“I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he whispered. Then he ran off toward the farmhouse. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to manage to get clothes and supplies while naked. It’s not like he could just knock on the front door and ask for some neighborly help. But he had to figure out something. His heart was breaking over the thought of Megan being in pain.

  It wasn’t until he’d run several hundred feet away from Megan that he realized he hadn’t even thought about what might have happened to Jasper Moffatt.

  Chapter Six

  Megan hadn’t even opened her eyes yet when the smell of her grandmother’s home baked banana bread filled her nose. She smiled, and snuggled down further into her blankets. It felt good to be home. It’d been so long since she’d been home.

  But in the next instant, Megan’s eyes flew open. This was all wrong. There was no way she was home. Her grandmother had been dead for several years, and, besides, Megan had given up on clan life. She’d only been dreaming.

  Still, that bread had smelled so good. Megan wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed or happy that she was now looking at what appeared to be a rundown old wooden shack of sorts. Definitely not the home of her childhood. Still, the smell of banana bread remained, and Megan rubbed her eyes in confusion, trying to rub away the last vestiges of sleep. Where was she?

  Slowly, everything that had happened back at the jazz bar came rushing back to her. Seeing Jasper walk in, the attack by the two wizards, and then…

  Then what? She couldn’t remember anything that had happened after the wizards had attacked her. But she was alive, and seemed relatively unharmed, so she had clearly gotten out of that mess somehow. How she had done that, or where she was now, was anyone’s guess.

  Megan looked around again, taking in the details more closely this time. She was lying on the floor, but on a pile of blankets so large that it felt like a mattress. The wooden planks above her looked old, and they had cracks that let in a fair amount of sunlight. Megan could see blue sky through several of the larger cracks, and she felt a rush of gratitude that at least it wasn’t raining right now. She would have been soaked. There was a large backpack in the room, and another pile of blankets a few feet to her left. There was also a small table—but no chairs. On top of the table was a loaf of bread. Banana bread, she guessed. So that smell hadn’t just been a part of her dream.

  Still confused about where she was and how she’d gotten here, Megan decided to take a peek outside. But she abandoned that idea as soon as she tried to stand up.

  “Whoa,” she said, putting her hand up to her head and sitting back down with a thump. Her head had started pounding, and she felt dizzy. She looked down at her arms and legs, and was not surprised to see bruises all over them. She had definitely not imagined the fight at the bar. She was still wearing the dress she’d chosen for the jazz club, even though it was the next day, but the little clutch purse she’d carried her I.D. and money in was gone. Megan realized with a sudden start that she had no money without her purse. And all of her other possessions were in the hostel in Chicago.

  Panic started bubbling up from her stomach. She needed to figure out where she was right now. She tried to stand again, and managed to stay upright a few more seconds this time. But in the end, the dizziness and throbbing in her head won again, and she sat back down. She cursed, and tried to steady her breathing to try again. That’s when a gentle knock sounded at the door. Megan jumped, and tried to figure out whether she should answer. Who could possibly be knocking on the door to this dinky little shack?

  Before she could think too much about it, the door creaked open. When Megan saw who it was sticking his head into the small room, she gasped.

  “Evan?”

  He was the last person she’d expected to see. Of course, she wasn’t sure who the first person was. She’d thought maybe the wizards who’d attacked her had kidnapped her, although she’d been a bit thrown off by the fact that she was situated so comfortably in her blanket pile. She had a feeling that the wizards from the bar couldn’t give a rat’s ass about her comfort.

  “I thought I heard you moving around in here,” Evan said. “It’s good to see you awake, finally. I was beginning to worry that I’d have to take you to an actual hospital or something. How do you feel?”

  “Uh…like death. What are you doing here? What am I doing here? And where is here?” Megan’s head felt like it was spinning, and she eyed Evan warily.

