Excerpt from Dragon Guard Warrior #2
“Poppy?” Miriam said, interrupting her thoughts. “Are you interested in hearing about this family I’d like to place you with?”
It sounded like there was a catch. But with her savings nearly drained, no job prospects, and on the brink of homelessness, she really didn’t have much of a choice. “Yes, please.”
“I have one question before we can proceed.” Miriam cleared her throat.
“You don’t have to answer, and if you don’t, I won’t hold it against you.
In fact, if you don’t say anything and want to walk out that door, I’ll pass your CV along to my colleague at Denham’s Staffing, and they’ve promised to at least call you in for an interview.
” She took a deep breath. “Your son. He’s a shifter? ”
Her hands wrung in her lap. “Yes.” But that was all she would say about Wesley. She would fight tooth and nail to protect him from those looking to exploit him.
Miriam looked relieved. “Excellent.” Reaching into the drawer underneath her desk, she pulled out a sheet of paper and pushed it toward her, along with a pen.
Frowning, she looked at the header on top—Non-Disclosure Agreement.
“It’s a standard NDA,” Miriam said. “Please take your time reading it and sign only if you agree.”
Poppy read the ominous-looking document.
A few words that popped out sounded scary to her, like “criminal proceeding” and “legal costs” and “enforceable through courts.” She thought about getting up and leaving, but then again, what did she have to lose at this point?
Without another thought, she scrawled her name at the bottom.
“Thank you.” Miriam put the NDA away and turned back to her. “Now, Poppy. I have a very special, VIP client who’s looking for a specific type of nanny. And I believe that with your experience, you’re the right candidate.”
“M-me?” She blinked. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“Well, your son … he’s a shifter, and you raised him, correct?”
She nodded.
“My clients are shifters, and they’re looking for someone who could possible stay with them long term. Their child is only a year and half, but I’m told in a year or two, he’ll start shifting.”
“Ah, right.” She remembered those days. Wesley had been an exceptionally shy child, and his animal had been too.
It wasn’t really that difficult, rather like having a house cat around.
The biggest problem she had was coaxing him down from a tree or finding whatever hidey-hole he was in.
After a year or two, he’d outgrown that behavior, and since then, he’d always been in control of his animal, as far as she could tell, and rarely shifted.
“So, you see, they want someone who’ll be around for at least two years so the child could get used to their nanny’s presence until that time he goes through the change.”
“That’s fine, but there’s something I don’t understand,” Poppy began. “Why me? I mean, why don’t they find a shifter nanny? Surely they have those?”
“Yes, well …” Miriam sighed. “These shifters are very special. Rather, their animals are. And other shifters aren’t comfortable around … their type.” She cleared her throat. “Tell me, Poppy, have you heard of the Northern Isles?”
“Northern Isles?”
“Yes. They’re a small kingdom, very reclusive, somewhere in the Norwegian Sea. They’re ruled by a special shifter couple.”
“Special shifter couple?”
“Yes. The king and queen of the Northern Isles are dragons. As is their son and heir, His Royal Highness, Prince Alric.”
“Oh, and—” Poppy’s mouth snapped closed as it dawned on her. The special clients.
Miriam wanted her to be a nanny to a prince.
A dragon prince.
“I … uh …” Oh Lord. Her palms started to sweat again.
It was one thing to raise a cheetah cub, but another to watch over a real-life dragon who could fly and breathe fire.
She placed her hands on the table, ready to support herself in case her knees buckled the moment she got up.
“I … thank you for the opportunity but—”
“Please, Poppy!” Miriam got up first. “Will you at least listen to the terms? And allow me to tell you the salary and the benefits?”
Gripping the edge of the table, Poppy managed to nod. “All right.”
Miriam told her the amount.
Poppy’s jaw nearly unhinged as it dropped. “I beg your pardon?”
The other woman smiled. “You heard me. And that doesn’t include your travel, clothing, and food allowance, plus, you’ll be provided a private apartment in the palace. There will be bonuses, as well as participation in a pension scheme.”
This was a joke, right? But the expression on Miriam’s face was entirely serious.
Oh God. With that money, she could do so much for—Wesley!
