Dragon in Distress Read online

  They finally arrived at Sophie’s. The house was grand in its own way, but smaller than Sophie’s uncle’s. It had three stories with the top story being the smallest. It too had a large porch and a double door of wood and glass. This door had a griffin on it, which was a surprise.

  Knossos parked and exited the SUV to walk up the steps behind Sophie. “A griffin?”

  A griffon had the head and wings of an eagle with the body of a lion. “It’s my mom’s maiden name. She insisted on it and my dad always backs down.” He could hear the hurt in Sophie’s voice. She’d had no one to champion her. That was sad.

  “It’s lovely.”

  “It is, but it doesn’t suit for witches.”

  “What would? A black cat?”

  “Have you seen any black cats around?”

  “No, not one. Do you not have familiars?” Knossos asked.

  “Uncle outlawed them.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “No, but even before that, familiars were a broad range of animals based on the individual’s temperament.”

  “I stand corrected. I never knew many witches. Sorcerers or mages were more my speed. Witches were pursued and put to death in record numbers.”

  “That’s why we relocated to this continent, but some of the suspicion and hate followed us. It took hundreds of years for people to accept us.” Sophie admitted. “There are groups that pretend to be witches and you can go online to learn spells. It’s just crazy.”

  “Time changes all things. What was once to be feared is now to be embraced.” Knossos observed as he opened the door and Sophie walked in in front of him.

  “We’ll go to the kitchen nook. Your mom is always in there cooking something. Her food is to die for.”

  Knossos laughed. “She never cooked when I knew her. Dragons all had servants for everything back then. You’d be surprised if you knew how many an average castle had. There were even servants to help the lord and lady dress.”

  “I know. I’m a history buff.” Sophie admitted. “Nan, we’re home.”

  His mother popped out right in front of him making him jump. “That wasn’t nice.”

  “I’m not always nice.” Nan said with a chuckle. She hugged Sophie and kissed her cheek. “Come sit. I’ve got a snack for you. I heard there was a big coven meeting at Royal’s house. I’ve always thought he had a sudden change in personality. Not that he was ever the nicest guy in the world, but he wasn’t so cold when Annie was little.”

  “Any guess about who did it?” Sophie asked.

  “Too many choices to shake a stick at. When he first took over as head witch, he met with all the groups they had alliances with, then all the groups they didn’t, trying to forge new alliances. There was also a lot of new contracts for the business. A few with groups the witches had refused to deal with before. It led to the business making more money, but at what cost?” Nan explained.

  “You very observant.” Sophie praised.

  “All dragons watch carefully and quietly.” Knossos admitted.

  “It’s true. We can freeze so that people just don’t notice us.” Nan agreed. “Annie’s father was a nicer guy when I first met him, but the position was hard on him. Leading the witches and running the company is too much for someone as anal as he is. Such a perfectionist, no one was surprised when he ran into trouble and his behavior changed. That’s why it went unnoticed.”

  “I never knew him when he was anything but the way he is now.” Sophie admitted.

  “Sophie! Are you home?” The man that walked into the kitchen had to be Sophie’s dad. He looked a lot like Royal except his features were softer, weaker. There was no strength to his jaw or in his eyes. “Who is this?”

  “This is Knossos, my fated mate.”

  “Pleased to meet you. My name is Patrick.” He held out his hand so Knossos took it. He had a limp handshake.

  “I’m pleased as well.” Knossos said even though he wasn’t. He was disappointed.

  “I heard Royal was ill?”

  “Not exactly Dad. He was bespelled by the enemy. It was probably done to him many years ago and slowly got worse. Uncle won’t be alright for a while.”

  “Does the council know?”

  “Many of them were there to help lift the spell.” Sophie offered.

  “Well, okay. I guess there’s nothing to be done.”

  “No, Maybelle is taking charge.” Sophie explained.

  “Good. That’s really good.” He said sounding distracted. “I’ll just leave you young people to get better acquainted.” Patrick wandered off leaving the kitchen area.

