Chapter 3
THREE
Asher
She’s gone. Penny was right there, looking perfect, wearing her lilac sundress compliments her golden waves, a blush to her round cheeks from the cold.
She was so close I could practically stare into her shining green eyes.
Today was going to be the day when I finally mustered up the courage to talk to her for more than a few seconds and she disappeared.
We’ve been neighbors for a couple of years now, exchanging smiles and waves like you do.
I’ve even walked across the street a handful of times, wishing her happy holidays or helping her and her roommate take a mattress to the second floor.
There haven’t been many opportunities for me to ask for her number, and lately every time I reach my hand up to wave, she ducks her head and scurries away like a mouse. A sweet, shy little mouse.
The timing was perfect. She was walking on my side of the street for once, so our paths were sure to collide.
I even signed for the rest of the shipment as fast as I could.
There’s a chance I might have sold a piece of my soul, but I figure it will be worth it if I could finally ask her out to coffee. Or tea. I think Penny might prefer tea.
I crane my neck, searching for her even though she has completely disappeared from view, possibly lost in the flow of sidewalk traffic.
“Where do you want them?” Clark asks, plucking the shipment order from my hands. “Boss?”
“What?” I look over at him. “Oh, keep them in back for now. I want to avoid the bloodbath of stocking them during store hours.”
People are ravenous for the new creature trading cards. I’ve seen a grown man try to rip a booster pack out of a kid’s hand before. That asshole is banned from the store for life. They’re also usually the ones who end up back here a week later, trying to sell the rare ones.
He grabs the dolly, then stops and watches me, “You alright?”
I scrub my hand through my hair, forcing out a breath, “Yeah, why?”
“No reason, no reason. It seemed like you were looking for someone.”
I shake my head, “No. No one.”
Clark glances around, then walks into the store, leaving me on the sidewalk.
None of my employees need to know about my crush, they’ve already tried to set me up with every single woman they know. I have to explain again and again, it’s not so easy for me. It’s difficult to date as a dragon when you’re looking for a true soul connection. A soul mate.
Try springing that on a first date, let alone a date with a mortal, which severely cuts down the pool of women in the city. Penny seems different, call it the byproduct of my crush, but she might understand.
Is it strange I want to linger a little longer? Maybe she had to stop at a store.
A scream cuts through the dull roar of the street, swallowed by a passing car.
I swear it sounds like—my feet move on their own, thoughts racing as I dart across traffic towards the sound, carefully dodging cars, their drivers screaming obscenities in my wake.
The crowd forms in front of a small duplex, gathering in a semicircle around a pile of clothing, their chatter building as I get closer.
“She disappeared.” A little old lady says, one hand pressed against her throat while the other clutches her purse at her side. “Vanished right into thin air.”
They’ve given the scene a wide berth. I immediately recognize the beautiful lilac sundress and black leggings, the clothes' original owner nowhere to be seen.
“What happened?” I ask, glancing towards the pearl clutcher.
She does a double take, craning her neck to look at me. “She screamed and then vanished.” She mimics an explosion with her hands.
It’s not clear whether she thinks aliens abducted Penny, or she was snatched by the rapture or spontaneously combusted in the middle of the sidewalk, but the reality is not as fantastical.
My skin prickles with awareness, the echoes of magic hanging in the air. It’s so strong it’s a wonder how no one else noticed the change. Penny shifted, so she isn’t human.
When I was younger, I always questioned how so many supernatural creatures could live side by side with humans without being discovered. Now, I know they won’t even believe something even if it happened right before their eyes.
At least it means Penny’s secret is safe, and shifters won’t be revealed today.
I chuckle, the sound earning me a glare from the old woman.
“These internet pranks are getting more and more elaborate every year.” I shake my head, moving towards the pile of clothes. I hear the crowd groaning and beginning to disperse behind me.
Picking up her clothes feels intimate, even more so when I uncover the lacy pink bra and red panties tangled underneath her dress. I gather them up and tuck them into her purse, keeping the dress in my hand to focus on the magic clinging to the fabric.
Normally I wouldn’t risk exposure like this, using my powers in public, but this feels like an emergency. There’s no telling what happened, and I need to know she is safe.
I close my eyes and let the remnants of her magic settle against my skin, warm and soft like the woman herself. When I open my them, there is a faint glowing trail leading me into Harrington Park.
Given the circumstances, it’s the perfect place for a shifter to flee. There’s lots of cover among the bushes and the wild growth along the path, which leads towards the large pond at the center. No one would question the odd wild animal skittering around.
The trail falls off towards a thick patch of bushes, shielded from the main path, but I don’t see her.
It strikes me I’m not even sure what I’m looking for. The trail is close to the ground, so she’s presumably on all fours and hasn’t flown away or else she would have picked a better place to hide than the park.
“Penny?” I ask, my voice low as I search the brush. I make a point to keep my distance and try not to make any sudden movements.
Branches rustle violently, then a small white rabbit pops her head out of the undergrowth. Intelligent brown eyes that look like they’ve been lined with a black eyeliner examine me before the creature slips back into the leaves.
So, Penny is a rabbit shifter and almost as cute as she is in her normal form.
I throw her lilac dress over my shoulder and drop to my knees, reaching my hand out, my new furry friend watching me through the breaks in the foliage.
“Look,” I whisper, letting my hand shift to reveal golden scales covering my palm and running up my forearm, “I’m just like you.”
It isn’t quite the truth, but I am not bound to the same rules as the other demons.
Dragons have always lived in this realm, long before the world was torn with magic and the gods fled to their perch up in the sky.
It means I don’t need to hold a glamour, my kind can live among the humans without risk of being discovered.
Penny pokes her head out again, then thumps the ground before disappearing into the bush.
The glimmer of magic fills the air, and the leaves shake as her golden waves pass over the top of the leaves.
“Dress.” She says, reaching her hand out, palm squeezing the air.
“Does this happen often?” I stand at my full height, letting myself shift back before handing it over.
“No,” Penny groans, “I’m so embarrassed.
I haven’t shifted by accident since I was in my 20s.
I have had the worst day.” She steps out from behind the bush, smoothing out her skirt before running her fingers through her hair.
“Last time I had to wait until nighttime and hop back to my house in the dark. At least now I don’t have to go through the hassle of cancelling all my cards and getting a new ID, so thank you. ”
“You’re welcome.” I let her pull her purse off my shoulder. When she looks up at me, it’s as though time stops. I’m helplessly strung along from one moment to another, my body patiently waiting for her next move, her next breath.
She looks away with a flutter of her eyelashes. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go home, eat a pint of coffee-flavored ice cream and forget today was ever a thing.” She darts past me quicker than I expect.
“Hey, let me walk you home.”
Penny stops and looks over her shoulder, the blush back in her cheeks.
“Just to be safe,” I add.
“Alright,” she nods.
I keep my eyes forward and jog to catch up with her, trying my best to ignore the scrap of brightly colored lace sticking out of her purse and the unrestricted jiggle of her ass as she walks.