Dragon's Heart [Dragon Love 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Hank was as worried as his friends. “He’s right. You look pale.”

  “What does a girl have to do to make you believe her?” She’d felt dizzy, yes, but it had passed. There was no reason to tell them. Not now. “I’m fine. Trust me.”

  “Okay. If you say so.” Grant studied her, searching for any sign that she wasn’t telling them the truth.

  “I say so.” She smiled. “There is one problem, though.”

  “What’s that, babe?”

  “We forgot to use the vibrator.”

  “Oh, yeah. Next time.” Grant cupped her breast and gave her nipple a quick kiss.

  “Grant? Guys? Are you in there?”

  Cinda sat up at the sound of Pop’s voice. “Not again,” she whispered. “How does he always manage to know when we’re…involved?”

  “Guys, I’m sorry, but it’s important.”

  The blare of an ambulance had the men jumping out of the bed. Stunned, she stayed where she was.

  “What’s up, Pop?” Walken opened the door, blocking Pop’s view of her.

  “It’s Penny.”

  The men dressed quicker than she could get out of the bed. She hurried, her rush causing her to fumble with her clothes.

  “What happened?” Grant was already pulling on his boots as he stepped into the hall, leaving the door cracked enough for her to hear.

  The sirens of the ambulance grew closer, jangling her already rattled nerves.

  “She was running around, looking for Cinda, when she collapsed. Bertram’s with her now, but she hasn’t gained consciousness. It doesn’t look good.”

  Oh God. Please, don’t let anything happen to Penny.

  Guilt swamped her. If she’d found Penny as she’d promised, maybe the girl would be all right. It was her fault Penny had—

  Died.

  No. I won’t go there. She’s still alive.

  The men rushed from the room, leaving her behind. Over and over, one word filled her mind.

  Please, please, please, please.

  Chapter Nine

  “It’s my fault.” Cinda paced the waiting room of the intensive care unit. “If I’d found her and played with her like I promised, she wouldn’t have been rushing around looking for me.” Tears made her vision swim.

  “Babe, it’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. Penny has a bad heart.”

  She whirled on Hank, needing an outlet for her anger. “Damn it. If I hadn’t wanted to fuck you so much, I would’ve been doing my job. Instead of getting tied up and screwed, I would’ve been there for her.”

  The two other people in the waiting room stared at her. She couldn’t bring herself to apologize. The one she needed to apologize to lay in a hospital bed with tubes stuck in her and hooked up to machines.

  Kiley tried to comfort her, too. One of the men must’ve called her to come to the hospital for Cinda’s sake. “You need to calm down. You’re not going to do yourself or Penny any good if you wind up in the bed next to her.”

  Grant tried to stop her from pacing. “Darlin’, you can’t beat yourself up about this.”

  She jerked away and kept moving. Every time she checked the door, it remained closed. “Where’s the doctor, anyway? Why aren’t they telling us something?”

  “We’re not her parents,” said Walken. “They can’t give us any information unless her parents give them permission to tell us.”

  “Then where the hell are her parents? Why weren’t they at the ranch?” As much as she blamed herself, she blamed her parents. More times than not, they’d drop her at the ranch and leave. It was as though they were happy to be away from their daughter.

  “We’re right here.”

  She spun and faced the couple who had just come through the door. “Mr. and Mrs. Rollins?”

  “Where were you people?” Mrs. Rollins stormed toward them, fury and fear mixing in her expression. “We left her in your care and look what happened.”

  “Where were we?”

  Walken took Cinda by the arms, holding her back. If he hadn’t, she wasn’t sure what she would’ve done. “Easy, sweetheart. We’re all upset, but we can’t take it out on each other.”

  “You’re going to hear from my attorney.” Mr. Rollins pulled his crying wife into his arms. “I promise you, you’re going to pay.”

  She couldn’t stand it. She’d seen enough to know what kind of parents they were. “Is that all you care about? How much money you can sue them for? What about your daughter? Do you know how many times she missed you? Do you know how much she wanted to show you she could ride a horse?”

