Page 4

For a half a heartbeat, he smelled roses.

His nose worked, and he looked around, but there was nary a rose up here. No, this was from that house down there. So it was time to work his way down there. In a stealthy way.

He didn’t love stealth.

He was gigantic.

Black-scaled.

With eyes that looked like faceted stones.

Not inconspicuous.

But he wanted to be down there before nightfall. So he would bundle up and head down on foot. He could chug along pretty quickly, and there weren’t too many people if he stayed off the road.

If he was lucky, he could stay close to the land, moving good and fast toward the house that glowed in his sight.

He wasn’t one to suffer from curiosity too long. No, he liked to know what was what. And why he’d had to steal clothes on his way out of California because everything else in his home was gone.

He raced down the mountain, avoiding the cars and the tourists who had stopped to take pictures. Great heights scared humans, and they felt good about making it over the pass…

The person who was in the cupola—were those wings?

Were there dragons in his house?

His heart started to pound again. He wasn’t sure if he was excited, furious, or terrified. It had been…an eon since he’d seen another dragon.

He kept moving, the house backlit by the settling sun, causing it to glow, almost to shine. It called to him, and he slid into the yard area just as the sun was going down, careful to blend with the shadows of the trees.

There were masses of roses and berry bushes and columbines, and he could see vegetable sprouts out back. The gate was purple, the front door turquoise blue. It was lovely.

He felt like an intruder. Like he should leave.

The door opened, and he blinked as a purple young man who was wearing a most life-like bear stood there. “Rawr.”

“Hello, brother bear,” Hawk said, honoring the illusion. “I am sorry to bother you. Can you tell me why my house is here?”

The big head tilted, and then a slender young man stood before him. “Corbin! Cosmo! You better come.”

He blinked. There was more than one, which explained why he knew this wasn’t the one he’d seen up in the tower.

“Get back in the house, brother.” This man was larger, green, hands over his chest. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so.” He kept it polite rather than roaring. He jerked his chin to the tower. “That’s my house.”

“This is the old Halloran place. The last surviving brother asked us to guard it.”

“Yes, but how much of it?” He waved a hand. “That turret, cupola, and stained-glass window is mine.”

“How could it be yours? It was in Myk’s family for over one hundred years.” The soft voice made him blink, want to roar.

Hawk smelled roses.

“Well, I built it over two hundred years ago.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid I have no pictures. I woke up in a cave.”

“Let him in, Corbin. It’s dark, and we need to make supper.”

“But—”