Aspen (The Dragon Kings #2)(32)

Sid’s stomach clenched. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do. Honestly, I wish you had come to me when this all started. Then it wouldn’t have escalated.”

“I didn’t want to bring you out of retirement for something we could handle.”

“Well, I’m here now. A few more weeks then this will all be behind us.”

Skye squealed, and suddenly walnuts rained down all around them.

Everyone turned to look. Both Rowan and Skye held one end of the walnut bag, which had split into two.

Rowan gave Skye a grin. “Looks like I win.”





December came in with a monster snowstorm, but in spite of the foot of snow that had fallen the night before, they still had school. Early Monday morning, Aspen, Sid, Rowan, and Skye piled into Sid’s Escalade and slowly made their way into town.

Aspen was so sick of school, but it provided a normalcy to all the craziness. There, she didn’t have to think about Sid risking his life because of her or the dragon terrorizing the park.

Just before they got out of the car, Skye spoke. “Hey, we need to stop at the store on the way home.”

“How come?” Aspen asked.

“Because I need more walnuts.” She opened the door and escaped out of the car before Rowan could retort.

Aspen met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “You’re welcome.”

“For what?”

“Like you didn’t enjoy having her hands all over you yesterday.”

Rowan shrugged, and Aspen giggled.

“Do you think she’ll be mad when she finds out you prefer walnuts?”

Sid started laughing. “Really?”

“On top of brownies, not in them. But I didn’t get a chance to explain that to her before things got out of hand.”

Sid opened his door. “We need to go inside. School starts in two minutes.”

Aspen groaned. “Three weeks until Christmas break. I can’t wait.”

They braved the snow, and stomped off their boots when they got inside. Tori was standing by a set of lockers near the door. She threw her arms around Aspen.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“It was just Thanksgiving.”

Tori shrugged. “Well, your party got cancelled because of that stupid dragon, and you ignored my texts.”

“My phone died. I’m sorry.”

Tori pouted for a second and then recovered. “We’re planning a snowmobile trip this weekend. You up for it?”

“Where? The park’s closed.”

“We figured you could get us in.”

“It’s really dangerous right now. We should wait until the dragon is caught.”

“When did you become a wuss?” Tori flung her hair over her shoulder and looked at Aspen expectantly.

“Did you forget that this dragon killed Matt, Lila, and Mrs. Dufour? This isn’t a joke. No one should go into the park.”

“You live in the park.”

“Not right now, I don’t. Rowan and I are staying at Sid’s.”

Tori raised her eyebrows. “Really? Figures you wouldn’t tell me. I guess you two made up.”

“It’s complicated. I don’t even know what we are right now.” The bell rang, and they all ran for homeroom. Dufour had been pretty lenient about tardies, but Hudson was not.





The next two weeks flew by in a routine of school, work, and home. Every few days Aspen’s parents would join them for dinner.


The dragon hadn’t killed anyone else. At least not that they were aware of. Sid thought he was probably still eating people, but had gotten smarter about it.

Rowan still didn’t know that he was living with a bunch of dragons. It was getting more and more difficult to distract him when Apollo showed up. Though, most of the time, Apollo simply flew over the house and gave Sid updates in his head.

A week before Christmas break, Aspen’s parents brought Chinese takeout for everyone. Just as they started to eat, Apollo strolled into the room, looking pale. Sid jumped up.

“Dad, you okay?”

He nodded. “I’m just a little worn out. We need to talk.” He looked around the table.

“Dad, this is Stacey and Jason. Aspen’s parents.”

Aspen’s dad stood up. “I thought you were out of the country.” He held his hand out. Apollo looked at the hand and then grinned at Aspen before he pulled her dad into a bear hug.

Aspen snorted. Dad would not like that. He barely hugged her. Apollo let go of him, and Dad straightened his shirt. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Apollo laughed. “You too. I’ve been dying to meet the parents of the girl who stole my son’s heart.”

Stacey looked from Aspen to Sid. “I thought you said you and Sid were just friends. That Skye was his girlfriend.”

Aspen squirmed. “It’s complicated.”

“Did you lie to us?”

Skye, who was sitting next to her mom, laid a hand on hers. “Mrs. Winters, Sid and I had this on again off again thing. But in the last couple of weeks we realized it would never work, and Aspen and Sid have been sparking again.”

“It’s true.” He sat down and ran his hands through his hair. “I’m totally in love with Aspen, and she still hasn’t decided if she wants to be with me yet. But she knows how I feel about her.”