  Walken held her tightly, refusing to turn her loose. “Cinda, you’ve got to calm down.”

  “Listen to him,” urged Kiley.

  “No.” She broke free of him and paced to the other side of the room. Yelling at Penny’s parents wouldn’t do the poor girl any good.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Rollins?”

  Cinda whirled around then rushed toward the doctor. Hank was the one to stop her this time.

  “Yes. Is she all right?” asked Penny’s father.

  The doctor held the door wider. “Please, let’s go into my office to talk.”

  “No! Please, tell me how she’s doing.” Tears streamed down Cinda’s face. “Please. Is she going to be all right?”

  The doctor, however, took one look at Penny’s parents and got his answer. He couldn’t tell her. Nodding at the couple, he motioned for them to exit then followed, letting the doors close behind him.

  “They have to tell me.” Every ounce of strength flooded out of her. She collapsed against Hank, folding into his arms.

  * * * *

  “How’s Cinda doing?” asked Grant.

  Walken shook his head, wishing he had better news. “I’m not sure. I’m fairly certain I made her realize that she isn’t to blame for Penny’s health. Still, she won’t leave the hospital, even though the Rollinses aren’t allowing her to get anywhere near Penny. Hell, they won’t even give us word on her condition.”

  The best they’d been able to do was to get Cinda a room at the hospital. The rooms were supposed to be for family, but Walken had pulled a few strings.

  Hank plopped down on the couch. “At least we can get her to come home tonight, right?”

  “Home, sure, but in our bed? Nope.”

  Walken gritted his teeth. As good a guy as Grant was, sometimes he had the sensitivity of a gnat. “We have to give her time. She’s not going to feel like having fun until Penny’s out of danger.”

  “Who knows when that will happen? It’s already been two weeks.” Grant let out a huge breath then uncorked the wine bottle and poured himself a glass. Hank held up his glass and held it out, prompting Grant to fill his goblet, too.

  “Until she’s ready, we wait. We’ve waited a long time for her. Another few days or weeks won’t matter.”

  As he’d expected, both men reacted. Hank groaned, and Grant took a long swig.

  “Let’s talk about what we can do for Cinda.”

  They’d discussed their options several times but hadn’t come to any conclusions. They couldn’t change her, and medically there was nothing more that could be done. She’d been given the easiest, less stressful jobs around the ranch, but the weight of Penny’s health was weighing on her. Her face was drawn, and her eyes had black circles under them. The best they could do was to make sure she kept taking her medications and went to all her doctor’s appointments.

  Hank slugged back another long drink. “Why can’t we find an answer?”

  Walken had kept his plan under wraps, waiting for confirmation. Now that the council of dragons had informed him of their idea, he was ready to tell them about his plan.

  “I might have found a way to help her.”

  They were on him in the next instant, gathering close and getting in his face.

  “Why didn’t you tell us before now?” insisted Hank.

  “Fuckin’ A, man. Tell us. What is it?”

  Walken gazed into th
e faces of his best friends. “We need to get her pregnant.”

  He knew how they felt. He’d imagined he’d had the same look on his face when he’d heard the news.

  “Get her pregnant? Won’t that put more strain on her heart?”

  “Normally, you’d be right, Grant, but not this time.”

  “I don’t get it. You need to spell it out for me,” ordered Hank.

  “According to the council, once a human female is pregnant with a dragon’s child, then she possesses the healing abilities of the child.”

  “I’ve never heard of this.” As usual, Grant was ready to challenge any ideas, just as he’d challenged all the others.

  “Doesn’t make it untrue,” offered Hank.

  “Doesn’t make it true, either,” argued Grant.

  “She gets pregnant, and her heart gets healed.” Walken wasn’t any surer than they were that the plan would work. Yet no other options existed.

  “It’s that simple?” Grant shook his head, still fighting against them. “Nah, it can’t be.”

  “I don’t have any other ideas, do you?” He was getting antsy. They couldn’t keep going on like they were. Her heart could fail her at any time.

