Page 18 of Fated to the Dragon King (Alpha Dragons’ Fated #4)

Hayley

I stole his truck.

Okay, it’s more like I borrowed it without asking. He’ll get it back, undamaged, tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I needed to find a hotel room, then in the morning buy my own means of transportation. And a place to live. Then start looking for a job again.

Alaric’s callous disregard for me cemented my decision to make our break clean and immediate.

I’d lain on the couch beside him, listening to him snore, and recognized that lust and love are two vastly different things.

He may lust for my body, but he’ll never love the rest of me.

The parts of me that I considered important. Such as my mind, my heart, or my soul.

After finding and checking into a decent hotel, I showered off Alaric’s scent, his still sticky seed between my legs. Everything down the drain. Like my life.

My hair wet, garbed in the hotel’s fluffy bathrobe, I called down for a burger and fries with wine from room service. I ate and drank mechanically, hardly tasting anything. It’s as though all joy, even the simple flavor of a good meal, had been sucked out of my life.

Perhaps it had.

Maybe I’ll never get over him.

***

“I’ll be paying by electronic transfer,” I informed the salesman. “No haggling, no additional options, the manufacturer warranty is enough. Make the deal or I’m gone.”

He eyed me with a mixture of respect and disillusion, then left me to inform his sales manager of my demands.

While sitting at his desk in the Honda dealership showroom, I pondered my new found confidence.

Not long ago, I’d have caved in to the salesman’s manipulation and let him ride roughshod over me.

Not anymore.

I found a Honda sedan I liked with the color, blue with a gray interior, and the interior options that were both practical and yet luxurious by my standards.

Roxanne would sneer at my choice of a vehicle that didn’t stand out among the BMWs and Mercedes in this city. Alaric would likely sneer as well.

Too bad. I’m not like either of you.

“Congratulations,” the sales manager said, shaking my hand when the deal was completed. “Let us know if there’s anything we can do in the future.”

“Thank you.”

I accepted the set of smart keys, my copy of the paperwork, and left the showroom to drive away in my new car. Now for a cell phone and an apartment. On my way to sweet independence.

Using my bank’s card, I bought a smart phone, activated it, then sat in my new car smelling new car, and searched for apartments.

That took nearly as long as it did to buy the vehicle, but by the late afternoon, I put down the needed deposits and rent on a fairly nice and already furnished apartment not far from the downtown area.

With all the money I’d spent that day, it hardly put a dent on the amount of money in my account.

“Maybe I should take a vacation before finding another job,” I told myself while eating a late lunch/early dinner at a diner. “Get away for a while.”

Though I did my best to ignore it, my conscience demanded I inform my sister of my new number and address.

Blood ties and all that rot. Should Roxanne have an emergency, she had the means to get a hold of me.

Not that I should care. I had an emergency, and she blew me off.

If I’d died, she’d never have known. Or bothered to come to my funeral.

Still, Roxanne was my sister.

I felt some familial loyalty, even if she didn’t.

Dusk encroached over the city, turning the sea into a dark indigo shade. Street lights popped on as I drove through the city’s center toward Roxanne’s McMansion. I had no idea if she was at home or not, but strode to her door in the near darkness.

I rang her doorbell twice before she slowly opened it to peer around the edge.

“Roxanne!”

I instinctively reached for her, dumbfounded at her disheveled appearance.

Not even when we were kids did she not bathe twice daily, style her hair, or splash her face with makeup.

Even from a few feet away, I caught the unpleasant odor of body sweat and booze.

Her hair hadn’t been washed in I didn’t know how long, and hung oily and limp against her neck.

“Whadda ya want?”

“Are you all right?”

Roxanne shrugged and turned away. I followed her into the foyer, the scents of whiskey and cigarette smoke dominating the house. In her lavishly furnished sitting room, I found ash trays overflowing on her end tables, empty whiskey bottles cast aside and sprawled on her once impeccable carpet.

Roxanne sat down on her plush sofa without looking at me. Wearing a bathrobe of silk over her dirty baby doll pajamas, she lit another cigarette. “Want a drink?”

“No.”

I perched on the edge of a recliner, glancing around at her obvious descent into chaos and personal destruction. Perhaps even into alcoholism. What brought my wealthy and snobbish sibling into such a state of personal neglect?

“So your hubby dumped you?” she asked, reaching for a glass of amber liquid on the nearest table.

“No. I guess I dumped him.”

“Not smart.” Roxanne’s words slurred and her hand trembled as she took a drink from the glass. “You ain’t moving back in.”

“I have my own place now,” I said. “That’s why I came by. So you know how to reach me.”

“Don’ wanna reach you.”

“Okay.”

Roxanne drank deeply, and in trying to set the glass back on the table, missed it by a good two inches. The tumbler tumbled to the carpet, bounced and rolled, spilling the rest of the alcohol onto the floor. It spread, darkening the silver/gray carpeting with an ugly stain.

“What’s happened to you?” I asked. “You’re never like this.”

“None yer bizness.”

Helpless, knowing my presence wasn’t wanted, and yet hesitant to leave, I merely stared at Roxanne. “I want to help you, Roxanne.”

