Chapter Forty-One – The Dragon’s Favorite Strays
Chapter Forty-One
DAKOTA
If anyone notices that I’m flustered, they don’t comment on it. We make plans to go out tomorrow to look for the nomad. We work on a crossword puzzle aloud, because Aggie doesn’t like to do them on her own. I don’t even know if she likes to do them as much as she just likes to be the one barking demands for words at everyone. Murr returns, flying overhead and gently dropping a dead deer nearby, and the cats come streaming out. The rest of the afternoon is spent cooking and butchering, Rabbit medicating kittens as she grabs them, and Aggie shouting for a ‘five letter word that means darkness’. Dottie pulls out knitting, which leaves me with the task of prepping the meat by myself.
Did I think that living in a bookstore was going to give me more leisure time to read and relax? I swear it’s like I’m the only adult in a ten mile radius. But then Murr arrives in his human form, sauntering up to our parking lot firepit, and comes to stand by me. He’s wearing his loin wrap, and when our eyes meet, he doesn’t smile, but his eyes whirl that deep, rich gold that tells me exactly what he’s thinking.
And when I walk past, I could swear he inhales deeply, drinking in my scent.
I suddenly don’t mind that Aggie and Dottie are rather checked-out. If they were more attentive, they’d notice that something subtle has changed between myself and Murr. That when I stand near the fire, he drifts a little closer. That I catch him watching me all throughout the evening. That I can’t stop looking at him, or his big, gorgeous body.
I’ve been fine without a man for eight years. I’ve considered myself immune to their charms (such as they are). But Murr and his obsession with kisses is making my mind spin.
“Getting late,” Dottie comments after the sun goes down. She puts her knitting away and rubs her eyes under her glasses. “Should we set up a watch in case he comes by in the night?”
“I can take the first watch,” Aggie says. She puts away her stub of a pencil and closes her crossword book with careful hands, as if the paper is more precious than gold. “I don’t need beauty sleep. I’m naturally blessed.”
Rabbit purses her mouth as if trying desperately not to laugh, and looks over at me.
I shake my head. “I think we’re good. Murr has better senses than all of us. If he stays in the area, we’ll be safe.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Dottie says. “He’s too sweet on you.”
Okay, maybe they have noticed that something’s changed between us. Maybe I’m the one that’s not clued in.
Rabbit scoops up Kermit with a yawn. “I’m going to bed, then. Night, Mom. Night, Aggie. Night, Dottie. Night, Murr.”
“Nyy,” Murr repeats back, though I’m not entirely sure he knows what it means.
My daughter smiles sleepily at our group and then heads into the bookstore, ‘her’ cat in her arms. She’s followed by at least four others, and if they all pile into the blankets with her, there won’t be any room for me…but she’ll also be the happiest kid alive. I can’t complain.
“In that case, I could use some sleep,” Aggie says, hauling herself out of the folding lawn chair she’s claimed as her own. “We put our blankets down in the same spot we were last night but if you need us to move, we can. I know it’s your bed, Dakota.”
I shake my head. “It’s a big bookstore. I can make a new room soon enough. I’ll put away the smoked meat and bank the fire. Just leave me a pillow and a blanket and I’ll be good. I can bunk with Rabbit again.”
The others trickle off, moving slowly into the bookstore. I let the fire die down, carefully wrapping the smoked meat in packets of foil and then putting those packets into a plastic container. Without refrigeration, we have to cook the shit out of everything and hope it doesn’t spoil. Murr remains nearby in his human form, a cat in his lap and another in his arms. He doesn’t ask for word lessons, but seems content to watch me put things away. Then there’s nothing else left to do, and I stretch, my hands at the small of my back. “Goodnight, then.”
“Sleep?” He asks, getting to his feet.
“Yup, time to sleep.” I glance over my shoulder at him. “I’ll see you in the morning. Are you staying nearby?” I point at the doors where he normally sleeps. “Murr sleep?”
He doesn’t shift to his dragon form, however. He follows after me when I head inside, still human.
Well now, what does this mean?
