Page 25 of Saving the Last Heir
“We do. When the females get pregnant, they shift to their dragon form a month or two into gestation. They remain that way until laying the egg. Then, that egg has to be kept warm until it hatches,” I said, knowing full well how bonkers that must sound to a human.
She went quiet for a few moments, her brows furrowing. She’d already learned so much that went against her worldview, it didn’t surprise me that she needed a second to process.
To my surprise, she took it in her stride and simply nodded as though I’d told her the scientific reason rainbows formed.
“That’s…wow, that’s kinda cool I guess,” Shyanne said.
I raised an eyebrow. “You are beingremarkablycool about all this.”
“What else am I going to do? Curl up on the ground and scream and sob and, like, piss myself? I don’t think so. I’m not that kind of person.”
“I can see that,” I said, giving her an appraising look.
Again, I thought back on how she’d handled herself in the garage. It was easy to see how she would have been able to accept something so outlandish and not fall apart. That was a very rare thing, and it gave her an air of mystery.
“What gave me away?” I asked.
Shyanne smirked. “The registration wasn’t under your name.”
I slapped a hand to my forehead. “You weren’tjustchecking for the part. You did a search.”
Of course she had. I’d been too worried about getting the car fixed to think about what else she might be able to look up on that tablet. Also, I’d been sure I’d done a good job of telling a believable story.
“It didn’t pop as stolen,” she added, “so you almost skimmed it, but then I saw the name didn’t match. Boom. Gotcha.” She made a finger gun and dropped her thumb as if shooting me.
I chuckled. “Smart and pretty. A deadly combo.”
Her smile faltered, and I cursed myself for blurting that out, but it was too late to take it back. Besides, it was the truth, which meant I couldn’t be too hard on myself.
“And you’re kinda cute for a car thief,” she said.
That sizzling connection I’d felt when I touched her hand shot back and forth between us, like invisible lightning jolting the two of us. Heat rose up the back of my neck.
Finally, to defuse the tension, or perhaps to find out more about me, Shyanne glanced around at the cabin.
“What does a place like this cost?”
“It’s not cheap.” I looked around at the high-end finishes, luxury rugs and fixtures, custom cabinets, dark marble countertops. It was all designed to look rustic chic, which took a lot of money to pull off well.
“Yeah, I can tell,” she said, though she said it with a sense of humor rather than judgment. “You come from money, huh?”
Before The Vanishing plague, my father and grandfather had made good investments and built up a significant nest egg. With that, they’d built our massive home and purchased over a hundred acres for it to sit on, and used the rest to create a portfolio that would ensure our family was always well-off. With all our businesses, that portfolio had grown and would keep growing.
Honestly, I’d have rather talked more about the crime I committed than about money. As the last winged dragon alpha, I’d amassed a rather formidable fortune. Nothing on par with someone like Nico Torrence or Joseph Anitoli, but definitely enough for me to be considered a one-percenter. I wasn’t particularly proud of it since almost none of that money had come from my own work, and instead came from accumulating the businesses and real estate left behind by the vanished dragons. Though now, the sheer amount of tasks I had to do to keep everything running smoothly was exhausting. Thankfully,most of our businesses and holdings had good people running them, but I still spent far too much of my time checking in and attending remote meetings.
My search for clues to a cure had kept me away for so long that my absence had become almost normal at this point. I was sure some of those VPs, managers, and directors thought I was a trust-fund baby who’d been handed an empire but couldn’t be bothered to show up for meetings in person.
“You could say that,” I admitted. “I don’t like to get into it.”
“So, why didn’t you buy this car instead of stealing it? Seems like that would’ve been the best way to do this. No fuss, no muss.”
“That would be nice if it were true,” I said, then went about telling her the story of how my sister’s egg had been stolen, the cryptic phone call, the discussion with Joseph Anitoli, as well as the demand that the car be stolen. By the time I was done, Shyanne was gazing at me in rapt disbelief and wonder.
“Holy shit. You’re a millionaire magic dragon shifter, who’s also basically living in an action thriller movie?” She narrowed her eyes. “Tell me you don’t have an evil twin.”
I burst out laughing. “Not that I know of.”
“Good,” she said. “That would have been a step too far.
