“Last time I let you give me the chef’s specials the food never stopped, and I had to take half of it home with me in a doggie bag,” Kira said. “We just want a bit of lunch! We’re not trying to feed an army!”
Privately, Caleb thought he probably could eat enough to feed an army right now, especially if the food tasted as good as it smelled, but he thought he should probably just stick to a normal amount of food.
“Well, suit yourself.” Eula shrugged. “What’ll it be?”
“I’m happy to go on your recommendation,” Caleb told Kira. “I trust your judgment.”
“All right then,” Kira said, raising a hand to tap her index finger against her lower lip – completely adorably, Caleb couldn’t help but think. “Well, Eula, in that case we’ll get two chili dogs with full toppings, onion rings on the side with… hmm, coleslaw, fried okra, and corn on the cob. Oh, and two pickles.” She turned to Caleb. “Uh, is that too much food? I just always want to get everything when I’m here.”
“Not even slightly,” Caleb told her with a smile. “In fact, add a side of fries to that. Oh, and I’ll get a root beer too.”
“Oh, make that two!” Kira added.
“Coming right up,” Eula said, grinning at them both, before she bustled back out to the kitchen.
The chili dogs and sides lived up to their reputation – and smell – when they arrived ten minutes later. After he bit through the light, crunchy outsides, the insides of the fried okra melted on Caleb’s tongue. The fries and onion rings were still sizzling from the fryer, and the pickles were crisp and tangy. And the chili dogs themselves really were the best that Caleb had ever tasted – spicy, cheesy, and loaded with onion, mustard, ground beef and jalapeños.
“Wow. That was… amazingly good,” Caleb said, as he cleaned up the last of the chili dog toppings with the last of his bread roll. “Clearly I’ve been missing out all these years when I said I didn’t care about food.”
“Oh man, yeah,” Kira laughed. She dipped a fry in some melted cheese that had stuck to her plate before popping it in her mouth. “If I wasn’t completely sure I’d die of a heart attack within three weeks I’d eat here every day. It’s tempting, even then.”
“I’m with you on that.” Caleb leaned back in his chair, feeling full and satisfied. Even his dragon, for once in its life, seemed completely sated.
A feast fit for our mate,it purred, its glowing eyes half-closed. We have provided our mate with nourishment. She knows now that we can provide.
Well, we ate a diner meal, but sure,Caleb told it. Right now, he was just happy the dragon seemed satisfied and not inclined to give him any more unhelpful advice, or roar so loudly he couldn’t hear himself think.
For about one second, anyway.
As soon as Caleb let himself think the dragon wasn’t going to cause him any trouble, its head shot up, eyes blazing, smoke rising from its jaws. All its senses had suddenly gone on high alert.
What is it?he asked, only to notice that Kira too had gone from smiling to scowling as she looked over his shoulder, out to where cars were parked outside.
“Oh, no,” she muttered, as Caleb whipped his head around, trying to see what had upset Kira and gotten his dragon so worked up. The only thing he could see, however, was a shiny black car pulling up outside, right next to Kira’s Range Rover.
“What is it?” he asked, turning back to her. He wanted to reach across the table and taker her hands in his, but he didn’t know if she’d welcome the gesture.
“It’s those slimeballs from Tongle & Heit,” Kira muttered, shaking her head. “I thought they’d left town, since the cops came and told them to stop ignoring me telling them to stop trampling all over the park. Seems like I was wrong.”
Caleb glanced over his shoulder again. There were two well-dressed men and one woman stepping out of the sleek, black car now – clearly slick corporate types. Caleb had never met anyone from the main branches of the Tongle or Heit clans so he had no idea if these ones were particularly important members, but the way they were dressed and the way his dragon was reacting to them – with smoke and fire and growling – told him they had to be important.
They are the ones who want to take our mate’s habitat from her,his dragon snarled. We must not allow it! We must teach them what it means to threaten our mate, or her happiness!
As much as Caleb wanted to agree with his dragon in this instance, he also knew that it was hardly a good idea just now. They were in public, and on someone else’s property. Not to mention he didn’t think Kira would be especially impressed with him starting trouble, especially if she was trying to stay on the right side of the law.
Plus, the curse means banana peels would probably start manifesting out of nowhere, making me trip up at the worst possible moment,Caleb thought ruefully.
He wondered if it would be better simply to make himself scarce, but at that moment the man leading the other two up the steps looked up, his eyes catching Caleb’s through the window of the diner, and a smile – wide, toothy, and gleeful – spread across his face.
Well, too late for that,Caleb thought grimly. Whoever this guy was, his dragon had clearly sensed Caleb’s. He’d just have to hope he wasn’t the talkative type.
“Well, well, Ranger Dearborn,” the man said as he strolled into the shop, followed by his two lackeys. Caleb’s dragon snarled within him, but even it couldn’t help but be impressed by the sheer amount of wealth dripping off this man, from the gold watch on his wrist to the expensive suit he wore. It was simply in a dragon’s nature to notice these things – after all, in the past, the hierarchy of dragon clans had been decided by the size of their hoards.
“What do you want now, Mr. Heit?” Kira asked, her voice prickly. “I’m pretty sure I’ve made my position clear to you, and you’ve been told you’re not supposed to be in the park until everything’s been settled.”
The man – Mr. Heit, apparently, so he really must have been an important dragon – looked back and forth between Kira and Caleb. Caleb’s dragon, having recovered itself from its initial instinct to be impressed, was growling now, smoke pouring from its jaws.
Tell him to stay away from our mate and her habitat,it snapped. Tell him he’s not welcome here. Tell him we will enforce it if necessary!