Page 8 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Dragon

“I know, it’s shocking, right?” Nora gave a shrug. “We hybrids aren’t common, even among supernaturals. We’re not really supposed to exist. That’s part of why we’re hated so much. No doubt, I’m the first you’ve come across.”

She was not. Even as he stared at her, another face was slowly solidifying in the forefront of his mind, longer and darker, with green eyes and silver-blonde hair.

He’d met Carmen less than fifteen years ago, back when he still lived in Chicago. She’d been a swimsuit model, and in all honesty, when he hit on her in that bar that first night, he hadn’t even figured she might be a supernatural like him, much less a hybrid. It wasn’t until she’d accidentally sunk her fangs into his shoulder in the middle of sex that he realized she was a vampire. More than that, she was also a witch.

She’d been fascinated to find that he was a dragon shifter, as if she wasn’t the rarer kind of supernatural. For some reason, she’d seemed even more attracted to him. And Henry? He’d been thirty and single at the time, drifting between jobs, and she’d suddenly become the newest, most interesting addition tohis life. He’d had no issue with her being a hybrid. If anything it had somewhat fascinated him—a vampire who could walk around in daytimeandcast spells.

They’d gone steady for the next nine months, and by the time Henry realized something wasn’t quite right, it had been almost too late. For a few weeks, he’d noticed her pulling away, engrossed in some magic she’d been studying. The distance had bothered him, but when Carmen suddenly suggested they take some alone time together, camping out in the woods over the weekend, he’d been beyond excited.

Looking back on it, he should have been terrified.

They’d barely spent a full night in the woods whenithappened. He’d awoken in the cabin in the middle of the night to find himself magically tethered to the floor in a circle of chalk, surrounded by candles. And standing over him, her book of spells in her hand, was none other than Carmen.

She’d wasted no time explaining her plan to him, and the pieces had fallen into place. It all started to make sense why she’d been so excited to be with a dragon shifter, why she’d been pulling away in the past few weeks. Her plan was simple: absorb Henry’s shifting abilities with a spell she’d tweaked for this very purpose. She would become atribrid—witch, vampire, dragon shifter.

But executing the plan had been a different ball game entirely.

And it had gone wrong.

The spell had almost worked. In fact, if Henry hadn’t been struggling so hard, he might’ve lost his abilities. Just before it was complete, the spell failed. The next thing he knew, the entire cabin had gone ablaze. The next few moments had been almost a blur: he’d seen Nora get hit by a falling beam, seen the flames surround her, seen her barely make it out of the cabin, injured and bleeding, and into the night.

That was the last he’d ever seen or heard of her.

Or of any hybrid, for that matter.

At least, until now.

His jaw clenching slightly, he regarded the witch—no,hybrid—seated across from him. Those beautiful eyes of hers were still fixed on him, her lips slightly puckered. Henry felt an automatic wave of distrust. He’d been somewhat relieved earlier to know that he wouldn’t be in his tent alone, but now he couldn’t help but wonder whether he hadn’t made a mistake saving this woman’s life. Just what had he gotten himself into?

“Why didn’t you mention being a hybrid earlier?” he asked as calmly as he could.

She gave a half-shrug. “Well, would you have helped me if you knew what I was?”

The obvious answer wasno,but Henry didn’t bother saying anything. He took a few deep breaths, trying to shake off the memory of the hybrid who’d almost killed him fourteen years ago. If he closed his eyes now, he could still hear himself screaming as Carmen tried to rip his very essence from his body.

“People hate hybrids, Henry,” she told him. “Both humans and other supernaturals do. You hate us because you don’t understand us, because you don’t think we should exist. It’s the same way humans feel about supernaturals in general. It’s better no one knows what we are—much safer. Ring a bell?”

It certainly did. Nora had a point. Still...

“That’s rough,” he admitted. “But I don’t hate you for what you are.”

I just don’t trust you,he neglected to add.Especially after one of your kind tried to hurt me.

He forced the memory of Carmen out of his mind, trying to calm himself. He couldn’t lose his cool now. Especially not here, in front of Nora.

Relax, Henry,he told himself.It’s not like she’s going to try to steal your shifter abilities. She just wants your protection from someone else.

Not exactly reassuring. Best to shift his focus to something else,anythingbut the fact that he was sitting only a few feet away from a hybrid.

“Doesn’t seem to me like your business is booming,” Nora remarked, breaking the silence.

Henry nodded, grateful for the change in subject. He glanced outside the tent at the people walking past. “Yeah, it’s even worse than I anticipated.”

In the past hour since he’d set up the tent, the animal sanctuary had made barely thirty bucks. That was a long way from five grand. At this rate, he’d be lucky if he managed to secure five hundred dollars in profit by the day’s end.

“You sure you can’t do a money spell, or something?” he asked. “Or magically compel these people to buy something?”

“Even if I could, I don’t think I would,” she replied, shooting him a disapproving look. “Magic isn’t always about using shortcuts to get what you want. It’s also about helping you do things the right way.”