’s a dragon secret service, and highly specialized in this area with threats and unknown personnel. I have helped protect this country from more terrorists than are on record.”
“What do I mean by dragon secret service? Well, I’m a dragon. What do I mean by I’m a dragon? It’s best if I show you.”
Cain stepped back to give himself space. With a call to his dragon, he felt the comforting sensation of heat run up his arms and down his body. In the blink of an eye he was now seeing Nora with intense clarifying vision, and she was stumbling back away from him screaming.
Chapter 8 – Nora
Everything had been perfect. The kiss last night was still a ghost on Nora’s lips, and not even the dead bird in the box could scare it away. She was touched that Cain had stepped in and wanted to take care of everything.
However, Cain’s definition of protection and taking care of the threats included pulling Nora from school, and she wasn’t about to do that. Her students were more important to her than her life. It was something she had always known was a small possibility as a teacher.
There were so many school shootings in the country. She had already been waiting for it to come around to her school. Why should it be any different or any more special? She just never expected the danger to be aimed at her.
She had been ready to tell Cain that, but he had grabbed her arm and taken her out to the car and driven off. Now they were in the nearby woods, and he talking so fast, Nora was having a hard time keeping up. He was telling her something about being a P.I. and a dragon.
Before Nora had any time to process it, Cain wasn’t standing in front of her anymore, a giant dragon, as bright as any blue she’d ever seen, stood before her. She tripped walking backwards and screamed at the massive sight of him. What had just happened?
As fast as the dragon had appeared, it disappeared, and Cain was standing in front of her once again.
“What was that?” Nora screamed.
“That was me. I’m a dragon. Ashton is a dragon.”
Suddenly everything Ashton had said made sense. The outbursts at school, the lack of attention, and the heat under his skin was not because he was a growing boy, but because he was a growing dragon. His comment about the chickens now made her laugh even harder.
A hysterical, confounded laugh bubbled from her lips. She was going in insane.
Cain winced.
Nora tried to soften her face, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to accept anything she had seen that day. A part of her was calmed by Cain’s presence, an even smaller part of her was angry or scared towards him, and most of her really wanted to be wrapped in his arms pressed closely against him again.
She stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. “Can I see it again?” She needed to make sure she had really seen a dragon; that she hadn’t stepped into some fantasy novel.
“Are you sure? There’s still more I want to tell you.” She could hear the worry in his voice, but she needed to see it again.
“Yes. Show me first, and then finish explaining things.”
Nora watched as closely as she could, as the air around Cain shimmered, and then he wasn’t there anymore. Not as she had known him anyway. In his place was the most beautiful beast she had ever seen. Now that she wasn’t screaming, she looked on in awe and marveled at his scales and how they shimmered through the cast rays of sun breaking through the trees. Magnificent wings were folded at his sides and she wondered what it would be like to fly on him.
She stepped forward and reached a hand out to him. She was careful, unsure if Cain still maintained his ability to think freely or was completely replaced by the mind of the beast in front of her. Her hand hung in the air for a minute before the dragon leaned forward, placing its snout against her palm.
A spark of warmth struck her palm, and she jumped, careful not to pull away suddenly. Heat washed over her entire body, and she wanted to press herself fully up against the dragon’s body. Not to see it anymore, but to feel it soul and body.
It was nervous about being so close to her, but she could feel the urge to trust her and the desire for her touch. Nora shook her head slightly. There was no way she could tell what the dragon wanted or felt, but with Cain in this form it was as if she knew him so much better than when he was a man.
The dragon spread its wings to show off it assets, and bowed toward Nora before shifting into Cain again. Her hand was still pressed against him, but to his chest now.