Her Deluxe Dragon Detective: A Cozy Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Lone Dragons Book 4) by Alice Summerfield

Author:Alice Summerfield [Summerfield, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14 – Gabriela

Gabriela jolted awake, her heart pounding in her chest, and tried to think what had woken her. Nothing came immediately to mind. Lying in the dark, she strained her senses.

Sight was out. In the darkness of her bedroom, the bulk of the armoire looked like a looming shadow, the chair in front of her vanity like a crouching one. So she listened, straining her ears for any sounds that seemed out of place. To her attentive ears, the creaks of the old house as it settled sounded like footsteps coming up the stairs to murder her.

Don’t be stupid, thought Gabriela, scolding herself. The alarm hasn’t gone off. You’re fine. You’re safe. It’s probably just that hideous rat.

None of the humane rat traps that had been put out to capture the little beast had caught it yet. In fact, that had yet to actually trap anything.

Thud! Thump! Thump!

That was definitely the sound of things being knocked over downstairs.

Possibly by the world’s largest, grossest rat, thought Gabriela, trying to stay calm. Her heart was in danger of pounding its way out of her chest. It doesn’t have to be a human intruder.

There was a breaking sound from somewhere below her – glassware being shattered, Gabriela decided – and Gabriela scrambled out of bed to lock her bedroom’s door. As quietly as she could manage, Gabriela darted back across the room to her nightstand to snag her cell phone. Then she rushed back across the room to hide in her bedroom’s walk-in closet.

Tucking herself behind her boxed up possessions from her old apartment, Gabriela threw in the towel. She called Derek.

“Da Luz,” said his beloved voice briskly into the phone.

“Derek?”

“Gabby! What’s wrong? Did we have a date tonight? Did I miss it? I’m so sorry.”

It had only been a couple of hours since she had last spoken with Derek, but at that moment, it felt like weeks since she had last seen him. Somehow, it made everything seem worse than it had just a moment ago.

“Are you busy? Something’s wrong in the house. I think I heard something breaking downstairs,” whispered Gabriela, her voice quivering, and immediately felt stupid.

I sound like a child! Gabriela thought and felt even more disgusted with herself. She still really wanted Derek to come and check it out through.

Gabriela felt an immense, nearly overwhelming sense of relief when Derek said, “Don’t worry. Lock your bedroom door, and we’ll be right there.”

“We?” asked Gabriela, the word nearly catching in her throat.

“Me and my temporary partner, Ajax,” said Derek. “Since Grissom is on his honeymoon with Ana, and Ajax’s partner hasn’t yet transferred into our department, we’ve been paired up for the interim. Ajax is actually a pretty okay guy.”

Someone with a low voice said something indistinct in the background, and Derek laughed.

“It helps that you’re willing to go along with me in this, yes,” he said to the other person. To Gabriela, he said, “He thinks I only like him because he’s willing to come out and check on the house for you.

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