She met my gaze briefly. “Why?”

“Duh.” I rolled my eyes. “We’re sisters.”

“So?”

“Sisters are supposed to help one another. If you need help, just tell me.”

Roxanne bent over, reaching for the glass. Her hand visibly shaking, she poured more whiskey from the bottle into it, and spilled much of it onto the table. The stench of whiskey permeated the already smelly room. When she tucked a cigarette in between her lips and tried to light it, I stood.

Taking the lighter from her, I held the flame to her cigarette. “You’ll set the place on fire,” I snapped. “The fumes alone will ignite.”

Roxanne drew on the cigarette and blew the smoke out of her nostrils while staring up at me. “Let it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Look, maybe you should quit drinking.”

“No.”

I sighed, and returned to the recliner. “Why are you like this, Roxanne? Did something happen? You never acted this way when your husband died.”

Roxanne merely puffed on her cigarette without answering. I watched her, wondering if she had run into a financial problem. Her husband left her with considerable wealth and investments, but it was her responsibility to maintain both with intelligent decisions.

“Did you gamble all your money away?” I asked. “Invest in cryptocurrencies or something?”

She still said nothing. Nor did she look at me. She merely sat on her expensive couch and ruined it with her smoking habit. After another sigh, I stood up.

“I’ll write down my cell number and my new address,” I told her, walking into the kitchen. “Just in case.”

Her kitchen smelled of grease and burnt toast. Unwashed dishes sat along the counters and filled the sink.

Though tempted to wash up for her, I decided not to.

Finding paper and a pen in a drawer, I wrote down my new address and added my cell number.

Leaving the paper on the empty kitchen table, I walked back to Roxanne.

“I hope you’ll let me help you,” I said.

Roxanne didn’t reply. I shrugged and left her sitting there with her smokes and her empty bottles of whiskey.

***

My new home didn’t feel like home.

Unwilling to go back to my apartment right away, I drove to the coast and a public beach. The moon cast a golden glow over the velvety black sea as I parked and got out of my car. The rolling surf soothed my inner turmoil, its ceaseless energy washing over my sneakers while I walked along the sand.

It did no good to figure out why Roxanne busily drank and smoked her way into oblivion. Just as it did no good to expect Alaric to love me. Or to wonder why he didn’t. I could control only myself and my actions, not those of others.

Soon, Alaric and Willow would depart for their homeland. Roxanne could very well drink herself to death, or she might seek help before that happened. As I ambled along the shoreline, I hoped she would find the help she needed. Even if it didn’t come from me.

Gazing up at the stars, I felt tempted to pray to Lanokota. Does she really exist? Does any god or goddess exist?

Dragons certainly exist. I’ve experienced that for myself.

“My Lady,” I murmured, closing my eyes. “If you’re really there, if I truly have your favor, help me out here.

I don’t know what to do about Alaric. Why doesn’t he love me?

What’s wrong with me? Why is my sister turning into an alcoholic?

I know you don’t, or won’t, answer directly.

But maybe you can show me a sign? An omen? Something?”

Feeling utterly silly, I walked on. I passed other beach walkers, and no few romantically inclined couples making out near driftwood campfires. A jogger ran past me, going in the same direction I walked, making me think I needed to resume my exercise routine.

Soon, I left the public beach behind, and entered the realm of the seaside McMansions and condos. Lights from the homes glittered onto the sand while dogs barked at my trespass. Thinking I’d walked far enough, I turned to head back to my car.

The moonlight vanished behind a shadow.

It made a brief reappearance before vanishing again.

I froze, staring upward.

No, no, no, no one knows where I am. Not Alaric, not Fiona, not even Roxanne.

Still, two dragons just flew over my head.

A burst of flame illuminated a muzzle, a pair of fierce eyes before winking out.

I started to run. Running back the way I’d come, I heard the whoosh of wings from behind me, felt talons scrape at my shoulders.

Instantly, without thinking, I dropped to the sand.

“Shit,” Fiona yelled as she banked skyward.

Getting up, I ran on, my feet pounding the sand, running fast, trying to look up and behind me.

A black shadow passed between me and the stars.

“Hey, girl, stop running, we only want to talk.”

Damon! I recognized his voice.

I ran on, my breath clawing at my throat as I ducked and dodged, seeking the protection of other people. The pair of dragons chasing me cannot let themselves be seen by humans. Among my own kind, I’d be safe.

Or so I let myself believe.

“What the hell was that?”

I heard people shouting, yelling, rising from their campfires to also flee, to escape the massive fire breathing predators flying over them. Flames erupted in the air as Damon roared, his wings buffeting the sand, the running people.

My hair first blew into my face, then suddenly flew back away as Fiona passed low over my head.

“Yoo, hoo,” she called down, taunting. “Olly, olly, oxen free.”

I neared the parking lot. Putting on more speed, I passed others also running, fleeing toward the questionable safety of their cars. Just as I hoped to reach mine, despite the knowledge that a car was no match for dragon fire.

“Gotcha.”

Talons closed over my shoulders.