Dragon Romance: Dragon Fire (Paranormal Shapeshifter Hero Protector Firefighter Romance) (Fantasy Shifter Werewolf BBW Pregnancy Women’s Fiction Short Stories) (81 page)

The doors of the ambulance closed and we left for the hospital.

*****

Dayton

It took forever for the damn ambulance to get to the hospital. Ronnie was beyond out of it from the drugs the paramedics gave her and she kept mumbling that it was
her
fault she almost got killed. I shouldn’t have brought her to the damn rodeo in the first place. It was my fault she was even there. She was at the bottom of the stands and it would have taken her forever to get out by the proper exits before the fire spread. She did the only thing any scared person would do and I watched it all happen. Ronnie couldn’t hear me yelling for her when she jumped the partition. She would have had enough time to make it to the north exit. Instead of yelling at her I should have just ran for her and took her to where I knew it was safe.

She had broken bones as well as a light injury from being gored, but it could have been worse. I pressed her hand to my mouth and she mumbled about it not being my fault once more.

The ambulance finally arrived at the freaking hospital and the paramedics rushed her into the emergency room. I couldn’t follow them after a certain point and all I could do was pace in the hall after telling one of the nurses her name.

It seemed like forever that they were in the ER, behind one of the curtains working on her. Many anxious people from the rodeo stood and paced in the waiting room.

“Dayton, Dayton!” I heard my brother’s voice and turned to see him rushing up with my parents. “We heard about the fire and the stampede, are you all good?”

My ma was doing her own assessment of me, checking my arms and legs and feeling my ribs for any breaks.

“Yeah I’m good, but Ronnie…she ain’t good man, she got trampled,” I gestured helplessly towards the door separating the waiting room and the room that held Ronnie.

“Shit man, how the hell did that happen?”

Ben and my parents were all concerned for Ronnie. They had each had a chance to meet her while she was on the ranch for my interview, and earlier in the day at the rodeo, and they really liked her. I explained what happened woodenly and then continued to pace.

“Dayton, don’t work yourself up too much. Ronnie will need you to be steady for her when they let you see her,” said my pop. He tried to get me to have a seat and I settled for standing. It took forever and all the other people waiting to see their loved ones seemed to all be called back before a doctor came out calling Ronnie’s name. I was in front of the doctor quicker than my family could stand from their seats.

“Are you all family to Ronnie Stanton?” the doctor asked skeptically. Almost in tandem my brother and parents said I was her husband. The doctor looked skeptical still, but he let it slide thankfully. “Well she’s doing okay. She’s in pain, I’ll give you that and she has a broken radius that we were able to set. She also has a fractured tibia, down by her ankle, and it’s bruised higher up along her shin. The wound in her back was thankfully not too deep. We stopped the bleeding and patched that up.” We all nodded along as the doctor spoke. I just wanted to see Ronnie and make sure she was okay.

“Don’t worry though, all of her injuries she’ll definitely recover from. We’re getting ready to admit her to the orthopedic wing, there you can see her in about ten minutes,” I nodded and the doctor went back into the emergency room. I followed silently behind him and snuck in to see Ronnie. The nurses were just snapping a gown on her as I stepped behind the curtain.

“I’m sorry sir, but you can’t be in here right now,” one of the nurses said sternly. Ronnie looked up and her eyes brightened when she saw me.

“I won’t be any trouble, I just have to see her,” I pleaded with the nurse, who glanced at Ronnie before sighing and turning her back to pretend I wasn’t there. I went over to Ronnie and held on to her hand tightly.

“Ronnie…I’m so sorry, I should’ve—”

Ronnie gave me a stern look which stopped my apology.

“Don’t, it wasn’t your fault. If anything I put
you
in danger. You could have gotten hurt or worse trying to get me out of the way of those bulls,” Ronnie sounded groggy, but otherwise aware and kept my mouth shut instead of arguing with her.

“I’m just sorry you got hurt,” I said, remorse heavy on my voice. Ronnie simply grinned, perplexing me. I glanced at the nurse who shrugged and pointed to the IV bag hanging that must have definitely had pain meds in there.

