Chapter 6
The next morning, Brad helped Lyrian fasten Anarian into the carseat, then they drove into Mungaloo. Their aim was to find Lisa, but Brad insisted on stopping at a café for breakfast first. They hadn’t had much to eat last night other than a few chocolate bars he’d packed for his flight and hadn’t eaten.
Lyrian was obviously impatient, but she didn’t object too much. From the way she wolfed down her breakfast, she was hungry too. Probably more so than him, since she was feeding Lyrian.
After they’d eaten, Brad headed for the pub, keeping a sharp look out for the car they’d seen the dragon in earlier. Brad had no idea where she’d gotten the car, or even if she’d be driving the same one again, but it was the best he could do.
Every dark coloured car that moved made him jump, but they made it to the pub without incident. Brad headed up to the room to grab the map as quickly as possible. He left the key on the counter when he was done, avoiding talking to the woman who was serving someone at the opposite end of the counter. He didn’t want to get caught in conversation. Every moment he was a way from Lyrian was a risk. If that dragon appeared again…
The thought hurried his feet, and he headed back out to the car, where Lyrian was thankfully safe. Brad felt a lot better once that first step was achieved. Then they drove to the first possible address they had for Lisa. His stomach was a bundle of nerves, and he wasn’t even sure if he hoped Lyrian’s brother was here, or not.
Their talk last night wouldn’t be banished.
Lyrian had seemed accepting of the fact that he couldn’t just walk away from his job. She didn’t seem to think it was all just an excuse, even though Brad felt it was.
It was easier to let her believe that he was being noble, and staying to help his people, than to admit that he was too afraid of failing her. His world was ordered, in control. Even in an emergency at the hospital, there were a set of procedures to be followed. And if you followed those to the letter, then even if something went wrong, you could tell yourself you’d done the right thing.
That there was nothing more you could do.
Out here, it seemed to just be chaos. When it came down to it, these dragons didn’t even seem to keep to their own rules of keeping their presence hidden. There was nothing you could count on. No rules or certainty to base any sort of plan on.
Brad just didn’t know how to cope with that.
He was just going to have to comfort himself with the fact that if he helped her find her brothers, then they would know what to do. They would be able to keep her and Anarian safe.
He drove slowly, on the pretence that he was scanning the sidewalk for dragons and the sky for freak thunderstorms, but in reality, he was just putting off the inevitable.
Because once they found Lyrian’s brother, it would be time for him to head back to America.
Alone.
Oh, sure, he’d come visit often. He wanted to be as much of a part in his daughter’s life as he could. But he and Lyrian couldn’t even have a casual relationship when he visited. With this dragons mating for life thing, that wasn’t an option.
Even if it did sound like the most wonderful thing in the world.
He should find it difficult to believe, that dragons had some weird, magical mating ritual that bound them for life. It was certainly something he would have laughed at if he’d seen anything like it printed in a medical journal. Or he would have a couple of years ago. But that was before meeting Lyrian. Before experiencing how he felt about her.
He already felt like leaving her would be like tearing himself in half. And that was before they’d formed this bond apparently.
He counted, just to be sure, but he and Lyrian had only slept together twice.
He almost wished she hadn’t told him. That they’d just slept together, and he could worry about solving the problems later. But he didn’t want the resentment that would have caused.
It was better this way, even if it didn’t lead to the solution he wanted.
“I’m sorry, Brad.” Lyrian’s voice was soft, and filled with the same pain he was feeling.
He turned back to her, a lump forming in his throat, his heart aching. “There’s nothing to be sorry about,” he said, his voice gruff. “None of this is anyone’s fault, it just is. No amount of wishing it were different would solve it.”
Lyrian shook her head, her eyes big and sad. “No, but I should have told you earlier. Back before you left the first time.”
Would he have believed her? She probably could have convinced him, shown him enough to make him believe.
But it wouldn’t have changed anything. Especially not now they had a baby together.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, tired now all of a sudden. “We can’t change the past, we can just push forwards to the future. Right now, we need to find your brother. After that, well, we’ll have to see what happens then.”
For once, he wasn’t planning ahead. He’d already seen that was pointless around dragons.
Plus, he didn’t want to.
In the here and now, he was with Lyrian. Chances are, he wouldn’t be in the future. So he didn’t want to know about it.
He pulled up in front of a low set brick house, and stopped the car. “You wait here,” he told Lyrian. “I’ll find out if Lisa lives here.”
“But I want to come too,” Lyrian protested.
Brad hesitated, but he really didn’t think that was a good idea. The less people who saw Lyrian and her vibrant blue hair and unusual pale skin, the better. “We have three houses to check out,” he reminded her. “It’s unlikely this is the right one. And we don’t want to wake Anarian until we’re certain.”
