city of dragons 02 - fire storm by val st crowe Read Free Book Online Page A

decked out in her pink pedal-pusher pants with a cardigan tied around her shoulders. She was twisting her hands together, and she looked uncomfortable. “Is there somewhere we could talk?” she said. She lowered her voice. “Privately?”
    “Um, I guess my office,” I said. “Follow me.” I started down the hall, glancing over my shoulder to make sure that Melinda and her friends were following. What the hell was she doing here?
    Melinda and I were about the same age. She and I had been childhood friends, but her destined mate had been another of our childhood friends, Paul Irwin. The two had been all over each other right after coming of age, and they’d started having children young. Maybe because of that, they’d been extremely lucky. They had three children, which was practically unheard of in a dragon family. It was hard for dragons to conceive or to carry to term.
    Anyway, I never expected to see Melinda again, especially not all the way down here in the south side of Sea City.
    I opened the door to my office and gestured them inside.
    The three women came inside and stood together in a clump, gazing around at the surroundings uneasily.
    I shut the door. “Uh, have a seat.” I had a couch that sat against the wall and faced my desk.
    They all looked at the couch, looked at me, and then gingerly sat down.
    I folded my arms over my chest. “What’s going on?”
    “I’m sorry I haven’t gotten in touch before, Penny,” said Melinda. “I know that things have been… hard for you.”
    “This is a social call?” I said. Because I was fairly sure that no respectable dragon was going to be seen with me, considering I’d left my mate and all. That wasn’t done, and it had turned me into a social outcast.
    “Not exactly,” said Melinda, twisting her hands together again.
    “Listen,” said one of the other ladies, “we don’t understand you. How a dragon could leave her mate is beyond any of us.”
    “Well, if your mate’s pummeling you within an inch of your life on a weekly basis, it makes it easier to leave,” I said. “But still surprisingly difficult.”
    The women all drew back.
    “Alastair does have a temper,” muttered Melinda.
    “Whatever the case,” said the lady who’d spoken, “we don’t understand it. Every relationship has problems. But your mate is the other part of you, the missing part of your own soul. Without him, you’re only half a person.”
    “Well, all half of me is really wondering why you’re here,” I said. I was starting to feel a little twitchy. I had never tried to explain to a dragon before why I’d left Alastair. I had always figured it would be pointless. They wouldn’t get it regardless.
    But out here in the regular world, when I said that my husband was abusive, non-dragons were nothing but supportive, so I had forgotten for a moment that dragons would never accept what I’d done.
    “You came to visit my Timothy this morning,” said the third lady. She held out her hand. “I’m Nissa Fields.”
    I shook with her. “Listen, that was part of an investigation with the police. We’re looking into Fletcher Remington’s disappearance.”
    “Oh, we know all about that,” said the rude lady. “I told Viola that it was absolutely gauche to involve the police. As tragic as it is, we all know what happened to her boy, and there’s no reason to make it worse.”
    I furrowed my brow at her.
    Melinda shot her a sharp look. “Connie, please.”
    Connie shrugged. “I said I’d come along, not that I’d keep my opinions to myself.”
    “Timmy said you talked to him about The Dungeon,” said Nissa. “We found out about it about a few weeks ago, and we confronted him about it, and…” She pressed her lips together as if she couldn’t continue.
    “My Jenna is going there too,” said Melinda.
    “Jenna?” I said. “But she’s just a little girl.”
    “She came of age two years ago,” said Melinda. “She’s coming along with us to Steven