Chapter 4

Jayce had spent the better part of the day flying over and searching Hell’s Kitchen. His vision was sharp, even at night, and he had no plans to quit. The only reason he’d have to pause, and only briefly, would be to grab a bite to eat. Rat wasn’t his favorite meal, but he’d spotted some scurrying down a side street. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to resort to that.

As he was thinking about his empty stomach, he caught a break. Kristine exited a building on Eleventh Avenue. It wasn’t a pretty area, but it was certainly convenient to the places she and her mother frequented. Kristine had told him that her mother was now an acting coach at an acting school on Ninth Avenue. Kristine was a firefighter on Eighth. Did her mother need her rent that badly?

As he followed Kristine from above, he thought about how her neighborhood compared to his refurbished condo in gentrified Charlestown. It was on the river, and even though it was a ground-floor unit, he had access to a deck and a great view. He could walk to his firehouse on Beacon Hill. Granted, it was a longer walk than hers…

Speaking of walking, where was she going?

She was making impressive progress, walking at a good clip and heading toward Times Square. Then she cut over to Madison Avenue. Stopping in front of a tall building that could house anything from businesses to apartments, probably both, she eyed it carefully.

She also peered up and down the street, searching for who knows what. Then she walked around the nearest corner and eventually studied the same block from the back. What could she be looking for?

Jayce continued to circle high above her but not high enough to escape notice. Through a ninth-story window, someone pointed to him and ran off for a moment, only to reappear with binoculars. He flew higher and checked his tail feathers in another window. Sure enough, the dirt was mostly gone, and his bright-yellow and red tail feathers were peeking through.

He headed for the roof and found some grime to roll around in. Hoping he hadn’t lost Kristine, he hopped onto the edge and peered over. She seemed to be heading home.

Now that he knew which building was hers, he could shift quickly, redress, and hopefully find an apartment labeled “Scott.” Although, if her mother was an actress, she might not go by her real name. He’d just have to follow Kristine as closely as he could without getting caught. Maybe a light would go on in one of the units and he’d spot her inside.

He knew he was grasping at straws, but at this point he’d do whatever it took to locate her place and get her to let him in. Then he landed near the cardboard box where he’d left his clothes…only there was no cardboard box. Or clothes!

Shit!

* * *

Kristine had returned to her apartment and was beginning to cook dinner by rote habit. She wasn’t particularly hungry. As she ruminated over her mother’s and her situation for the hundredth time, a knock at her door interrupted her thoughts. “Who the hell could that be?” she muttered.

Realizing it must be a neighbor since no one buzzed from the outside, she wiped her hands on a towel and strolled to the peephole. When she saw Jayce standing there, she almost dropped the towel.

How did he… Mixed feelings swamped her. On the one hand she was angry he hadn’t listened to her and left her alone to deal with her problems. On the other hand, she was glad he hadn’t listened and badly needed him to hold her and tell her everything would be all right.

After a few seconds of hesitation, she opened the door. He probably wouldn’t go away if she didn’t at least talk to him. Just as she was about to ask him what he was doing there, she took a good look at him and gasped. He was wearing a pink sweat suit several sizes too small. His face was smudged with dirt, and his hair stood on end. “What happened to you?”

He glanced down at himself and casually asked, “What? You don’t like my new look?”

She grabbed his arm and yanked him toward her. “Get inside before anyone sees you.” After slamming the door shut, she stared at him.

He looked like he was trying to suppress a smile. “I was going to tell you I lost a bet, but I really do want to be honest with you. I had a slight accident.”

“An accident?” Her anger fled, quickly replaced by concern. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. But I was worried about you and may have been distracted. Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I—I’m fine.”

“Sure you are…” His sarcasm was hard to miss.

As she was about to argue, her phone rang. This time it was her cell phone. “Hello.”

The underwater voice said, “I trust you came up with a plan…” Her mother must have given them her cell phone number. Maybe that was a good thing and meant her mother was still alive.

How the hell did they know I was finished scoping out the place? Oh yeah… They’re watching me. She glanced at Jayce, took a deep fortifying breath, and willed herself to stay calm. “It’s possible, but it’s not going to be easy.”

“If it were easy, we’d do it ourselves.”

How could she make them understand how tricky it would be? “Look, by ‘not easy,’ I mean there are many, many things that could go wrong.”

“Like?”

Shit. How could she talk to them without Jayce figuring out what was going on? Her hesitation left her caller to fill in the blanks.

