Spooks & Specters: A San DeLain Short Story Collection

Chapter Three

THE CHANGE swept over Hudson, power rushing through his body. He loved that feeling. Stretching his neck, he listened to it pop. As he’d once described it to Kage, the change was like a really good stretch after a hard sleep. Tucking all of this into that tiny human form definitely had its drawbacks.

His territory and the compound were already spelled for privacy. Last thing any of them needed was to end up on YouTube, although most humans wrote stuff like that off as a hoax. It had happened to other courts, but not his.

And he absolutely bragged about it when given the chance. Of course he did—he was a dragon.

Since Kit was standing a good distance away from them, he and Connie tussled for a few moments. They pounced on each other and rolled around, shaking the ground. He tossed Connie off of him—gently of course—then whacked him with his tail. Never one to miss an opportunity, Connie trapped Hudson’s tail in his mouth and gnawed on it—again, gently of course.

Amused, Hudson looked over his shoulder at Connie, his head tilted in a just what do you think you’re doing look.

Connie pranced in place, Hudson’s tail still in his mouth.

“Oh my gosh, are you doing tippy taps?”

Kit spluttered. “You are, aren’t you! And I was just sitting here thinking you two remind me of a bunch of cats playing around, then you go and do that. Because that? That’s straight up a dog move.”

Both dragons turned to glare at Kit.

“So, you can do the creepy head movement even in your natural form, huh?”

Kit crossed his arms and stared back at his mates.

Hudson sniffed arrogantly. They were neither cats nor dogs. Both of those animals were not nearly magnificent enough to even be in the same classification as a dragon, although feline shifters would argue that point. They were wrong, of course. Just ask a dragon. They’d tell you so.

At least Kit’s comment got Connie to drop his tail, so there was that.

Connie huffed, tossed his head, then presented Kit with his back. Kit snorted. Since Connie was facing Hudson, he slowly winked. Kit had once said that Connie gave off golden retriever energy, and he was right.

But only they got to see it. To everyone else, Connie was the Right Hand of the San DeLain Fire Court—a dangerous dragon, indeed.

“Okay, naptime. Assume the position.”

Bossy human. Still, he and Connie did as they were told and assumed the position—which was basically what cat owners called a loaf, dammit. Since he was bigger and taller than Connie, he rested his head on Connie’s back.

Kit curled up next to one of Connie’s forelegs, and Hudson let the end of his tail rest against Kit. This way all three of them were touching.

The warm California sun beat down on them, and Hudson sighed, content, and closed his eyes. He’d had a nice snack, his mates were with him, and he was warm from the sun. What more could a dragon ask for?

AN INDETERMINATE time later, something roused him from his nap, and he twitched.

What in the world? Why did it feel as if…. Wait. Something… something was tickling him on one of his back legs. Was something climbing on him? A bug, maybe? But… no. That wasn’t right. Couldn’t be a bug. He was in his natural form. He couldn’t think of any bug that would be big enough to tickle him in this size.

There was a rolling purr that came from the vicinity of his hip, and his eyes flew open. Oh no. It couldn’t be.

“Mother of all!”

Hudson barely managed to suppress his reaction to the tickling and Kit’s exclamation. But it wasn’t easy. Kit’s raised voice called to the most primitive side of his nature, demanding Hudson act, to protect his mate.

“Is that… Is that…. Oh my God. It is!”

Connie had also raised his head and was staring at Hudson. Or rather, what was climbing on Hudson.

“Holy shit? Is that a baby dragon?”

Oh, this was bad. This was incredibly bad. A youngling had a full array of abilities. Although inferior to those of an older youngling, those abilities were sufficient for it to take care of itself, at least against relatively weak threats and predators.

A youngling could run within hours of hatching and could fly within a day or two. Its senses were fully acute, and—due to the interweaving of a dragon’s centers of memory and instinct—it was born with a substantial amount of its parents’ knowledge imprinted in its mind.

A youngling had a grasp of the generalities of the world and of its own identity. It knew how to move, how to use its innate abilities, who and what its parents were, and—perhaps most important—how to view the world around it.

And humans were a threat.

And even though Kit was taking their blood, he was not a dragon.

Connie and Hudson moved at the same time—Connie curled protectively around Kit, completely entrapping him, but also covering him. Hudson shifted immediately and grabbed the youngling by the scruff of its neck.

Hudson inhaled deeply. He. The youngling was a male.

The youngling yowled, of course, then spit fire. Well, more like sparks, which Hudson didn’t appreciate. The youngling’s eyes widened immediately when Hudson hissed. Red dragons were immune to another red dragon’s fire, no matter the form they were in, but that was completely uncalled for.

Connie growled, and Kit, who was buried underneath Connie and protected by his scales, suddenly went quiet.

Holding the youngling aloft, Hudson glared into his eyes. He didn’t recognize the youngling, but the male was definitely from his court. There was no mistaking the scent of one of his members.

“You are old enough to know better. We don’t expose ourselves to humans. We do not spit fire at others, especially when a human is around. And a human would not be here unless that human was important. And this one is because he’s my human.”

The youngling ducked his head as best he could with Hudson holding him by the scruff. Hudson couldn’t tell how old the little male was, but he was definitely old enough to know better.

Which begged the question—who was watching this youngling?

“Do you understand me?”

The little dragon huffed.

Hudson didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow as he stared at the little male.

The little dragon squeaked, then lowered his eyes.

“Much better.”

“I want to see the baby dragon,”

Kit demanded. “Connie, get off me. There is no danger here.”

Hudson closed his eyes briefly. Kit was wrong, actually. When dragons were involved—no matter their age—there was always a danger. Maybe even more so since the dragon in question was a youngling.

