Page 54 of Red Dragon’s Heart

It wasn’t his looks—he was one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen. Possibly even hotter than Zak, and she hadn’t even known that was possible. Huge and muscular, with black wavy hair, perfect features, and intense green eyes.

It was the eyes that made him so scary. So bright they almost glowed, and a look in them that chilled her. Wild, untamed, and just a little bit insane. Like he could go postal any second, if you said the wrong thing.

He and Zak just stared at each other, heavy silence filling the room.

“Zak?” she murmured.

All she heard was the low growl of the monster. Oh, shit.

Without taking his eyes off the other man, Zak said, “Maddie, go in the lab. And shut the door.”

The man looked at Maddie, those scary eyes cold and appraising, and then he returned his gaze to Zak. “She stays here.”

His voice had a tone of unmistakable authority. This was a powerful man, used to being obeyed.

Zak said in a tight voice, “There’s no other way out of the lab. She’s not going anywhere. Maddie, go.”

The last words had a tone of command almost as compelling as the intruder’s. She didn’t want to go, but she had the feeling this confrontation could turn into something she did not want to get in the middle of.

She just hoped they didn’t kill each other.

She went into the lab, but she didn’t shut the door all the way. There was no way she was going to just sit in there wondering what was going on, while they tore the place apart. Or each other.

Instead, she pressed herself up against the wall watched them through the crack in the doorway.

Zak said, “What the fuck are you doing here, Your Majesty?” The last words had a snarky, sarcastic tone, and Maddie put her hand over her mouth so they wouldn’t hear her gasp.

This had to be King Emon, the head of Zak’s dragon clan. The man who hated Zak because of what the monster had almost done to Emon’s daughter.

Zak went on, “You know what the monster does when other dragons are around. Especially you.” His voice was growing harsh, the way it was the first night he’d brought her here. The monster was pushing on him, and she wondered uneasily if he could contain it.

“Of course I know,” Emon snapped. “Thorne and—others—have been working for almost a year on a way to fix that—which you have not made easier by disappearing, I might add.”

“Thorne knows where I am,” Zak said. “He’s been sending me one of his potions.”

“Which is only partially effective. You think he hasn’t been keeping me in the loop? So imagine my surprise when I learned you asked him for some of that fucking serum that locks you in human form. You know that fifty-six percent of shifters who take that serum lose their ability to shift for good, right? And eighty-eight percent of those can’t even hear their animal anymore. That would include your dragon, by the way. In case you’d forgotten.”

Maddie bit her lip. Why hadn’t Zak told her he was doing that? He surely wasn’t going to risk losing his dragon, just to get rid of the monster? Why would he do that?

“You think I’m an idiot?” Zak said. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. But collars don’t work on the monster, and I can’t risk uncontrolled Changes. Not now.”

Because of her, Maddie realized. The monster had been so quiet, she’d shoved the danger into the back of her mind, ignoring the fact that it could come out at any time—and it might have gotten tired of lullabies.

But Zak had not only been thinking about it, he’d been about to sacrifice everything to keep it from happening.

Emon said, “Lucky for you, Thorne came up with a better solution. Based on the chemistry of the serum, but not so permanent.”

He tossed something to Zak that gleamed gold in the dim light. Zak caught it and held it up, examining it.

It was what used to be called torque in ancient times—a thick curved band that circled the base of the neck, lying along the collarbones.

“I thought we talked about this,” Zak said. “If Draken collars worked on the monster, I wouldn’t have had to leave.”

“This is a new one w—” Emon stopped. “That Thorne made. He infused it with the serum, and figured out how to modify the collar magic. It inhibits everything—even your dragon—so it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a damn sight better than losing him for good.”

Zak stared at him, rubbing the gold lightly, his face unreadable.

Maddie wondered what he was thinking. If the collar worked the way Emon said, then Zak could go back to his clan. He could live there while they worked on banishing the monster for good. He wouldn’t be alone anymore.