“Are you thinking you might be seen by people or by cameras?”

“Uh—both, and if anyone is carrying a phone—”

“But there are no security cameras on or pointed at the building?”

“N—not that I could see…”

Jayce tipped his head, and she knew he was listening to her side of the conversation. Before he could overhear the other voice, she strode away and put the couch between them.

“You sound nervous. Is anyone else there?”

“No!”

“I don’t believe you. Hang up. I’ll call back on Skype and have you pan the room.”

“Ah. Okay…” She disconnected the call and told Jayce in a hurried voice, “You have to leave.”

“No. Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

Her phone rang again, only this time it was the Skype tone. Shit. “Hide!”

He ducked behind the couch.

“Stay right there. Whatever you do, don’t move,” she said.

“Hello,” she said to a black screen. The caller must have placed tape over the camera on the other end. “If you can see me, then I should be able to see you.”

“We’re calling the shots. Now walk around the room with the camera facing out to prove you’re alone.”

Doing as she was told, she panned the room from her vantage point.

The monster still wasn’t satisfied. “Move around. I want to see the whole place.”

“You want to see the whole room?” She took a deep breath, hoping Jayce would race to the bedroom. He didn’t, so she began walking around the room, avoiding the back of the couch.

When she had finished, the caller growled. “That’s not the whole place. Let me see behind the furniture and in the kitchen. Under tables. Under beds. In closets…”

“Yeah, fine.” She turned toward the kitchen, hoping to get there without revealing the hiding spot behind the couch. She glanced back over her shoulder and was surprised to see a pile of pink clothes on the floor behind the couch but no Jayce.

She panned behind the couch and headed to the kitchen.

“I guess you’re a slob, leaving your clothes on the floor like that.” He laughed. Heard through the voice modulator, his laugh sounded absolutely evil.

“I was getting the laundry together,” she said, wondering the whole time where Jayce had gone and realizing he was now naked. Did he strip, go to her bedroom, and try to find something that fit? How? He didn’t have time. She was just relieved she hadn’t exposed her man to the asshole who had her mother.

Since when had she begun thinking of him as her man?

After she toured the kitchen, she had to show the caller the bathroom, pull back the shower curtain, open the linen closet, and finally expose the bedrooms—including the closets and under the beds. Where the heck did Jayce go?

“Okay. I guess maybe you’re alone. Now go back to the living room and point the camera at the door. I want to make sure no one tries to sneak in or out.”

When she returned to the living room, the pile of pink clothes were still on the floor, but they looked as though they stirred slightly. What the heck?

* * *

Jayce tried not to move a feather under the pink sweat suit now that Kristine was back in the living room. With his supernatural hearing, he was able to follow both sides of the conversation. Piecing things together, he figured that somebody had something precious to her, or she’d never agree to do whatever risky thing she was being asked to do.

This afternoon she had said something about her mother needing her. Did her mother’s well-being depend upon Kristine carrying out some nefarious mission? Fuck. That was it. Someone was probably holding her mother hostage until she met their demands.

She was receiving specific instructions. She was to go into the building she had scoped out earlier and find a law office on the thirteenth floor. There was a file the caller wanted retrieved before the secretary or PA had a chance to transfer some sensitive information into a computer. The file was to be delivered the following day. That meant Kristine had to break into the office, swipe the file, and—what’s that now? They want her to light it on fire—with her breath? Oh, come on. It couldn’t be that bad…

Shock passed over him as he realized they’d chosen her for a reason. She wasn’t a mere human firefighter. Could she be like Ryan’s Chloe? A dragon?

When at last Kristine was able to disconnect the call, she spoke loudly, “Jayce? Where are you?”

A full-grown naked man rising up from under the pile of pink clothes would be a shock, but she had some kind of secret too. He mulled over his choices for another second until he heard her coming toward him. Just as she lifted the sweatshirt, he rose to his full six-foot height.

“Jayce!”

He stood in front of her motionless and allowed her mind to adjust to what she had just seen.

“Wh—What are you?”

He crossed his arms and said, “I’ll tell you my secret if you tell me yours.”

She hesitated, but didn’t fall over in a dead faint. He had to give her credit for that.

She pointed at the now-flat pile of clothes on the floor and then lifted her hand, indicating his full-size body. “Obviously you must be a shapeshifter of some sort.”

“Uh-huh. And you are?”

She worried her lip. “Also a shapeshifter. I—I’m a dragon.”

