Page 66 of Red Dragon’s Heart

“No. I’m used to that. The obnoxiousness, I mean. He’s just trying not to show his real feelings.”

It was Mikah’s turn to laugh. He leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting companionably on the floor next to her. “Sounds like you already have his number.”

She said, “He’s really a softie on the inside.”

“Yeah. He needs somebody who brings that out in him. Who really gets him.”

Of course. He needed somebody of his own kind. “Like another shifter, you mean.”

He shook his head. “No. Like you.”

Dammit, now she really was getting the urge to cry again. “That’s sweet of you to say,” she said, “but I’m probably the worst person for him. You must have seen how everyone looks at me. They think I’m an evil shifter-torturer.”

Mikah shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, well, that’s a sore spot with a lot of us. But if you’re Zak’s mate—”

That set her off. She tried to hold the tears back, but they spilled out and her nose was running, which was totally gross. She gave a loud sniff.

Mikah’s eyes went wide and he looked terrified. “Oh, shit, what did I say? Here.” He conjured a handkerchief and handed it to her. The scientific side of Maddie’s mind noted that handkerchiefs apparently counted as clothing as far as the magic was concerned, even though they weren’t technically wearable.

She wiped her nose. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m a little emotional. And that whole mate thing…”

Mikah blew out a sigh. “You don’t want to be his mate?”

“I don’t think it’s an issue, because I’m not.” She took a deep breath. “I heard him say something to Emon that I wasn’t supposed to hear.”

“What was that?”

“That—that the monster inside him thinks I’m its mate.”

There was a silence, and then Mikah gave a low whistle. “Well. That’s unexpected.”

“Yeah. I mean, it kind of makes sense because the monster had the chance to hurt me, and it didn’t. It even seemed to like me. I was terrified and so I sang to it, and it just kind of lay down like a big dog. And it let me feed it Thorne’s potion, too.”

“Sheeeyit,” Mikah said. “That’s huge. It’s only tried to kill people before.”

“Right? So maybe this monster-thing is… I don’t know. Infatuated with me? But that doesn’t mean Zak is. I mean, we have this crazy attraction, but it’s almost like a compulsion. It’s not normal.”

Mikah moved his head in a ‘maybe’ gesture.

“Anyway,” she said, “We’re all trying to figure out a way to get rid of the monster, basically make it not exist anymore. And if the monster’s gone, then probably this crazy attraction will be gone with it. And that will be that. Zak will move back here and marry a nice dragon girl and live in a little cottage and have little winged babies with her.”

Mikah laughed really hard at that, which she thought was rude. When he caught his breath, he said, “Sorry. But I can’t even imagine that. He would be sooo bored.”

“Well, you know what I mean. He won’t want me anymore.” Dammit, she was crying again. Forgetting the handkerchief, she angrily dashed the tears away with her forearm. Zak’s necklace fell out of the collar of her shirt and glinted in the light from the orbs at the top of the stairs.

Mikah had turned to comfort her, but he froze when he saw the necklace. “Is that Zak’s?”

She wrapped her hand reflexively around it. “Yes. He had to take it off when he put the collar on, so he asked me to take care of it for him.” It hummed in her hand, and she smiled a little. “It was really cool when he took me to see his hoard. The necklace sang along with the gold and jewels, all these incredible harmonies. It was magical.”

Duh. Of course it was. Literally magical. She felt like a dork.

But Mikah was staring at her with his mouth open. “Hold up. Zak gave you this, and then he took you to see his hoard, and the hoard sang to you? And the necklace sang too?”

“Well, yeah,” she said slowly. “Zak and I and the necklace and the hoard were all singing.” He was still staring. “Was that… not okay?”

“Oh, darlin’.” Mikah leaned his head back against the stone wall and started laughing. “Darlin’, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. And trust Zak not to tell you what the necklace was. Fucking idiot.”

Okay, now he was making no sense at all. “Well, you’re not doing a much better job,” she said. “What the hell are you talking about?”