Page 56 of Red Dragon’s Flame

But as they neared the village, her happy mood melted away. There were lights and people, and music coming from a big wood-frame building with a high vaulted roof held up by triangles of heavy beams.

She moved closer to Mikah, and he put his arm around her.

“We can leave any time you want,” he said again. As she slowed further, he added, “We don’t even have to go inside.”

Devon clenched her teeth. She wasn’t as wimpy as all that—she wouldn’t let herself be. She could do this.

She straightened up and lifted her chin. “No, I’m good.”

There were two doors, one at either end of the covered porch that ran all along the front of the building. Mikah steered her over to the right-hand door, and held it open for her to go in.

There was a long wooden bar splitting the room down the middle, with barstools on either side and the bartender in a space in the middle. At the end of the bar, between the two outside doors, was one of those open restaurant kitchens where you could see the cooks. At the far end there was a stage where a country band was playing, with a crossover space in front of it to get from one half of the room to the other.

The left-hand side of the bar was full of people, eating at tables that lined two sides of the room, standing in little groups chatting, or dancing on the small dance floor.

The side they were on was set up the same way, only the tables were farther apart, and so were the bar stools. There were a few clumps of people in conversation, and some couples on the dance floor, but there was a comforting amount of space between groups.

Devon let out her breath.

Mikah led her up to the bar and ordered for them. Gerard himself was bartending. “Hey, Devon,” he said casually, when he brought the drinks. “Glad you could make it. Going to try some karaoke in the break?”

“If Mikah will do it with me.”

Mikah took both drinks and handed her a margarita. “How could I not?”

They watched the band for a bit, sipping their drinks and talking to Gerard. When a slow song came on, Mikah put his drink down. “Dance with me?”

She bit her lip. “There might be fire.”

Gerard waved a hand. “Go on. What’s a little fire between friends?”

So she let Mikah take her to the dance floor and pull her into his arms. He was incredibly graceful for such a huge man—she’d seen that when he was fighting. Somehow they fit together, even though she was so much smaller, and he held her like she was something precious, swaying to the music.

“This dancing thing isn’t hard,” she said after a while. “I thought it would be.”

“You’re a good partner.”

She shook her head, and then rested it on his shoulder. He tightened the arm around her waist, pulling her closer, and dipped his head to kiss the top of her hair.

Telling everyone around them that she was his. That he cared about her. No one even mentioned the little flame that flickered up his arm and lifted the strands of her hair.

Devon felt like she was floating in a dream. But the song ended—all too soon—and the band called out for Mikah to go onstage and sing.

At first he said no, but Devon really wanted to hear him. So she pulled him up to the stage, and he seated her on a barstool right in front of him so he could keep an eye on her.

Then he launched into some of his dragon songs. They were dark and deep and shivery, and then wild and free like flying through the sky. As he sang, the magic in his music made pictures in the air in front of him, dragons swooping and diving and fighting and making love.

She’d love to know the words to that song.

Devon could have listened to Mikah all night, but finally the band put down their instruments and announced they were taking a break. Immediately a deejay called Troy took over, and started running the karaoke.

Mikah leaned against the bar next to Devon, while wolves took turns getting up and making idiots of themselves trying to sing oldies and pop hits.

Then Troy called out Mikah’s name. “Going to sing with me?” he asked, holding out his hand.

“What’s the song?” she asked suspiciously.

He named a popular song that Michelangela had played for her. There was even a dance to go with it, that had apparently gone viral on social media. “They’ll be so busy dancing they won’t care how we sound.”