Page 13 of Dragon Charmed

He knew he couldn’t keep living in limbo, but the idea of finding out the truth scared the hell out of him.

What if he hated what he had done? Who he was?

Chapter 4

Tessa sat in front of her best friend and waited for her to ever so slowly calm down. It took time before Megan’s muscles relaxed. It helped that Eric was rubbing her back and talking to her in a low voice.

Tessa sat quietly—which was really, really hard for her—but she had said enough already. Telling them about the second paragraph of the curse appearing. Sure, that in itself was great news, until she told Megan and Eric how it appeared.

Megan had immediately told Eric to lock the scroll in the safe and had then gone to check on Arabella, who was napping in her room. After she confirmed her daughter was safe, she’d returned, so wound up Tessa was afraid she was going to self-combust.

Finally Megan blew out a breath and seemed ready to talk. “Okay, what now?”

Tessa blew out her own breath and reached for her best friend’s hands. “I would have never let Arabella get near the scroll if I had known, Megs.”

Megan shook her head. “I have the scroll out all the time on the desk, and Arabella is in my lap. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before this.”

“We should call John and let him know what happened,” Eric said.

Tessa closed her eyes for a moment before launching into the rest of her news. “Um, about that. I already talked to him.”

Megan frowned. “You called him? How did you get his number?”

“Your address book.”

Megan’s eyebrows rose. “The one in the closed desk drawer.”

Tessa swallowed. “Yep.”

“I’m surprised he answered the phone. He doesn’t usually pick up numbers he doesn’t recognize,” Eric said.

“Yeah. I remembered you guys telling me that before, so…I kind of used your office phone.”

Megan’s eyes widened. “That was devious of you.”

Eric smirked. “I bet he loved that.”

“Not really. I mean, I know you told me he was a recluse, but he was the dragon version of Oscar the Grouch.”

Megan shook her head. “You didn’t call him that, did you?”

Tessa shrugged. “The word ‘grouch’ may have been used in a sentence.”

Eric chuckled. “He didn’t know what hit him when you called. I know that much.”

Megan bumped her husband’s shoulder with her own. “Enough. What did John have to say about the curse?”

“He said it might be the steps to break it.”

Megan closed her eyes. “It’s talking about an oracle.”

Eric wrapped his arm around his wife. “It could just mean that Arabella was the catalyst that started the change. It doesn’t mean she will be involved in any of this.”

Tessa squeezed Megan’s hands to calm herself down as much as Megan. “He’s right. It might be more important that a human and dragon were able to have a baby. Now that we know we’re compatible, maybe that will change everything. The first child born to a human-dragon union is an oracle, and the marks on her back where her wings will unfurl mean she is also a dragon. That’s a big deal. It doesn’t mean that she’s in danger.”

Megan nodded, although doubt still filled her eyes. “What else did John say?”

“I asked him about Templars, and he said they were some ancient religious military order.”