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere in Illinois farmland. I flew us out here when I was trying to get away from the chaos at the jazz bar. There were a lot of cops, and a lot of cameras. And I was in dragon form, so everyone was a bit freaked out.”

  Megan’s jaw dropped. “You were in dragon form in the middle of Chicago? Are you insane? And what in the world were you doing at the jazz bar?” Suddenly, fear gripped her. “Were you working with those wizards?”

  Evan shook his head no. “Those were dark wizards, Megan. Dark Warriors. I definitely wasn’t working with them. I actually had to shift into dragon form to save you from them. I know it’s not a good idea in the middle of a big city, but you were unconscious and they were unleashing dark spells on you. I had to do something, or they would have killed you.”

  Megan still eyed him suspiciously. “I guess I should thank you for saving my life, even though I don’t remember it happening. But I’m still confused about how everyone ended up at that bar. I don’t think Jasper made it obvious that he would be heading to Chicago, and I made a lucky guess based on one tiny picture. Something tells me it’s unlikely that you also made a lucky guess. Were you following me?”

  Evan put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I was. I’m sorry. After the fiasco in Texas, I realized that, despite the little fireworks episode, you must actually be a pretty decent bounty hunter if you managed to track down Jasper Moffatt. I was out of any other ideas on how to find Jasper, so I decided to follow you and see where you ended up going.”

  Megan wanted to be angry at him, but she was too tired and in too much pain right now. Besides, what did it matter? Jasper had gotten away once more. Neither one of them had much hope of finding him again. “Well, I hope you enjoyed watching Jasper bolt again. At least this time you can’t say it was my fault. Those idiot wizards spooked him off.”

  Evan opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then shut it again. Megan let out a long sigh, and realized for the first time that her stomach was growling. Before she worried about food, though, she wanted to know about the Dark Warriors.

  “How did those wizards find me? And why were they attacking me. Did you lead them to me?”

  Evan looked slightly hurt at the suggestion, but Megan didn’t care. If he’d been stalking her, maybe he had led them to her. He seemed to have had run-ins with the Dark Warriors before. It would make sense that they were following him. But now he was shaking his head again.

  “They knew about you from the S.S.S., I’d wager. And they must have realized you were tracking Jasper, so they tried to rush things along and find him themselves by finding you. That was a bad move. As much as I dislike the S.S.S. and bounty hunters in general, I have to say that it was pretty stupid for those guys to interfere with your work. They’re even worse than bounty hunters at cornering a dragon.”

  Megan decided to let Evan’s digs against bounty hunters slide. She was more concerned with his assertion that the two wizards had found her through the S.S.S. “My work is supposed to be completely confidential. The S.S.S. doesn’t give out the locations or identities of its bounty hunters.”

  Even as she said the words, she knew they were rubbish. Evan laughed and shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re still defending those crooks. They sold you out, Megan. You almost died. You would have died, if I hadn’t been there. Those Dark Warriors don’t give a shit about your life. They only want Jasper.”

  Megan was quiet for several moments. This whole situation felt so bizarre. She would have loved nothing more in that moment than to storm out of the shack and away from Evan, but she was in a difficult situation. She had no money, and no possessions. And, if what Evan had said was true and the S.S.S. had sold her out, she might not be safe. She didn’t want to believe that the S.S.S. would breach their confidentiality agreement, but, then again, if they were in fact working with Dark Warriors they might not care much about upholding legal agreements. Megan’s head was spinning. She didn’t know whether Evan could help her, or whether he was even willing to help her. And she didn’t know for sure that she could trust him. But he was her only option right now. She was going to have to take a chance on him.

  “So, what now?” she asked. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere? Do you have plans to go back to Chicago?” Maybe he could take her with him. Surely, the hostel would have held onto her things for a few days. She could get her suitcase back, at least. Maybe there was something in there she could sell for a few bucks to tide her over until…well, until “when” she wasn’t sure. With Jasper gone again she had no hope of getting cash anytime soon. She’d probably have to go to a wizard bank and get a loan. No human bank was going to give her money. She almost had to laugh when she imagined telling a human loan officer that her occupation was “Dragon Bounty Hunter.”

