Chapter Two
Kelly stood frozen in shock. She wanted to chase the mugger, but the two women in fair badges were waving at her frantically now, and making their way towards her.
“Go get him!” Teresa hissed at Kelly.
Kelly’s gaze swiveled between the mugger and the women heading towards her. “I can’t…I have to go on stage,” she groaned.
“Damn you!” Teresa cursed at Kelly as if it were her fault, and took off after the mugger. At the same time, the mugger ran into a wall of people and started frantically trying to push his way through them. When Teresa caught up with him and tried to grab the purse, he turned around and took a swing at her, and she ducked and then punched him square in the face.
Uh-oh.
A horde of dragon shifter police, known as centurions, descended on Teresa and the mugger and grabbed both of them.
“Hey!” Kelly screamed. “Hey! You can’t arrest her! She didn’t do anything. He’s a thief; she was just chasing him! Let her go!”
The guards ignored her and began frog-marching the two of them away, and Kelly started pushing her way through the crowd after them. She couldn’t let Teresa get arrested – even though she’d enjoy the peace and quiet, she also knew she’d never hear the end of it once Teresa got bailed out.
The two women with the fair badges appeared on either side of Kelly and grabbed her by the arms. They spun her around and began marching her away as she craned her head, trying to spot Teresa.
“You’re running late,” one of them said severely. “We need to get to the stagenow.”
“I have to get my purse!” she cried out. “The police have it!”
“You can’t have a purse on stage – it’s not part of the costume,” the woman chided her. “Why would a Fair Maiden need a purse?” Their grips were like iron manacles on her upper arms as they hurried her along.
“I need it! It’s…it’s got my medication in it!” she protested.
One of the women shook her head. “The skit won’t last that long. I’ll have security get it back to you right afterwards.”
Kelly’s heart sank. It would be too late by then; Gabriel would see through her disguise and she’d never get close to him again. The only good news was that neither of these women had recognized her as an imposter; they must not know Pandora personally.
Still, she’d ruined everything.
She’d never get the ruby back now. And Allied Jewel Insurance was on the hook for the massive payout for the ruby, and might go out of business because of Kelly’s failure.
Kelly was rushed over to the fireproof stage. Fuming, she climbed up the steps and let one of the attendants clip a mini microphone to her dress’s neckline. There were bleachers set in a semi-circle at a safe distance. Apparently they didn’t want a repeat of last year. Something about the front row getting their hair fried off.
The “knight” was standing backstage, and an assistant was helping him put on his gauntlets and helmet. Where was Gabriel, though? She looked around and finally spotted him, a few hundred feet away from the stage.
She could not believe this was happening. She’d been chasing Gabriel for the past year, and yet again, he was going to slip through her grasp. This had been her best shot at getting close to him, and she’d blown it.
The blare of trumpets jerked her back to reality; the play was about to begin. Half the crowd was waving flags with a dragon on them, and half the crowd was waving flags with a knight on them. They were screaming “Team Dragon!” or “Team St. George!” depending on where their sympathies lay.
Gamely, she went through with her part. The knight stormed over and shouted his lines at her. She yelled her lines back, and they boomed out from the speakers set all around the bleachers.
Then the crowd oohed and aahed, and she looked up. Gabriel had shifted, and now he was a gorgeous red dragon with a long snaky neck and a giant diamond-shaped head. His scales glittered like carved rubies, and as he circled overhead his great leathery wings stretched out so wide they blocked out the sun. His flapping wings created a cool breeze that caressed her face and fanned the air.
Gabriel did some fancy flying, circling and looping. Then he busted out the pyrotechnics, sending blasts of fire a hundred feet away, and the crowd shrieked with delight.
Kelly lay there, waiting to be saved and watching Gabriel show off. Seriously?she thought sourly.This is the least realistic skit ever! The knight would have impaled me with his stupid wooden sword like twenty minutes ago!
Finally Gabriel landed with a thud that made the ground shudder.
She’d never actually seen him in dragon form. She’d seen him in human form several times, though, and he was breathtaking. High cheekbones, eyes that glittered with sensual promise, a perpetually amused curl to his lips, and hair as black as coal.
She’d actually danced with him twice – once at a nightclub in London, and once at a ball in Vienna. He’d smelled divine. Both times he’d been utterly charming, flirted with her outrageously, and ignored her questions about the ruby. The second time she’d danced with him had been shortly after she’d acquired the truthstone. She’d tried to maneuver to press it against his flesh, but as if he knew what was coming, he’d abruptly withdrawn. She still remembered the feeling of warmth and safety she’d experienced with his arms circling hers, and the aching emptiness she’d felt when he’d whirled away and vanished.
This time, she’d thought she’d have the element of surprise. But no. Apparently the Fates were conspiring against her when it came to Gabriel.
