Page 1 of Bewitching the Dragon
Chapter One
Rahu Volos was a dragon on a mission.
Yeah, that sounded way tougher than it really was. Because his mission? Find a cool bar, try some craft beer local to New Orleans, and if all the stars aligned and all the gods—for the first time in history—actually agreed on something, maybe he’d actually get lucky.
He honestly didn’t expect the last part to happen, but he was nothing if not eternally hopeful.
As he wandered down Royal Street, he spotted the wordsCarousel Baron the outside of a building and paused to get a better look. A glance through the floor-to-ceiling windows showed him a bar that legit looked like an old-fashioned spinning ride from an amusement park, except there were bartenders on the inside serving patrons perched on high-backed stools instead of fake horses. There were bright, flashing lights and gilded jesters’ faces carved into the wood, and the whole thing was slowly making a 360-degree circuit. And, based on the guy in a black T-shirt and denim shorts setting up sound equipment in the corner, it looked like there was a live band tonight.
He’d found the cool bar.
After waiting in a line comprised entirely of humans, except him, of course, and passing the burly bouncer’s inspection, Rahu headed toward the bar. Beyond that focal point was a room done in dark woods and leather furniture, softly lit by lamps perched on tables and chandeliers dripping from the ceiling. Intimate seating areas were situated everywhere; the guy Rahu saw earlier appeared to be almost done setting up band equipment in a small, open-space corner.
Rahu slid onto a barstool next to a hot blonde with a dark complexion, who was obviously there with the woman on her right, an equally hot woman with skin a few shades darker and braids that hung to her ass.
He blatantly eavesdropped while he waited to order a drink, enjoying their sexy, New Orleans accents. His best friend, Ketu, was from the Big Easy, and was, in fact, the reason Rahu was currently visiting, but Ketu didn’t have quite as thick an accent as these two ladies. Of course, Ketu had spent ten years living in the Midwest before moving back here only six months ago, so that would make sense.
“Girl, congratulations,” the woman with the braids said before giving her friend a one-armed hug. “I’m so excited for you. It’s about time you finally finished school and got a real job.”
“Hey, working at my aunt’s store is a real job,” the blonde replied as she flipped a curl out of her face.
“You know what I mean. You now have an elementary education degree. You are officially overqualified to work at a children’s clothing store. You need to be out there, shaping young minds, preparing them for the rest of their lives.”
The blonde laughed. Rahu liked the sound of her laughter. So did his dragon, apparently, if the way he was bouncing around like a toddler hyped up on cotton candy was any indication.
“You make it sound far more glamorous than I’m sure it will be,” the recent college graduate said.
“Hey, at least now you can move out of your aunt’s house,” the friend replied.
The blonde’s shoulders slumped. “First, I have to actually tell Aunt Pacey. And you know how she is. She’s probably going to try to talk me out of getting my own place. I swear, she’s more overprotective than most people’s parents.”
“That’s because she’s your surrogate parent, and the way she took on that role was pretty messed up.Youwere pretty messed up when it happened.”
Aunt Pacey? Rahu knew a woman named Pacey, and she lived here in New Orleans. She owned a children’s clothing store.
And Rahu knew her niece, Rebecca, too. Well, sort of. He’d met her, once, about nine months ago, but she’d been unconscious at the time, and all he had gotten to do was watch as a scary-looking gargoyle protector had carried her away to the safety of her aunt’s house.
At the time, Rahu had thought it odd that a gargoyle was so protective of a human woman, until he’d learned that Rebecca had been babysitting his friends, Petra and Noah’s baby when a couple of Rojo dragons had knocked her out and kidnapped Sadie.
Once everybody was safe, Rahu had asked after the beautiful human woman, but Petra confirmed that Rebecca had no idea she had been babysitting a dragon’s spawn. And then he had gone back to Detroit and life had carried on, and he’d not thought about her again.
Much.
Was it possible Rebecca was now sitting next to him at the bar at a club on a Friday night in mid-June? What were the odds?
“Excuse me,” he said, tapping on the wood bar top next to her hand.
She twisted on her stool and looked up at him with wideset, blue eyes. If he thought the view from the side was nice, the view from the front was…wow.
She wore a spaghetti strap dress that showed off a lot of bronze skin, including some seriously long legs. Her feet were wrapped in high-heeled sandals that made Rahu suspect he may have suddenly developed a shoe fetish. But then his gaze traveled back up her body and no, it wasn’tjusta shoe fetish.
She was the hottest human woman he’d ever come across in his life.
“Uh…” Although his dragon was urging him to lean toward her, be so bold as to slide his arm around her shoulders even though she had no idea who he was and would probably scream or taser him or call over that huge bouncer sitting by the door, Rahu leaned back. The action caused him to damn near fall off his stool, and Rebecca—yep, it was definitely her—reached out and grabbed his arm like she meant to steady him.
A jolt of electricity shot through his limb.
She jerked her hand away.