Instead of the shocked reaction she probably expected, a slow smile spread across his face. “So is my sister-in-law.”

“Really?” She sounded like the shocked one.

“Yeah. The family just found out recently. It was actually a relief. Because of our secret, my brothers and I have the worst time finding open-minded women, but Ryan finally got lucky. Chloe’s a great girl, and when we learned she was actually a paranormal too—”

“Wait. Chloe and Ryan? Wasn’t he the brother you were burying?”

Jayce winced. “Have a seat. I’ll explain.”

Kristine gazed at him doubtfully.

“I can put on clothes, if that’s what’s distracting you—do you have anything that might fit me?”

She chuckled. “I think I can do better than pink sweats. Give me a second.”

While she was gone, he strolled around the apartment, staying away from the windows. It was a typical older layout. Not the open concept that renters preferred now, but a separate kitchen and dining area off the living room on one side, and a hall that must have led to bedrooms and baths on the other.

When Kristine returned from one of the back rooms, she produced an FDNY T-shirt that looked closer to his size than hers and a pair of matching navy-blue sweatpants.

As he put them on, he wondered who they had belonged to but didn’t have the heart to ask. Maybe she’d had as poor luck with men as he and his brothers had been having with most women.

He looked down at himself. “Perfect fit.”

“Keep them,” she said.

He smiled, trying to lighten the moment. “I might keep them on your roof, if you don’t mind. The garage where I left my clothes and cell phone wasn’t the best place, apparently.” He ambled over to the couch and sat in the middle of it.

“Oh. Your stuff was stolen?”

“Yeah. I guess that qualifies as an accident. I didn’t plan on it happening. I’ll explain.” He motioned her over, extending his arm for her to cuddle under. Happily, that’s just what she did.

Her warmth made sense now. All women were warm, eventually, but Kristine’s hands and feet were always warm. Most women’s were not. Some had feet that were like blocks of ice until they’d had time to warm up under the blankets—or on him.

Jayce turned her face toward him and leaned in for a long, hot kiss. She reciprocated for only a moment and then pushed him away and said, “Not now. I have a major dilemma, and I can’t be making out with you instead of handling it.”

With effort, he tamped down his lust. “Let me help you,” he said.

“You can’t. The only thing you can do is get me into more trouble.” She raked her hand through her shoulder-length reddish-blonde hair. “How much did you hear?”

“Everything.”

“Both sides of the conversation?”

“Yup.”

“So, I guess whatever kind of shifter you are comes with amplified hearing?” she asked.

“And eyesight and strength and speed…” In other words, he could help her. Not just get in the way. He hoped she’d see it that way. “And the icing on the cake? I’m almost immortal. My kind live to be about five hundred years old. If we die before we’re supposed to, we can become reincarnated in fire.”

“Fuck. Is that what happened to Chloe and Ryan?”

“Ryan, yes.”

“That’s handy… Well, not for me.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’m being forced to do something against my will to save my mother. We’re fireproof and hard to kill, but we’re not immortal.”

“Your mother’s a dragon too?”

“Yes. That doesn’t mean she’s not in danger. Are you going to be some kind of justice-obsessed vigilante who insists I not give in to their demands? Will you try to talk me into getting the police involved?”

“Not at all.”

She scrutinized him carefully. At last she let out a deep breath. “Good. They have my mother, and she must be immobilized somehow. I won’t do anything to put her at risk.”

He nodded. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, but I can help. For one thing, I can fly.”

“So can I, but in this case it’s not a help. It’s what they want. Because I can get into the building with the fire department proximity card and then fly from the roof, they think I won’t get caught.”

Jayce laughed. When she scowled at him, he said, “They think a full-sized dragon flying around New York City won’t attract attention?”

She dropped her head into her hands. “I know. It’s insane. I’ve had it drummed into me that most humans would never handle the fact that paranormals live among them. Now these asshats not only know about it, they want to use it.”

“Who are these criminals you’re dealing with?”

“I don’t know.”

Jayce stayed quiet for a few minutes. He wanted to give her time to scan her memory for possibilities before he started throwing all kinds of shit out there. She rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. He pulled her into a hug, then rubbed slow circles over her back.

“Do you know for a fact that they have your mom?”

“Yes. They let her talk to me earlier. I mean, she only said ‘I’m okay’ and ‘do whatever they say,’ and her voice was kind of shaky, but I have to believe they’ll keep her alive until I do what they want. It’s after that…” Her voice became very soft. “I wish I knew how to make sure they’d let her go.”

