Chapter 1
Brad stared at Lyrian, lying in the bed next to him, a strange feeling of contentment creeping over him. She lay on her side, his daughter Anarian snuggled in close to her.
The barkeep had brought a portacot up last night, but when Brad had explained what it was for, Lyrian had stared at him in horror. She’d insisted on having the baby in bed with them. At first, Brad had been dead against it. It seemed dangerous to have the small baby in the bed while they slept. What if Lyrian rolled on her?
Lyrian had patiently explained that she always woke if Anarian moved, and that having her in the bed with them meant she could feed her when she needed during the night without getting up. She seemed so confident and certain Brad reluctantly agreed.
Now, lying here beside both of them, he couldn’t help feeling that there was something right about this.
Anarian stirred first. Her little face screwed up, and she turned on her side and rooted against Lyrian’s chest. The tired mother lifted her shirt and attached her to the breast without even opening her eyes. Brad couldn’t help smiling. The arrangement did seem to work quite well for both of them.
But though it was clear they would have slept for longer, he couldn’t go back to sleep now. There was too much to do today. They needed somewhere safer to stay, somewhere that Lyrian and Anarian could be more comfortable. And for them to find that, he needed a carseat for Anarian.
Last night, when they’d been fleeing from an attacking dragon, it had been of secondary concern. Brad had been too busy getting his head around the fact that dragons existed, Lyrian and Anarian were dragons, and one was chasing them. Leaving Henry’s had been essential, it was too isolated for them to be safe there. The enemy dragon posed a far higher risk than travelling without a carseat.
Today though, in daylight, with no sign of the enemy dragon, it was essential. Even if he could bring himself to risk his daughter’s life by driving without one, there was too much risk of being pulled over. He definitely didn’t want any trouble with the police.
First though, they needed breakfast.
Brad eased himself up on one elbow and this time Lyrian opened her eyes and looked over at him.
Her hair was tousled from sleep, and her expression relaxed and drowsy.
She’d never been more beautiful.
It felt so normal and natural, to be here beside her. Like they were a family.
He never would have imagined that this would just feel so right. If someone had asked him if he wanted a family, a wife and child, he would have backed away slowly. If they’d asked if he wanted a family with Lyrian, he would have hesitated, torn.
But right now, lying here in bed with Lyrian and their baby, he wanted this. All of it. He just needed to figure out a way to convince Lyrian to move back to America with him. Maybe she’d be more open to the suggestion now that Henry was gone and she couldn’t find her brothers. If they couldn’t find them, then there would be nothing holding her here anymore, would there?
Brad hesitated, but the lure was too great. He reached over and brushed a lock of hair that was hiding her blue eyes out of her face, tucking it behind her ear.
She stared at him intently for a few moments.
Neither of them said anything.
The impulse to lean down and kiss her upturned lips was overwhelming. The thought felt as normal and right as being here with her did.
Brad let impulse take him, and he bent to kiss her.
For a moment, her lips were soft and welcoming under his. She was kissing him back.
That felt right too.
Then something changed. She pulled back, and when he looked down at her, her eyes were wide with…
Was that fear?
What? What had he done wrong?
She turned away before he could say anything, fussing over the baby, as if she were pretending he wasn’t there. That the kiss and the feelings it had evoked hadn’t happened.
Brad couldn’t figure out what was going on. He’d assumed her earlier reluctance to continue anything with him was based on keeping the fact that she was a dragon secret. Now that he knew, shouldn’t that reason be irrelevant?
“Are you okay?” he asked eventually, when she didn’t say anything.
She didn’t look at him. “Of course, it’s just that we have a lot to do today.”
Brad hesitated, but she didn’t volunteer anything more.
He wanted to push for answers, but he swallowed the questions down.
He was getting good at that.
“I’m just going to go down and get us something to eat,” he told her. “Will you and Anarian be okay here for a while?”
Lyrian nodded. “We’ll be fine,” she assured him.
Brad rolled over and out of bed, still at a loss as to what he’d done to upset her. She hadn’t seemed to mind the kiss. Had seemed to like it even.
He let himself out of the room, making sure to lock it behind him, and headed downstairs, hoping that the pub served some sort of breakfast.
Luckily, they did. Brad ordered two big breakfasts, his stomach growling at the thought of sausages, bacon, eggs, and toast, and sat at the bar waiting while it was cooked.
A newspaper, sitting on the edge of the bar caught his attention. The headlines asked, “Dragon’s in the Australian Outback?”
Brad’s body stiffened.
Was Lyrian’s secret out?
He scanned the article. Underneath the headlines was a picture of what looked like a giant purple blur skimming low over tufts of grass. Brad regarded it thoughtfully. The image had clearly been enlarged far more than was practical, deteriorating the quality significantly. It hadn’t been high quality in the first place, probably from a phone using digital zoom.
The purple blur did closely resemble the shape of the dragon that had been heading for him last night. Closely enough to convince Brad of its validity, but probably not Lyrian. He couldn’t imagine she’d be a purple dragon, not with that blue hair.
Next to the blurry picture was a clear one of a couple. A woman with curly hair, and a man with dark hair and a tattoo of a dragon on his bare chest. No, not Lyrian. This was someone else. Another dragon.
Could it be one of Lyrian’s brothers, or was it one of her enemies? And who was the woman?
Brad scanned the article, but there was very little actual information. Just a name of the woman, Lisa Evans. The strange man who he’d encountered when he first arrived had been looking for Lisa. Was this her?