  “That was weird.” Knossos said.

  “He’s usually like that. When something gets into his head, he wants to help. He just always talks himself out of it.” Nan shook her head. “Here, you two have a snack.” She set a plate of cinnamon rolls in front of them.

  Sophie squealed. “Thank you. You made my favorites.”

  Knossos nabbed one worried he might not get any the way Sophie was gushing over them. “There’s plenty.” His mother said.

  “These melt in your mouth.” Knossos praised.

  “Thank you.” His mother replied.

  “Now what do we do?” Sophie asked.

  “We hope your aunt undoes all these awful rules your uncle made. We’ll also continue to work with Dae and Nite as much as we can. I’m not sure what else we can actually do.” Knossos declared.

  “I can continue to work on my magic. Maybe I’ll be good enough to be a better help before long. It just doesn’t seem like this will be enough.” Sophie admitted.

  “Maybe you need to help find more of the hidden supernatural kinds?” Nan suggested.

  “Where did you get the pegasus hair from?” Sophie asked turning her suspicious gaze on him.

  “From a pegasus, of course. I keep some on hand in case I need one.” Knossos admitted.

  “What about the troll?” Sophie asked.

  “Trolls don’t help in battles. The most they might do is help with searches if you need to find something.” Knossos admitted.

  “I think we need to find all kinds of things.” Sophie declared.

  Chapter 5

  Trolls and Pegasus

  “You’ve not talked to the trolls?” Sophie asked.

  “I’ve talked to them. But I’ve not discussed this situation with them. Doesn’t Annie have a list? Perhaps you should discuss this with her?” Knossos questioned.

  “She does need to know you’ve located the trolls. What else can you find?”

  “I’ve been asleep hundreds of years. Who knows what I can find. Many of those I knew have scattered.”

  “Good point, yet you found a rare kind in no time.”

  “Probably the only one still where I last saw them.” Knossos offered.

  “You knew where others were before? Like the pegasus?”

  “Yes, what of it?”

  “Let’s go see if the pegasus are where you last saw them.” Sophie demanded.

  “Aw, hell. Why not? Give me your hand.” She did and they flashed to the Great Plains where the wild horses ran.

  “Some of these are pegasus?” Sophie questioned.

  “At least a tenth of the horde. The leader is Herakles. He’s the grandson of Pegasus.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Not even a little bit. Want to meet him?” Knossos asked with mischief in his eyes.

  Sophie hesitated before she nodded. Suddenly she disappeared and reappeared on the back of a huge white horse. He reared and her eyes nearly popped out. “What do I do?” She yelled.

  “Grab the flowing mane on the very top of his head!”

  “I don’t see it!”

  “It’s there. Just reach over where it ought to be.” Knossos instructed. Sophie did and now she was riding his neck as she held tight to that part of his mane.

  Herk ran and his hooves thundered as he moved like wildfire across the plain. Maybe this mating thing would be entertaining after al
l. Knossos watched with interest. He would save her if she flew off the pegasus so she wouldn’t be trampled, but she didn’t need to know that. Her complexion was pale, her eyes huge as she stared ahead with terror on her face. His friend Herk came to an abrupt stop, but Sophie hung on with all she had.

  The pegasus bucked higher and higher each time, but Sophie was stubborn. Her fingers gripped the mane so tightly, if she fell it would be because it was ripped out by the roots. Herk seemed to come to the same conclusion. He stopped and morphed to his human form. With no mane to hold on to, Sophie slid off him. When he turned to face her, she stared in shock. His buddy always had that effect on women.

  Knossos flashed to her. “This is my fated mate, Sophie. Sophie, this is my old friend Herk.”

  “I should have known you were behind this. You’re still mad at me for setting you up with that whore in Rome, aren’t you?” Herk asked.

  “I was drunk and she had every disease and infestation known to man.” Knossos grumped.

