Page 5 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Dragon

“Who are you?” The words were out of her mouth the next moment. “And where am I? This is Sylva, right?”

“I think I’ll ask the questions for now, sweetheart,” he said. “Care to explain to me how you just happened to appear out of thin air? Or whoyouare?”

“I...” She looked around again, and a nearby sign caught her eye:Green Sanctuary Wildlife Rescue.Her spell had worked a little too literally. The portal had brought her to ananimalsanctuary.

But maybe this dragon shifter could help her.

“Well?” the shifter prompted.

“I’m Nora,” she said. It dawned on her that this was the first proper conversation she’d had in a while. She hadn’t really spoken to anyone since she took off from the coven gathering. “Nora Parker. I’m not from this town.”

“Yeah, no shit.” He moved toward the truck and pulled out a set of clothes from the passenger seat, and she tried not to stare at him as he dressed. “I’m guessing you teleported yourself into Sylva—or whatever it is you witches do.”

“I came through aportal, actually.” Not that the difference mattered much right now. “And thank you again for saving my life. I came here because I need help. I need...sanctuary.” Okay, that sounded almost funny now that she’d said it to him.

Clearly, he thought the same thing, because the corner of his mouth turned upward, and he cast a sideways glance at the sign before asking, “Sanctuary? From what?”

“Not what.Who.I...” She faltered for a second, watching his abs flex slightly as he tugged his T-shirt on. “I’m being hunted.”

She looked around again, scanning the environment just in case the hunter had found her again. He was nowhere in sight, but it was only a matter of time. She might’ve portaled herself hundreds of miles away, but the distance was merely a slight inconvenience for him. He would find her again. And when he did, she’d better have a plan to defend herself, or else.

He took a step toward her, his eyes boring into hers. Even fully clothed, he was still a sight to behold. Between his handsome face and his broad physique, it was hard to take her eyes off him. Reminding herself to breathe properly, she went on.

“I used to belong to a coven,” she said. “But now, they’re trying to kill me.”

She’d been born into the Circle of Moonshade as a matter of fact, though not officially. Her mother, Eudora, had been one of the founding members of the coven. You’d think that was reason enough for her to get the respect she deserved, but the othercoven members had turned on Eudora after she fell in love with a wolf shifter, years before Nora was born. She’d broken one of their rules, they claimed.

Frankly, that had all been a load of bullcrap. But the problems hadn’t ended there.

Nora’s father hadn’t stuck around much longer after her birth. Heartbroken and despised by the rest of her coven, Eudora had raised her child on her own, trying as hard as she could to initiate Nora into the coven. But the Circle of Moonshade hadn’t particularly taken kindly to the idea of letting a hybrid into their midst.

It was bad enough that Eudora had broken their rules and gotten involved with a wolf shifter. Hybrids between supernaturals were uncommon, and rarely did anyone like them. According to the other witches, her presence in the Circle of Moonshade would be a desecration of its values, at the very least.

It had taken years of persuasion for Nora to finally get initiated into the coven. And even then, especially after her mother’s passing, she’d been treated with silent disdain by many of the other members, most of all Isobel, the coven’s leader.

Looking back on it now, maybe dating Isobel’s son hadn’t been her brightest move.

But that couldn’t possibly be the reason the coven leader had sent the hunter after her, could it? No, it had to have had something to do with that dead witch.

A shudder traveled through her body. Suppressing the memory before it could take root in her mind, she faced the dragon shifter. “I’ve been on the run for over a month. But I don’t know if I can keep running for much longer. Nothing I do stops him. I’ve relied on my magic more in the past few weeks than I ever have in my entire life, and he’s still coming after me. I need help. Will you...will you help me?”

The man regarded her for a few seconds. Nora wondered what was going through that head of his. He certainly didn’t think she was crazy. To an average human, her story would’ve been enough to land her in a padded cell with a straitjacket, but this man wasn’t even human. Not to mention he’d just seen her fall out of the sky.

“No,” he said.

Nora blinked at him. In all honesty, she hadn’t been expecting an outright yes, but hearing his response was even more surprising.

“Wh...why not?” she wanted to know.

“It’s not in my job description. I’m ananimalrescuer. This is ananimalsanctuary. Besides, you’re a witch. I’m sure you can handle yourself.”

With that, he turned his back to her and began walking toward the truck. Panic seared through Nora’s gut.

“Wait!” She ran after him, grabbing his arm and pulling him around to face her. “I’ve seen what you can do. You’re a dragon shifter. I’m sure you can protect me. I—”

“Look, lady, I’m not exactly having the most pleasant morning here, okay? I’ve got a fair to attend and five grand to make before the end of today. The last thing I need is to be sucked into whatever damsel-in-distress situation you’ve got going on.”

Nora bit her lower lip. She supposed his was a fair enough response. It wasn’t like she could just expect him to drop everything and jump at her plea for help. Still, she couldn’t keep running forever. She needed all the protection she could get. When was the last time she’d gotten a good night’s rest? She’d spent so long looking over her shoulder as she scampered to survive, expecting the hunter to appear out of nowhere. One could only experience so many near-death situations before it got exhausting.