Chapter 11

Coal leaned up against the wall at the door. He folded his arms.

Julie knocked again. There was still no answer.

“She’s sleeping... peacefully.” Coal said, his eyes on the opposite wall. The rooms and hallways within this… lair…it wasn’t a lair though, not really. More like a massive castle or mansion. No, a mansion was too small for what this was.

“She could be tied and gagged.” Julie narrowed her eyes at him.

The lair was tastefully decorated, yet quite sparse for such huge rooms. There was no expense spared and the pieces looked to be antiques. Large Persian rugs, pewter candle holders. At least, she assumed it was pewter or possibly white gold since non-humans were allergic to silver. There were ornate crystal chandeliers throughout.

After waiting half a minute, she knocked a third time.

“Can we go yet?” Coal said, his voice low. “I’ll bring you back later. I promise.”

Julie shook her head and prepared to knock again.

“Coming.” She heard a croaky voice, from the other side of the door. It was definitely a woman’s voice.

Julie smirked at Coal who huffed out a breath.

It still took another minute or two for the door to open. Pauline was in a thick, toweling robe. Her hair was mussed and her eyes had that sleepy, just woken up look. She smiled and ran a hand through her hair. “Hi,” she said, before stifling a yawn. “Sorry, come in.” Pauline gave Coal the once over before turning and heading back inside.

“I’ll be back in just a minute,” Julie said to Coal. It was her way of letting him know that he wasn’t welcome. She needed to speak to Pauline alone.

Coal nodded once. “I’ll wait here. It’s unsafe to walk around by yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah… in case someone else tries to take me for themselves.”

His eyes darkened. “It’s not a joke.”

“I’m not laughing.” Julie closed the door behind her.

“Are you okay?” Pauline asked, then she smiled. “Was that your dragon? He’s cute. Not nearly as cute as Flame though.” She smiled over her shoulder. “These dragon shifters are awesome, aren’t they?” Her smile was about a mile wide and her cheeks were flushed. Then she frowned. She looked more closely at Julie and must have picked up on her unease. “Oh shit! Did you get a bad one? Are you hurt?” She took a step closer and looked Julie up and down. “He seemed nice. You look okay except for your knee but surely he didn’t do that.” She narrowed her eyes.