  “You should be more careful who you lie with.” Herk said with a laugh. “You’ve got a pretty one now.” He winked at Sophie making her turn red. “What are you doing back to quickly?”

  “Sophie wanted to present the case for you joining the war.”

  “My people aren’t warriors.” Herk explained.

  “Pegasus was.” Sophie reminded.

  “Those days are long over.”

  “If you sit out the war and we lose, you have no hope to win alone. You’re people will be slaves.” Sophie pointed out.

  “If we expose ourselves, we’ll be hunted as we once were.”

  “Fight in human form.” Sophie suggested.

  “We aren’t as strong as humans.” Herk admitted.

  “You look strong to me.” Sophie said as she surveyed his muscles. Knossos growled. “Easy Big Boy, just making a point.”

  “Tell you what, agree to leave us alone, and we’ll talk to your leaders and give this some thought.” Herk offered.

  “Who is we?” Sophie asked.

  “The unicorns run with us.” Herk admitted.

  “Okay, a fair hearing is all we can ask for.” Sophie agreed.

  “Who do we meet with?’ Herk wondered.

  “Knossos will let you know.” Sophie replied.

  “Fair enough. We await your reply.” Herk said as Knossos grabbed her and flashed her away.

  They were back at her house and she shot him the evil eye. “I didn’t find the whole thing funny in the least.” She yelled. “And you never said you’d spoken to him already.”

  “I’m sorry?” He said. “I speak to Herakles regularly, he’s a friend.”

  “You’re sorry or you think that’s the right thing to say?”

  “Both. I wouldn’t have allowed you to get hurt.”

  “That was both the scariest and coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

  Knossos felt unreasonable jealousy. “That’s because you’ve never ridden me.”

  Sophie turned a pretty pink. “At the rate we’re going, I’m not likely to either.”

  That made Knossos speechless. Did he want her to ride him and if so, in what way? He was more drawn to her with every passing day. Maybe he should escape with his heart while he still could.

  “What have you done now?” His mother asked giving him the same evil eye Sophie had just shot him.

  “What makes you think I did anything bad?” Knossos asked looking as innocent as he could. Not that he thought it would work.

  “That look has never worked on me before so why try it now?”

  “Habit?”

  “Tell me or Sophie will.”

  “I just introduced her to Herk after she said she wanted to talk to him.”

  His mother shot him a suspicious look. “And how did you do that?”

  “I just flashed her to him so they could get to know each other.”

  “Uh, huh. Tell me more.” She stood there tapping her toes which she knew aggravated him. “Fine. I flashed her on his back. Happy?”

  “Were you trying to kill her?”

  “Gods, no! I would have flashed in and caught her had anything gone wrong. She did a great job and they are the best of friends now.”

  “I find that hard to believe.” His mother said.

  “It was a hard way to do it, but I did accomplish my goal.” Sophie interjected softly.

  “Don’t let that happen again.” His mother lectured.

  Several thousand years old and his mother still bossed him around. Geesh! “I’ll be more careful with my fragile mate.” Ah, shit! He was already calling her his mate. There was no hope for him at all.

  “You might as well stay until supper.” Mom said.

  “What are you cooking?” Knossos asked.

  “Swedish meatballs.” Mom said.

  “I can’t wait.” Sophie shrieked right in his ear. “You make them so good.”

  “I’ll have to stay to see what they are.” Knossos admitted.

  He like food as much as the next dragons. They all had a high metabolism, even higher than most shifters because of the size of their animals. Hunger hit usually every four hours or less. Even the need for sleep couldn’t overrule the need to feed. They’d had a snack before going to see Herk, but he was hungry again and ready to feast. Dragons as a kind were ruled by their need for food and sex. He’d fed well since waking, but the sex drive was starting to bother him. It was worst when Sophie was close enough he could breathe in her sexy scent.

  “Sit in the table in the dining room with the rest of the family.” Mom instructed.

  “Shouldn’t I help you carry in the food?” He asked.

  “Only if you want the family to know who we are to each other.”