The baby hadn’t objected to the carseat as much this time, but Brad suspected if they were getting her in and out several times, she might change her tune.
Lyrian looked crestfallen. “All right,” she agreed reluctantly. “But be careful.”
“I always am,” Brad assured her. He’d had enough run ins with dragons this week. And the police.
He glanced up and down the road, but there were no signs of either police, or strange dragon women, so he slid out of the car and headed up the front path, planning his opening lines on the way.
His knock on the door produced a young woman, but not Lisa. Her blonde hair was straight. “Yes?”
“Hi, I’m looking for Lisa? Does she live here?”
To his surprise, an amused look came over her face. “You’re not the first one,” she pointed out, “You might have come a little further than most of them though. Are you from America?”
Brad felt a little stupid. Of course there would have been others looking for the mysterious woman who flew with dragons.
“Yes, I am,” he admitted. “Though I was here in Mungaloo for another reason.” He didn’t think it was a good time to mention his uncle, he didn’t really want anyone knowing who he was. And it didn’t matter anyway.
“Is she here?” he asked, dropping all the stories he’d made up about why he was looking for her.
The woman laughed. “No, no relation. She’s over on Stephen Street.”
That narrowed his search down. “Thanks for your help,” Brad said with a smile.
He headed back to the car, feeling his shoulders itch as the woman watched him curiously all the way.
He slid in next to Lyrian.
“Is she there?” she asked eagerly.
Brad shook his head. “Wrong address. But the woman did tell me where she is.” He pointed to the dot he’d marked on the map. “This one.”
“Are you sure?” Lyrian asked anxiously.
“Not completely, but it seems likely,” Brad said, as he started the car.
He headed over to the address he’d been given.
Lyrian stared out the front windshield, biting her lip. Brad couldn’t help glancing over at her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Lyrian nodded. “I just can’t believe, after all this time, that I’m going to find Verrian.” Her eyes filled with tears.
Brad knew why.
Once they found her brother, that was it. It was over between them. If Verrian was, indeed, here, then Lyrian had responsibilities that she couldn’t leave. And a family.
He could see, in Lyrian’s eyes, that she was feeling the same thing. Except for her, her brothers were real people. Or real dragons anyway. Dragons that she loved as much as he loved his brother.
For her sake, he hoped Verrian was here, even if it meant he had no more excuses for staying.
She hesitated, staring into his eyes. “It will be so good to know that Anarian will have a clan,” she said softly, as though trying to explain why this was so important to her.
“Even if he isn’t here, you and Anarian won’t ever be alone,” Brad said softly. “You’ve got me.”
She turned towards him then, and gave him a wide smile, reminding him achingly of that carefree summer a year ago. “You’ve been wonderful, Brad, but you have responsibilities back in America. I know you care about us, but you don’t need to be tied to me.”
Didn’t she get it? He already was.
Her, and Anarian. They were part of his heart. Part of his existence, whether he was here beside them, or home in America wondering what they were doing. Wishing he was here. There was no way now, or ever, that he could walk away and just forget they existed.
That realisation hit Brad like a hammer to the chest, making it hard to breathe for a few minutes.
He stared into Lyrian’s eyes, wishing he had some way to tell her all that.
Wishing there was time.
But there wasn’t. They needed to find her brother, so that she and Anarian could be safe. So that Verrian could do the job that Brad knew he couldn’t.
Brad would save his explanations for later, when there was time to make them. And maybe by then he’d have thought of a way to say it all without sounding like the blubbering fool he felt like.
So instead he just said, “You and Anarian will always be a part of my life, Lyrian. Surely you know that? But right now, we need to find your brother. So let’s go.”
She didn’t reply, just searched his eyes, biting her lip.
For some reason, Brad’s heart was jumping all over the place. He almost held his breath.
Slowly, she nodded. “Yes, we should do that.”
But she didn’t move.
Maybe she was as affected by all this as he was?
Brad wanted to stay here, like this, until she admitted it.
But they were sitting in a charred car, in front of a possible dragon hideout. Probably not the best place for it.
He put a hand on her knee. “We need to go.”
His words broke the moment. Lyrian nodded, stared at him again, then nodded again, more determinedly now. “Right, let’s go.”
Both of them climbed out of the car, then Lyrian paused. “Should I get Anarian out?” She turned and looked through the back window. “She’s asleep.”
Brad hesitated. He glanced over at the house, quiet and still, then back at the car. “Perhaps you should wait here with her. If Lisa isn’t here, then we won’t be staying. Seems pointless to get her and out when we don’t know yet.”
Lyrian hesitated.
“If your brother is here, we can get her out then,” Brad pointed out.
He’d feel safer then. Not like he needed to be ready to run at a moment’s notice.
