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Most days, Jacob waited until the tourists left until he ventured out, making him somewhat nocturnal. But today he’d felt agitated, and he couldn’t keep still. He’d spent some time writing and then he blended in with the tourists for some time to get some fresh air—as a human, of course. He was glad he did, too. He’d overheard a reporter talking about a story she was there to do. He knew what that story was about—him.
Jacob spent the better part of his life avoiding people and trying to keep everyone at arm’s length, but being a dragon didn’t afford him the benefit of camouflage. It was difficult to keep something like that hidden no matter how hard you tried. He was after all only part dragon. He did have to maintain his relationships with others, work, and do all the other things that normal people did.
He’d chosen this spot for that reason. It was where he came away to hide for a couple of months every year when the urge to shift to his dragon form was the strongest. That was because this was mating season. He did know of other dragons, but it was scarce to find one that was available and scarcer still to find one that he liked. For that reason, he generally never strayed from human relationships. But when he was up here, it got extremely lonely when he could have neither.
Samuel, his agent, asked him when they could meet to finalize some details about a new series he was still developing. He had to postpone and told him he’d meet with him in a couple of months. The last time he’d ventured out when it was mating season, foolishly thinking he could handle himself, he’d ended up shifting and scaring several young children. Luckily, they made for poor witnesses, so he got away unharmed, and no witch hunt followed him. But it had shaken him to the point of seeking out a more private area where he could roam about freely.
He’d chosen the mountainous region because of the seclusion it offered. That, coupled with the serene beauty had clinched the deal for him. He’d felt at home here ever since. Even when he returned to his usual home, he longed to return to the simplicity that the cave offered him. He could be social or he could stay in seclusion, it was all up to him. His cave was not on the map that was offered tourists, and he’d never had anyone try to wander into his space because of the potential dangers.
Until now. Jacob was sitting by the stream, listening to the burbling rush over the jagged rocks when he saw a figure peering over the edge. He had slunk down to hide himself behind a tree trunk, unsuccessfully, he would later find out. He heard her coming down, trying to be quiet, but doing a terrible job of it. He even saw her flashlight beam that flashed over his tail. Then, she fell.
And what a fall it was. It threw her on her right side and she rolled down the bumpy drop-off then was tossed unceremoniously like a rag doll two feet from where he sat. He rose, stealthily and came to her side, unsure of what to do next. She couldn’t see, that much was clear. He was standing not too far from her and yet she was groping around for something. Ah, her flashlight. He saw it closer to where he stood, just out of reach. He picked it up and switched it on.
Immediately, she shielded her eyes and stared up at him. He noticed the red blood pooling under her leg, though he wasn’t able to tell where it was coming from. Jacob bent down to talk to her but her eyes widened and then closed, her arm dropping off to the side. Great, she fainted.
Well, at least there was hope that she’d stay asleep and he could patch her up and drop her back off down the mountain while he could still use the darkness as a shroud. Wasting no time, he hauled her up in his arms, surprised by how light she felt, but not in a wispy type of way. He felt a resilience in her weight. Surely, she had to have some resilience to have followed him well after her good sense told her to go back down the mountain. He’d emerged when he thought the tourists had all left. And they had, it seemed. All except this one.
Once he got her back to his lair, he set her down on the bed and covered the top half of her body with several blankets. The temperatures got very low at night, and tonight was no exception. He shot a stream of fire into the fireplace to get it roaring in preparation for the cold night.
That’s when he noticed how beautiful she was. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on where he’d seen her before. Her delicate features were accented by a halo of auburn curls, and her heavily lashed eyelids swept her high cheekbones.
Jacob forced himself to focus on the task at hand. She was shivering uncontrollably, and he felt a twinge of pity for her. He dug out his first aid kit, cleaning and bandaging her wound. Oh, this was no good, he thought. Her ankle was most definitely sprained. It was swelling rapidly, turning blue, purple, and black all around the injured area. She almost matches me, Jacob thought wryly.
Once he found an ice pack, Jacob wound a piece of tape around it to hold it in place, propping her ankle up on a thick pillow. He looked at his work in satisfaction and put away the supplies. Now all he had to do was haul the nosy thing back down the mountain and—wait a second. He whirled around and rushed back to her side. Her. It was the reporter from earlier! Of course, the nosy reporter would risk everything to catch a glimpse of him for her precious story!