“Maybe that’s where I can come in.”

She gazed up at him with hope. He didn’t know what the hell he could do. He just wanted to do something. He felt helpless sitting there, listening to her confusion. Although that was all he could do for now. He had to take this slowly so he didn’t spook her. “Do you know when this is going down?”

“Tomorrow, I think. They said there was something being delivered to an office tomorrow, and they want it before it has a chance to get scanned or retyped into a computer. I’m supposed to use my fire breath to burn the lawyer’s office and whatever else is around it. If it were just the one file that disappeared, that would throw suspicion on them.”

“Got it.” He rubbed her arms, and she seemed to relax a bit. As long as he didn’t try to tell her to do anything heroic, she’d probably be okay.

“So, what can I do to help?”

She stared at him. “Help? Nothing! If you show up at all, they’ll know I told someone, and my mother will be killed. You can’t help!”

“Relax,” he said. “They’ll never know I’m there. As far as anyone thinks, a bird is just a dumb bird. As long as I cover up my colored tail feathers with some dirt, they’ll tune me right out.”

“Won’t that interfere with your ability to fly?”

“I’m not a normal bird, remember? Even in our alternate form, we’re stronger.”

“I don’t know, Jayce. If you see something happening to me, can you resist shifting in order to help me? Or are you just going to peck someone to death?”

He chuckled. “I can do either or both. Just don’t ask me to watch someone hurt you and do nothing.”

She shot to her feet and walked to the door. “That’s what I thought.” Opening the front door, she said, “It’s time you went home—to Boston.”

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. But he had to leave without a fight. The woman had enough to deal with until he could come back to her with a solution.

* * *

Jayce flew back to Boston without the help of an airplane. He had to call a family meeting right away. The trip took him about an hour and a half, and he was exhausted when he landed on his parents’ roof. He shifted and then opened the attic skylight and slipped inside. They kept a pile of clean clothing in a trunk for just this kind of emergency.

At last he was dressed and took the stairs two at a time, locating his mother in the living room. “How fast can we get everybody here?”

“What’s going on, dear?” Gabriella asked.

“It’s better if I tell everyone at once.”

His father ambled into the room. “Hey, Jayce. I thought you went on vacation. Aren’t you supposed to be in New York City?”

“I was, but something came up. I need to call a family meeting as soon as possible. Can you get everybody here right away?”

“I think we can reach everyone but Ryan. Let me start the phone tree and see what happens.” Antonio left the room, and Jayce imagined he was using the old kitchen wall phone. His father must have seen many changes in his seventy-five years, and maybe that’s why he resisted some of them.

“Mom? You knew I was going to New York to see a girl, right?”

Mama Fierro smiled. “I thought it was something like that. Is she okay? Are you? Is everything between the two of you all right?”

Jayce chuckled. “She’s fine, I’m fine, and everything between us is fine, but not everything is fine.”

Gabriella Fierro shook her head. “I don’t pretend to understand, but I imagine you’re going to tell us what that means.”

“Yes, when everyone’s together.”

His father came back into the living room and sat on the sofa. “Miguel and Sandra are calling the others. They’ll be here in a few minutes. Now what’s all this about?” He patted the spot next to him, and Mrs. Fierro sat next to her husband.

“I’d really rather just tell you all at the same time. It’s a long story, and I don’t want to go through it again and again.”

Confusion etched his father’s forehead. “Okay. What can you tell us that won’t need repeating?”

Jayce paced the length of the living room and back. “Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is I found a special woman, and she knows what I am. She’s not freaked out, but she needs my help, and I don’t know how to help her.”

His mother gasped. “She knows you’re a phoenix? Already?”

“Yeah. She has her own secret, but it isn’t mine to tell.”

“She’ll fit right in,” Gabriella said, smiling.

“It sounds like you’re getting distracted from what you really should be doing, Jayce,” his father said.

“What on earth are you talking about, dear?” Gabriella asked. “Did you hear what he said about finding a special woman? What could be more important than that?”

“Oh, I don’t know…maybe learning to lead this family? I still want to move to a warmer climate one of these days.”

Jayce tossed his hands in the air. “I don’t know what’s so hard about running the family. You’d think we’re the Mafia or something.”

His father rolled his eyes. “There are seven of you. And now two in-laws. How often are nine people going to agree? There has to be a head of household to keep the peace.”

Jayce was just about to disagree when a knock sounded. He strode to the door and opened it.

