Page 12

Chapter Twelve

I put the kickstand on my bike down and dismounted so I could properly stare in shock at the charred remains of my home.

Everything I owned, gone. My keepsakes. My clothes. My pictures. Everything of Granny.

But worse…

What happened to Abaddon?

He’d been inside when I left. Had he escaped?

My first instinct urged me to race for his hiding spot and see if he was there. I didn’t, though, because common sense slapped me.

For one… someone had put out the fire. I could see the remnants of powder as if a chemical had been deployed, as well as the mud that formed from having copious amounts of water sprayed on the site of my trailer.

Second, the number of ruts in the ground seemed excessive. Several vehicles had been there. Now you might say, duh, firetrucks would leave marks. Except, who would have called it in? Why weren’t they still here? Obviously, the place was occupied. Firefighters didn’t simply hose down a fire and leave right away. Someone should have been there. Someone should have notified me. After all, my contact information could be easily accessed by simply looking up my address in the municipal registry.

Third, I spotted a red tuft on a capsule with a needle on the end. A tranquilizing dart.

As all those observations coalesced into one giant uh-oh, I heard engines. A quick pivot and I could see the vehicles screaming into my place, unmarked black SUVs with dark tinted windows that disgorged several people, none of them in government uniforms but obviously meaning business.

I almost ran. Might have if I’d not spotted movement in the trees as more of these strangers emerged from the forest, some wearing shiny-looking hazmat-type suits, others holding the leashes of dogs that strained in my direction.

Well, shit.

What I’d feared had come to pass. The government had come for me, but had they gotten Abaddon?

Killed him?

A man in a suit with a bandage covering the lower part of his jaw strutted toward me with an angry look in his eyes. “Ms. Smith?”

“Yeah.” No point in denying it. “Who are you? What’s going on? What happened to my home?”

Rather than answer my questions he replied with one of his own. “Where is the dragon?”

At the word dragon I turned to ice as it confirmed why these people invaded my property, but in awesome news… They didn’t have my Little Fella.

“Excuse me, did you say dragon?” I snickered.

“This is no laughing matter, Ms. Smith. We know you are in possession of a recently hatched dragon. We need to locate it immediately for the safety of everyone.”

“Dude, I don’t know what you’re smoking but you really should share. Dragons aren’t real.” I could lie like a pro.

The man’s lips pinched. “Lying isn’t in your best interests, Ms. Smith. You might have looked upon it as a cute pet, however, I assure you dragons are highly intelligent and also incredibly dangerous creatures. It is imperative we contain it before it has a chance to grow and threaten the human population.”

“Sorry, bud, can’t help you, but I do wish you luck in finding your imaginary dragon.” I doubted blowing him off and denying everything would accomplish much, but I had to try.

“The shell of the beast was found in the remains of your firepit, indicating it hatched. Drone surveillance picked up its heat signature inside your home, and before you deny that as well, I’m going to add their presence is quite distinctive from other mammals.”

“Dude, I don’t know who you are or what you think you saw, but I’m telling you right now, there was no dragon in my trailer. Sounds to me like you spotted the raccoon that’s been living under it for years.”

“Don’t lie. We found it hidden under your floor,” the man huffed.

“Did you just admit to going inside my place without a warrant? Smells like an unlawful entry lawsuit to me.” A lame comeback but I’d watched enough police procedurals that it slipped out naturally.

“No warrant is needed when a national threat requires securing.”

“Pretty sure that’s not true,” I tartly replied.

The man turned even ruddier, the red bright in contrast to his white bandage. “You need to start cooperating. Harboring a protected species is a crime.”

I snorted. “How can something that doesn’t exist be a protected species?”

“I’m done arguing with you. Perhaps you’ll be more forthcoming in an interrogation room.” The man signaled and some dudes in black fatigues approached, hands on their holsters.

Well, shit. Guess I was about to be arrested.

Only… “Hold on a second. Who are you? Where is your badge giving you this so-called authority to act like a dick on my land?”

“My name isn’t important.”

“Hell, yeah, it is because I’m going to need it when I file a grievance for harassment.”

“You’re assuming you’ll be released and allowed to talk.” The man offered me a tight smile. “But that’s not how things work with our agency. No one will even know we’ve taken you into custody.”

My blood went from running cold to solid ice. “You can’t do that. I have rights.”

“Your rights don’t mean shit to the people I work for.” The man jerked his head and snapped, “Take her into custody.”

The man turned from me and his goons went to grab me when a new player entered the fiasco.

Maddox.

He spun into my driveaway in a cloud of dust and emerged from his truck, holding his phone outstretched. “Excuse me, what’s going on here?” he asked as he strode in my direction.

The prick in the suit barked, “This is official business. Return to your vehicle and depart immediately.”

“I don’t think so, seeing as how you’re trying to put hands on my girlfriend.”

Girlfriend? I mean, it made sense given the time we’d been spending together, but hearing it kind of made it official.

“Ms. Smith is wanted for questioning.”

“Oh really?” Maddox kept his camera pointed at the man in the suit. “Questioning about what? Who do you work for? I don’t see any badges and no official uniforms. So, not the RCMP or local cops.”

“This doesn’t concern you,” the man barked. “We have authorization from the government to conduct an investigation.”