“I’ll be fine I promise. I could have suffered a lot worse if it wasn’t for you acting so quickly Dayton…” Ronnie’s expression sobered a bit and she looked at me with surprising clarity. “I love you,” I knew she was technically under the influence of medication, but her admission made my heart soar all the same. I beamed at her and she giggled.

“I love you too Ronnie,” I said simply before I kissed her softly on the lips.

I stayed with Ronnie while the nurses brought her up to the orthopedic floor and settled her in. She was going to need a couple casts the next morning and then she would be free to go that afternoon. They simply had braces and stints on her for the time being.

The nurses left the room, and we were alone.

“Dayton I know I have pain medication, but I was serious, I do love you…”

“I love you too Ronnie, and I’ll say it a thousand times over once you’re off the pain medication.”

Ronnie giggled and then soon dozed off.

*****

Ronnie

I had never been sickly growing up. I only caught the flu once and never had any allergies. I certainly never had any broken bones. I think having a broken bone, a fracture and a horn wound was to make up for all of that somehow. Being in the hospital was definitely not fun and the pain of my arm not being one unbroken length as it should have been was excruciating. Whenever the pain would get to be too much for me the nurses would give me pain medication and that just made me horribly groggy.

I knew my parents were there and Dayton hardly ever left my side, his family came to visit me a few times too which was sweet of them. But Dayton went above and beyond; he made sure I didn’t have to do any unnecessary movements and catered to me as if I were way more injured than I actually was. Which earned him points with my normally stoic father who thought no man was good enough for me. By the time I was discharged from the hospital my dad and Dayton were even talking about football. Who knew Dayton was a Dolphins fan as well? 

A few days after the incident I was back home and being spoiled by my parents as well as Dayton and his family when they came over to visit. Dayton was there with me every day though. I was actually surprised he hit it off with my parents so well. I knew my mother would love him, but my dad didn’t try to scare him away, which was rare. When I was in the hospital I was on a lot of pain medication and I vaguely remember ‘I love you’ being thrown around. I just wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was Dayton and me saying it.

Dayton kept looking at me as if he had a secret and was waiting for me to remember what it was; I just wasn’t sure if that was it. I mean I did love Dayton, already, he was everything I was pretty sure I would ever want, plus he got along well with my dad so that was an added bonus.

It was just after dinner and my parents had gone home for the night. They only lived one county over and it was an hour drive to my place. Dayton just came back upstairs after cleaning up the kitchen and he was holding a cup full of ice cream.

“You’re spoiling me Dayton,” I said, grinning, reaching for the cup and spoon. Dayton chuckled at me and got into bed.

“I want to spoil you. I don’t think I’ll ever stop wanting to spoil you…even in the afterlife!”

I laughed and Dayton grinned while he reached for the television remote to put on a movie.

“You plan on being with me through until the
afterlife
?” I asked him, only half jokingly. Dayton looked at me and nodded, his expression serious then.

“I love you and I want to be with you for as long as I exist,” his words touched my heart and I was speechless for a moment as tears clogged my throat.

“So that was real? You actually said you loved me in the hospital?” I asked, my voice thick with unshed tears. I kind of hated that I was being such a girl in that moment. One would think we were about to say ‘I do.’

“Of course it was real, I also said that I’d say it a thousand times over once you were off the pain meds,” Dayton smiled at me and I leaned over to kiss him softly on the lips. I kissed him twice more before pulling away.

“I love you too Dayton Fields,” I said and his smile widened to full on breathtaking. I couldn’t believe this man was all mine.

*****

A few months later, I was successfully head over heels for Dayton as well as moved in with him on the Ranch. I had finally healed up and back to normal mostly, though my shin still hurt a bit whenever I ran. It was my birthday and my parents as well as Dayton’s family and our friends were at the house celebrating. It was dusk and the seemingly endless fields were beautiful under the darkening sky.

Dayton tugged me in the direction of the field out front. “Come on, let’s go make your birthday wish on the first star,” he said.

We walked out a ways from the house, to our sort of special spot, where that cow had interrupted us, and Dayton and I found the first star in the darkening sky. I closed my eyes and made a wish while Dayton held onto my hand. I felt a large nose nudge my back and I knew another cow must have wandered far from the rest of the herd. I opened my eyes and looked down at it, she had a note attached to her tail. I snagged it before she continued on her way. I glanced up at Dayton questioningly and he shrugged, seemingly just as clueless as I was. I opened the note and in Dayton’s handwriting was the question, ‘Will you marry me?’