The man was just referred to as Verrian. The rest of it was conjecture and speculation. Brad skimmed it quickly, but could see nothing of interest, so he returned to the picture. He stared at the black and white image. The similarity to Lyrian’s name was unmistakable. There was a good chance this was one of her mysterious brothers.
Brad’s heart sank a little. He wanted to be glad he’d found a clue to one of her brothers. He had no doubt she’d be thrilled. But he knew that if she found them, then any hope he had of convincing her to come to America with him would be gone.
This wasn’t just about him though. It was about what was best for Lyrian and Anarian too. And he knew without a doubt that there was no way he’d ever feel good about keeping this information from her.
Even if it meant he lost her.
The barkeep came in with two plates then, and put them down on the bar. He noticed Brad reading the paper, and grinned. “Quite a kerfuffle, that caused yesterday. I had several men in here last night claiming one of those ‘dragons’ must have stolen their missing cattle or sheep.” He gave a laugh. “Complete baloney if you ask me.”
Did the man guess Brad had something to do with the dragons? Could he guess Lyrian was one? Her blue hair was certainly distinctive. But no, the man was looking at him in a conspiratorial manor, expecting him to share his disbelief.
Brad forced what he hoped was a convincing laugh. “I can imagine it is. It’s amazing what they can do with Photoshop these days.”
The barkeep gave a laugh. “Too true.”
“So is the woman a local?” Brad asked casually. If he could find out where she lived…
The barkeep shrugged. “Sort of. She grew up here, but then moved away a few years ago. Most of the kids do. Too boring for them here in Mungaloo. She was visiting her parents for Christmas I guess.”
Brad tried to think of any way he could ask for her parent’s names or addresses, but came up blank. But it was a small town, there couldn’t be too many Evans’s. Could there?
He stood up and folded up the paper. “Do you mind if I borrow this? The story might entertain my wife.”
The barkeep nodded, “Sure, I have no use for it.”
Brad thanked him and tucked the paper under his arm, then went back upstairs to Lyrian, his mind working overdrive.
When he’d told Lyrian he’d help her find Lisa, he’d mainly said it to make her feel better. He hadn’t had any expectation of actually being able to find the mysterious Lisa.
Now that he had this clue, he couldn’t avoid it. Couldn’t really pretend any longer that they weren’t going to find her family eventually.
Couldn’t pretend that this could turn into something permanent.
Brad bit back a sigh, and focused on what he had to do.
Lyrian had finished feeding Anarian by the time he returned, and was sitting on the bed playing with her. Any awkwardness there had been earlier seemed to be forgotten. She looked up when Brad came in and gave him a smile. “Good morning.”
He put a plate of food down next to her, then sat on the bed next to her. Was now the time to ask her what had happened? To ask why she’d pulled back? Was it better to do it before he revealed that there was a good chance one of her brothers was here, in Mungaloo? Or perhaps it was better not to get his hopes up.
He stared into her eyes, but the hesitation was still there, she was just hiding it.
So instead he handed her the paper. “I found this downstairs.”
Lyrian stared at the picture, her eyes widening. “Verrian!”
That dispelled any last doubts Brad was holding on to. “So he is your brother then? I thought it might be.”
Lyrian nodded eagerly, then to Brad’s surprise, she burst into tears.
He stared at her in shock for a few moments. What was wrong? What was he supposed to do? Should he not have told her?
“Are you all right?” he asked tentatively.
“Yes,” Lyrian assured him. “I’m just so relieved he’s alive. I was so afraid he was dead.” She dabbed at her eyes with the corner of the sheet, sniffling a little.
Brad found the sound strangely endearing.
Any doubts he’d had earlier over whether this was the right decision faded away. This was important to Lyrian, and it would be important to their daughter.
“It’s even better than that,” Brad told her. “We have this Lisa’s full name now, and the man downstairs said she was probably staying with her parents. We just have to find her and she’ll be able to tell us where your brother is.”
Lyrian’s face was wreathed in smiles. “How do we do that?”
“We just look up her address.” Brad reached into his pocket for his phone, but came up empty. He searched his other pockets, then his bag, even though he knew he wasn’t going to find anything.
He swore under his breath. He’d left his phone at Uncle Henry’s. There went his plans.
Another thought occurred to him. His heart skipped a beat. Nate!
He’d been talking to his brother when the dragon had shown up, and he’d just thrown the phone away. He’d told Nate he’d explain later, but in his rush, he’d forgotten. His twin brother was probably worried sick.
He needed to let his brother know he was okay.
Just the thought of talking to his brother cheered Brad up. Nate would help. He’d offered, but Brad had told him there wasn’t anything he could do. That had been before the dragon had attacked. Right now, he was sure he’d feel a lot better if he wasn’t doing this alone.
“Give me a minute, I need to call my brother, and tell him I’m okay,” he told Lyrian.
She stared at him for a moment, then nodded.
Brad used the hotel phone in their room, but Nate’s number rang out. His cell went straight to message bank.
Brad frowned. Where was Nate? It was unusual for his brother to be unreachable.
The thought worried him a little, even though there were several reasonable excuses why he might be out of phone range.
He’d have to try again later. After they looked for Lisa.
He turned his mind back to finding Lisa. He wasn’t going to let a simple thing like a missing phone get in the way. There was more than one way to find an address. He’d just have to do things the old fashioned way.
“Let’s eat, then we’ll see what we can do,” he told Lyrian.