Dragon Guardian (Drakins of Wyrmarach) by Eden Glenn Read Free Book Online Page A

Her skin burned for their touch. Oh My God. What had happened to
turn her life inside out?
    “Wren, are you alright?”   Caleb paused in the midst of exploring the shop.
    What the hell had she gotten into? Instead of a, thank you very much for saving my life catch
ya later , she had turned her problems over to two virtual strangers.
Strangers she was panting to get to know more intimately.
    “No, I’m not alright. I fell through my stairs this morning
into wonderland. I allowed two strangers to--to take over my life and…and…. I
have crazy thoughts in my head I don’t understand. No, I’m not alright. I feel
like Alice on crack.
    She stood on wobbly legs teetering through the office
doorway. She leaned on the frame gathering strength. “Yet, you look like a
Greek god puttering around my shop, behaving like the green grocer. I didn’t
give Ethan money for the wood to fix my stairs. As if he should be fixing my stairs. And all I can think about is how to get
you both to. . .”    Her tirade abruptly
ran out of steam. “I need coffee. I haven’t had coffee.”   Perhaps all this would make sense with the
help of a strong fix of caffeine.
    “Tea is better for you.”   He moved into her break room office and set up her drip-through coffee
maker to heat a cup of water. “You have an herbal blend for sale that will
help, try it.”   His voice held a
humorous, indulgent tone.
    She turned to lean back against the doorway. “Another thing,
you know your way around my shop like you’ve worked here. Of course, you blew
it on the java thing…thinking I would drink Tea uck!”    She was in overload and still didn’t have
any answers. Caleb returned with a steaming mug grinning at her. Did the man
have the gall to try to look shy?
    “Arrghh.” She slid down the wall to
sit.
    Caleb leaned over and held his finger to her lips. “Trust
yourself.” He wrapped her fingers around the cup. “Now drink your tea.”
    She stared at him. He had the uncanny ability to make this
freaked out mess seem normal.
    She pushed off the floor and stood. First a walk through her
store, normalcy of routine should be enough to jerk her back from the urge to
attend the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
    “I can do something to help you this morning.”   Caleb followed her on her trek through the
shop.
    “I might as well show you how to run the register on the off
chance someone actually comes by to purchase something. The cops being here
might draw the gossips hoping to get juicy news to spread. I’m not up to facing
them.”
    She showed him the mechanics of making a sale. “Everything is
marked with a price. There’s fifty dollars in the register, for change. I cash it
out at the end of the day. If you make a mistake it comes out of your pocket.
I’m going to work on the books and try to figure out how to pay for the repairs
to the stairs.”
    She stared at him trying to figure out what was missing from
the picture. Oh, hell. She’d turned his shirt into a rag. She nodded at his
shirtless state. “Pick a t-shirt off the rack here. Yours is trash after I bled
all over it.”  
    Noticing her own blood-splattered tank top, she grabbed the
first small green t-shirt off a hanger. The trade logo, Just do it, seemed like
cosmic advice for the decisions assailing her.
    “You would clothe me.”   Caleb’s voice nearly purred with satisfaction.
    She didn’t quite understand the look on his face. “Well, the
least I can do is give you a new shirt. There should
be something here that would do. Why, would that offend you?”   She pointed toward the different extra-large
t-shirts sporting popular logos and trade-marks.
    “No, you honor me.”   He
smiled this time and paused as if considering something important. “Would you
clothe Ethan as well?”
    Obviously something more crucial was going on than simply
giving away a t-shirt.
    “Of course, I mean, he probably doesn’t need one, but he can
have it… if he wants … I mean,