My heart leapt in my chest and tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

Dayton reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful silver engagement ring. There was an impressive diamond on it. The breath fled from my body then. I was surprised, even though I shouldn’t have been. I hadn’t been expecting him to actually ask me right on the spot like that. Though I
did
know he had seemed to be hiding something for the past few days.

“Ronnie Stanton, you are all I’m ever going to want in this life and however many ever more come after that. I love you and I want to marry you so…will you marry me?”

My eyes did fill with tears then; his gaze was sincere and he spoke without any hesitation. I knew I’d be happy with Dayton as long as I was with him, and there was no one else I could see myself being with for the rest of my life.

“Baby please say something, you’re killing me with all those tears,” Dayton said and I remembered I hadn’t actually said yes yet. I giggled and then nodded before the words fell unhindered from my lips.

“Yes, of course I’ll marry you Dayton,” Dayton’s breathtaking smile was back and he put the ring on my finger. He kissed me and then held me in a gentle embrace, then laughed, overjoyed. Dayton kissed away my happy tears and then picked me up and spun me around before kissing me again. I couldn’t help but think about how much I loved him.

THE END

Bonus Story 19 of 20

The wind lightly rustled the leaves in the trees above Geneva as she stalked through the woods. The hot afternoon sun left spots on the forest floor that highlighted the dead leaves of early fall that had mixed into the undergrowth. Squirrels and other small rodents scampered up and down tree trunks as they searched for nuts and seeds to store away for the impending winter.

Her soft boots muffled her steps while her eyes and ears remained alert for her prey. Ahead of her Geneva heard the low grumblings and lumbering rustles of a mountain grizzly foraging.  She halted in her tracks to discern the direction of the bear. It was heading east perpendicular from her path, safely away.

She waited a moment to be sure that the bear had not caught on to her presence and then breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could handle herself if she was confronted by the grizzly, but she was glad to avoid the encounter all together. She was filled with a burning vengeance and she did not want to delay for any other creatures besides the one she hunted.

Onwards she travelled, up into the foothills of the southern mountains. This was the direction the great serpent of fire had fled when her arrows had torn its’ wing. The long wailing cries had stopped hours ago, but Geneva knew that the beast could not have gotten far on a wounded wing. Her anger boiled at the thought of the events that had set her forth on this journey. Only a day ago, things had been perfectly normal.

It had been late in the evening when Geneva finally returned from her hunt. Her friend Winda, a wild haired young girl much like herself, walked alongside her.  The pair of them had been hunting together since they had come of age and were such close friends they might as well have been sisters.

The two laughed and joked as they made their way home on the familiar paths of the forest. Over their shoulders they towed the ropes of a small litter that dragged the carcasses of their respective kills. There was a fat boar that Geneva had killed, a young buck that was Winda’s, and a few small gamey squirrels and fowl all piled on the litter so they could be transported back to their small village without leaving a trail of blood for other predators to follow.

Between the spoils of the two huntresses it would be enough feed their little village for the next couple of weeks. Geneva and Winda would stay for the first few days while they rested and replenished their packs before they returned to the forests of the foothills for their next hunt. Being the only ones who actively hunted, the young women had taken it upon themselves to provide for their village, the small refuge that it was.

It was an unofficial community called Haven. It was full of runaways; children and adults who needed to escape their lives elsewhere. They were a community of victims banded together to build a new life away from their oppressors, abusers, and persecutors. Their unofficially elected matriarch, Brigid, united their little ragtag bunch of misfits.

There was a small congregation waiting with lit torches and lanterns at the edge of the village when the huntresses emerged from the forest. The older children that had been allowed to stay up late rushed out to meet them and relieve them of the great weight of the litter. They eagerly dragged the meat into the village, to the butcher’s house where it would be prepared.

Brigid, the matriarch, was present. The weathered old spinster, with her silver hair pulled back tightly and her wrinkled face all warm smiles, gave Geneva and Winda a strong hug with her sinewy arms. “We’re always so glad to see you return.”

