Dragon's Second Chance Romance - Riley Storm Page 0,53

said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “This is Claire’s. She lent it to me. Because she likes me.”

“Ooooo, Claire likes Pietro. Pietro likes Claaaiire. You guys gonna get marriedddd,” Rann teased, drawing out his words.

“Laugh all you want Rann,” Pietro said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. “One day, you too will find a woman, and your life will change.”

“One day,” Rann said. “Not anytime soon though, that’s for sure. I like things the way they are.”

“There are only so many women in Five Peaks,” Pietro pointed out. “Surely, you must be running low.”

Rann made a wounded face as the two began walking toward the cave opening. “Ouch. That hurts. But for your information, I am not running low.”

“Right,” Pietro drawled.

Rann was the biggest womanizer in clan Atrox, and the others all teased him about it relentlessly. He took it in good spirits, and never seemed to have a down moment, which was one of the things Pietro liked about his teammate.

“I’m serious,” Rann said. “Dude, there are thousands of new potentials now. All those people who have come to Five Peaks to see a dragon? There’s lots of new faces to see there.”

Pietro just hung his head and laughed. “Just be careful,” he chuckled. “Those tent cities are a cesspool. You never know what you’re going to find among them.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Rann said. “I’m smart, don’t worry.”

“I have my doubts about that one,” Pietro rumbled, ducking a playful swat. “Also, have you seen Kladd? I need to run something by him. I—”

A loud clashing of cymbals came from Pietro’s pocket, followed by a rousing burst from the horn section of a symphony, and more music followed.

“Who’s calling me now?” he grumbled. “One sec.”

Pulling out his phone, he looked at the caller ID but didn’t recognize it. The number was local, but there was no name attached.

“Hello?” he said, deciding to pick it up.

“Hi. Is this Pietro Atrox?” a female voice asked, speaking his name uncomfortably, like she was reading it off a piece of paper or computer screen.

“Speaking,” he said dully, getting the feeling he’d just picked up a spam phone call. If they started telling him he was in trouble with the IRS for unpaid taxes, he was going to hang up.

“Hi, my name is Gayle. I work with Balance the Scales.”

Pietro straightened. He knew that name. That was where Claire was doing her community service. Balance the Scales was a dragon-funded organization providing aid to all the people who were living in the tent cities outside of town, trying to keep the places clean and sanitary. That was hard with upward of four thousand people now crowding the former farmers’ fields, all hoping to catch glimpses of a dragon, or maybe even meet one.

He’d heard stories about the intensity of many of the people that Balance the Scales was tasked with helping. Trent had done several appearances to help promote his mate Lilly’s store, a dragon-themed shop that helped to educate people on dragons and show that they were good.

Not evil, as was claimed by some, like the Church of the Anti-Wyrm, a dragon-hating sect that had sprung up almost overnight.

“Hi. What can I do for you, Gayle?” he asked.

“Well, I was just wondering, is Claire with you?”

Next to him, Rann stared, his eyes narrowing as Pietro jerked completely upright. “No,” he said. “She’s not. She was supposed to carpool with someone this morning.”

“That was me,” Gayle said. “But, well, she never showed. I was just wondering if you knew where she was. Her parole officer showed up, and…”

“Shit,” Pietro hissed, for multiple reasons.

Something had happened to Claire. That was his main priority, but he also knew that once she was found, she was going to be in trouble. Skipping out on her CS was likely to land her in jail for a while.

“How long ago was she supposed to be there?”

“Well, I thought maybe she’d found another ride,” Gayle explained. “So I waited for a bit, then I left. I didn’t want to be late myself either.”

“Nobody is faulting you, Gayle,” Pietro said, though he desperately wanted to berate her for not calling him sooner. But how could she know that Claire was in trouble and hadn’t simply forgotten or driven herself in. “I’ll find her.”

He hung up without waiting for a reply.

“Everything okay?” Rann asked as Pietro found Claire in his address book and hit dial.

“Probably not,” Pietro growled, turning to look out and down the mountain to the valley below where Five