“Oh, perfect, there is an area over there I can use to sleep if needed, do you think Maeve will get me a camp bed?”
Dave lifted his shoulders and shrugged. That was most definitely a question he had no answer to. Jessica smiled at him, though, and walked around the cavern, testing the water’s temperature, tapping the walls and then tidying the area she had pointed out.
Dave frowned, if she was going to be sleeping down here, instead of in the comfort of the house upstairs, then he would need to make sure she was safe and warm.
Swallowing hard, Dave cleared his throat, then slowly he said her name out loud.
“Jess-i-ca.”
Her face morphed from a look of concentration to surprise, her eyes widening ever so slightly as she looked up at him.
He didn’t wait for an answer before he continued, picking out every word and every syllable carefully.
“I… go… get… warm…” He paused, unable remember the word for those things humans placed over themselves when they slept. Personally, he liked a covering of sea kelp. Maybe that was what it was.
“Warm… kelp.” He nodded, happy with himself and smiled. He didn’t understand the look on Jessica’s face when he walked away, but would assumed that it was gratitude for offering to get her a sleep covering.
With his task, Dave felt happier than he had in a while, and he also felt more positive about the future of the Krackens. Having someone to help him was going to be better than he expected.
Jessica stood stunned and it was only when Edith told her to close her mouth that she did.
“Did you see that?” Jessica asked her familiar, who was on a rock, in the sun, face lifted up to the sky.
“No, because I wasn’t looking,” Edith stated before she turned and bent over, holding her tail up in the sunshine.
“Your loss.” Jessica sighed.
Dave was devastatingly handsome, all muscles and dimples, and with a shyness that piqued her curiosity. But when he smiled, holy goddess. Her ovaries had spontaneously combusted. Yes, she was a cryptozoologist, but that didn’t make her less appreciative of the male form, and by God that man had form.
Her head literally was at chest level, and with the size of his pecs through his T-shirt she could motorboat him if she wanted and he was inclined.
“Mmm, that could be a task for another time, focus on the job at hand, Jess,” she scolded herself.
She was at Kracken’s Hole to work and to finally get to work with Krackens. Not get her knickers twisted and thrown across the room. But it had been a while since she had partaken in a dance of no pants. Her last lover had been a human, bless him. What he lacked for in experience, he made up for in enthusiasm and ice-cream. Jessica grinned; she would never look at a tub of Neapolitan ice cream the same way again.
“You look scary when you smile like that,” Edith stated, and Jessica scowled in response. Her familiar had become a first-rate bitch since they had landed in Kracken’s Hole, and it was starting to do her nut in.
“What’s got your tail in a twist? You’ve been a nasty cow since we arrived.” Jessica stood in front of her dragon and folded her arms. “Everyone has been nothing short of lovely and welcoming to us.”
Edith turned about around and sat back on her dragon paws. She sighed hard, before she looked at Jessica.
“I miss home,” Edith admitted.
“Oh, sweetie, I do too. I miss Mum and Dad,” Jessica admitted, and she wasn’t lying, she always missed her parents.
“No,” Edith stated firmly. “I miss home, my home.” Her eyes were wide with emotion.
“Oh, Edith.” Jessica called out. “Do you want to go back?” she asked, knowing full well she would be losing her friend and companion. But she would let her go, Edith wasn’t a pet, she was far from that.
“No, I bloody well don’t,” Edith snapped, making Jessica stumble back. The change in mood nearly gave Jessica whiplash.
“But you just said…”
“I know what I said, I do miss my home, I miss the other dragons…” Edith paused. “But I am happy with you. Yes, it was home but there were also things I hated, like being so small and the others picking on me,” Edith explained before she waddled over to the edge of the rock she was perched on and looked at Jessica. “Then we found each other, and I’ve never felt happier than I do when I’m by your side.”
“Oh, sweetie, but why are you upset?”
“Because I’m scared,” Edith growled. “Scared I’m going to lose my best friend to a bunch of scaly, tentacled Kracken kids!” Edith finally shouted, her words echoing around the cavern.
