“No, not all night,” she said, looking down at her food. “I saw some lights at the end of a dirt road, so I walked there looking for help.”
Connie’s fork clattered to her plate. “Paula, you did not,” she said, then groaned. “That was really stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“Yeah, I know, I didn’t think about that until…” she trailed off, then started eating, not looking at her roommate.
“Until what?” Connie asked, staring at her. “Don’t leave me hanging, Paula. What happened?”
“Nothing really,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “When I got to the cabin, there were a bunch of men there, one of them was hurt and they were all watching him…it was really strange.”
“God, you walked right into the middle of something, I can’t believe you…” Connie took a deep breath. “You’re here and you’re safe, I guess that’s all that matters. You don’t need me lecturing you, but I do worry about you.”
“I know it was stupid, but I was so cold, I guess I didn’t think it through,” she said, setting down her fork and looking over at Connie. “Have you ever had something weird happen to you…something you can’t explain with today’s science?”
“You mean like seeing a ghost?” Connie asked, studying her closer. “Did you see a ghost?”
“No, not exactly…I mean, no, but I saw…” she trailed off, not sure how to explain. “Well, I think I saw…something, but I was really cold and really scared, so I could have just imagined it.”
“You’re going to have to give me more than that,” Connie said, shaking her head. “Are we talking something paranormal?”
“I guess,” she said, shrugging her shoulders, wishing she hadn’t brought it up. “I’m sure I was just imagining it. I was pretty freaked out.”
“Just spit it out, Paula,” Connie said. “I’m your best friend, I won’t think you’re crazy.”
She took a few more bites of her breakfast, then looked over at Connie, her resistance fading when she saw the concern in the other woman’s eyes. “Okay, but promise you won’t think I’m crazy,” she said, then let out a long sigh, sure that Connie was going to think exactly that. “I saw a huge bird. It flew right over my head, but it didn’t look like a normal bird; it had these awful-looking talons and scales instead of feathers.”
Connie didn’t look at her like she was crazy; instead, she sat back in her chair and studied her for a second. “How big was it?” she finally asked. “It could have been an eagle or something.”
She shook her head. “It was huge, it blocked out the moon for a second,” she said. “Maybe I did imagine it, that’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“I guess so,” Connie said, picking up her fork. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.”
“You’re probably right,” she said. “But it was just so strange.”
CHAPTER 3
***RYAN***
The sun had been up for almost an hour when they finally pulled into the driveway at the fraternity house. Ryan was exhausted and still a little worried about the stranded woman blabbing about what she’d seen. He wasn’t quite sure why he felt responsible for her, why her safety had become his concern, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind. The look on her face when she’d turned to face him in the woods was still burned into his mind. It had been pretty clear she’d been shocked, and he couldn’t blame her; he would have been just as shocked and frightened as she had been.
Getting out of the car, he followed Aaron to the back door, wishing he’d been assigned any other task than guard duty, the woman would have been someone else’s problem then, and he wouldn’t be having these conflicting feelings. He told himself that it had nothing to do with the attraction he’d felt for her when their eyes met or the feeling of warmth that slowly spread through him. It was simply a reaction to an innocent person being in trouble; that had to be all it was. Anything more would be wrong and cause major problems in his life.
He was in a committed relationship, engaged to be married. He couldn’t be attracted to another woman. Erin was the onlywoman for him, at least that’s what he kept telling himself. There was only one problem: his dragon had told him something totally different the night before, and after watching his other friends fall in love with their perfect mates, it had him completely off balance.
The smell of bacon jarred him out of his thoughts and he looked around, surprised to find himself standing in the middle of the kitchen. Hattie, their housekeeper and surrogate mother was standing at the stove pulling crisp slices of bacon out of a skillet, humming under her breath as she worked. It was such a comforting sight and so familiar that he instantly began to feel better.
“Oh good, you boys are home,” Hattie said, turning to face them with the platter of bacon. “Breakfast is almost ready. Where are the others?”
“They’re right behind us. We left first,” Aaron said, walking over and stealing a piece of bacon. “You didn’t have to make us breakfast, but it sure does smell good.”
“You all had a long night. Some hot food is just what you need,” she said, setting the bacon on the table. “And I need you all to stay out of my kitchen today, I’ve got to get started on the sweets for the Dean’s Christmas tea, and my assistant broke her ankle skiing, so I’m on my own.”
“We’ll help,” he said, taking a huge pan of scrambled eggs from Hattie when she pulled it out of the oven. “I’m not much of a baker, but I’d be happy to work on the clean-up crew. I just need to get a few hours of sleep first.”
“I might just have to take you up on that,” Hattie said, heading back to the stove. “I posted the job opening online, and later today I’m going to walk around campus and put up some flyers. Hopefully, someone will want the job; it pays well, and I think I’m a pretty good boss.”
They all laughed. “Well, you’re good at bossing people around anyway,” Aaron said, taking a platter of waffles from Hattie and giving her a big smile, then taking a deep breath of the steam floating up from the waffles. “And an even better cook.”
“I can hang the flyers for you if you want,” he volunteered heading for the coffee pot. “I’ve got a class after lunch, so I’ll just leave a bit early and get a few done on the way, then finish after class.”
