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Breathless, they stood where they were and didn’t move.The two of them had had sex twice, and neither time did it happen in their bed.From now on she was going to go looking for him in her nudity and see what other tricks he had up his…naked arm.

“Are you sore?Because I know that I’m going to be.”She asked him about all the wood he chopped.“Not the same muscles were used, thankfully.I might have died a thousand deaths had I been using the same muscles and tried to fuck you too.”

“I suppose.”She was getting a cramp in her foot but was too relaxed to move right then.Something else occurred to her.“I’m starving.You must be, too.How about we move—as much as I hate to do that, clean up our mess in here, and have some breakfast?”

“I’m up for that.”It took them twenty minutes to find the last button.And Edgar found it caught in one of the curtains nearest the desk.That would have been way more embarrassing than finding it on the floor, she thought.But she was safe from embarrassment because she wouldn’t allow him to quit looking until they found them all.

Breakfast was after they took a shower and got cleaned up.She wanted to go back to bed and take a nap, but they both had things to get finished up.Tabby had an interview to complete for the person who was going to be working on her days off—something that she was going to do was to take one or two days a week off so she didn’t have burnout.And she was going to spend those days with her new husband and her daughter.

Going into the kitchen to cook, she felt an eerie kind of something roll over her.Looking around,she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so she went back to work making pancakes for the two of them.Edgar came into the kitchen with his cell phone to his ear, and he looked like there was something bad going on.

“Tommy was spotted not three miles from here.”Nodding, she was suddenly not hungry and wanted to find her daughter.“One of the merchants in town talked to him, and he was looking for you.He said that he looked a little worse for wear but knew it was him.”

When he got off the phone, she asked about Mandy.He told her that she couldn’t be in a safer place than with his mom and grandma.That didn’t thrill her, but she knew he was right, that she’d be better off with them than she would be with her here.

“No one is giving him any information.He’ll not be able to come into the house or the yard.Remember that.The merchant didn’t know if he had a gun or not, but he said that Tommy was saying that he was looking for you because you owed him some money.”She was trying hard to keep her emotions at bay.This was no time to panic.When Edgar reached for her hand, she took it like a lifeline and held it to her heart.“He’s not going to be able to get to you so long as you stay inside the house.If you need to go to the plant, I can have my mom take you there with her magic.But I’d rather you stayed here until we figure out what he wants.”

“Money.”She looked at him.“My parents.Are they all right?How did he get here without any money?Oh, Edgar, I’m terrified for my family.”

“He stole a plane ticket.My dad is tracking him now.He’s the best there is at tracking someone.”She nodded, afraid more than she’d ever been in her life.“He won’t kill him because he’s the humans’ problem, but he will keep tracking him and let us know where he is at a moment’s notice.”

“Can he get into the plant even though I’m not there?That could be drastic for a lot of people.I don’t want anyone hurt.”Edgar told her that he couldn’t harm the place.“Good.I hate this.I just want him to realize that he’s not getting anything from me and for him to go on with his life.But he’ll never do that since he believes that we owe him somehow.”

“No.He can’t harm the building in Tennessee, either.Things are going well for—Dad found him, and he’s at the end of our driveway.He said that he’s shouting out your name to get you to come and take the magic away from the gate.”She went to the front of the house and looked out the window.She could see him now and told Edgar.“He killed the man that he took the ticket from.They only just found his body and are looking for his killer.Dad said to assume that he has a gun as that’s how he killed Mr.Trenor at the airport.”

“I’m going to call my parents.All right?”Edgar said that he’d deal with Tommy while she was on the phone.“Don’t go out there, Edgar.You said that he could hurt you.”

“I’m going to shift into my dragon and scare him a bit.”She wanted to see him doing that but needed to hear from her mom and dad right now.After getting her dad on the phone, she burst into tears while telling him what was going on.Mom assured her, too, that she was all right.“I have to get in touch with Earl too.I need to hear that he’s all right as well.”

“He’s here.We were having lunch together, so he’s fine too.”Relief like she’d never felt washed over her, and she couldn’t believe how much better she felt.

“Honey, just stay in the house and let Edgar handle things.I wish I could see his dragon.I sure do.But that’ll have to be at another time.”

She watched as Edgar shifted, and his giant dragon filled the space from the house to the end of the road.He was magnificent in the sunlight, and she couldn’t believe how lucky she was that he was all hers.She told her dad that Tommy had run away as soon as Edgar shifted at him.

“Good man, that husband of yours.Goodness, it’s good to know that he can do that and keep my baby girl safe.”She agreed with her dad on that.“Now that you know we’re safe, you go on now and help Edgar.He might not know it yet, but he needs you by his side when dealing with your brother.You know him better than anyone else.”She told him that she’d be right there for him whenever he needed her.

She didn’t venture outside, but she was happy to watch as Edgar laid in the yard, ready foranything.When Edgar turned and shifted again, she opened the door to let him in.That was when she saw her brother again.

~*~

Tommy fired the gun three more times when his sister didn’t so much as fall over from his shots.He knew that he’d hit her, all five times he’d shot at her, but there she was—he was so focused on Tabby that he’d forgotten all about the giant dragon that had been lying in the yard.But he was more afraid of the man that was walking toward him.

“You can’t kill her.”He fired once more at the man, Eddy, something.“It’s Edgar, not Eddy.And you can’t kill me either.Your bullets are worthless coming onto our land like this.You can’t kill either of us, and that makes me very happy.”

“She owes me fucking money.I want her dead.”Edgar told him that wasn’t going to happen.He might as well give it up.“No.I’m going to kill her and that brat.Then I’m going to kill you too.And anyone else that gets in my way.”

“You can try, but it’s not going to get you anywhere.”He heard the sirens just as Edgar pointed them out to him.“You’re going to be arrested for trying to kill us, and that will put you in jail long enough for you to be examined by some very good doctors.Your family thinks that there is something wrong with you to have you acting out like this.I think you’re just a greedy—go ahead, fire all you want at me.The police are watching you now.”

Tommy kept firing long after he knew that the gun was emptied.Finally, when none of his planning was going right, he threw the weapon at Edgar, and had he not moved, it would have hit him in the head.Nothing was going right for him today or even the last few weeks, and he was going to have his head explode if he didn’t get something for it soon.He leaned over and threw up more blood than he’d seen in a long time.

Seeing the blood made him sicker still, and he threw up twice more before he was tackled from behind and rolled to the grassy front lawn of his sister’s place.

“I’m dying.”The officer that had thrown him to the ground didn’t say anything to him.The one standing beside the two of them, his gun out and pointed at him, read him his rights.Like he didn’t already know them by heart.“You have to help me.I’m dying.I’m bleeding to death as I sit here.”

“You’ll be going to jail, buddy.Then, to the hospital.An ambulance is on its way to determine if you need medical help right away.Until then, you’ll be cuffed and held right where you’re sitting.”

When the ambulance finally showed up, he’d tossed his stomach up four more times.He was getting weak from all the blood loss, and he didn’t know how much longer he could remain sitting upright.The officer with the gun said he was going to shoot him if he didn’t sit still.He decided to bargain with them to see if he could get some money from his sister.