Page 31 of Dragon My Crazy

Elana didn’t look surprised. “She’s been doing that all day. I’ve been showing her how to use her hands to grab things. I’m hoping it might lead to her shifting just to use her human hands.”

Melly shook the rattle with even more enthusiasm.

“But I’ve been trying to get her to use her hands for months.”

She frowned. “With what?”

“Food. Handshakes. Anything.”

“Food goes in the mouth anyway, so she’s going to go with it with her snout. As for the rest, I didn’t see any fun toys in there before that would entice her enough to use her hands.”

Melly, oblivious to my excitement, tossed the rattle and immediately lunged for it again, shaking it with even more enthusiasm. Then she started smacking it against the floor withdetermination. Thwak. Clatter. Thwak. It was loud, and she was having the time of her life.

I’d watched Melly for three months now. I’d watched her every morning, every afternoon, every night. This was new. This was progress.

Hope blossomed in my chest.

Elana looked at Melly for a moment longer, and I saw the look in her eyes. A look that told me she was getting attached and had already decided that fighting it was futile.

After breakfast, I suggested we take another trip into town.

Despite Leroy’s insistence that we not bring Melly, we drove into Solstice mid-morning, just the three of us. I’d decided that since most of the town knew who I was already. Regardless of when I started bringing Melly in, they’d know she was a dragon. I couldn’t keep her in the castle forever, not when there was a whole town to explore here.

Elana had prepared a bag with food for Melly, as well as her toys to keep her busy. She’d called it a diaper bag even though there were no diapers in it. She’d been shocked to find out that we didn’t have any, on account that Melly always stayed a dragon.

Elana was equally horrified when she asked where the stroller was, and I told her we didn’t have one either. And when I tried to use the same excuse, she’d shut it down immediately.

“Unacceptable. There are plenty of options. Melly’s a dragon, not a half-demon like my granddaughter Eadie. She can’t float to the ceiling just for fun.”

I’d blinked. “You have a granddaughter?”

“Yep. About the same age as Melly.”

Elana was currently tucked into the passenger seat of my Range Rover, and Melly’s carrier was strapped into the back with her cooing to herself. The ifrits had followed, and I’d asked Cassian to come along as well. The ifrits had done such a great job trailing behind us and not making a scene or looking like guards the other day that I’d decided Cassian needed to take some notes.

Cassian usually portrayed himself as the biggest, baddest demon in existence whenever I needed him around, but it was clear to me that subtlety worked best in many cases. Yesterday, I’d barely noticed Blaze or Flame unless I really looked around. Despite keeping their ifrit forms, they didn’t stand out like sore thumbs. That was easier to do in a place like Solstice, where they’d look just like yet another magical being. I suspect that if they were in a big city, they’d adjust accordingly.

Solstice on a weekday was a different creature altogether from Solstice on the weekend. It was much quieter. Nearly all the foot traffic was locals running errands rather than visitors chasing charm after learning about the new magical mountain town.

In the years since I’d settled on the mountain, I’d come down only when I had to for supplies, and then, I went to Edmonton or Calgary, where I could just disappear into a city full ofpeople. New faces there were easily and immediately forgotten. A dragon kept his territory safest by giving the people in it no reason to look too closely.

I parked near the hardware store, and we’d barely made it onto the sidewalk when someone called out.

“Sir! Pardon me. Sir!”

I turned, curious as to who would be hailing me down.

A big, broad-shouldered man, barrel-chested, with a thick dark beard, came out of the bakery at a brisk walk, carrying a baguette over his shoulder. He had a gracefulness that didn’t quite match his lumbering bulk. Human-looking, until you caught the almost ursine set of his eyes and shoulders, and the shifter aura. He had to be a bear shifter. He wore a small enamel pin of a stylized sun on his lapel. I’d been seeing that around town; it must be their town logo.

“Forgive me for chasing you down.” He slowed as he reached us and stuck out a big, meaty paw of a hand. “Name’s Bjorn Halvorsen. I’m the mayor of Solstice. And you’re the gentleman from the mountain, aren’t you? The dragon.”

I took the offered hand warily. “I am.”

“I thought so.” His grip was firm, his smile wide and genuine. “I hope you’ll excuse the ambush. I’ve been hoping for a chance to finally meet you.”

The warmth in his expression caught me completely off guard. There was none of the guardedness reserved for meeting a dragon that might burn down your village if he had a bad day.

Bjorn turned to Elana with the same warmth. “And you are?”