Page 24 of Artemis

Finley leapt to his feet in a heartbeat to see a pair of harpy-like shifters, each holding Alexander by an arm. “Stay!” he ordered Atlanta, running as fast as he could toward the winged thugs. At the end of the yard, he leapt into the air, shifting into his dragon form with hardly a thought.

Suddenlymuchlarger than the would-be kidnappers, he caught up to them easily. He carefully wrapped one claw-tipped hand around Alexander’s tiny body before growling deep in his chest.

The harpies shrieked in terror to see him, not having noticed the giant dragon sneak up on them while they were fighting to keep their grip on the struggling boy. They let go of Alexander and sped away, flapping their wings as fast as they could go.

“I’ve got you,” Finley crooned to the sobbing boy in his hand, back-winging swiftly, his large bat-like wings cutting through the air with the ease of practice. He landed in the backyard, which suddenly felt too small for him, and gently placed Alexander on the grass. “Go inside, all of you,” he ordered. “I’ve got some people to bring to justice.”

Tail lashing, he leapt skyward again, accompanied by a small black figure.

He was two wingbeats away from the daycare when he noticed his shadow. He sighed and shook his large head, but slowed. The harpies were too far ahead of him at this point, and there was no way he could bring Atlanta back andthencatch them. “Come on, little one,” he said to the winged-wolf toddler. “Good job keeping up with me.”

The toddler yipped excitedly and executed some aerial acrobatics between Finley’s forearms.

“It’s time to land,” Finley said sternly, nudging her rear with the tip of his nose. “Stay with me.”

This time, when he landed, he shifted back to his human form right away. He caught Atlanta and strode quickly to the building with her in his arms. Once inside, he scanned the faces anxiously, relieved when he saw that everyone else was all right.

“I didn’t know she’d chase me,” he said apologetically to Hestia, who hurried over to him to take the child. “She’s fine.”

“Of course she is,” Hestia said firmly. “She was with you.” She raised her eyebrow in question, but Finley shook his head minutely. Any details that she wanted would have to wait until the kids weren’t listening. “Why don’t we get all of you changed and then you can watch a movie?”

“Yay!”

Once the movie was on, Finley and Hestia went into the little office, but kept the door open so they could keep an eye on the puppy pile of children in the big room.

“What happened?” Hestia asked.

Finley told her, leaving out no details, and she wrote everything down.

“Did you catch them?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure I would have been able to catch them even without Atlanta’s assistance,” he said with a wry twist to his mouth. “My first priority was to get Alexander safely back to you. That gave them quite the head start.”

“As much as an aerial battle would have been amazing to watch,” Hestia murmured under her breath.

“I’m a lot slower when I’m a dragon,” Finley said. “Turning and acrobatics are a lot more difficult for me in the air.”

“You could shift to turn around and then shift back,” Hestia suggested.

Finley’s jaw dropped, both a little surprised that he hadn’t thought of that option and that matronly Hestia had suggested it, when he caught the twinkle in her eye. “You are a very interesting woman,” he said with a chuckle. “All right, next time I get the chance to fight in mid-air, I’ll try your suggestion.

Hestia blushed as if he’d praised her. “Only if you don’t get hurt in the process.”

Shrugging, Finley said, “I get hurt all the time. Nothing that a little sleep won’t heal.” He nodded at the account he’d given her. “Can we make a copy of that for the police?”

“That’s my plan. Go over it, make sure you haven’t missed anything, especially in your description of the harpies, and then we’ll call up Chloe. She’ll know who to contact to give this to.”

“Okay.”

Hestia left him in the little room to read. When he was done, he returned to the main room to see Alexander sobbing quietly in Hestia’s full bosom. “Hey now, what’s all this?” Finley asked softly, running his hand over soft curls and a sturdy back.

“He’s feeling a little overwhelmed,” Hestia replied. “Now that you’re out, I’m going to take him back to the nap room.”

“No no no no!” Alexander’s voice rose with each repetition. He twisted away from Hestia and threw himself at Finley, who caught him, barely. “WantLee!”

“Uhhh, I guess I’ll take him to the nap room?” Finley said questioningly to Hestia.

She nodded with a smile, so Finley carried the boy away from the brightly singing television and into the last room at the end of the hall.

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