Lyrian heaved a sigh. “All right,” she agreed reluctantly.
Brad headed up the path towards the door, knocked on it, then waited.
He heard footsteps in the house, and took a deep breath. He had a speech all prepared.
All of that vanished when the door opened.
The man standing there was familiar. Brad had seen him when he’d first arrived. The man with the police.
Of course he was here. He was Lisa’s brother.
The man hadn’t known where Lisa was at the time. What were the chances he did now?
He recognised Brad too. His eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. He glanced past Brad, towards his car, towards Lyrian, and his eyes widened. “You do know something, don’t you? It wasn’t just coincidence that the phone was in your car. Are you working with Lisa?”
The man’s thin, sallow face twisted in a half sneer, and the derisive look he gave Brad made him want to punch him. Not a feeling Brad was used to. He always maintained calm, no matter how abusive a patient was getting.
This was different though. This was personal.
Lisa’s brother stared at Lyrian again, and Brad could almost hear the neurons firing in his brain. “Is she a dragon? And who fried your car?”
Brad’s heartrate sped up. He didn’t like this man. Not at all.
It had been a mistake coming here.
But they had no other leads at all. So he swallowed down his urge to rearrange the man’s face, and asked instead, “Did you find your sister?”
The man frowned. “Why do you care? I thought you’d know where she was.”
Brad was beginning to doubt the likelihood of his sister actually helping Lyrian’s brother. If she was anything like her brother, she probably had an ulterior motive. They needed to find Verrian fast. He could need more help than Brad had thought.
“I’ve never met your sister in my life,” Brad said flatly. “But I’m fascinated by this dragon. Him I’d like to meet.”
“Sure, sure,” the man said sarcastically. “And you don’t mean me any harm at all. You have no plans to have your dragon attack me if I don’t cooperate. Well I’m not falling for that. I’m calling the police.”
Brad’s heartrate sped up immediately. This was just going from bad to worse.
“No need for that,” he said quickly. “If you can’t help us, I’ll get out of your way.”
The man didn’t reply. Instead he pulled out his phone.
Brad glanced back at the car. At Lyrian and his daughter who he was supposed to be protecting.
He might not be able to deal with an enemy dragon, but he could deal with this paltry human.
And he reached out and grabbed the man’s arm. “Don’t do that,” he said firmly.
“Or what?” the man said, his voice challenging.
But Brad could see the fear in the eyes that wouldn’t quite meet his, that kept shifting away whenever he tried to meet them. Maybe this man could be coerced into giving up some information.
If he even knew anything useful.
His hand tightened on the man’s wrist. “What’s your name?” he asked, his voice conversational.
The man wasn’t intimidated. Not enough to cooperate anyway. “What’s yours?”
That, Brad certainly wasn’t going to give. Not that the police didn’t already have all his details.
An idea came to him. Risky and daring. Only a small chance of success, a bigger chance of failure. If it failed, it could fail catastrophically.
The sort of decision he wouldn’t risk on the operating table.
The sort of decision Lyrian would take in a heartbeat.
Adrenaline flooded through Brad’s body, and the feeling was almost exhilarating.
“It sounds like you’ve met a dragon before,” he said, his voice conversational. “Up close and personal. Maybe even an angry one.”
He could see the nervous look in the man’s eyes. His eyes shifted away from Brad, as though he didn’t want them to admit the truth.
A truth Brad was already pretty sure of.
“See that woman out there by the car?” Brad said, his voice purring. “Well, what you don’t know is that she has a baby. And no matter how many dragon’s you’ve come up against, none of them are going to be as angry as a momma dragon protecting her baby.”
Lyrian chose that moment to call out, “Do you want me to come up there, Brad?”
It couldn’t have been more perfect if he’d planned it.
The man was staring at him now, not even attempting to hide his wide eyed fear. “What are you saying?”
Brad hesitated, but it seemed there was no reason to spell out his threat. Instead he moved to what he wanted to know. “What happened with your sister and the dragon?”
For a few moments, Brad wondered if he’d made a mistake. The man’s expression was belligerent and stubborn.
Then he sighed. “Look, I really don’t know anything. She turned up with this guy. At first we all thought he was just some random guy she’d picked up. Lisa does that all the time, right?” He looked up to Brad, as though he expected support. Maybe even a laugh at his sister.
Brad stared back at him dispassionately. He’d never found it amusing to laugh at anyone else’s sexual choices.
The man shrugged. “Well, then when we saw the article in the paper, we realised he wasn’t an ordinary guy. We had people showing up at the door in droves, wanting to see the dragon. Lisa slipped out in the middle of the night.”
