Chapter Nine – Lia

Lia hadn’t skipped since she was a little girl, but she sure felt like skipping today. Her heart was light, filled with love for a man she had just met, a man who meant the world to her already.

All she needed now, for that world to be complete, was to get Mr. Delamere off her back, and out of her life.

“Someone looks happy this morning,” Theo remarked as she walked into the office, purse swinging in her hand. She hummed a tune and smiled as she hung her coat up and put her purse in her desk, trying to avoid the questioning gaze of her boss. “I take it you had a good evening?”

“I did, thank you,” Lia replied.

“Teagan said you had met your mate.” Theo was bursting to ask questions, but he was being indirect, leaving her to dodge them if she really wanted to.

“I did. Sam Spencer. Do you know him?” Lia asked.

“More by reputation than anything. I know he helped Harlan and Chrysi. I don’t know the details.” Theo turned to look at his computer screen. “Does this mean you are going to stay here in Bear Creek?”

“What made you think I wasn’t going to stay anyway?” Lia asked, showing her obvious interest in his question.

“Little things,” Theo replied.

She filled the coffee pot, and said, “I wasn’t sure. When I first came here.” She turned to face him. “I fully intended to disappear into the mountains for a few months. I wanted to find myself.”

“And instead you found us in total need of saving,” Teagan said as she came into the office and plopped herself down at her desk.

“Decaf?” Lia asked.

Teagan groaned. “Yes, please. I feel terrible, but I actually got a few more hours sleep last night.” She shook her head. “I just need to kick my caffeine dependency, and my sleep deprivation will be a thing of the past.” She looked across to Theo. “So whatever you are badgering Lia about, drop it, we need her to stay.”

“I wasn’t badgering, I was simply asking about her mate,” Theo replied.

“Oh, yes, how did it go?” Teagan asked, perking up as if she had consumed two cups of coffee, one after the other.

“It went well.” Lia kept her gaze lowered, hoping her cheeks hadn’t turned the same shade as a ripe strawberry.

“You slept together!” Teagan said, grinning.

Lia frowned. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh, I can still remember the first time with my mate. And I think I had that same look on my face for a good week or more.” She sighed, reminiscing. “Those days were so simple.”

“And now your life is complicated in the best kind of way,” Theo said. “Kids make us a look at everything through their eyes.”

“Well, when my child is born, I will remember that.” A voice from the doorway made them all turn.

“Fiona, what are you doing up and about so early?” Teagan got to her feet and walked across the office to hug the woman who was heavily pregnant. Was there something in the water in Bear Creek that made all females exceptionally fertile?

“I can’t sleep very well. Baby keeps moving around, and I swear he has talons.” She rubbed her stomach.

“You don’t mean he’s a…” Teagan leaned forward and whispered, her next words, but Lia still heard them. “A dragon. Inside you.”

“No.” Fiona shook her head. “He’ll come out like a real baby. At least, I hope he will. He doesn’t like sleeping at night, that’s for sure.”

“You know it’s a boy?” Theo asked.

“Yes, we saw it on the scan. Poor thing,” Fiona crooned softly.

“Why?” Theo asked.

“He’s going to be surrounded by doting females. I have never seen two girls quite so excited about the birth as Ruby and Sapphi are.” Fiona’s eyes shone bright with happiness.

Lia made herself busy making coffee while she listened. She had never heard of a dragon shifter before. Were they really a thing?

“Oh, Fiona, I should introduce you to Lia.” Teagan brought Fiona across the room to stand in front of Lia. “Lia, this is Fiona.”

“Hi, Fiona,” Lia said casually. “Can I get you some coffee?”

“No thanks. Oh, you have decaf, maybe I’ll have a cup of that,” Fiona said.

“I’m on the decaf too,” Teagan replied. “Thanks to Lia, I might actually be able to go back to sleeping through the night once the caffeine is out of my system.”

“Lia has been a godsend,” Theo chimed in.

“She’s also Sam’s mate,” Teagan confided.

“Sam? Sam Spencer?” Fiona asked.

“Yes,” Lia answered.

