Page 10 of The Heart of the Dragon

Not wanting to waste any more time, I rushed back through the kitchen, grabbed my bag, and quickly exited the building into the back parking lot. It wasn't difficult to locate John's SUV, considering it was the only vehicle parked out here and I rushed over to it, pressing the unlock button as I reached for the handle.

Once inside, I winced a little over the sight of a stick shift. Luckily, my dad had taught me as a teenager "just in case". I only hoped I remembered those lessons tonight without butchering my boss's drive train.

Starting her up, I pressed my feet on the pedals and shoved into reverse. Thankfully muscle memory kicked in and I eased his vehicle out of the parking lot and drove around to the front of the building where John stood at the curb, struggling to hold up the stranger. He unceremoniously dumped him into the backseat as gently as he could and shot me one last glance.

"Last chance to bail. You sure you want to do this?"

I wasn't sure about anything. No human should have been affected by the herbs in my stew to this degree. I nearly winced at the insanity of my thoughts. But I'd seen what I'd seen, and I knew damned well it hadn't been my imagination. There was something off about this guy, and I needed to know what it was. Which meant there was only one thing I could do.

"Yeah, I got this." This man had some explaining to do.

"Okay. Keep me apprised of his condition and I'll see you tomorrow."

I pulled away from the church and glanced back at it in my rearview mirror. The stately old building loomed gray and dark in the swirling mixture of mist and rain. As much as I loved that place, I knew I would never get to set foot inside there again.

For better, or more likely worse, I was taking a new and dangerous road. I turned in the direction of the hospital until we were safely out of site from the church before I took a sharp left and doubled back on the next block.

We weren't going to the hospital. Not only could I not explain what happened to this man with anything close to a reason that wouldn't land me in jail, there was something not right about him that I'm pretty sure he needed kept secret. I had not hallucinated that dragon.

I could only hope that when he woke, he'd understand why I'd chosen to kidnap him.

Chapter

Five

Rose

By the timeI had my trailer hitched to the back of John's SUV, not only was I sweating, but too much time had passed. It was already beyond midnight, and I'd be lucky if I could make it home before the sun rose.

I'd tried to move the man from John's vehicle to mine, and I'd had to face the fact that it simply wasn't going to happen. Which meant not only had I potentially poisoned a man,nottaken him to the hospital and kidnapped him, but I was also now adding grand theft auto to my list of new crimes.

I was on quite a freaking roll.

I'd also taken to calling my captee Dragon because I had no idea what his real name was. I'd searched his pockets for ID or any other clue and had come up with absolutely nothing. No wallet. No phone. No money. No keys. Literally nothing. How was that even possible?

Who the hell was this guy?

Through all of that, he'd not stirred even a little. I took his temperature, checked his pulse and his pupils again, all of which were still the same. The only thing that had finally given me a modicum of comfort in this crazy scheme of mine, had been when he began lightly snoring and curled over onto his side.

If he was just sleeping. I'd never encountered anyone who did so so soundly. It was unsettling.

Either way, it was time to go. I scribbled a note to my boss apologizing for borrowing his vehicle like this. I also did what any kidnapper would do and lied my ass off, telling him that I had a family emergency, and the hitch had been stolen from my much nicer than his SUV, so I needed to swap vehicles with him temporarily and that I'd return his as soon as I could.

Technically, the hitch from my carwasmissing, but that's because I'd removed it and thrown it in the back of the trailer.

I compounded matters by telling John that the big man was at the hospital and was going to be fine, but I doubted we'd see him at the church again. I only hoped John believed all this bullshit and didn't actually look into any of it. One peek beyond this lame note and my story would fall to pieces.

I taped the paper to my car window and thanked the Goddess that I'd given John my extra set of car and trailer keys weeks ago "just in case."

Double checking the connections of my trailer with John's unfamiliar hitch one last time, I hopped back into the driver's side and took off for the coast. In five to six hours, we'd be safely in the middle of nowhere on the northern coast. Then maybe I could figure out what had gone wrong today and what I was going to do about it.

No matter what though, I was certain I'd be going to hell for all this.

When the goldenglow of the morning sun finally peeked over the jagged horizon, I yawned and stretched to relieve some of the stiffness in my arms and legs. I'd driven through the night to get here, too worried that my passenger would wake halfway through the trip to stop—even for gas.

I was coming in on fumes, but I could see my cottage at the end of the gravel road.

Home.

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