Page 9 of Curvy Girl and the Single Dad Dragon
"That's it," I encourage her. "Again. In... and out."
We breathe together for several minutes until the glow in her cheeks subsides and her body temperature seems to cool slightly.
"Better?" I ask softly.
She nods, still watching me warily. "You're not running away."
"No, I'm not running away." I reach out slowly and take her small hand in mine. It's still unnaturally warm but no longer burning hot. "I promised your dad I would take care of you, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Even though you know I'm a dragon?" she asks in a whisper.
I take a deep breath, trying to reconcile what I've seen with what I thought I knew about the world. "Even though you can breathe fire," I say. "We can talk about... the dragon part... when your dad gets home."
Relief floods her features. "You're not going to leave us?"
"No, Ember. I'm not going to leave." The words come out with more certainty than I feel, but seeing her small face brightenmakes me determined to keep that promise, regardless of how impossible the situation seems.
"Can we not tell Daddy I had an accident?" she asks hopefully. "He'll be so upset."
I consider this for a moment. "I think we need to tell him, sweetheart. But I'll make sure he knows it wasn't your fault and that everything is okay now."
She sighs dramatically. "He's going to do his smoke-from-the-ears thing. That means he's really trying not to be mad."
Smoke from the ears. Of course. Because why not?
"Let's clean this up," I suggest, gesturing to the broken frame. "Then we'll have our snack and finish your lessons for the day. Your dad will be home in a few hours, and we can all talk then."
As we pick up the broken glass and salvage the photograph, I can feel Ember watching me closely, as if waiting for delayed panic to set in. But strangely, I'm calm. Maybe I'm in shock. Or maybe... maybe I'm exactly where I'm meant to be, with this extraordinary little girl who breathes fire when she's upset and her father who apparently does the same.
Damon Thorne has a lot of explaining to do when he gets home. But for now, I have a job to do: keeping his daughter safe, even from her own fiery nature.
And somehow, impossibly, I'm okay with that.
Chapter 4 - Damon
I pull into the driveway at 5:47, earlier than expected after rushing through the day's work. Something's been nagging at me since I left this morning, a tension between my shoulder blades that dragons recognize as instinct.
It's been growing stronger as the day progressed, until Cole finally looked at me and said, "Just go home, Thorne. You're making everyone nervous with your pacing."
The house is quiet. Too quiet.
Usually, I can hear Ember's voice or laughter from the driveway, her excited chatter carrying through open windows or walls. Dragon hearing is acute—another trait hidden from humans—and the silence sets my teeth on edge.
I take the porch steps two at a time, my key already in hand. The door swings open before I can use it, and Luna stands in the entryway, her expression composed. Too composed.
"You're home early," she says, and there's something in her voice I can't quite identify. Not fear, exactly. Caution, perhaps.
"Where's Ember?" I ask immediately, scanning the room behind her, my nostrils flaring slightly to catch my daughter's scent.
"She's in her room, reading." Luna steps back to let me enter, maintaining a short distance between us. "She's fine, but... we need to talk."
The four words no parent wants to hear from their child's caretaker, but especially not a parent with secrets like mine. My muscles tense involuntarily, and I have to concentrate to keep my temperature regulated, to prevent the telltale smoke that would give me away if I lose control.
"What happened?" My voice comes out deeper than usual, an edge of growl beneath the words that I can't entirely suppress.
Luna meets my eyes directly, and I'm struck again by her composure. "There was an incident this afternoon. Ember accidentally knocked over a photo frame, got upset, and..." She pauses, then finishes simply: "She breathed fire."
The world stops for a moment. My worst fear, realized on day one. I close my eyes briefly, cursing myself for believing this arrangement could work, for putting my daughter in this impossible position, for—