“Aren’t you a lucky girl,” Fiona said, her interest overflowing.

“I think so,” Lia replied, not sure what to say. What history had Sam with a dragon shifter?

Lia found herself staring at Fiona and abruptly turned away. Walking across to Theo’s desk, Lia placed a cup of coffee down on it.

“Sam helped us out when we were trying to adopt Sapphi and Ruby.” Fiona smiled, her face filled with love.

“He’s a good man,” Lia agreed.

“He is.” Fiona nodded, scrutinizing Lia. “We must invite you over to dinner; Harlan would love to meet you.” She stroked her stomach. “If this young man doesn’t pop out before that.”

“They come when they are ready,” Teagan said.

“I hope it’s soon, I’m on maternity leave, and I don’t like it,” Fiona grumbled. “Suzie is in charge of my…department.”

“What do you do, Fiona?” Lia studied the woman before her. She was a little older than most pregnant women Lia had ever met.

“I work for social services. I take a particular interest in shifter children in need of a home,” Fiona said. “That makes me sound as if I work at the dog pound.”

“Talking about dogs, how are you getting on with Muffin?” Teagan asked, and the conversation drifted off, leaving Lia to think of Sam.

Had Sam gone to see Mr. Delamere? She glanced at her desk and was tempted to pull her phone from her purse and call him to tell him to forget all about what she said last night. She didn’t want him in danger.

“He’s certainly a man who can look after himself,” Fiona was saying to Lia. “I’ve met a lot of men in my time, but Sam is one of the biggest.”

“He is,” Lia said, dragging her attention back to the office at the mention of her mate’s name.

“Sam’s a man who knows how to take care of himself,” Fiona said, aiming the kind of knowing look at Lia that made her think Fiona was a mind-reader.

“He is,” Lia agreed. She might not have known Sam long, but it was easy to see he could handle himself. And there was a lot of him to handle. No one would get into a fight with Sam unless they were stupid.

“And men do like to be in a position to prove themselves,” Fiona continued. “These days women are so much their equal that they need to go out and bring home the bacon every once in a while.”

Teagan nearly sprayed her coffee across the room. “Bring home the bacon? Where did you get that phrase from?”

“I have no idea. Probably one of those TV shows the girls like to watch.” Fiona sighed. “TV, I never thought I would have one in my house.”

“Times have changed, Fiona, kids aren’t expected to spend all their time working the fields and collecting firewood,” Theo volunteered.

“That is what is wrong with the world,” Fiona said. “In my day there was no leisure time.”

“You’ll soon remember what it’s like to have no leisure time when you have your baby,” Teagan said sagely.

Fiona rubbed her hand over her swollen belly. “I can’t wait.” She drained her coffee cup. “I will let you all get back to work. I have an urge for a trip to the bakery. My son has a sweet tooth.”

“Look after yourself, Fiona.” Teagan kissed the older woman’s cheeks.

“Bye, nice to meet you,” Lia said.

“Good to meet you, Lia. Tell Sam I said hello.” Fiona gave her one last penetrating stare, and then added, “And if you need fire poured on someone, aim them in my direction when I’m in labor and I might just oblige.”

“That is one birth I will be steering well clear of, Fiona,” Theo called after her.

“She really is a dragon?” Lia asked quietly as Fiona walked away.

“Yes,” Teagan answered.

Fiona must have heard because smoke seemed to swathe her as she exited the building.

“I never knew they existed.” Lia was filled with awe.

“She keeps it quiet. But since you are Sam’s mate, she trusts you,” Teagan said. Her face cracked into a beaming smile. “You fit right in here, Lia. Right in.”

“That’s a compliment,” Theo said. “Although it means you are as crazy as the rest of us.”

“Speak for yourself, Theo.” Teagan sat down at her desk and started her work.

“If you want to reorganize my day?” Theo asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Lia replied. As she sorted through Theo’s appointments, she stopped feeling like a busybody and allowed herself to believe she was going to become part of the Bear Creek community and finally get Mr. Delamere off her back.

However, her fear for Sam did not go away. All she could do was draw on the knowledge that a dragon thought he was a good man, and capable of getting the job done.