Abducting Abby: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 1

Chapter 3

Another bolt of lightning flashed, and then thunder rolled across the sky, shaking the cabin walls. The electricity had gone out over an hour ago, and Abby had lit a couple of candles to light the interior, although the way the lightning was flashing, she probably didn't need to.

Bo had taken refuge under the bed in her bedroom. Every once in a while she would hear him whine, and she would call out soft reassurances to him. Gloria was tucked up in the barn nice and safe. Abby hoped there wouldn't be too much damage, but wasn't too optimistic from the sounds raging outside.

She did what she could to prepare. Rain fell in sheets limiting the view outside to just a few feet. It was going to be a long night. Abby sat at the small table, staring out the kitchen window when another bolt of lightning flashed. It was strange; but, she could have sworn there was something else in the thunder that followed. She caught a glimpse of something in the sky with that last flash.

Bo whined again, this time coming out from under the bed to put his head on Abby's knee. He still had his tennis ball in his mouth. Abby reached down and absently petted Bo's head, scratching behind his ears.

Sighing, Abby leaned over and dropped a soft kiss on the top of Bo's head, "Come on. Let's go to bed. Watching the storm isn't going to make it pass any faster, and I have a feeling there is going to be plenty of cleanup work to do tomorrow. Maybe we can find you a couple of sticks to carry back."

Abby stood up and blew out the candle on the table, then picked up the one in the living room to carry with her into the bedroom. She brushed out her hair and changed into a pair of pajama pants and matching tank top that had little pictures of dogs on it. She climbed into the full-size bed and scooted over, patting next to her for Bo to jump up.

"You can help keep me warm tonight, big guy," Abby whispered as she wrapped an arm around the soft fur snuggled up against her.

*.*.*

The next morning was bright, and she saw that the storm had cleared away everything in its path. Abby sipped a cup of coffee as she walked down the front steps of the cabin. There were bits of limbs everywhere. A tree had fallen behind the barn, but it hadn't done any damage. Bo ran down the steps and raced around the yard smelling all the branches to see if the storm had brought anything fun to play with. Abby opened the door to the barn and moved to the stall holding Gloria. Gloria leaned her head over the door of the stall looking droopy-eyed at Abby.

"Did the storm keep you up last night, girl?" Abby asked as she ran her hand behind one of Gloria's ears, then down along her jaw. "Come on, let's get you outside to enjoy the beautiful weather."

Abby moved into the stall and opened the sliding door at the back of the stall, which led into the corral. After making sure everything was still secure, she picked up a brush and brushed Gloria before closing the gate.

"Come on Bo. Let's take a walk and see what else needs to be done," Abby called as she moved down the path to her workshop.

She would check it out before heading toward the meadow farther up the mountain, where she had seen the weird light last night. She had dreamed about it. She couldn't really remember much of her dream, just a nagging feeling that she needed to check it out.

Her workshop had survived the storm just fine. She was glad, since she had several thousand dollars worth of materials inside, not to mention the piece she was almost finished with. Bo pranced around, wagging his tail and marking just about everything. Abby laughed at the male need to mark. It reminded her a little of Clay when he followed her around town glaring at anyone who looked her way.

Bo ran ahead down the path. Abby was a bit slower as she stopped to move some of the bigger branches out of her way. She liked to hike up to the meadow during the summers and just enjoy the scenery. She was lifting a really large branch to the side when she heard Bo barking excitedly.