  “No, I’m going back to Torch Lake,” Evan said. “I need to regroup and figure out what my next course of action is. I’m not sure the High Council there will want me to continue chasing after Jasper. I’d like to try to find him, still, but I doubt any of the High Councilors are going to be interested in funding the mission now that he’s been lost and found two times. I don’t have to tell you that odds aren’t good of finding him again.”

  Megan shifted her weight on the pile of blankets. She wasn’t sure what the best way to ask for help was. She wasn’t even sure what help she needed. But she had to force herself to try. “Do you think you might be going back through Chicago on the way to Torch Lake?”

  Megan’s heart sank when Evan looked at her like she was crazy. “No. Torch Lake is in Oregon. Going back through Chicago would be going backwards.”

  Megan wasn’t sure how Evan expected her to know where Torch Lake was, or even that Chicago would be out of the way, since she had no idea where in Illinois they actually were right now, other than the middle of nowhere. But she forced herself to swallow her anger. Getting on Evan’s bad side would not be to her advantage right now. “It’s just that I left all my stuff at a hostel in Chicago. Do you know any way I might be able to get back there? I mean, is there a train or a bus near here or something?”

  Megan didn’t mention that she didn’t actually have money for train or bus fare. She figured she would cross that bridge when she came to it. Before she asked Evan if she could borrow a few bucks, she needed to figure out what she needed money for.

  Evan was shaking his head no, though. “This really is the middle of nowhere. I don’t think there’s a bus or train station for miles. I’ll be flying in dragon form to Saint Louis, Missouri, though. That’s the closest major city to us. You’re welcome to fly on my back, and you can get a train or bus from there. I’ll be taking a commercial flight out of the Saint Louis Airport.”

  Megan nodded. “Okay. I guess that works.”

  She wasn’t sure whether it would be worth trying to get back to Chicago from Saint Louis. The stuff she’d left behind wasn’t worth much, and the money for bus fare would probably be more than she would get for selling everything she owned. For the first time since she left her clan behind. Megan began to seriously think she might not be able to make it on her own. She’d always managed to pull herself out of tight spots before, but this one looked pretty hopeless.

  Her stomach growled again, this time loud enough that Evan heard it.

  “Oh, I forgot to mention that if you want something to eat you can have some of that banana bread. It was all I managed to sneak out of the farmhouse kitchen. I didn’t want to take too much and make them suspicious.”

  “Farmhouse kitchen?”

  “Yeah, this shack belongs to some farmer who apparently owns a lot of land. When we first landed we were in a wooded area, but I found this shack that’s a lot closer to the main farmhouse. I snuck in and got some clothes, blankets, and this loaf of banana bread.”

  “You stole this stuff?” Megan asked, her eyes widening.

  Evan laughed. “Not exactly. I’ll return the blankets before we go. The clothes and the bread I’ll send money for. I don’t like to take stuff without asking but I couldn’t exactly knock on their door stark naked—which I was, since I’d shifted.”

  Megan shook her head. “You couldn’t have stolen me another outfit, too?”

  “I just told you, I didn’t steal them. And why do you need another outfit? The one you have on looks great.”

  Megan looked down at her little black dress, and then up at Evan in disbelief. “Thanks, but this skimpy thing is meant for a night out at a bar, not for traveling. And besides, it’s torn down the side.”

  “Huh. I hadn’t noticed.”

  “You’re such a man.”

  That made Evan laugh. “Guilty as charged. I can go back and steal some clothes for you, but I think they’ll be way too big for you. The farmer’s wife here looks like she really likes pie. She’s probably about twice your size.”