This time, his shrug was uncomfortable. “I followed her. Biggest mistake of my life. Another dragon was hunting them down, and they had a huge fight out near the old ruined house on Peterson Road.” He gave a shudder.
This time, unwillingly, Brad felt a tiny bit sorry for him. He’d had one of those dragons flying straight at him, and he hadn’t acquitted himself well. Watching two fight would be, quite frankly, terrifying. “What did you do?” he asked.
“When they landed on the bonnet of the car, right in front of me, I got out of there,” the man admitted. “I’m not stupid. By the time I got back with the police, they were both gone. We managed to chase Lisa for a while, but… well, you know how that ended.”
The incident when he’d first arrived. Brad frowned in confusion for a moment, trying to figure out how the phone in his car had anything to do with this story. Then it hit him. “You were using that phone to follow her, weren’t you?”
The man grinned. “Pretty clever huh?”
Brad could think of a lot of other words he’d use to describe it, but he couldn’t be bothered. He was too busy being upset that this was a dead end. Lisa’s brother had no idea where she’d gone. He was no help at all.
“Does Lisa know anyone else in town? Is there anyone she might go to for help?” he asked.
The man shrugged. “I dunno. She hasn’t lived her for ages. She moved to the big city a few years back, and now she’s too big to talk to us…”
He kept talking, ranting about his sister, but Brad wasn’t listening anymore.
He could hear something in the distance. A sound that made his blood run cold.
A police siren.
He stared at the man in disbelief. How had he done it? Brad had been here the whole time, and he hadn’t called the police.
The man’s voice trailed off as he, too, heard the sirens. He gave Brad a sly grin. “You don’t think I’m the only one in the house, do you?”
A woman stepped out then, behind the man, her smile as sly as his. “You think you can just threaten anyone you like and not pay the consequences, do you? Well, the police will have something to say about that.” She glanced towards the car. Towards Lyrian. “And I bet they’ll be very interested in your girlfriend there.”
Brad’s heart pounded. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. Exactly why he shouldn’t have threatened the man. If he hadn’t thought he’d be clever, they would have been long gone.
No time for regrets, he needed to get Lyrian out of here. Now.
He ignored the betraying couple, and turned back to the car.
But the man grabbed his arm. “Oh no, buddy, you’re not going anywhere.”
Brad tried to shake him off, but his grip was surprisingly strong. He glanced towards Lyrian.
“There’s not going to be time for her to save you,” the man said triumphantly. “I know dragons are tough, but I’m sure a bullet can kill them, just like any other animal. If she attacks the police, do you think they’re going to hesitate.”
Adrenaline flooded through Brad, painfully this time, his words sending a chill down his spine. He couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Lyrian or Anarian.
And if it did, it would be all his fault.
He turned to the man, and snarled, “You’re a coward.” Then he punched him in the face.
The man was so startled, he dropped his hold on Brad’s arm, flying up to cradle his face. “Ow. My nose.” His hands came away bloodied. He stared at Brad in disbelief.
Brad tried to ignore the intense feeling of satisfaction. He didn’t have time to gloat.
He headed back to the car, ignoring the woman’s threats.
By this time, Lyrian had worked out that something was wrong. She stared at Brad, as he broke into a run. “Get in the car,” he called out.
Lyrian fumbled at the door as Brad yanked his open and jumped into the front seat, his mind frantically trying to figure out where he was going to go.
This was a small town, there were only so many places to hide. And somewhere in it was that dragon too. He needed to get back to the cave. They’d be safe there. No one would find them.
But first he had to lose the police.
The siren was closer now, the sound echoing through Brad’s head like a wail. He turned the car on as Lyrian fumbled with her seatbelt. “What happened?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“Bastard called the cops,” Brad snarled. “Or rather, his girlfriend did, while he argued with me.” He spun the car around and floored it, hoping against hope that he was going away from the siren. It was so hard to tell, the sound seemed to be coming from every direction.
“He didn’t even know anything, so this whole thing was a waste of time.”
Lyrian was silent, and Brad slammed his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.
He’d failed her. That had to be what she was thinking. He’d found a clue where her brother had gone, but it had been a dead end. He’d gotten her hopes up for nothing.
Lyrian put a hand over his. “That’s not your fault.”
Brad’s guilt argued with him, but she had a point. He heaved a sigh. “No, but it doesn’t get us anywhere, and now the police are after us.”
That made Lyrian’s face pale. “What are we going to do?”
Brad shook his head. “I have no idea. If we can lose them, we can go back to the cave. But doing that in a small town like this isn’t going to be easy.”
He should have a strategy, a plan for how he was going to lose them. But his mind was blank.
It wasn’t like he’d ever had to figure out how to lose the police before.
But one thing was certain, right now, they needed to keep moving.
Brad blindly picked a road and drove as fast as he could.