Ben held up a hand, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline. "Wait. Your mother knows a matchmaker?"
"That's all you got out of that?"
"No, but that part seems really confusing." Ben settled into the armchair across from her, his field-trained mind clearly struggling to process the information. "I mean, your mother's about as romantic as a geology textbook."
Maple waved a dismissive hand. "She probably didn't know Gerri was a matchmaker, or that she knew where to find hidden dragon towns, or anything supernatural at all. My mom's dealt with some unusual cases over the years—things that didn't fit standard academic explanations. She probably just heard how frazzled I sounded and reached out to the one person she knew who handled... anomalies."
"Okay, that's plausible." Ben leaned forward, his practical nature reasserting itself. "But how does this Gerri woman know about dragons existing among us? I mean, that's not exactly common knowledge."
"I don't know. She didn't share her life story or reveal all her secrets." Frustration crept into Maple's voice as she gestured at the glowing artifact. "Does it really matter right now? What matters is that I'm somehow attached to this thing, and what'seven more impossible, is that I met the dragon Alpha of that hidden town, and he seems to be connected to it too."
Ben's eyes widened as the implications hit him. "You said Gerri called it a dragon claim marker."
"Yes, and?"
"Claim. As in, stake his claim to something he owns."
The words hung in the air between them, and Maple felt something cold and inevitable settle in her stomach. Her mind raced through every piece of dragon mythology she'd absorbed since childhood—every fantasy novel, every folklore collection, every academic paper on ancient mating rituals and territorial behaviors.
How had she not made the connection immediately?
Probably because her nervous system had been in overdrive since the moment she'd first touched the artifact, leaving her too destabilized to think clearly about anything beyond the immediate crisis of how her body was responding to the artifact.
"Oh no." The words escaped as barely a whisper. "Claim marker means it's designed to locate and draw a dragon's mate to him."
A slow smile spread across Ben's face, the kind of expression he wore when a particularly puzzling excavation site suddenly made perfect sense. "This is all making sense now. Why the artifact didn't react when I touched it but goes crazy around you. Why no one else is affected by it the way you are."
Maple stared at him, her world tilting dangerously. "No. We're reading way too much into this. We're using dragon folklore to skew our reasoning. There has to be another explanation."
But even as she said it, she could feel the truth of it settling into her bones. The way the artifact had recognized her touch. The way her entire body had responded to Rune's presence. Thecareful distance he'd maintained between them, as if getting too close might trigger something catastrophic.
Ben didn't look convinced by her denial, but he must have noticed how she was coming apart at the seams because his expression softened. "Why don't we go get some food? Get something in your system, and then we can think about this more rationally afterward."
Maple nodded gratefully, needing the normalcy of a simple meal and familiar surroundings. She carefully wrapped the artifact in its cloth and closed the treasure chest, ignoring the way the glow dimmed reluctantly, as if protesting the separation.
"You should really leave that here," Ben suggested as she tucked the chest under her arm.
"I'm not taking this out of my sight."
What she didn't admit aloud was that she physically couldn't bear to leave it behind anymore. The further she got from the artifact now—especially after meeting Rune and visiting the hidden town—the more an ache built in her chest, sharp and insistent. When the claim marker was close, she felt more complete somehow, despite the heat that flooded her system whenever she touched it directly.
Even if Rune promised to help her unbind from the artifact, the more time she spent with it, the less certain she was that she wanted to be unbound.
The thought should have terrified her. Instead, it felt like accepting an inevitable truth she'd been fighting since childhood.
Minutes later, Ben drove them through the familiar Phoenix streets, the evening light casting long shadows across the desert landscape. Maple held the treasure chest tightly in her lap, finding comfort in its warm weight and the subtle pulse of energy that seemed to match her heartbeat.
They were halfway to their usual restaurant when Ben's expression shifted, his eyes flicking to the rearview mirror with the kind of focused attention that meant trouble.
"Maple, I think we're being followed."
She twisted in her seat to look through the rear window, spotting a black SUV maintaining a careful distance behind them. The vehicle's windows were tinted too dark to see inside, and something about its deliberate positioning sent alarm bells ringing through her mind.
"Keep driving and see if they follow."
Ben took the next three turns, weaving through residential streets with the casual efficiency of someone who'd spent years navigating unfamiliar terrain. The black SUV mirrored every movement, never getting closer but never falling back.
"They're definitely following us." Ben's voice carried the steady calm he used in crisis situations, but Maple could see the tension in his shoulders. "Any idea who might want to track down someone carrying a dragon artifact?"
