Page 4 of Unhaunt Me

“I think we owe it to whoever she was. It’s a horrible thing to forget who you are.”

Chapter Two

Tritus

“Hello?” Someone called in accented draconic from close to the front of the building.

I blinked.

Where was I?

Face down in a pile of scrolls and papers on the floor near the front desk.

Where else would I be?

Things had been extra slow around the Star Room recently. Before the Moonys landed their ship on our world that’s the way it was most days. Being a guide usually consisted of waiting around for something to happen. Now, we were trying to make things happen.

“No, we’re not. We’re looking for something that may or may not have happened,”my dragon yawned.

“Hello?” The visitor whose voice I didn’t recognize called out again. “I’m from the ship. Castor asked me to bring some stuff by and to check up on the progress of your research. He would’ve come himself but he’s a bit caught up being a dad right now.”

“In here!” I called out, blinking away the nap from my brain. At least, I tried to. “Straight ahead.”

I sniffed the crook of my arm. My pheromone blocker spray was waning, but the Moonys had proven themselves to be gentlemen. My dragon sniffed again. I tried imagining myself shoving his head away but instead he ‘imagined’ back at me and the back of my hand slapped against the floor. He sniffed again as the stranger’s footsteps grew closer. I pushed myself upright, gathering the scrolls and papers as I rose. Star Room Guide was a respected position within the flight, and I didn’t want totarnish the whole flight by appearing to be a messy teenager. Those days were long gone.

At least, I thought they were until I woke up on the floor asleep on my work homework.

My dragon sniffed again and a second later another sound reached my ears. He wasn’t the only one sniffing around.

Strange.

It was all strange.

Perhaps the Moony sniffed everywhere he went. Perhaps he was sniffing out the same thing that captured my dragon’s attention. Probably a mouse running through the walls or some bird up on the roof.

“Hello?” the stranger called out again as if he hadn’t heard me. I hoped the sign language was the same on Earthside just in case I had to use it.

“Anyone here?” He called out again before I could answer.

“In here!” I called out louder this time. “Are you Casimir? I think you’re the only one from the ship I haven’t met. Castor mentions you a lot.”

“Which one are you?” he called, appearing in the doorway.

He stopped there – tall, broad, and smelling too familiar. For a second, I wondered if he had cuddled Castor. That would’ve made him smell familiar. I had more meetings with him than anyone else except maybe Elio.

Then it hit me.

Well, first it slapped my dragon who reared back and let go of a stream of fire. I dropped the scrolls and papers to save them from burning to cinders. The fire died short of reaching the visitor. I opened my mouth to apologize but nothing came out.

“Yeah. Me too,” he nodded, looking as if he had received a terminal diagnosis instead of smelling me.

“You too what?” I asked, squatting down to scoop up the papers without taking my eyes off him.

My dragon breathed in deeply, sending my head spinning. He smelled so manly – so alpha – so fucking hot. Under that was something else – something moody or maybe broody was the word my rattled brain searched for. Something was hidden there. I searched his face trying to discern what he might hide. When the Moonys first landed a lot of people wondered what secrets they were running away from, but I figured most of that was hogwash. There were probably plenty of good places to hide from your past on Earthside. No one needed to traverse galaxies to find a new home.

“This,” he said, gesturing at the air between us.

“Can you even smell me?” I sniffed my elbow again.

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