  “What if we can’t get her pregnant?” Hank shrugged. “Or, worse, what if she doesn’t want us to knock her up?”

  “First of all, don’t say ‘knock her up’ when we tell her our idea. Plus, we’re going to have to tell her what we are first. She has to accept us as dragons before anything else can happen.”

  “Great. If the stress about Penny doesn’t kill her, the shock of seeing us as dragons might.”

  “Damn it, Grant, what choice do we have? I say we tell her tonight.” Hank was on his feet, excitement setting him to pacing the floor. “We promised to show Jumper a dragon. Why not show them together?”

  “Exactly what I was thinking.” Walken heard her footsteps a moment before the front door opened.

  Cinda took two steps inside and came to a stop. “What is it? Why are you all staring at me?”

  “You’re home.”

  Walken felt Grant’s excitement, too. “Did Pop bring you home? Why didn’t you call us?”

  “I don’t know.” She looked worn out, exhaustion claiming her. “Why? What’s going on?” Her eyes widened, and her lips parted in a silent oh. “Is it…?”

  “No.” Walken hurried to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s not about Penny. As far as I know, her condition is the same.” He held her back, watching her.

  She visibly relaxed. “Then what?”

  “It’s time we gave Jumper his wish. How about going with us to see the dragons? It’ll give you something else to concentrate on. Besides, you need a break. You’re home, so you must’ve realized it. Are you up for it?” He’d meant physically, but seeing them change would hit her hard mentally, too.

  Her face clouded over, darkening with anger. “You’ve really let him keep believing in dragons? And that you can produce one for him to see? How can you be so cruel? He’s going to be so disappointed. You three are like heroes to him.”

  If he didn’t know how easily he could give Jumper what he wanted, he would’ve been hurt by her scathing retort. Instead, he had to remember to stay calm. Not for himself, but for her. “Come with us. Pop’s coming, too.”

  “Tonight? He didn’t get picked up by his parents?”

  “A few of the kids are having a sleepover. With the staff supervising, of course. As usual, we brought in a doctor and a nurse, just to be safe.”

  She’d known a few clients stayed over every once in a while, but they were usually adults. If children spent the night, then special arrangements had to be made.

  “But it’s just Jumper that’s going, right? Not the rest of the kids?”

  “Just him.”

  “What time?”

  “Right now, in fact.” If he could’ve waited, giving her time to rest, he would have, but time was running out. “Are you in, sweetheart?”

  She closed her eyes, and for a horrible moment, he was sure she’d refuse. When she opened them again, she darted her gaze from Hank to Grant then finally back to him. “Fine. But only because I want to be there to help Jumper when you break his heart.”

  “Sounds good. Let’s go. Pop’s already getting Jumper.” Taking her arm, he turned her around to lead her back out to the parking lot.

  As he’d said, Pop and Jumper were waiting next to several horses tied to the rails of the corral. Jumper was bouncing up and down on his horse, his eyes wide and a big grin brightening his face. “Hi, Cinda!”

  Cinda stopped. Her eyes pleaded with Walken. “Please, don’t do this. He’s already gone through so much.”

  “Fine.”

  “What?” Grant edged closer to Walken. “What are you doing?”

  Walken ignored his friends and got close enough to her to have her shifting from one foot to the other. “I’ll stop this right now if you can tell me one thing.”

  “And?” Her brown eyes were huge, as though expecting a surprise.

  “If you can tell me you don’t trust us, that you think we’d hurt a child, then we’ll shut this down right now. Jumper will be disappointed, all right, but he’ll get over it. So tell me, Cinda. What’s your answer?”

  She swallowed, her gaze never leaving his. “I do trust you. All of you.”

  He cocked an eyebrow, not needing to say anything more.

  “Okay.” She threw up her arms. “Let’s go see the dragons.”

  * * * *

  Cinda loved riding horses, although she’d never ridden at night. They’d taken the horses because Jumper loved riding as much as she did. But it was mainly because they wanted to go farther out in the pasture, farther than any of the trucks could go.

