Sasha stilled.
“Luckily, no one believes him,”her dragon said.
“Not today,” Sasha replied. “My dragon is sleepy.”
“Hey, if we get a fat arse from lack of exercise, it will be your fault,”her dragon snapped.“Although there was that kissing book where the man liked junk in the trunk.”
Sasha had enjoyed that romance since the man had loved the woman and hadn’t tried to change her.“I bet Bruceous would try to mold us to what he wants.”
“Another reason we should stay here. Give the dirty old dragon a chance to focus on another unfortunate debutante.”
When they reached the beach, Sasha kicked off her sandals. “Shall we leave our towels and shoes in a pile and go for a walk? Let’s see how many crabs we can spot today. I bet we will see nine. How many do you guess?”
“Six,” Noel said instantly. His favorite number. He tugged at his sandals and set them beside Sasha’s in a nice straight line.
“All right. If I win, you have to help me make dinner.” Sasha bit her lip, so she didn’t laugh again. Noel loved cooking and helped her every night.
Noel bobbed his head in enthusiasm, and she held out her hand for him. His stubby fingers clasped hers, and they set off to investigate the shoreline.
Sasha paddled in the shallow water, but Noel released her hand and ran ahead to peer into the many tiny holes.
“One,” he shouted and trotted farther along the sand.
Sasha let him run ahead but kept watch. She couldn’t see any other people on the beach today, the dull weather driving everyone indoors.
“There’s a running man,”her dragon said.“Why do humans enjoy running so much? Why doesn’t he have proper stylish clothes if he’s racing so fast? Humans seem to like their stretching clothes that show off their fat rolls.”
“Now that is plain bitchy,”Sasha chided.
The man raced past her and headed straight for Noel.
“Can’t he see Noel?”her dragon asked as Sasha stiffened in alarm.“Stupid man. He’s got the entire beach to run on, and he sprints on a collision path with a child. Dragons are not that dumb.”
“Hey!” Sasha shouted.
The man didn’t stop. If anything, he increased his speed, still heading straight for Noel. An instant later, he seized Noel and continued running, carrying the boy under his arm like an ungainly parcel.
“Hey!” Sasha yelled and started in pursuit.
“I hate running,”her dragon snapped.
Sasha increased her speed.
“Shift,”her dragon shouted at her.“Let me breathe fire at his legs.”
“No, you might hurt Noel,” Sasha gasped.
The man was increasing his lead, despite Noel’s kicking and shouting.
“Shift! Otherwise, we won’t catch him.”
“Okay,” Sasha puffed, accepting that her dragon could move so much faster than her. She slowed and struggled out of her clothes. Before she’d yanked her T-shirt over her head, her shift burst through her. Painfully fast, her body expanded, and scales rippled over her skin. Seconds later, she was airborne, and not a moment too soon.
From above, it was easy to see the man abducting Noel was heading for the car park, and he had an accomplice waiting with the engine of his car engaged.
Sasha’s dragon flapped her wings extra hard, her sleek form arrowing toward the kidnapper. She roared her fury and flew past the man carrying Noel. Her gaze on Noel, she inserted herself between the car and the man and hovered. He was still wriggling and screeching and making it difficult for the man to maintain hold of him.
“Give him a reason to drop Noel,”Sasha ordered her dragon.
