Page 30 of Dragon His Heels
Chapter 10
The sky was gray when Gabe slipped out of Talia’s bed and headed to his own room. Not gray like storms were coming in, but that color it took on in the last moments before dawn broke, the sun bringing forth a new day.
He didn’t bother with a shower before pulling on a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt. Then he headed to Ruby’s bedroom.
When he gently shook her shoulder, his daughter jerked into a seated position so quickly, Gabe took a few steps away from the bed. She looked around with wide eyes and whispered, “Mommy?”
Shit.His gut twisted like someone was wringing water out of a wet towel. He took a seat on the edge of her bed and patted her shoulder. “No, it’s just me, Ruby.”
She blinked rapidly, like she was coming out of a dream.Or a nightmare. “Oh.” She yawned and stretched and then rubbed her eyes.
“Are you okay? Bad dream?”
Ruby shrugged, far too adult-like in her dismissal of his questions. “Sometimes Mommy would wake me up in the middle of the night and say we had to be really quiet and leave wherever we were staying.”
His dragon roared and paced in his head, torn between comforting Ruby and flying off to go punish whoever the hell had forced her to live in such appalling conditions for the first five years of her life. Except those people were her parents—Gabe and a woman named Jasmine who he couldn’t even recall sleeping with.
“It’s still dark outside,” Ruby commented, and Gabe shook off his angry dragon. Today was not about beating himself up or digging deeper into Ruby’s past. Today was about making new memories.
“Yeah, I know, but this isn’t a bad thing, I promise. Come on, I have something I want to show you. Make sure you wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. Then go brush your teeth and come downstairs to the kitchen.”
“What are we doing?” she asked, even as she climbed out of bed and headed to her dresser.
“I’m going to show you something I’ve never shared with anyone else before.” He winked, and then stepped out of the room so she could get dressed.
Noah wasn’t there yet, of course, so Gabe quickly fried up a couple of eggs and made two sandwiches. When Ruby hurried into the room a few minutes later, wearing a T-shirt and shorts much like his own outfit, he handed one of them to her and then snagged two bottles of water from the fridge.
“Let’s go.” He led her out the back door.
They ate their breakfast while they walked across the dewy grass, heading toward the forest on the other side of the lake. “It’s going to be darker in here,” he said as they stepped into the tree line, “but there’s nothing to be afraid of, okay?”
She nodded and then slipped her hand into his. He gave it a reassuring squeeze while mentally eye rolling at the way his chest tightened.
They followed a well-worn trail, ferns brushing at their ankles, until they came to a clearing that was as large as a football field. Gabe pressed a finger to his lips and then guided Ruby off the path and into the cover of the trees. They skirted the clearing until they came to a building, where he knew a bunch of training equipment was stored.
He also knew how to climb onto the roof of the structure, and he knew if one hid in the shadows of the chimney, they couldn’t be seen from the air or ground. Leading Ruby around behind the building, he paused and glanced down at her.
“This is going to be our little secret, okay? You can’t even tell Talia.”
Talia would throttle him if she knew he was about to take Ruby onto that roof. But hey, he was supervising her. That had to count for something, right?
Ruby nodded her head firmly just as Gabe heard a snatch of conversation. The first group of dragons were heading their way.
“We need to hurry. I don’t want them to see us. I’m going to shift and I want you to climb onto my back, okay?”
She nodded again, her eyes shining with anticipation.
“We’re just flying up to the roof and then you need to slide off my back—carefully—and I’m going to shift to human form. Got it?”
“Got it,” she repeated.
He summoned the magic, his beast acting more like an eager puppy, bouncing around until Gabe pointed out that he needed to stand still so Ruby could climb up over his wing and they could get onto the roof before the other dragons reached the clearing. Finally, the beast dropped his wings to the ground and lowered his head, and Ruby didn’t even hesitate to scramble into place, straddling his scaly neck and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
He pushed away from the ground and soared to the roof, the flight over all too soon. When he bowed his head again, Ruby carefully climbed off his back and stood next to the chimney, her gaze darting to the ground, fourteen feet below. He quickly shifted back to human form and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Her responding smile was full of unquestioning trust.
