“Crap,” she whispered. She leaned her back against the rock, hoping the dragon wouldn’t smell her and snap her up as dessert. Then she pinched her arm, hard, digging her nails into her skin.
She peered around the rock.
Nope, the monster was still there.
She tried every technique for waking up from a bad dream she’d ever heard of, and thought over everything she’d eaten during the past twenty-four hours—maybe there was something that could have caused hallucinations?
But no, her dinner had been completely ordinary, and she hadn’t had any alcohol for months. Besides, the damp rock beneath her, the sound of the waves breaking on the shore, and the cool wind ruffling her hair were all real. All normal.
Only the dragon at the water’s edge broke the idyll.
Lottie peeked at it again. It was staring right at her, its golden eyes shining under thick, scaly ridges of bone covered with glistening scales. It opened its big maw to show her its razor-sharp fangs. Some of them were longer than her hand. She hadn’t known fear until that moment, hadn’t ever felt likeprey. Now, however, she studied the sharp spikes on its back, the cruel talons, the whip of its tail.
A sob escaped her. If the dragon killed her, who would take care of her babies?
The thought sparked a fire inside her. Nobody would take her away from her kids, especially not some sea serpent who’d eaten Eiric and was now glowering at her. Lottie bent down and picked up the largest rock she could find. She heaved it at the monster.
“Go away!” she shouted.
The rock landed short.
“Too big,” she muttered and bent down for another.
She threw it at the dragon, and it bounced off its leg. The creature huffed out a cloud of smoke and made its way toward her.
“No, no, no,” Lottie yelled, hurling rock after rock at it. When her efforts had no effect whatsoever, she turned and ran.
But Eiric had taken her headlamp earlier, so she stumbled and fell in the darkness, picked herself up, and ran again.
The dragon caught her easily. One moment, she was struggling to climb over a steep rock, and the next she was dangling from a claw, suspended in midair. She shrieked and beat down on the scaly limb, but that only hurt her hands. The scales were hard as diamond, their edges sharp and serrated.
It carried her to the water and dumped her in the shallows. Cold water soaked through her clothes, a shock to her system. Lottie scrambled back, trying to put distance between herself and the monster.
It had other plans, though. With one clawed foot, it immobilized her legs, then lowered its head.
This is it. Lottie bit back a sob, breathing through her teeth.I hope it won’t hurt.
The dragon blew a hot gust of breath over her. It smelled like sulfur and the sea. Lottie thought it sniffed her—probably trying to make sure she was edible.
Then it stared at her, still holding her in place.
Lottie wiped her face; whether it was wet with saltwater or tears, she didn’t know. The creature seemed to be waiting, judging her. How intelligent was it? And what the hell was a mythological being doing in Brundal?
The large golden eyes didn’t move away from her. A memory nudged at her, too elusive to grasp. The dragon rumbled, a low voice that reminded her of breaking waves and tumbling boulders.
“What do you want?” she asked it.
She had no idea whether it understood—maybe it wasn’t any smarter than a dog. But as she racked her mind to remember anything useful about dragons, she became increasingly more aware of how intelligent its eyes seemed. There was a deep sadness in the dragon’s gaze, in the downward slope of its neck.
Lottie shivered. The cold water leached warmth from her faster than her body could compensate. The dragon grumbled again, then lifted her with a clawed hand and deposited her back on the shore.
She was now reasonably sure it wouldn’t eat her right at that moment. Maybe it only ate fish, having come from the depths of the sea. But Eiric was still missing.
“What did you do to him?” she demanded, her voice trembling.
The dragon rolled its eyes. And it was that gesture, so human, that connected the dots in her memories. Eiric, with his brown eyes, glinting golden in the sun. Eiric, elusive and secretive. Eiric, and the dragon tattooed over half his body.
Lottie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
