Then again, I glance up at Dakh. “You compared this to a war. Is this a battlefield to you?”

He shrugs. Sometimes it reminds me of one.

My eyes widen. “Is that a memory? Of battle? War? From before you came through the Rift?”

The dragon-man’s eyes flare black. I…I do not know. If I try to think about it, I hear nothing but the call of the ravens.

I stroke his arm, worried about how dark his eyes are right now. “It’s all right, Dakh. Don’t think about it if it’s going to bother you, okay? Think about things that make you happy. Like…picnics.”

His eyes immediately flare golden, and the look he gives me is full of appeal. You wish to have a picnic?

“Maybe later,” I tell him, and can feel a blush rising. I’m still a little curious about his war thoughts and make a note to write them down in a journal to ask about in the future. Maybe at some point his mind will settle more and we can talk about such things. For now, we can focus on the smaller, day-to-day stuff. “Today, let’s think about our future, all right? If we’re going to stay here through the winter, I want to see about making the doors a little more defensible. There are the big glass ones in front, and the ones in the receiving bay, and the emergency exits on both sides of the store, as well as the garden center.” Just thinking about all those doors makes me feel a little more unsafe. I know Dakh will protect me, but I don’t want to get to that point. “I’d like to make those a priority, okay?”

Whatever you like, my mate. He grazes his knuckles over my cheek. As long as I spend the day with you, I do not care what we do.

“My dragon’s a romantic,” I whisper, teasing. The little caresses make me melt like butter and make parts of me feel like they’re about to turn to mush.

I only want what pleases you. What is so strange about that?

I laugh to myself. “Sometimes, I think ‘everything’ is strange about that. But I’m not going to complain. Let’s go check out the front door and get ideas, okay?”

He follows me as I head to the front of the store, and I keep my thoughts calm and pleasant, even though I want to think about what he said about war and conquest. I’m still not good at hiding things, so I’ll have to focus on that next time he goes hunting or he’s distracted. I eye the big dirty windows at the front of the store, wondering how I can possibly make an entire wall of glass safe, when I notice that my envelope is disturbed. The “EMMA” I scrawled on the front is now facing the inside.

Someone’s flipped it over.

My heart pounds, and I race for the door, then burst outside. As I do, I see that SASHA has been written neatly on the back of the envelope and it’s been flipped over so I’ll see it.

I have mail.

Dakh moves protectively to my side, his nostrils flaring. I smell the little human female. I recognize that foul stench.

Foul stench? I have to admit that I’m not-so-secretly pleased by that. I want my scent to be the only female scent he likes. Weird that I’m feeling possessive about a dragon, but I can’t help it. After last night, a lot has changed. I can feel my pulse starting to race just by thinking about that, and I know Dakh’s going to use it as an enticement to go back inside and “play picnic” some more.

Before he can suggest it, I grab the envelope and pull the paper out. There’s a note inside for me.

Sasha,

I’m out of deer urine. Could you be so kind as to leave me a few cans?

XOXO

Emma

Oh, right. I forgot about the deer urine. I laugh to myself. “I think it’s not Emma’s scent that you’re smelling, Dakh.” I wave the note. “She’s still using deer urine to disguise her scent.”

It makes my scales crawl.

I can’t help but smile at that. “I think that’s the point, Dakh. She doesn’t want dragon attention. Or any attention, I’m guessing, since she’s on her own.” The thought makes my guilty conscience rise. Even though Emma technically abandoned this fantastic store when we arrived, the truth is that we were trespassing. We scared her off. In a way, we’re kind of squatting on her territory. And I know how it feels to be alone in the world with no one to count on and no safety. I hate that we did that to her. I think for a minute and then decide I’m going to write her back.

I have to fix this.

Emma,

Hey there! I’m so glad to hear from you again. I’ve been checking daily for notes in the hopes that you’d return, and I’m glad you did. Dakh and I are still staying at the store, and I want to reassure you that you can come by any time you want and grab anything you need. You can even stay at the store with us. I know that sounds like an asshole sort of thing given that it was your store, but you know what I mean. It’s hard to tell a dragon no, even when it’s my dragon.

Long story short, come and get some deer urine. But please hang out for a while. We’ll have a barbecue the day after tomorrow. I’ll bring the (flat) soda and (stale) chips, and Dakh will bring the fresh barbecued meat! It’ll be great. I swear you’re safe with us. Please, please come by. I would love to chat, even just to say hello.

Your friend,

Sasha

It is a good note, Dakh reassures me. But you should tell her it is not a trap.

I frown at him. “Uh, so you want me to write at the bottom, ‘PS this isn’t a trap’? That won’t go over very well.”

Why not?

“Because then she’ll really think it’s a trap?”

But you would tell her it is not.

“Oh, you sweet innocent dragon,” I tell him with a shake of my head. “Just trust me on this one. She’s going to have to take a leap of faith.” I put the paper back into the envelope and flip it back around to show “EMMA” on the front. “I hope.”

You are excited about this female coming to visit.

“I am.” I smile up at him. “I guess it’s part atonement for stealing her house and part wanting to have another friend—a girlfriend. I miss Amy and Claudia. It’s funny, because back in Fort Dallas, we lived in the back of this old schoolbus. We’d taken the seats out and sold them, but the entire thing was still kind of cramped. I used to gripe that we were never alone for a moment and dreamed about having a place of my own, but then they disappeared and I realized that being lonely is probably the worst thing possible.”