Page 52 of Princess Seeks Dragon

I get my question answered at eleven when eighteen kids troop into the back of the garden center and sit down on the concrete pad that makes up the floor. The kids are all cute, don’t get me wrong—but some of them aren’t entirely human-looking.

One little boy is blurry with speed, another is too pale to be normal, and one little girl has elf ears if I ever saw them.

And no one says a thing about it. Maybe they can’t see it, or perhaps in this town, no one cares.

All I know is that by one in the afternoon when they leave... I want one someday.

“Baby fever. It’s stupidly strong when you marry a Pine Ridgeresidentor work with cute kids,” one of the teachers catches my dreamy-eyed look as we herd kids onto the small yellow bus. “The guys here are so protective, you know? So dedicated to their families.”

And devoted to practicing making one, I think, but I don’t say it aloud to the nice teacher lady. “Yeah? Well, I don’t know too much about Pine Ridge. I’m new here.”

“Oh, yeah? I’m Izzy Walsh. Officer Walsh’s wife. Are you the girl who... who’s staying with the Kanes?” she whispers.

Crap, all the rumors about small towns are true. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“My sister lives next to you! Alban and Harper Wymark? You could not be safer. Alban’s a badass warlock, and the police force here always gets their man,” she mutters from the corner of her mouth.

“Does everyone in town know I have some kind of target on my back?” I squeak.

“Oh, no. Just the magical community. But that’s a good thing. This place is peaceful, and we like to keep it that way. No bad guys survive here.”

I swallow. “Survive? Does that mean people who come here to commit crimes d—”

“Gotta go! Max, slow down, honey, you’re going to trip in the gravel!” Izzy doesn’t answer my question, too busy helping Speedy Junior get through the parking lot. “Wind sprite father,” she says with a roll of her eyes and a bemused smile—like that means something to my rattled brain.

“Bye! Come again!” I wave and then sit down in one of the lawn chairs we have on sale.

“Three days on the job and you look like you’re about done in, young lady.” Jerry, the kindly senior gardener, offers me a water bottle. “You get overheated?”

“No, no. Just overwhelmed. So many cute kids.”

“Yep. I’m going to be a grandpa soon. Look at this.” Jerry whips out his phone and scrolls through. “See this? My daughter sent it to me last week.” He holds out a blurry ultrasound photo. “I’m going to be Poppy Jerry by November. Think I’m going to tell Ian that I want to cut back my hours so I can babysit.”

“That’s awesome that you’re going to be so involved in the baby’s life. I bet your daughter is glad.” I manage a smile, but I’m suddenly missing my dad. Not my birth father, the jerk, but Ronnie.

Hell, he would have spoiled my babies rotten, not just with material things but time and energy. He made my mother and me his whole world—and now I’ll never get to share it with him.

“Oh, hell, I’m sorry, Angela. Did I touch a nerve? My wife says I talk too much.”

“No, no! That’s great news, Jerry. I’m happy for you. I just miss my stepdad. He would have been a great grandfather, too.”

“I’m sorry. When did he pass?” Jerry asks, sorrow on his tanned face.

I swallow hard. Hopefully not yet. “He’s just got... got a condition that’s keeping him from traveling to be with me right now,” I croak, and excuse myself.

***

IBARGE INTO IAN KANE’Soffice, which is currently where his brother is making phone calls and talking about hemi engines. I wait impatiently, arms crossed and pacing.

Graham hangs up and looks at me. “Some afternoon delight, princess? Or are you just eager to get to the mall?”

“You have connections with someone who knows Joey Genovese. You have magical friends. Can’t you find out what’s going on?” I beg. “Without tipping them off as to where I am?”

Graham opens his mouth, then closes it with a heavy sigh. “My boss knew someone who knew Genovese. My boss in the CrossRealms was an incubus.”

“A sleeping sex demon thingy?” I ask. “Those are real, too?”Well, duh, Angela. Why wouldn’t they be when dragons are?

“I thought he was a harmless one. I mean, some things which people call demons are not from Hell, or aren’t inherently evil. So...” Graham paces as I sit on the edge of his desk. “Genovese and a lot of people involved in bad things are very superstitious. They believe in curses, the evil eye, all that. I’m not sure how much Genovese knows or believes, but they were able to trace you to Binghamton, and then... You dropped off of magical radar. The people he knew called up the people they knew to find someone who knew about Pine Ridge.”

---