Page 17 of Kidnapped By The Messy Dragon

“Huh?” She looks between the two of us. “What?”

“You’re fated to Jalen.” Malachi nods at me. “His dragon caught your scent.”

She locks eyes with me. She gives me nothing friendly. Her scent stays warm through it, though, no sour anywhere in it, and I’ll take what I can get.

“That company you work for,” Malachi goes on. “Stillwater. It appears to be running shady business at Shadow Wolf Creek’s expense. And apparently they’re targeting you, for whatever reason.”

His phone chimes. He pulls it out and reads the screen. When he looks back up at her, his scent picks up a note I know well: recognition. Of what, I can’t tell. I stay planted where I am, between my mate and everything else.

He slides the phone back into his pocket. “Whether you like it or not, you’re part of this family. You’ll stay here until we figure out what’s going on and how to keep you safe.”

She crosses her arms. “So I’m your prisoner.”

Malachi rolls his eyes. “If that’s how you want to put it.”

She winces and presses two fingers to her bruised cheek, and my fire climbs all over again.

“Get her settled and fed,” he tells me. “Then come find me in my office.” He crosses the garage and takes the wide steps into the Caves, leaving me alone with her.

“Please,” I say. “Let me take care of you.”

She stares at me for a long stretch. Then her shoulders slump.

Her phone starts buzzing again inside the tote. I unzip it, pull the phone out, and hand it across to her, and I make sure she sees me not checking the screen first.

She takes it. Then she powers it down and hands it back to me.

“It’s just my friend Renee,” she says. “She’s probably worried about me.”

“You don’t want to answer her?” I ask.

“I don’t know what to tell her yet.” She wraps her arms around herself. “I’m trapped in a massive cave with a dragon shifter clan, and one of them believes I’m his fated mate.”

“You are my mate.” I hold her gaze. “My dragon knows.”

Then I sneeze, and smoke rolls out of my nose and both ears. I shake it off, and when I lift my head, whatever is on my face gets a smile out of her. It’s small and gone fast. I start planning how to make my body do that again.

“Apologies.” I press the back of my wrist to my nose. “I think I’m coming down with something.”

“Shifters catch colds?” she asks.

“Rarely.” What this actually is, I don’t know, and today is not the day to chase it.

I cross to the far side of the garage and open the door that leads into the house, and I hold it for her.

“Follow me,” I say. “Let me show you inside. I promise it’s not the cave you’re picturing.”

She follows me with her arms still wrapped around herself.

Welcome home, Zuri.

8

ZURI

Jalen leads me down a short hallway off the garage, and at the end of it I stop walking. I braced myself for damp rock and bad lighting. Instead I get a living room the size of a hotel lobby, carved smooth and high into the mountain, glowing with warm light. The far wall is a single sheet of glass, floor to ceiling, and through it I can see the whole valley, with Shadow Wolf Creek sitting small and bright at the bottom of the mountains.

Deep leather couches and dark wood tables sit around a fireplace taller than I am, and a low fire burns in it with no one around to tend it. Fresh flowers stand on the side table, and there isn’t a speck of dust anywhere I can see.