  They pulled their horses to a stop then dismounted. Looping her reins over the fence as the others had done, she followed the men, Pop, and Jumper into the field. No one else was around. Without any city lights to dim their glow, the sky was lit up with bright stars. Night sounds played in the air with tree frogs croaking out a bass rhythm to the other animal sounds.

  “This is crazy,” she whispered.

  Grant caught her as she stumbled over a dip in the land. “You don’t have to whisper. You’re not going to scare off the dragons.”

  “Dragons! Dragons!” Jumper whirled around, his hands out like airplane wings. “I want to see the dragons!”

  She shot Hank a stern look. Why was she helping them in this charade?

  “Now look, kid, you’ve got to remember your promise.” Pop took hold of Jumper, trying to contain him. “You don’t go telling anyone else about the dragons. You promised, remember?”

  Jumper nodded. “Yes, sir. Are they here now? Where are they?”

  “Hang on.” Grant turned her loose. “Mr. Hank, Mr. Walken, and I are going to go and fetch them. Jumper, there’s no running off, you got it? You stick with Pop and Miss Cinda at all times. If you don’t, the dragons will fly away.”

  “They sure will. Besides, you need to stick close by in case Miss Cinda gets scared.” Hank winked at her, telling her he was joking.

  Yet, she wasn’t so sure. They were acting as though she’d really see dragons. If she did, wouldn’t it be enough to send her running? Still, if Jumper could handle it, so could she. But it had to be a trick. One a little boy would believe.

  “Okay.” Jumper slipped his hand in hers. “Don’t worry, Miss Cinda, I’ll protect you.”

  “Good to know,” Grant ruffled his hair. “It shouldn’t be a problem, though. These are good dragons that wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less a beautiful woman.”

  She was glad he couldn’t see the blush heating her cheeks. “I’ll be fine, but it’s nice to know I’ll have Pop and Jumper with me.”

  “The dragons will be here soon.” Walken strode toward a corpse of trees.

  “Why can’t you stay with us?”

  But none of the men answered. Instead, they kept walking until they finally disappear
ed into the darkness of the woods.

  “Do you know what’s going on, Pop?”

  He gave her a curious look. “Well, of course I do. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen them.”

  “Are you serious?” She narrowed her eyes, warning him not to tease her. “Come on. What’s really going to happen?”

  The lines on Pop’s forehead deepened. “I thought you understood. We’re going to see the dragons.”

  So he was playing along. She rolled her eyes, but she’d go along with the ruse for now.

  “Look!”

  She followed the direction Jumper was pointing but didn’t see anything. “What? Where?” Although she knew dragons didn’t exist, she couldn’t help but get excited.

  Calm down. You don’t want to get dizzy.

  “There! See the wavy lines?”

  She looked harder, searching the night sky. Then, suddenly, she saw them. The same shimmers in the night air she’d seen before were back. But they weren’t dragons.

  “All I see are some strange air currents. Those aren’t—” She stopped as the shimmers began growing closer together. More and more appeared, connecting to each other like an invisible artist was playing connect-the-dots.

  The shimmers became lines. The lines became outlines, first in one area and then, as they continued to connect, growing the outline. The outline then became solid until, at last, she could see what they were becoming.

  The outline of three large dragons floated in the air above them. Their massive wings moved up and down, even as their tails swished back and forth.

  “Cool!” Jumper was ecstatic, hopping up and down as Pop held on to his arm.

  “It has to be a projector. Or a hologram. Or…” She stalled, unable to think of anything else that could’ve caused the images.

  “Or dragons?”

  She met Pop’s gaze and knew.

  He believes they’re real. Oh, shit.

  “Keep watching, Cinda.”

  She jerked her attention back to the outlined images and sucked in a hard breath. The outlines were filling in. Green and blue scales slid through the air, filling in areas within the outlines. Tails grew horns matching those running along their heads and down their backs. Eyes flared red as massive jaws opened wide. Claws on powerful legs slashed into the air. She could feel the breeze with each flap of their wings. She could smell their unique smoke scent. And when flames burst out of their mouths, she felt the heat skim over her body.