  The mention of pie made Megan’s mouth water, and she stood on shaky legs to go get some of the banana bread. Hungrily, she broke off an extra large piece. She hadn’t eaten in nearly a day, and, besides, who knew how long it was going to be before she had another chance to eat something. “Never mind about the clothes then,” she said to Evan around a mouthful of bread. “I don’t suppose you managed to grab my purse.”

  The confused look he gave her indicated he clearly had not. Megan’s last hope of money was gone, but she tried to shrug it off. Tears started forming in her eyes and threatening to spill over, and she quickly looked down at her slice of banana bread, acting like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

  “Was there something in there you needed?” Evan asked. His voice had changed. He sounded genuinely concerned, and almost tender. He sounded like he actually cared. And it had been a long, long time since Megan had felt like someone actually cared about her. To her horror, this realization caused the tears she’d been fighting to completely spill over. She quickly wiped at them, feigning a sudden coughing fit to try to act like she wasn’t crying. But it was useless. Evan had clearly seen.

  “Oh, shit,” he said, then rushed over to her. Awkwardly, he tried to pull one of the blankets up around her, as though that would somehow shield her from the pain in her heart. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I would have grabbed the purse if I’d realized it was that important. The bar was kind of chaotic, and I didn’t think to check if you had anything with you.”

  The fact that he was apologizing for not grabbing her purse when he had been in the middle of saving her life struck Megan as rather funny, and she started to laugh. Then, the combination of laughing and sobbing gave her the hiccups, which made her laugh more. Evan looked at her warily, as though he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. And who could blame him? She was a mess. Somehow, though, the fact that she’d lost control of her tears made her feel free to ask Evan for as much help as she could. She didn’t think she could possibly be any more embarrassed than she was already, so she might as well go for it.

  “Actually,” she said, then was interrupted by a loud hiccup. She tried again. “Actually, there was something in there I needed: my last nine dollars. And my phone. Without those two things, I’m pretty much toast. I have no money, and I don’t have any hope of making any. I had banked on getting paid by the S.S.S. for finding Jasper, but now he’s gone for good. I’m homeless with no money and no way to get any.”

  Evan frowned. “Surely, there must be somewhere you can go? A clanmate or friend or something?”

  Megan hiccupped again and shook her head. “I have no one. I abandoned my clan after the war. Even if they wanted me back, which I’m pretty sure they don’t, I can’t stand the thought of going back to them. I’d rather be homeless.”

  Evan’s eyes widened. “They’re that bad?”

  Megan shrugged. “The war made me realize a lot of the shortcomings in clan life, you know? I don’t want to go back to being at the mercy of a High Council who won’t even listen to their people. I was…I was actually hoping you might loan me a little money. Just enough to get back on my feet and get to the next dragon for the S.S.S. I’ll pay you back, with interest. I promise. I know you don’t know me well, but you saved my life so you must think I’m at least a little bit worth helping.”

  Evan furrowed his brow. “Look, Megan. I think you’re a nice person, and, despite how much I tease you, I do think you’re good at tracking down dragons. Which is why there’s no way I’m going to give you money to get back on your feet and go back to the S.S.S.”

  “But, Evan,” Megan started to say, desperation filling her voice. Evan held up a hand to stop her.

  “Wait a minute,” he said. “I’m not finished. I know you don’t want to see the truth about the S.S.S. Apparently, even being nearly killed by Dark Wizards isn’t enough for you to admit that things aren’t quite right with that organization. But I can see it, and I’m not going to support anyone or anything that helps the S.S.S.”

  Megan’s heart fell. She shouldn’t have expected much from Evan, but she still couldn’t keep from feeling heartbroken that he was going to refuse to help her. Didn’t he understand that she had no choice but to work for the S.S.S.? The only career she knew now was bounty hunting for shifters. Before she could work up the nerve to protest again, though, Evan was saying something else.

  “What I will do for you, though, is offer you a job working in Torch Lake.”

  Megan stared at Evan in shock. “But, wouldn’t that require becoming part of your clan?”

 

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