Page 14 of The Dragon's Surprise
Makayla, the youngest sibling of Chris North—one of the clan’s Protectors—helped her parents run the restaurant. She walked up to him and said softly, “Thank you for saving Eli.”
He’d barely saved Eli in surgery that morning. Regardless, Kyle never felt comfortable being thanked for doing his job. So he merely nodded. “You should thank your brother for getting Eli the help he needed so quickly. Your brother saved his life.”
“Chris reacted about the same as you, meaning he brushed it off, but I’m still grateful for you both.” Ethan squirmed a little, and Makayla glanced down, smiling as she asked, “And who’s this?”
“I’m Ethan.” He paused, glanced around, and said, “I’m a dragon-shifter, too.”
Makayla’s pupils flashed a few times, and she winked. “Well, that’s a pretty awesome thing to be. Of course, I’m a little biased, since I am one, too.” She looked at Lexi. “Although humans are okay, too. Well, most of them.”
Ethan spoke up. “Lexi is nice and kind and patient. She helps kids like me.”
The dragonwoman put out a hand to Lexi. “My name is Makayla North. I’ve heard about you but haven’t had a chance to welcome you yet. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Lexi smiled and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, too.” Ethan’s stomach rumbled, and Lexi added, “We heard you have some delicious wood-fired pizza, and I think Ethan here is impatient to try it.”
The other woman raised her brows. “Well, then, a growing dragon boy needs his food. Trust me, I know, I have three olderbrothers. Follow me. We have one of the best seats toward the back, where you can watch them make the pizzas.”
“Really? I want to see! They said it was a fire pizza.”
“Wood-fired, yes. A recipe from my grandmother, one people have tried to steal forever, but have never got.”
As Makayla guided them toward the back of the room, Kyle nodded at various clan members. While some of them glanced between him and Ethan, no one blurted anything, thank goodness.
His dragon spoke up.Rio probably told everyone to make Ethan feel at home and don’t upset him.
There’s one clan member who wouldn’t care. Thankfully, he’s not here.
One of the oldest clan members didn’t like change of any sort, and had been the loudest complainer about the other half-dragon child who had come to live on MirrorPeak a few years ago. Since becoming clan leader, Rio had done his best to listen to the old male’s concerns and smooth things over. But while Rio knew things were changing—especially given how much a book published originally in the UK about dragon-shifters had revealed to the human world—some of his kind would never change.
Before Kyle could worry too much about how the closed-minded male might treat Ethan, the boy finally spotted the big, open-aired oven in the back. “Look! They put the pizza in there with fire in the back!”
Kyle smiled. “I loved cooking over open fires in the summer, with my aunt, on the Fourth of July.”
Ethan was too engrossed in watching the person making pizzas behind the glass to hear him, but Lexi said, “I’ve never really thought about dragon-shifters celebrating the Fourth of July.”
He gestured toward the table, and Lexi sat, keeping an eye on Ethan. Kyle replied, “Some cities partner with local dragon clans and put on airshows, or so I hear. Maybe because Vegas and Reno are so close and full of drunk people who might forget the day and freak out, we don’t do that here. But it’s just a holiday to celebrate with the clan.”
“I guess. My grandma never let us have fireworks, but we’d watch the big displays sometimes. But flying dragons would’ve been better.”
As she smiled at him, Kyle’s heart thumped harder. Even though he barely knew her, he didn’t hold back like he usually did and said, “I can give you a private show.” He realized how that sounded and added, “For you and Ethan. In the air.”
“Are you a secret daredevil, then?”
“I used to be.”
As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Why was he sharing so much with this female?
His dragon spoke up.You know why. The sooner you accept it, the better.
Lexi looked about to ask him more details, so he said, “Ethan, come sit down at the table. Makayla’s heading this way, and we need to order.”
And so he managed to keep things light as they discussed pizza and listened to Ethan’s enthusiastic words about the special oven.
If he was lucky, maybe Lexi would forget he’d mentioned anything about his past.
Lexi was fond of Ethan, but for a split-second, she wished he’d not heard Kyle calling him so she could ask what he meantabout being a daredevil in the past. It was hard to imagine the mostly serious dragonman sneaking off to cause trouble with his friends.
But it was probably good Ethan had heard and sat down. After all, she needed to ensure Kyle would be a good parent, if he chose that route. However, she didn’t need to know every little thing about him and his antics when he was younger.
