Hideaway Cove glittered like a jewel in the morning light. Corin was no longer surprised that Apollo had claimed it for his unusual hoard. And the idea that he was strolling around inside another dragon’s hoard made his own dragon feel sufficiently smug that he could almost forget he was here on sufferance.
All he had to do to avoid being magically thrown out of town was not hurt Maya any more than he already had.
His chest panged.All I have to do is achieve the impossible.
7
Maya
Maya woke up exactly as she’d expected: far too aware of Corin’s far-too-closeness, far too frustrated about it, and far too busy to do anything about it.
Her shift started early. She took Tomás to his in-home care—run by Angie White, a seagull shifter who’d raised half a dozen flying shifter children and had reassured Maya she would be fine with another one—and then headed back to the bed-and-breakfast. The street was a bit busier than she was used to, but it was a nice morning. She waved and smiled hello to people as she headed in to work.
Work was … work. There were more new bookings to deal with than she’d expected—was today some sort of shifter holiday? Was there such a thing?—but it was miles easier than her old job had been. Slower paced. No distractingly sexy boss. More laundry, fewer insurance claims from the Dans’ latest excursion.
More opportunities to let her mind wander towards things it really shouldn’t be wandering towards.
He’s only here to investigate his stolen hoard.Before she knew it, he would be gone, back doing important dragon things,whatever those were. Stalking around stealing other people’s gold and getting snippy when someone did the same to him. At least that’s how Apollo described normal dragon life.
She sighed. Her half-baked plan to seduce him hadn’t survived a morning of having oatmeal splattered on her blouse and tripping over an abandoned milk bottle. She wasn’t some sensual seductress. She was … just herself. A mom. Tired and too busy and with a brain like a can full of bees, even when Corin wasn’t turning her world upside down.
Not that Corin had evernotturned her life upside down. But the chaos of single mom life was so different from the chaos of her old job. And the two worlds crashing together like this…
“Yoo-hoo, Maya!” Mrs. H, who owned the bed-and-breakfast, knocked on the laundry door. “Head in the clouds?”
“Oh, I, er…”
“Not that I can blame you, dear. With everything that’s going on!”
Maya opened her mouth to reply, then frowned slowly. “What ‘everything’?”
The main street was busier than Maya had ever seen it. This wasn’t just her neighbors out to enjoy the sunshine—it was acrowd.And no wonder. The road up Lighthouse Hill was crammed with trucks and vans of all sizes.
Angie White had brought Tomás out to see the vehicles, and the moment he caught sight of Maya he waddled over to her, shouting excitedly about the big twucks.
She laughed with him, but anxiety plucked at her ribs. The last time the main street had been anywhere near this full, the locals had been fleeing as dragon shifter Saint-John Montfort sentplumes of fire into the town. But nobody else seemed on edge. What was going on?
“Maya! Over here!”
She looked around and saw Jacqueline Hammond waving at her from the sea wall. Jacqueline was a human, like Maya.
“Did you know he was going to do this?” Jacqueline asked as soon as she was close enough to talk without yelling. “I think Pol would have appreciated a warning.”
“A warning about what?”
“Oh. You didn’t know?” Jacqueline searched her face, then pushed her tumble of red hair back as she made anooshexpression. “That Blackburn guy called in the whole circus. All those trucks up there are him.”
She pointed up Lighthouse Hill. The road was crammed.
Maya felt slightly faint.
“The kids have been talking about seeing dragons sneaking around in the water, but honestly, I figured they were making up stories after everything Montfort did.”
“They’ve seen dragons sneaking around?” Maya was only half paying attention. Most of her mind was buzzing with logistics—how had Corin got everyone out here so quickly? How long would they be staying?Wherewould they be staying?
“Blowing bubbles in the ocean, apparently. Using pool noodles as snorkels. Honestly, I thought they’d just been watching too much Robin Hood.”
Oh god. They would be staying at the Innlet, wouldn’t they? Corin’s contractors would be staying athernew workplace.
