All right. That was a little alarming, but we’re getting somewhere. I nod enthusiastically and gesture at the meat. “Yes! Cook!”

At my encouraging tone, he blows out a larger gush of flame, searing the leg. It crackles, and the fat sizzles on it, the smell of charring meat filling the air. The flames end as quickly as they erupted, and he looks expectantly over at me again, smoke trickling from his nostrils.

I move forward, putting a hand on his muzzle as a warning not to fry me, and check the meat. Still raw underneath the top layer. I move away again and gesture for him to ‘cook’ once more. He does, and after the second round, I check it again. Charred, but not bad at all. I dig my fingers into the meat and pull off a long strip, chewing thoughtfully. Juices rush into my mouth, and I close my eyes at the heavenly taste. This is the first real, fresh meat I’ve had in I don’t know how long. It doesn’t matter that it’s goat. It doesn’t matter that it’s been dragon-broiled.

It’s amazing.

I want to stuff my mouth full and eat until I get sick, because who knows when I’ll get another chance to have this much fresh food? I give Kael a beaming smile and reach out to stroke his nose. “Thank you. This is perfect.”

He noses my hair, and his tongue brushes against my neck. When I push him away, I see his eyes are black.

Eep. I know what that means. I grab the meat and step away, giving him a wary look. He blinks, and his eyes go back to gold. Good. He doesn’t follow me to my new seat, either. Also good. It’s like he knows that he needs to back off when he goes over the edge. That makes me relax a little. As long as I can recognize when he’s about to cut loose, I can stop it from happening.

So I eat. Dragon-roasted goat is the best thing I’ve had in forever, so I eat as much as I can and then push it away. The moment I do, he wolfs the remainder down. Bones crunch, and then he looks at the rest of the goat’s carcass and then back to me.

I wave a hand at it and shake my head. “No more for Claudia.”

He seems to grasp that and scarfs the remainder of the goat down in a single gulp.

Handy way to get rid of a mess, I suppose. I search for something to wipe my hands on, but there’s nothing clean. I’m thirsty, too, but I suppose that’s a problem that can be solved later. The sun is going down, and I’m starting to get cold. The wind’s rising, and it bites into my bare skin. I find the flimsy white bit of fabric that made up my dress and wrap it around my shoulders, curling up in a corner. With food in my belly, I’m suddenly exhausted. I’m crashing, I think. I’ve spent most of the day utterly terrified, and now I just feel drained.

Whatever Kael wants with me, he wants me alive. That much is obvious. I seem to be his prisoner, since I can’t get down off this building on my own. I lean back against a broken bit of wall and sigh. I’m better off where I am, for now. A yawn escapes me, and I muffle it with my hand.

The movement catches the dragon’s attention, and Kael’s big paw reaches out for me. I stiffen as it curls around me, but he only pulls me against his chest and settles down on the floor. He cradles me between his forelegs and lays his head down.

I still have the piece of glass that I’d used to butcher the goat. I can attack him. I can try to force an escape. The urge to fight hasn’t left me.

But he’s being gentle with me. His scaled chest is toasty like a furnace, and the terrible claws are oh-so-careful not to harm me. It’s like he knows that I’m fragile and is taking extra care to make sure that I’m safe. And it’s weird, but I feel a strange little thrill at how carefully, how closely, he holds me.

Man, I must really be starved for affection if I’m liking it that a dragon’s cuddling me.

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised—life in the After is hard and unpleasant. No one’s affectionate, because trusting someone can get you killed. Anyone that gives you attention likely has an angle. The last boyfriend I had stole all of the food I’d carefully hoarded, and after that, I never entertained another relationship. I have Amy and Sasha, but I admit that sometimes it’s lonely. Sometimes it’s hard being the one that’s in charge, the one that everyone looks to in order to make things right again.

Maybe that’s why I like the dragon’s embrace, no matter how ridiculous it seems. The control’s been taken away from me. All I have to do is sleep and let someone else handle things.

Even if it’s a dragon.

After a moment’s hesitation, I relax against him and close my eyes. At least he’s warm. My arm brushes against an enormous claw, and I remember just how big and scary he is. How one wrong move can tear me limb from limb. Maybe dragon cuddles aren’t such a good idea, after all. I’m a little tense as I settle into my ‘bed.’ I won’t fall asleep, of course. I’ll be too terrified. But at least I can be warm.

And yet the moment I close my eyes, I drift off.

KAEL

I scarcely dare to breathe as Clau-dah relaxes against me and her breath evens out into sleep. It takes every bit of my inner strength not to bury my nose in the soft cloud of her hair and drink in her scent. Having her here, clutched against me, feels like the greatest gift. With her hand on my scales, my mind feels crisp and bright, not blurred by madness. It has been so very long, and I have her to thank.

My Clau-dah. My mate.

She has yet to take battle-for. I think she does not have one at all, confirming my suspicions. That makes her all the more fragile, and it means I must be vigilant in my task to keep her safe. She cannot speak to me with her mind, either. I have reached out to her several times, even as we stood close together, and gotten nothing in return. If she were drakoni, my mind could touch hers and we could communicate with a thought.

But if she were drakoni, she would be as crazed as the rest of my people. Her thoughts would be eaten up with the anger and the darkness. I am glad she is other.

More than anything, I ache to claim her, to take her as my own. I want nothing more than to transform into my two-legged form and curl around her as a mate would. To hold her close and sink my cock into her warm, willing cunt. But I cannot. Not yet, not while she is yet frightened of me. I will not touch her until she welcomes it. Until then, I will take the small joys. The fact that she sleeps so peacefully against me is pleasing. I thought I would lose my sanity when she ran away, and in that moment, I nearly broke again. I nearly broke a second time when she dangled off the edge of the strange cliff, but I was able to bring her back safely. My claws tighten around her in remembered fear. So close to losing her just after I found her.