"Really? How far away are you from the nearest person, exactly? You know you probably shouldn't be so far out there, just in case you need to—"

"I needed the space. You know that," I cut her off, running my thumb along the rough edge of the windowsill, glancing through the sheer curtains. "It's been…nice."

There was a pause on the other end of the line before she sighed to herself. "I'm sure it has been, baby. Whatever you need to do to help yourself, you know I'm always behind you one hundred and ten percent." A quick intake of breath later, "Oh shit, I better get going. Mr. Bellamy wants me on tonight's shift."

"Okay, Mom. Call me when you can. Tell Desi and Coli I said I love them."

Sliding the phone back in my pocket, I let my thoughts wander back toward home. On one hand, I felt guilty for leaving for a whole month and using two months’ worth of my own paychecks to pay for this awesome deal of a trip. Colette was still too young to get a real job, and Desi went through waitressing jobs like I went through ear plugs. Being the oldest meant I had to be the responsible one.

Mom didn't have that hard a time making money to pay rent, not when she could predict the future in bits and pieces. Her abilities were usually strong, but sometimes they flickered, so she had to keep a steady job on top of the psychic hotline she worked for after hours. She could have worked anywhere, but my mom was a tried and true honest woman, and didn't believe in swindling people out of their money. It was the same pesky moral high ground she instilled in me, although sometimes I doubted Desi really grasped that part of our growing up.

I looked at the fat wad of Scottish notes in my wallet and tried to remind myself why I was here. It was only the first day…and I had barely done more than eat and relax in the cottage. Deciding to hang out at the cottage for the rest of the day, I pulled out the book I picked up at the airport and sat down in the armchair.

I had big plans. And they were all going to have to wait until tomorrow.

--

It was hard to say when I began to regret signing up for the walking tour—probably the moment I started to stray from the very obvious path, and refused to look anywhere else other than the looming fog rolling across the moor not far from us.

Or maybe it was when I turned around and saw that my tour guide was already much further down the road than I remembered, droning on about the climate of the Scottish Highlands in April. I could still hear his and the other few people’s inner voices. I decided to let that be my tether to my group, and continued walking in the opposite direction, amazed by how purple the heather was against the greenest grass I’d ever seen before.

With the exception of Central Park, I’d barely had the chance to enjoy nature for what it was. And as someone who felt the energy running between all living things, (this would be the part where Desi would quip about Mom’s woo-woo talk getting to my head) it surprised me to feel so right outside of my usual concrete box of a comfort zone.

The silence I was so happily getting used to was creeping back in, but stupid me forgot that I was actually using the noise to keep track of my group, and before I knew it, I was so far from the small village and my group, that I was lost.

I rolled my eyes at myself. “No, you’re not lost, you idiot. You just have to retrace your steps…” I mumbled to myself, turning back around.

But at some point on my way to where I was standing, I’d veered away from the trusty proximity of the looming mountain, and now I had no idea if retracing my steps would even help since I hadn’t been paying attention.

Some birds called out to each other overhead, and I watched with increasing worry as the light started to dip behind the mountain, a chill setting in almost immediately. It was spring for God’s sake! Why was it still so cold?

When the fog started rolling in, the tour guide’s voice echoed in the back of my head. The moors are not to be trifled with, as simple as they look. One step in the wrong spot and you’re up to your waist in mud and cold. It was getting harder to see the ground as plainly in front of me, and I tried to book it faster back the way I came but my legs were getting wobbly. I wasn’t exactly known for my enthusiasm of hiking back in Brooklyn.

I bit my lip, trying to keep calm with each step I took and pressed on, knowing there was no stopping.

I checked my phone, giving up on being the strong woman who could easily hike a few miles out of the way of civilization, but to my horror, there was no signal. It should’ve been a given considering where I was, but I had simply forgotten. I really was alone.

I sucked in a deep breath and locked down the panic that was threatening to spiral out of control inside me, when a noise startled me from behind. Spinning around on the soft ground, I clutched my small backpack closer to me. It has to be an animal or something. Maybe a cute little rabbit. Definitely not some lethally poisonous snake or anything.

The soft grass was definitely being trampled underfoot, and most definitely not by a little rabbit, or even a huge snake. It was something much, much bigger.

I froze. I was certain that if I just stood still, whatever was out there wouldn’t see me and would continue on its merry way. But this wasn’t exactly Jurassic Park, and finally across a particularly bare patch of ground, I saw the huge shadow.

Chapter 2

It was far too cold for someone to be out on the moors, much less by themselves. The fog was especially thick as it rolled over the wild green, where I could usually see more than just the length of my nose in front of me. On any other night I would’ve been enjoying it, probably taking a stroll through it, but the smaller shadow that dashed past the rocks to my left managed to spook me.

And let me tell you, it's no easy feat to spook a dragon.

The person's heartbeat was racing away in their chest, a feeble throb against the surrounding night pounding out the rhythm that every wild creature knew—fear. Deep inside me, something thrummed to life, stirring. Gritting my teeth, I hammered it down, reminding the damned beast that it wasn't full moon just yet. I still had a few more peaceful nights at least. One would think that after over a century of looking, the dragon would understand that I was no longer interested in mating with some would-be soul mate. Hell, I didn’t even believe in them in the first place. But the beast was always ready to get in the way at the first sign of a woman.

I took a few more steps in the direction I was already headed, pretending to not notice. I could've easily left the person there, it was their own foolish fault that they were stranded so close to the thick of the moor, after all. I'm no hero.

Something about the smaller being's heartbeat made me grunt to myself though. Damn it all to hell… I wouldn't be leaving until I'd made sure that the lucky bampot wasn't going to come down with pneumonia.

My dragon uncurled itself from in the back of my mind, listening carefully. It was far more invested than usual, but I just pushed that back too. "Hello?" I called out, cupping my hand to my mouth.

In the three seconds I was going to give myself before giving up and taking off, I heard a faint cry of relief. "Oh, thank God. I'm over here!"

Tags: Alyse Zaftig Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net