Page 75 of So I Dared a Dragon

Bibi groaned. “That sounds dreadful. Are you sure you’re ready to go cold turkey?”

Darcy didn’t answer. Our resident fairy dragmother might usually be the expert on getting people to open up, but her latest subject still had a long way to go in her healing process. We’d need to try a slightly different approach if we wanted to get any relevant information from her.

“Define dangerous.” I felt like I was stepping over a major boundary asking her. The last time I saw this woman, a nefarious man had drained her to barely a shell of herself. But time and distance might have changed her perspective.

“Rock stars, dark overlords, guys who’ve been patched into motorcycle gangs.” Darcy let out a long sigh. “Don’t get me wrong, it was so much fun while it lasted, but then I realized my life was absolute chaos twenty-four-seven, and it wasn’t even my disaster. While it’s definitely a thrill to get chosen by the bad boy, it was time to start being the star of my own show.”

Bibi turned to her. “We do have a show, if you’re looking to be a star.”

“I thought my episode was the end of the season?” I gave her some serious side eye. “And you were going to do a special about your time with the Horny Hunks.”

Darcy gasped. “You know the Hunks? I love that show. I know, it’s considered tacky to enjoy a male revue, but I look forward to it every time I’m in Vegas.”

“There’s nothing to apologize about. Everyone in this car enjoys the male form. And the Hunks are so talented.” Bibi never missed an opportunity to gush about the Horny Hunks.

I let the low-level resentment pass through my body. Bibi had gotten heavily involved with the Hunks on what was supposed to be a Vegas weekend getaway, but it had felt a lot like she’d been avoiding me. I realized now that it had all worked out perfectly. Had my episode started on its original timeline, Aarix might not have been able to get here before I’d done something irreversibly stupid.

“Yes, this is the last episode ofThe Mating Game,” Bibi continued. “For now. But there can always be new iterations. Side projects. If those forums are any indication, we have a hungry audience that will never get enough of our content. Which is a very good thing.”

“I might be down for a side project.” There was no missing the note of hope in Darcy’s voice.

Bibi turned in her seat. “I’d love to hear more about your life in California. The non-dangerous version.”

The air in the car changed, and just like that, this had gone from an escape mission to a new beginning.

“Everyone encouraged me to go into law,” Darcy said. “My uncle is a big-time lawyer. We saw his face on a couple billboards we passed. I didn’t point it out because they’re a little cringe. My mom manages the office for him. I had a job waiting for the minute I got my degree, but I didn’t want it.”

“This story sounds awfully familiar,” I said.

“Doesn’t it?” Bibi agreed. “You were able to break away from those expectations, since you just decided to become a paralegal.”

“The minute I graduated from high school, I was on the first bus to Hollywood,” Darcy continued. “My drama club teacher insisted that I’d be better behind the scenes—I think that was herway of telling me I wasn’t cute enough to be in the spotlight—so I did her one better. I became a stuntwoman.”

“How badass,” Bibi said.

“It totally was, until a stunt went wrong and I broke my back. As I recovered, music was the thing that got me through. After being on sets all over the world, there was no way I could just settle in my hometown. I craved adventure. My current therapist refers to me as an excitement junkie. Which reminds me I need to reschedule my next appointment with her. Anyway, I hit the road, just wanting to experience live music, but it was never enough. That’s when I met Calista, and I’m sure you know my story from there.”

“I just love hearing a hero’s origin story,” Bibi gushed.

There was a detail she glossed over. “Did you have surgery when you broke your back?” I asked.

“Yes, they had to put rods in my back while I healed. Left me with some nasty scars. When the wings started to form, they were along those lines. It still feels like they’re splitting sometimes.”

“The doctors didn’t notice anything unusual?” No one had ever assumed I was anything other than a wolf.

“Not that they told me,” Darcy said. “But now that you mention it, it seems odd. Unless we just recently acquired these traits.”

I had a strong feeling that it was more like a very strong spell had worn off—but why? How? And why now?

“Tell us why you finally decided to settle down.” Bibi was in her glory, learning what made someone tick. “It seems like such a drastic change from what you’d wanted from your life before.”

“Because shit happens, and it kept happening to me.” Darcy laughed sadly. “I thought the universe was trying to tell me something. You know how it starts as a pebble? It took a boulder to get me to listen. Better late than dead, right? So I’m almostforty, back at home living with my parents, and a full-time student at the local community college. There’s something about it that’s comforting, though. Things here are always the same, no matter how much I changed. My fiancé—ex-fiancé—was my high school sweetheart. He married someone else, but he’s divorced now. He teaches at the junior high—”

“Saint,” Bibi said.

“Right? I don’t know how he has the patience. It all seemed like divine timing. Everything was falling into place. It was time to live a normal life. You’re not gonna be the least bit surprised to learn I sucked at it.”

A cackle escaped me. “Total shock.”

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