“Hudson! Tell him to let me out!”

Hudson opened his eyes and stared at the little dragon. “My mate wants to meet you. Can you behave yourself? No sparks. At all. Understand? Just look cute.”

The little dragon rolled his eyes but nodded enthusiastically.

Hudson guessed that would have to do. The little male might be young, but he was definitely old enough to know how to act. Of course, just because he knew how didn’t mean he necessarily would.

Hudson lowered the little dragon to the ground. “Again, this is my and Connie’s mate, who is not a dragon, which I know perfectly well you can tell.”

The youngling nodded, then lowered his muzzle in deference.

Although, to be fair, the sparks the little dragon had shot off were probably because Hudson startled him. Everybody in his court knew who Kit was, including the youngest of them.

There was a human saying about how curiosity killed the cat. To some degree that also applied to younglings. Not necessary the killing part, but curiosity was definitely a problem for the younger dragons.

“Okay, Connie, let Kit go.”

Connie grumbled but uncurled from around Kit.

Kit popped up immediately, rubbing his hands together. “Where’s the baby dragon? And geez, shouldn’t you get dressed? He’s a baby, after all. Oh. Is he a he or a she?”

Hudson picked up his swimming trunks and slipped them on. “He is a youngling. Connie? If you want to switch back, that’s fine.”

Within seconds, Connie was also pulling on his swim trunks. He glared at the little male. “Do we know who he is?”

“No. I also wonder where his caretaker is.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s definitely something that should be addressed as soon as possible. But in the meantime, can I pet the baby dragon? Pleaseeeeeee?”

The baby dragon in question started doing tippy taps, his tail wagging behind him.

“Oh my Goddddddd, that’s the cutest thing ever!”

Kit dropped down in front of the little male. “Is that a dragon thing? The tippy taps?”

Hudson was beginning to think it was a Kit thing.

“You are the cutest thing ever. Yes, you are. Yes, you totally are.”

Hudson pinched the bridge of his nose as the youngling chirped happily as he climbed into Kit’s lap. He stretched his neck, preening, as Kit slowly stroked him from nose to tail, just like he would a cat.

Everyone could hear the youngling’s purrs.

“You’re absolutely adorable,”

Kit whispered.

The youngling plopped down, gently kneading Kit’s leg as his tail swished. Loud, rumbling purrs drifted from him as Kit rubbed one of his ears. The young male turned his head and rubbed his jaw along Kit’s wrist.

Connie edged closer to Hudson. “Did he… did he just scent mark our mate?”

Yep, trouble. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the trouble Hudson had planned when he snuck his little surprise into one of the picnic baskets. Forlornly, he glanced at it. There definitely wasn’t going to be any fun times with a youngling around.

“He’s a youngling, Connie.”

“I know that, but that doesn’t mean he’s unaware of what he’s doing.”

Yes, scent marking another person could, in some instances, be seen as rude, especially if that person was mated. Paranormals tended not to like other paranormals scent marking their mates.

So he understood why Connie was annoyed, even if the little male was a youngling. Hudson’s dragon hadn’t cared for the action either, but he was older than Connie.

He understood that sometimes younglings did that to people they were attached to. Of course, this youngling had just met Kit, so there shouldn’t be any attachment there.

Nevertheless, ear rubs were pretty awesome.

“I’m sorry,”

Connie said softly. “I sound like a jerk, don’t I?”

Before Hudson could agree, the little shit in Kit’s lap licked Kit’s wrist.

“You are the cutest thing ever!”

Kit exclaimed, burying his face into the little male’s neck and kissing him.

The little male turned smugly toward Connie and smirked. Then he hopped off Kit’s lap and ran toward the picnic basket, which he launched himself into. Laughing, Kit hurried after him and sat down.

“Oh, come on already.”

Hands on his hips, Connie glared back at the little male.

Oh yes, definitely trouble.

Before Hudson could answer, he heard hurried footsteps running through the woods toward them. A few moments later, a young female dragon burst out of the woods, looking around frantically.

She spotted them, and her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh thank the Flames!”

Hudson recognized the young female member of his court. Her name was Elizabeth, but she went by Liz.

The youngling looked up, saw Liz, launched himself out of the basket, and then tried to bury himself in Kit’s lap.

“You! You are in such big trouble, mister.”

Liz stomped toward them as the youngling let out a distressed yip.

Connie smirked.

Hudson also didn’t know who he should reprimand first—Connie, for acting like a youngling, or the youngling for acting like a youngling.

Kit wrapped his arms around the baby dragon protectively.

Hudson sighed as he added Kit to that list.

Liz stopped in front of Kit and the youngling, glaring down at them. “Miles, your mother is going to kill you and me both.”

As soon as Hudson heard the name, he knew immediately who the youngling was and who he belonged to. And even though the male was very young, Hudson had already heard about his many adventures. The little guy had a twin sister, if he remembered correctly.

He stared at Kit while Liz scolded Miles. There was a slight smile on Kit’s face as the youngling clung to him. Suddenly, more than anything, Hudson wanted to see Kit with a baby dragon of his own.

The feeling came out of nowhere and completely leveled Hudson. Having eggs had never really been anything he’d thought about before, but seeing the youngling in Kit’s lap definitely had him thinking about it now.

Connie discreetly nudged Hudson. “You know, egg fever is a real thing.”

Hudson snorted. “That’s a female thing.”

“Are you sure about that?”

The thing was, Hudson wasn’t. He wasn’t at all. Oh Gaura.

Thanks to Danielle L. for the name of the youngling.

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