Fired by my Grumpy Dragon (Grumpy Monster Bosses #3)

THIRTY SIX

Kivrayn

I wake in the early hours of the morning to discover Loren is not in my bed.

Strange.

Throwing back the covers, I pace through the suite. My nose picks up a stale scent trail, but nothing fresh. She isn’t here and hasn’t been for hours.

I’m already dragging clothes onto my body when I find the note on the nightstand. I pick it up and almost burn the thing with the flame that shoots from my nostrils when I see what it says.

No hard feelings?

All my feelings have been for the last few days—weeks—is hard. Painful. Aching and impossible to ignore.

Does she think she can run from me? Did I frighten her last night with my lack of control, my bite? With my ridiculous claims?

Fuck.

Or would she have stayed if I had admitted how completely everything has changed? At least for me. If she knew for certain that my bite was my claim and I’m ruined for anyone except her .

I crush the paper in my fist and drop it to the floor. Finding my phone, I dial my assistant. “Get me the next flight back to Heartstone. I don’t care what it costs.”

Orna has been with me for too many years to stumble at such a simple hurdle. She gives a delicate cough on the other end. “Good morning, sir. Let me get back to you when I have found the next available flight. Can I arrange to collect your luggage as well?”

I look around the room. Though my things are neatly hung in the closet and tucked away in drawers and on shelves, it would take me time to pack everything. Not a trace of Loren remains in my suite. How did she collect everything while I slept without me stirring at all?

Another plume of smoke blocks my vision, and I flap my wings angrily to clear it. “Yes. Fine. Be quick.” I hang up.

Goddamn it.

I need her back. I can’t decide if I need to tie her up and spank the brat from her or just curl up with her in my arms and never let her go, but I need something. Because this is untenable.

When my phone rings, I almost smash it against the wall on instinct.

I pause and draw in a long breath, letting it out as slowly as I can without breathing flame. “Yes. Kivrayn here.”

“Sir, I’ve got some bad news. It seems that the last available flight to Heartstone today was taken already.”

I curse under my breath. I bet I know who got it too.

Unless she’s still here in London, back at her hotel, hiding from me. Could that be possible? My instincts tell me no, but my instincts also picked up nothing of this before it happened.

“When is the next flight?”

“I can get you on one tomorrow morning. Early. Shall I book it?”

I growl. “Yes. And bribe someone to get me switched to first class. I cannot travel economy. When you’re finished with that, get me everything we have on file about previous employee Loren Carandang. I want numbers, addresses, next of kin, you name it. And get someone to find out if she’s actually left England.”

“Sir, I don’t think—”

“I don’t care what you think!” I bunch my hand into a fist and force myself to regulate my tone. “It’s important. Please.”

“I’ll see what I can do, sir.”

When I hang up this time, I follow Loren’s scent trail to the entrance of the hotel. It dissipates just as I get to the curb where cabs pull up outside the lobby. A driver opens the door of a black cab. “Need a lift?”

I can’t even answer lest I scorch him and his vehicle. Instead I break into a run and launch myself into the air. The shift mid-air yanks at my joints and stretches muscles I don’t need stretched. The burn is worth it.

It doesn’t distract me from my racing thoughts for long, though.

I’ve been away from my hoard for too long. The distance and time are fraying my nerves. Let’s be real, though, the distance from my mate is what’s tipped me over the edge .

I should have told her. I staked my claim in a dragon’s way, but Loren is human. Stubbornly so. She will need convincing.

I let the wind lift me through the drizzling rain and up above the buildings. Water droplets sizzle off my hide, which is a testament to how overheated I’ve let my fires grow. When I land at the entrance to the hotel where Loren was staying, a lady on the street screams and a man with a stroller turns abruptly to cross the road when he sees me. I ignore them. Lowering my head, I sniff the pavement. There’s not a trace of her scent. Not even a whiff as there was outside my hotel. She hasn’t been here in days.

That doesn’t rule out her staying somewhere different, but since Jenny is dead, she no longer has any reason to stay in London. My first instinct was right. She’s gone.

I let her go.

Lucky I know where to find her, even if that will take too many painful hours.

The flight back to Heartstone might be the single worst experience of my life.

I might as well have flown myself. All my muscles ache from being cramped into a tiny space with other creatures all around me and no room to move.

Turns out Orna couldn’t get me into first class. Not even business class.

I’m not convinced she tried very hard, and I can hardly blame her after my foul temper over the phone .

When she told me I’d have to slum it in economy, I grit my teeth and accepted it. The need to get home and to find Loren again is too strong to wait any longer, even as long as it would take for me to fly under my own power.

I snap at the harpy beside me when she asks if I could move to let her visit the bathroom. And my wing gets a cramp when I have to stuff myself back in my seat. This is an outrage. There’s no way this complies with safety laws. I make a mental note to make a complaint to someone when I get home. Just as soon as I have Loren locked up in my den.

The thought makes my claws flex and smoke drift from my nostrils.

I resist the urge to tear the seat in front of me from its bearings when the monster beside me doesn’t move into the aisle quickly enough after the plane lands. Every additional second I spend in this plastic and metal hell is a second of my life I’ll never get back.

As soon as I’m in the terminal, I switch on my phone and call Orna. “Have you got those addresses for me? Yes, it’s urgent. Yes, text them to my phone.”

When the message comes in, I let out a low growl of satisfaction. She’s mine, and she’s about to know it. There will be no more running.