“Well there’s no way we’d miss your smiling face,” Winda laughed as she pulled away from the embrace.

Geneva remembered fondly how the light of the torches and lanterns gave a halo to Winda’s wild dark hair. Her green eyes were glowing with happiness and her smile lit up the darkness of the night that was settling in.

Geneva held the image in her mind as silent tears escaped her eyes as she walked through the woods. She wanted to always remember Winda like this, not as how she found her that later that night.  It was just as she found the rest of the members of her community, or rather, the few that remained. She knew a few people had escaped the horrors of the dragon’s fury by fleeing into the night, but most of her quiet community had perished in the fires.

The initial sound of the beast was a horrible shriek that had sent a cold rush of terror into her bones and woken her from the deep abyss of her sleep. Instinctively, she had reached up and grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows where they hung above her bed as she rolled off the mattress and into a low crouch. The air was silent as her eyes opened wide in the darkness, looking for what had woken her.

Quietly, Geneva stepped out the door of her little house just in time to see a couple of the village dogs scampering away, escaping the village. Heading the opposite way, towards the unknown danger, her bare feet crept quietly in the dirt paths between the houses.

In the doorway of her neighbor’s house, Geneva saw that she was not the only person who had been awakened by the sound. She nodded to the mother and child to stay inside while she searched for the disturbance. 

Reaching the large central area of the town where the well stood, she looked around and noticed that Winda was just across the way to her right. Winda also had her bow out and was searching for what had woken the town. Signaling her with a birdcall, Geneva got her attention and the two began to head towards one another.

A scream, a human scream, rang out into the night before the huntresses could convene. From the opposite side of the village a figure ran towards them. Both of them instinctively drew their weapons and aimed, looking for the prey that chased what appeared to be a young, teenage girl. As she reached the moonlit clearing she stopped and looked up before screaming again.

The huntresses looked up just as a great shadow streaked across the sky and plunged towards them. Geneva turned to run back into the shelter of the houses. Winda ran towards the girl.

As Geneva turned back to look for her friend, she saw the fire erupt.

*****

Crows cawed as they flew above the treetops headed south. Below them, Geneva was headed in the same direction, continuing her trek filled with all of her silent, determined rage. Inside, she wanted to scream and make a ruckus in the empty forest, but she was intent on her quarry and if the dragon was close she did not want to willingly let him know of her presence. So it was that Geneva continued to travel with near silence, save for her boots softly brushing against the ground where her feet met the earth.

Gradually, the smells of the forest began to change as she climbed higher and higher into the foothills. The air became less sweet and the musk of the earth became bitter. As the trees thinned out to give into the rockier terrain, the air began to take on a metallic scent.

To the west, the early evening light reflected off of a boulder and caught Geneva’s eye. She changed direction slightly so that she could investigate this. The rocks did not have paths like the forest, but they were still relatively easy to navigate.

When Geneva approached the large boulder that had caught her attention, she found that it was covered in a patch of dark blood that shined as if it had been infused with silver. No common creature had blood like this, none that she had ever come across. It had to be the trail of the dragon.

She looked around her and saw that the trail continued to the south. The mountains loomed in front of her and she glared back at them. She idly thought of how nice the mountainside would look painted with the silver blood of the dragon.

The rocks proved to be a little bit of a challenge at times. They weren’t as quiet, as disturbing a pebble would send it scattering, bouncing and echoing off of the other rocks. At one point she slipped on a patch of blood and scraped her forearm. Another time she tore the front of the pants leg on the jutting edge of a boulder and the cut above her knee bled enough to leave a sizeable stain, but this did little to slow her down.

Pressing on, Geneva noticed the blood trail was leading to the opening of a cave up in the distance. Glancing to the west, towards the setting sun, she determined that either this cave would have a dragon within, or it would be her place to camp for the night.

As she neared the edge of the cave, Geneva notched an arrow on her bow, prepared to let it fly if the beast were aware of her and ready to attack. She crouched low as she looked around the edge of the cave to see inside. The dying light of the sun was just enough to illuminate a shape within. She stepped closer and noticed that the shape was human. With a quick glance around the cave, Geneva determined that no monster was immediately present. She dropped her guard and ran over to investigate the wounded person.

