We put in the address of a nearby diner instead, one off the highway. There’s another strip mall nearby, and Dottie is up on the roof there with a telescope, and Murr is at her side in human form. I’m hiding inside the old diner with binoculars and a whistle. Rabbit’s going to set up at the far end of the old, pothole-filled parking lot with a telescope of her own. Aggie is going to be our bait, because I refused to let Rabbit do it. Once we give the signal, Aggie is going to wander in the parking lot near the diner, pretending to look for her thick eyeglasses and to hopefully lure in Curtis.
We all have whistles, and the moment one of us blows, Murr is going to shift forms and spring into action. Once we geteyes on Curtis, we’re going to spring Murr on him. Murr has promised not to eat him, only to hold him captive.
Now we just need our nomad to show up.
Aggie signals that she’s ready, and I give her a thumbs up and climb into a broken window of the diner. I settle into the nearest booth, my binoculars at hand, and scan the area for a bicycle-riding jerk.
I shouldn’t be thinking about Murr and kisses.
Or how it was the best night of sleep ever, because he was like a big sexy space heater.
Or how his mouth was impossibly warm, his tongue like liquid heat against mine.
Or how my mouth tingled when we were done kissing.
A new, horrible thought occurs to me…oh god. What if I’m allergic to kissing Murr?
I wonder how many times I’ll be able to kiss him before the allergic reaction gets too bad? Because I really, really want to kiss him again.
CHAPTER 44
DAKOTA
I scanthe parking lot with my binoculars, but my brain is busy dreaming of kisses and warm golden skin and even warmer golden eyes. I’m so focused on the thought of kisses that when I hear the shrill sound of a whistle, it makes me jump. Biting back a swear word or seven, I lean forward, looking for the culprit. I can seefartherwith the binoculars, but they feel limiting and I ditch them.
A blur moves at the far side of the parking lot, nowhere near the diner. I squint, just in time to catch someone on a bicycle riding away. I don’t get a good look at them because there are at least a dozen broken-down cars between them and where I am, but I’m pretty sure there’s no dog.
Aggie shouts, and the whistle blows again.
“Get him,” I bellow, even though that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. I surge for the window, adrenaline surging through my system. “Someone get him!”
At the same time I shout, Murr’s dragon form explodes into view. His wings unfurl atop the roof and then he’s diving like ahawk, chasing after the bicycle. With a hoot of delight, I climb through the window after them.
Or I try to. My foot gets caught on the bolted-down table and my crossbow lodges in the hem of my T-shirt. Instead of slithering through the window, I end up tumbling to the ground and smacking my chin into the asphalt. Grace, thy name is Dakota.
Everything throbs, and my face feels like it’s been flattened. I roll onto my back, spread eagled in the weeds that spring up in the asphalt cracks. This is how I die, I think dramatically, as I stare up at the sky. In a parking lot, tripping over my own two feet.
There’s a ferocious dragon roar, and it sounds angry. It’s followed by the sound of a man screaming.
I sit up, my head throbbing, as Murr circles overhead. He’s got Curtis in his claws, but his gaze is on me. His eyes are whirling black, and he settles down onto the ground a short distance away and reaches for me.
“I’m fine,” I protest, as a big dragon hand—foot?—wraps around my waist. I’m lifted into the air and Murr’s snout runs up and down my front, breathing in my scent. “Get the nomad, Murr. I’m not what’s important right now.”
A big, wet dragon tongue drags over my cheek. Urgh. Somewhere, there’s a muffled man’s bellow of outrage, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from.
“Mom? Are you okay?” Rabbit comes running up to Murr, fearless. “Your face is bleeding! What happened?”
“I tripped and fell,” I try to explain as Murr keeps nosing me. I push at his face, trying to glance down at the ground. “Where’s Curtis? Where’s the nomad?”
She puts her hands to her face, shielding her eyes as she gazes up at me. “It’s all good, Murr’s standing on top of him.”
“We don’t want him dead. Just captive.” I grab one of Murr’s nostrils and try to look him in the eye. “Not dead, hear me?”
He snorts, but I notice the darkness in his eyes seems to be fading away.
“You can set me down now,” I suggest, and stroke his nostril to make up for manhandling it. “I’m fine. Really.”
Murr doesn’t set me down, though. He continues to hold me in his talons, clutching me to his chest as he sits upright like a roosting cat and waits for Aggie and Dottie to join us. The two women seem to take forever to arrive, and I watch them crossing the parking lot, and all the while, Murr nuzzles my hair and holds me tight in a dragon paw that’s the size of a mattress. Rabbit sits on the hood of a nearby car and kicks her legs, waiting. She seems completely unbothered by the fact that I’m being clutched like a teddy bear by a giant dragon.