His second-younger brother, Gabe, stepped into the entryway. “What’s going on? I heard there was some kind of family emergency.” Gabe hurried into the living room, kissed his mother on the cheek, and shook his father’s hand.

Jayce was about to close the door when another Fierro jogged up the steps of the South End brownstone. Noah straightened his arm to prevent the door from closing and pushed his way in.

“What’s going on?”

“Come in. I’ll tell you when everyone is here,” Jayce said. He turned to his father and asked, “Is Luca home?”

Antonio hit himself upside the head. “Luca! I knew I forgot one.” He stood up, walked over to the basement door, and then yelled downstairs, “Luca, get up here. Something important is going on—not that I know what it is.”

“Do you really need to bother Luca?” Gabriella asked. “He has to study for school. He’s having his finals soon.”

“When are you going to stop babying him?” Jayce and his father asked at the same time.

Gabriella straightened. “I am not babying him. I just want him to do well in school, and whatever is going on probably doesn’t have anything to do with him.”

“In other words, you’re babying him,” Jayce said.

A soft knock at the door was followed by Sandra and Miguel striding in. “What’s the big emergency?” Miguel asked.

“Is that everybody?” Antonio asked.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes. “We have one more son…Dante, remember?”

Mr. Fierro smirked. “I knew I was missing somebody else. You see, Jayce? There are so many of you it’s impossible to keep track. That’s why the family needs someone in charge.”

“And why that someone needs a wife,” Mrs. Fierro added.

“Dante will be here in a minute,” Noah said. “He’s just getting a girl’s phone number.”

“Oh good,” Gabriella said.

“Oh God,” the Fierro patriarch echoed. Then he turned to her and winked. She poked him in his big, meaty arm.

“Let’s gather around the dining room table,” Jayce said.

Gabriella jumped up. “Good idea. I have some tiramisu left from Sunday dinner, and I’ll make coffee. Sandra, would you set the table?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Jayce said. He slung an arm around Noah and another around Gabe and walked them into the dining room. Luca was just pounding up the stairs to join them as Dante was the last to barrel through the front door.

Jayce glanced over his shoulder at Dante and called out, “Before you ask what’s going on, come into the dining room and sit down. Do you want some of Mom’s tiramisu?”

“Are you serious? When have I ever said no to tiramisu?” Dante strolled into the dining room and took his place toward the end of the long wood table.

When everyone was gathered except Gabriella, who was making coffee in the kitchen, Jayce decided he would let them in on what he could.

“I was in New York visiting that FDNY firefighter I met at Ryan’s funeral.”

“You mean Ryan’s fake funeral, right?” Sandra asked, as she spread napkins around the table in front of everyone and placed a spoon on each.

“Of course.”

“I thought she wasn’t speaking to you,” Noah said. “She seemed mad, as if you were really breaking up.”

Jayce smiled and shrugged. “Things change. I went to see her while I was in Manhattan on vacation. All is forgiven.”

“So did you call us all here to tell us you have a girlfriend?” Dante asked. “That ain’t news, bro. You get more tail than any of us.”

“Dante! Really!” their mother called out from the kitchen.

His brothers chuckled.

“No, smart-ass. That isn’t the news. She may need my help, and I don’t know what to do.”

Mr. Fierro cleared his throat. “So instead of trying to figure out how to solve problems so you can lead your brothers, you want to drag them into solving someone else’s problem?”

“You want me to lead by example, right? Well, Dad, that’s what I’m doing. I’m just more democratic about it than you are. When someone we care about needs our help, I thought we banded together to help.”

“So you care about this girl?” Miguel asked.

“Yeah. I do.”

“I never thought I’d see the day when you’d get serious about a woman. I thought you were the perpetual playboy,” Mrs. Fierro said as she reentered the dining room with tiramisu and plates on a tray. “Antonio, will you please serve this while I get the coffee?”

Antonio rose and took the tray from her, albeit reluctantly.

“So, this girl… What can we do?” Noah asked, looking at Jayce.

“That’s just it,” their father said as he dished up dessert. “He doesn’t know. He wants you to tell him.” He gave Jayce the stink eye.

“I have to swear you all to secrecy first.”

“Jesus. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Dante asked.

“Swear none of this information will leave this room,” Jayce demanded, resolute.

All the people in the room raised their right hands and swore themselves to secrecy. Jayce nodded. “Her name is Kristine Scott. It’s kind of a long story, so get comfortable…”