It was a man lying naked and face down. He was bleeding badly from his shoulder. The wound was claw marks, far too large to be even a bear. He must have been a victim of the dragon. Perhaps the beast had captured him and brought him back here to be a meal for later.

Geneva knelt down next to him, slung her pack off of her shoulder and dug through it to find some of the linen she had packed. Folding a piece, she applied pressure to his shoulder and turned the man up onto his side. He let out a soft groan and she lightly slapped his face with her free hand.

“Hey, wake up. Come on, please, wake up.” She didn’t know how much blood he had lost, but she couldn’t stand the idea of one more person being killed by this monstrous dragon.

He began to stir, his eyes fluttering open and shut as he moaned in pain. She fumbled with her water as she tried to un-stopper the goatskin with her teeth.  She held the water up to his lips and he began to cough and sputter as the liquid hit his throat and he tried to drink.

Removing the water from his lips she asked, “What’s your name? What happened to you?”

“Cadmus,” he spoke hoarsely before moaning again in pain.

“Cadmus,” she felt a small bit of relief spark inside of her as she realized he could be saved.  “Cadmus, that’s good. I’m Geneva. I’m going to take care of you. You look like you got hurt pretty badly.”

The man continued to moan as he regained consciousness and the pain returned to its’ full intensity. Geneva shimmied out of her jacket and balled it up for Cadmus to rest his head on. She gently laid him back down on his front so she could inspect his wound.  The light was dying, and she couldn’t drag him to the mouth of the cave to get any more of it. She would have to do the best she could with what she had.

She quickly went through her pack and found the small store of dried herbs and medicines she had packed in case she had gotten hurt. Within she found white willow bark that she gave him to help with the pain. His moans began to lessen as the medicine took effect.

Geneva washed the wound as best as she could, hoping that the bleeding wouldn’t worsen. She bandaged his shoulder and by the time she finished she could barely see his outline in the dark.

“Cadmus?”

There was no response. Geneva placed her hand in the middle of his back and quelled the momentary panic that had flared up inside of her. He was breathing, calm and regularly. She pressed her ear to his back and heard a strong, steady heartbeat. Letting out a sigh of relief she stood briefly to stretch her legs after kneeling down next to him for so long.

Looking back at the mouth of the cave she saw the last light of the day disappearing. Geneva looked back at Cadmus where he rested on the cold stone. She could make out his outline, his wide shoulders that tapered down to a narrow waist. Then her eyes fell on his buttocks and she remembered that he was naked.

Blushing and chiding herself for her indecency, Geneva unrolled her blanket from her pack and spread it over her patient. Then she walked to the other side of the cave and settled down to sleep, her pack being a sufficient lump of a pillow.

*****

Geneva found it nearly impossible to sleep that night. It wasn’t because the cave floor was cold and hard, but because every time she closed her eyes and tried to sleep she would see the horrors of the dragon’s wrath. The soft calls of screech owls and coyotes turned into the wails and screams of her people being burned alive and torn apart.

After far too long, Geneva finally began to doze off.  Everything fell away into blackness for a short moment. Then she heard Winda calling to her, their familiar birdcalls. Her laugh rang out and echoed in her dream. Geneva looked for her friend.

Winda’s face appeared suddenly before her. Her neck was broken and a piece of vertebrae was sticking out the side. Parts of her beautiful black hair had been ripped from her skull, her left eye was clawed out, and all of her skin was covered in burns, parts of it so badly it had begun to peel. The misshapen face of her friend opened its’ mouth and the shriek of the dragon filled her ears shocking Geneva awake from the restless slumber.

Shaking with grief and fear, Geneva stared up into the darkness of the cave ceiling, unable to clear the mangled image of Winda from her mind. In her right hand she was clenching a rock that she had picked up from the cave floor in her sleep. The cold hard stone was somehow reassuring to her. It was solid. It was real.

Geneva lay there for hours. Eventually the morning light began to illuminate the cave and she could make out the designs on the stones around her. She began to trace veins of minerals across the ceiling, following the winding paths down the wall she laid next to. Then she followed them back the other way, up to the ceiling and down the other side to where Cadmus lay.