“What about my son? I assume they would want me to travel there right away. He … had to be taken out of school before the holidays, and I haven’t made arrangements for him.
I suppose my mum and stepdad could look after him.
” But that would be such an imposition on them as they were now enjoying their retirement years.
“I realized that when I looked into your background,” Miriam said.
“I’ve taken the liberty of discussing it with Her Majesty’s secretary.
She thinks that you’re the perfect person for the job, and they’d be willing to accommodate him.
Your son can live with you and go to school there.
They have an excellent school system in the country and have used English as their standard in the last ten years. ”
She could keep Wesley with her? And be paid all that money? This was the perfect job. She’d be a fool not to take it.
“Well? What do you think, Poppy?”
She took a long pause. It was a lot of money.
More money than she’d ever seen in her entire life.
Even when Robbie started playing for Wexford, he’d been stingy with the child maintenance payments.
It pained her to see him living the life of a rugby star while she and Wesley had to scrimp and save while living in a shabby two-bedroom flat.
But with what she could earn with this job, by next semester, she’d be able to send Wesley to that private boarding school she knew he’d wanted to attend. But still … “I’ll need to think about it.”
“I understand completely,” Miriam said. “Do you think you could let me know by the end of the week? I’ll be honest with you: I’ve been doing this for nearly two decades now, and my gut tells me that you’re the perfect fit. I mean, you’re even half American, correct?”
“Yes, I was born in Boston. My father was a professor in Harvard and met my mother while she was on a work holiday program. We lived in Massachusetts until I was nine. But why does that matter?”
“Her Majesty is American,” Miriam said. “Anyway, if you do your research, you’ll find out more about Queen Sybil and King Aleksei. I’ve never met them, but I’m told they’re a lovely couple. Now, if you don’t mind …”
“Not at all.” Poppy stood up. “I’ll let you know by Friday at the latest.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Poppy.”
“Thank you, Miriam.”
It was a miracle she managed to walk out the door as her knees shook with every step.
Dragons! She knew they existed. She recalled seeing the footage on the news from when that fifty-foot gold dragon stomped around SoHo a few years back.
But she’d never actually seen one or been close to one.
Robbie was the only shifter she’d ever encountered as even the big shifter groups, especially in England, tended to stay out in the rural areas.
Could she really move to another country and live with them? Work with them? And take care of a dragon prince?
As she left the office, her gaze immediately went to her son.
He seemingly hadn’t moved an inch the entire time, nose still in his book.
Oh, Wes. She would do anything to make him happy.
He was her life, and she would make the necessary sacrifices to make his dream come true.
And she knew this was her chance to give that to him.
And so, two weeks later, that’s how Poppy ended up inside the cabin of a plush, private plane, headed to her new home.
The Northern Isles. Not even saying it in her head or out loud made it real, at least, not until this very moment.
Everything had happened so fast, and there was so much to do before their departure—give notice to her landlord, pack up their flat, sell their furniture and store what they could at her mum and stepdad’s place.
Then, of course, she had to tell Robbie about the job and that she would be taking Wesley with her.
Since she didn’t know where he was currently hiding, she had to send him a text so he could sign off on the relocation agreement and visitation revision.
He replied he would only sign the papers if she didn’t ask for a raise on the maintenance.
The fact that it had been so easy to get him to agree to take their son away shouldn’t have surprised Poppy, but it hadn’t hurt any less. But she never let it show, nor did she ever speak badly about Robbie in front of Wesley. It was her one rule, and she’d never broken it.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she glanced out the window at the sea underneath them and puffy white clouds flying by.
“Wow, isn’t this something?” she said to Wes, who sat across from her. “I didn’t think they’d send a whole plane just for us.”
Wesley looked up from the personal entertainment system attached to his chair. “There are no commercial flights into the Northern Isles. Of course they would have to send a plane for us.”
“Is that so?” she said in a teasing voice. “What else did you learn about the Northern Isles?”
Wes had been surprisingly accepting when she broke the news that she had accepted the job and they would be moving soon. But then again, her son had always been mature and understanding. She would have worried about him missing his friends, but since, well, he had none, it wasn’t an issue.
Wesley’s brows knitted together. “Not a lot, actually.”
“Oh?”