Jacob was furious. She probably did all of this on purpose, trying to get close to him! Well bravo, he thought, fuming. She went further than any other reporter was willing to go for a story. He’d had plenty of weird cases of people trying to fly drones to capture images, but they gave up when they had seven hours of mountain top footage to comb through. But this lady injured herself to get to him. It was too much. She could have broken something, or worse.
Jacob threw off her blankets and prepared to carry her back down the mountain side. But he stopped. She was shivering, no not shivering. She was quaking. He felt her forehead and groaned. She was burning up with a fever. It would take him at least twenty minutes to go down the mountain and even more if he had to remain undetected. He couldn’t carry her down in his human form, it would be virtually impossible. He didn’t have the equipment nor would the steep mountain offer any ease.
Reluctantly, he covered her up again and tucked the blankets around her. He had to think of what his options were. He could always wait until morning and drop her off back at the spot where he had seen her earlier and wait for early morning hikers to discover her. Yes, that was possible. And if they wondered where she’d been all night, and who bandaged her up? Well, he didn’t have the answer to that. But he could still do it. But if he decided to do that, he would have to clear out of this area and lay low for a while.
Jacob let out a low growl. Leave it to this nosy reporter to ruin his peace and now his home. He didn’t know where else he could go, he’d never thought about having to leave one day. She stirred and he felt an immediate protectiveness come over him. No matter what he was feeling at the moment, he knew he had to take care of her. So far, all he could determine was that she was staying with him tonight. The rest he would figure out later.
Jacob realized belatedly that he had no choice but to sleep next to the blasted woman. He’d never planned to have house guests, after all. The bed was spacious, at least. He balled up a spare blanket and placed it between them to serve as a barrier. Then he tried to sleep. He was unsuccessful at first. He couldn’t stop checking on the woman and her fever. He’d thought to let her fever pass and allow her to wake up before giving her what medicine he had. But now he wondered if that was a wise decision. Her fever burned hotter, and he wondered if it would ever drop.
For the most part, her fever served as a welcome distraction from the wonderful feelings that she’d awakened in him. It was mating season, after all, and she certainly fit his criteria. More than fit it, she was the epitome of his desires. In his other form, he’d always felt a disconnect with everyone, but this one he felt understood him. Maybe it was his desires wreaking havoc on his mind, but he felt deep down that this woman belonged next to him. But when he’d transformed back, his logical side kicked in and he suppressed the thoughts.
If she was anyone else, not some injured reporter passed out in his bed, he wondered where it may have led. Just his luck, he thought rolling over to the opposite end of the bed. The one woman he found himself attracted to happened to be the one that would bring him to his ruin.
***
JACOB AWOKE TO A PANICKED cry and thrashing in the bed. He shot up, alarmed and then the events of the night came rushing back to him. He felt around the bed and was relieved to feel it damp—her fever had broken.
“Shhhh...” He tried to calm her down before she ran screaming out of the cave and into more danger.
“Where am I?” Her voice was high-pitched and Jacob could tell it was not her normal tone.
He could see he had a lot of explaining to do and threw his legs over the bed. The cold hit him like a punch. He darted to the fireplace and began to stoke the dying embers of last night’s fire.
“I’m Jacob Lawton. You got hurt by the stream earlier, and I tried to help you but you passed out and then developed a raging fever. How does your ankle feel, by the way? I have some pain reliever if you need some.”
“You...you...you...you brought me here? W-where are w-we?” The woman stammered.
“We’re in a cave up in the mountains. Not far from where you fell by the stream.”
“But why are we here? Why didn’t you have someone take me down?”
Good question. He didn’t have a phone that worked up here. He’d gotten accustomed to making all his calls when in town and he’d never had a reason to use it from here.
“I wouldn’t be able to do it myself, for one thing,” he said omitting the detail about how he could have if he were in his other form. “I didn’t get your name.”
“Serena,” she answered absentmindedly. She was quiet for a moment, digesting the information. Her brow creased as if deep in thought. Then her eyes widened like saucers. “You’re the dragon.”
He didn’t say anything. She was too smart and she’d made the connection. Fine. What were his options? He could drop her back down there now, and hope she never said a word to anyone about it. Or he could keep her here forever and make her realize she belonged with him. To hell with it. He chose the latter.
“You’re right. And now that you know, you will have to stay with me now.”