“Which department? Because I’m pretty sure none of them are allowed to use armed goons to harass citizens. Or do you think you can get away with it because she’s of indigenous background?”

Ooh. He pulled the native card. Not something I ever did because at one sixteenth, I barely ranked and looked nothing like my ancestors.

“Ms. Smith is in serious trouble under the Protected Species Act. If you don’t wish to be charged with abetting her, then you would do well to depart this instant.”

Seeing an opening, I shouted loud enough for the video, “This asshole is accusing me of hiding a dragon in my trailer.”

To his credit, Maddox reacted as a normal person who’d never met a dragon would. He arched a brow and laughed. “Fuck off. No way. Dragons aren’t real.”

“That’s what I said. But Mr. Believes-In-Imaginary-Animals is trying to strong-arm me into confessing I had one in my trailer.”

“A dragon?” Maddox’s mirth deepened. “Holy fuck. Are you being pranked?”

“This is no joking matter, sir,” the suit grumbled.

“Come on, man. A dragon? Couldn’t you have come up with a better excuse to kidnap my girlfriend?

The suit’s face tightened. “We aren’t kidnapping her, simply taking her in for questioning.”

“And I’m going to ask again, by who’s authority? Come on, one of you must have a badge? Something official?” Maddox waggled his phone. “Maybe you could flash a warrant for the live stream? I’m sure the audience would like to see it.”

“No warrants. He said he didn’t need one,” I offered. “And I’m pretty sure this prick and his goons burned down my trailer, looking for the non-existent dragon.”

My actor of a boyfriend shook his head. “Damn. I’m smelling a huge settlement.”

“She committed a crime and as such must answer for it. This is a matter of national security and given you’re impeding it, you’ll now also be taken into custody. Arrest them both.” The suit doubled down.

“Touch me or Pip and you’ll regret it.” Maddox’s expression turned hard. “Now for the last time, I want to know who you work for and what authority you think you have to come onto Pip’s property and threaten her.” Maddox took a second to glance at his phone and smiled. “Well, what do you know? We have an audience that includes a Nisga’a tribal lawyer who says any attempt to arrest my girlfriend will result in them suing.”

“Probably my uncle, Mathew,” I chimed in. He loved litigating perceived bias cases and quite often settled out of court.

The man in the suit couldn’t have looked more constipated if he tried. “You are interfering in a serious security matter. People’s lives are in danger.”

“Really? Why don’t you explain to those watching how Pip constitutes a threat?”

“I’m afraid that information is classified,” was the stiff reply.

“Bullshit, he’s just afraid to say it aloud. He’s accusing me of having a dragon!” I repeated in case those watching had missed me saying it earlier.

“Is that true? Are you accusing her of having a fictional animal in her possession?”

I waited for Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass to admit it on video.

He clamped his lips shut and glared. I wonder if he would have replied if his phone hadn’t suddenly buzzed. He pulled it out, looked at the screen, and scowled mightily before tucking it away.

“Guess this is your lucky day, Ms. Smith. You’re free to go.” The suit glanced at his goons. “Everyone, back to headquarters.”

I almost fist pumped in celebration, but I restrained myself. Barely.

The goons began piling back into vehicles but Mr. Not-Too-Happy narrowed his gaze on me and said in a low mutter meant only for my ears, “You might think you’ve won, but in the end, we will acquire the dragon. And if it happens to die in the process, you’ll only have yourself to blame.”

A threat that chilled, but that assumed they would find Abaddon. Like fuck. Even if I had to flee to the most remote spot on Earth, I’d ensure this asshole never laid eyes or hands on my Little Fella.

The vehicles departed along with all the personnel and dogs on my premises.

Tension eased out of my body only to be replaced by the shakes. Holy fuck. I’d come literally seconds away from getting bundled off and never seen again.

Maddock pocketed his phone and strode for me. “You okay, babe?”

I wanted to lie but as I eyed the ruin of my home, I sniffled and said, “No.” I’d lost everything.

He put his arm around me, dragging me into his solid strength. “I’m sorry, Pip. I know that trailer held a lot of sentimental value.”

“And my bed,” I wailed. A dumb thing to cry about, and yet, anyone who had a mattress and pillow broken in just right understood.

“We’ll buy you a new one.”

“What’s the point? I have nowhere to put it. I have no home. No insurance. Nothing. What am I supposed to do?”

He didn’t hesitate to say, “You’ll stay with me.”

A reply that almost managed to make me happy. Only… “That will work temporarily for me, but what about Abaddon?”

“Princess will adjust.”

“I’m not talking about your cat but the fact he’ll be hard to smuggle inside, seeing as how your place will probably be surveilled. Plus, there’s the fact at the rate he’s growing, we’ll run out of room before too long.”

“What else can we do?”

I liked the use of we.

My brain whirred. “We need a place with space for Abaddon to grow but that also offers privacy from prying eyes, and security to counter any goons that try to return to finish what they began.”

“Sounds like you want a fortress. Might be kind of hard to find one on our budget.” A light joke and yet his statement triggered the answer.

I knew someone with a property that had tons of acreage, seclusion, and a paranoia about ‘the man’ that led to them having the latest in protective measures.

My boss, Leo. As to his obsession with strange and rare things? I could only hope my boss valued our friendship more than the idea of owning a dragon.