I will get it, then.

Gently setting my mate back down on the roof, I touch my brow to hers and rub my mouth against hers, the way she’s showed me. Then I get back to my feet and change back to battle-form.

I gather Amy in one claw, and my Claudia ever-so-gently in the other, and take flight, swooping down into the city to find this dawk-terr.

CLAUDIA

My entire side feels like it’s been set on fire.

I groan, pushing through the haze of sleep and trying to surface. It’s difficult. Everything—and I mean everything—fucking hurts. I feel as if I’ve been trampled. By elephants. Carrying wrestlers. Overweight wrestlers. My head is muzzy, and there’s a horrible taste in my mouth in addition to the gnawing pain in my side. Overall, all of this is telling me that perhaps it’s not quite time to wake up just yet.

I demand you return, my Claudia. Kael’s imperious voice rings through my head. You are not allowed to hurt.

That makes me snort softly, even if I can’t open my eyes. “Says you, dragon,” I murmur. “I can hurt if I want to.” I mean, I don’t want to, but it’s not like Kael demanding it can stop it.

“Claudia?” A soft, unfamiliar voice catches my attention. “Are you awake?” A second later, something hot presses against my side, and I hiss, trying to squirm away.

Is the dawk-terr hurting you? Alarm colors Kael’s thoughts, and I hear a low, draconic growling from overhead.

Doctor? It makes sense that there’s one here, given the amount of pain that I’m in. I must be in the clinic back in Fort Dallas, though I don’t know how I’m going to afford treatment. I still have no money. Though my foggy brain still can’t figure out how Kael is here with me. His growling intensifies, and I send him soothing thoughts to calm him. I’m fine. Really. Just give me a minute.

Familiar, achingly hot hands grip me, and then I’m pulled against Kael’s massive chest a moment later. I feel his hand drag through my tangled hair, stroking it, and I don’t even mind. Tell me you are better, my mate, he demands.

Aww. So overbearing and pushy. That’s kind of sweet, really. Overbearing, but sweet. “I feel like shit, but thanks for asking.”

“Hmm?” The soft hands pressing on my side pause. Someone’s changing bandages. The doctor. The bandages lift and then are patted down again. That’s brave, given that I’m being held by a dragon-man at the moment. “You said you feel like shit?”

“I’m okay,” I say automatically, and bite back my protest when Kael gently sets me back down on something soft. A bed. Almost feels like my bed back in our apartment. I lift one hand—jeez, that’s tiring—and search for Kael. I want his touch. A moment later, his hand grips mine, all big fingers and claws, and I’m comforted. I tuck his hand against my cheek and snuggle lower in the bed. I’m so tired.

Rest, he commands, though there’s a gentle note in his thoughts. I will not leave your side.

I know, I shoot back, amused. You never abandon me, ever.

Never. You are my life. Without you, there is nothing.

So fierce. I smile at that and turn my head so I can press a half-assed kiss to his hand. I’ll do better next time, when I’m less pooped. I continue to snuggle his hand, because I don’t want him leaving while I sleep. I like the thought of him watching—okay, lording—over me while I rest. Is Amy okay?

She rests. Kael sends a mental image of my sister curled up in blankets on one of the sofas I’d had Kael drag to our apartment in the sky. She is well. Only you were hurt. His tone changes. And if you ever confront a human that is spitting fire again, I will skewer you with my own claws. Touches of grief and worry shade his mental tone. You are mine.

“Nag, nag,” I mutter.

“Did you say something?” the doctor asks.

“Just talking to my dragon,” I say with a yawn.

A clinical hand immediately presses to my forehead, and I have to suppress a giggle. The doctor probably thinks I’m hallucinating. Then again, maybe not, given that I’m holding Kael’s hand, and even in human form, he doesn’t look all that human. I’m guessing the doctor put two and two together. Are you safe here in the clinic? I ask him. I don’t want humans coming after you while you’re not in battle-form.

We are home.

We are? With a doctor?

I stole her.

I try to picture Kael leaving the human city with my bleeding body in tow, along with a terrified Amy and captive doctor.

It was not easy, he chides, amused. They screamed a lot and made a lot of noise. But I wanted to make you well.

You know you’ll have to return her, right?

She does not smell as bad as other humans. She will make an acceptable mate for someone.

I hold tighter to Kael’s hand. Someone else, right?

Claws touch my cheek tenderly. I will give my fire to no one but you, my Claudia.

I know that. I just like hearing it.

It takes a week before I’m able to get out of bed and move around inside our apartment. In the meantime, I’m hovered over by three very different people.

Amy, who’s ecstatic to see me and even more ecstatic that I didn’t die.

Kael, who’s determined to hover over me and growl menacingly, just in case anyone might cause me distress.

And the medic, Melina, who hovers because I’m pretty sure she’s terrified that Kael will eat her if he thinks I’m not being cared for properly.

It would all be pretty amusing if it wasn’t so damn annoying and I didn’t hurt so much. The shot I took was a clean one, straight in and out, and the wound had been cauterized to prevent infection. Luckily, I hadn’t been awake for that part, just the painful aftermath of it healing. But it still means that I’m weak and not able to do much on my own.

“Quit touching me,” I tell Amy crabbily as she holds my arm, helping me back from the bathroom. “I’m fine.” I’m not, but I’m also a terrible patient, and all I’ve done is snap at Amy all day and then feel guilty about it.

“You’re not fine until that big dragon looks like he thinks you’re fine, and I’d rather piss you off than him.”

“Kael?” I snort. “He’s a big softy.”

“To you, maybe,” Amy says, helping me get back into bed despite my efforts to push her away. “You should have seen him freaking out when you got hurt.”