  “Good point.” He agreed as he escorted Sophie to the dining room.

  Sophie’s mother sat at the foot of the table like a reigning queen except for the vacant look on her face. Her makeup was flawless, but he noticed Sophie rarely wore any. Her clothes were perfect too. She smiled at him as she waited for someone to introduce him to her.

  “This is my fated mate, Mother.” Sophie explained. “His name is Knossos. Knossos, my mother Antoinette.”

  “Pleased to meet you. Are you related to anyone important I might know?” She asked.

  “No, I’m rather boring.” He saw her dismiss him as unimportant instantly.

  Servers began to bring food as Sophie’s father had them sit next to him. Either he didn’t believe Knossos was boring, or he cared for his daughter’s happiness more than political or social climbing. The scent of the food was amazing. It made his mouth water. Why hadn’t his mother cooked when he was a child? Food back then had been dreadful most of the time.

  Taking a bite of a meatball, he savored it. “This is wonderful.”

  “Cook is amazing.” Sophie said.

  “She’s the best around.” Patrick added.

  Antoinette just picked at her food looking bored out of her mind. Poor Sophie. She’d had an easily overwhelmed father and a mother that was a rabid social climber. No wonder she’d never broken out of her prison like Annie had. At least Annie had the support of her strong willed mother.

  Supper at Sophie’s wasn’t much fun. Knossos determined they would need to get their own house fast. Their own house? What the hell! Once they were done eating, he took Sophie outside to say goodnight. Pulling her close and breathing in her scent which reminded him of flying through the air after the rain, he couldn’t help himself. The need to taste her cherry red lips was too much. They were sweet drawing him in deeper until he’d explored her mouth fully and teased her tongue.

  He was drunk with her flavor and he needed to go before his beast refused to let him. Before he had thought to avoid mating, now he just needed to hold it off a little while. Just until he got to know her better and his human side would agree. Even Herk had found her pretty and that male was discriminating when it came to females.

  “I must go, but will you come to Ram’s for su
pper tomorrow?” Shit! Why had he asked that?

  “Yes. I’ll see you then.”

  She turned and walked away not trying to tempt him into staying. Why that upset him, he didn’t know. It was time to head back so he got in the SUV to drive away. Conflicting thoughts rushed through his mind. It was a wonder he made it to Ram’s as distracted as he was. When he entered, Ram was still talking to Dae, who he knew to be a vampire, while Annie talked to Nite, who he suspected to be a werewolf.

  “I have some news for you. Sophie and I contacted the pegasus and unicorns. They agreed to meet with us as long as their identity is kept secret.”

  “How did you get them to agree to that?” Ram asked.

  “Sophie did that. She pestered him until he agreed if she promised to leave him alone.” Knossos admitted.

  “Way to go, Sophie!” Annie said as she pumped a fist in the air. Ram smiled indulgently.

  “So what do you need from us?” Ram asked.

  “We need to arrange the day, time, and location of the meeting. It needs to be kept confidential too. No one but us must know.” Knossos insisted.

  “How soon can it be arranged on their end?” Ram asked.

  “They are magical. It can be managed quickly.”

  “Why don’t we invite them to supper tomorrow? Have them stay in human form. We often entertain business prospects, human and other.” Ram suggested.

  “That sounds like a plan. I’ll let them know right away. How should they dress?” Knossos asked.

  “Casual is fine. We rarely have formal affairs. Who will come? Two males?” Ram asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Annie will want to even the numbers. She’s funny about that. The meeting will be after we eat.” Ram explained.

  “Who will she get?”

  “I imagine her sisters. Gertie and Pru love to party. Gertie more so than anyone I’ve ever met.” Ram declared.

  “Doesn’t Gertie know her true mate?” He was sure Annie or Sophie had said as much.

  “They both fight it and continue to see other people.” Ram admitted.

  “I’ve never heard of that.” Knossos admitted.

  “It is rare, but it happens.” Annie added.