“I feel like a burden, of course.” Amy shrugs. “How can I not? They have to protect me and keep me in this room at all times, and we still get attacked by others. I can’t help with much of anything. I worry my sister’s going to start resenting the fact that she and Kael are stuck here…with me.”

“Never,” I tell her. “Your sister loves you. She’ll always look out for you.”

“That’s part of why I feel so guilty, I think,” Amy says. She picks at the hem of her long tunic top, not meeting my eyes. “I’m always the problem, never the solution. I feel like I can’t do anything to help out. And everything changes on a day-to-day basis. I…I just don’t know what the future holds.”

I reach out and grasp her hand. “It’s going to be okay, Amy. I promise. If you need to, you can come live with me. Dakh and I have set up in an old SuperMart on the outskirts of the ruins. We don’t get the dragon attacks that Old Dallas does. And we have lots of perfume and you can disguise your scent, just like my friend Emma.”

“Emma?” Amy’s brows furrow.

“A friend I’ve made,” I tell her. “She lives alone, and she disguises her scent from dragons so she’s safe.”

“Who’s safe?” Claudia asks, returning to the room, the coffee pot in hand. Steam rises from it, and the scent of brewed coffee fills the air.

“Emma. I met her when Dakh and I stopped at a SuperMart off of one of the old highways. It’s out quite a ways, but quiet there.” I tell them all about how we met Emma and how Emma disguised her scent with deer urine at first, and now perfume. “There are ways to do it,” I tell them eagerly. I want to give Amy hope, and I know she must be struggling right now. “Emma hasn’t been on anyone’s radar. Her scent is well hidden. Dakh says she smells awful to him. If we can make Amy smell awful, then she’ll have a bit of freedom, too.”

The sisters exchange a look.

“It’s a nice offer,” Amy says, her fingers still picking at her hem. “But what am I going to do even if I have the freedom to move around? I can’t go anywhere with my bad leg. I have to sit all the time.” She shrugs. “It’s probably smartest just to continue on as we have been.”

I hate hearing such defeat in her voice, but I can’t force her to be braver. “The option is there, at least.”

“It is. Thank you.” She smiles at me. “And can I just say how amazing it is to see you again, and looking so healthy? After we didn’t hear from you, I feared the worst.”

Claudia pours coffee into a mug and hands it to me. “I admit, I’m curious as to what happened. I’d love to hear your side of things.”

35

SASHA

I take the mug from Claudia and sip it carefully, thinking about what I should say. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. “I remember falling. I think I passed out, because the next thing I remember, I was waking up in a strange place with Dakh staring at me.”

“You must have been so scared,” Amy murmurs, sympathetic.

Claudia says nothing, but the look on her face is miserable, as if she’s aching for me. She pours a mug of coffee and hands it to her sister, then makes herself a cup and sits to listen.

“I was scared,” I admit. “I didn’t know what was going on, and Dakh wasn’t very…focused.” Sorry, babe.

Do not apologize. But you are wrong. I was focused—focused on you.

Okay, good point. I smile at the others. “Dakh says he was focused on me. Anyhow, he treated me well enough, but I was scared because we were attacked by another dragon, and we were up high and there was nowhere for me to escape to. I was trapped with him, and even though I knew, thanks to Claudia, he could turn human, it was still really unnerving.” My cheeks heat as I recall our meeting and how Dakh reacted. “It was also very obvious that he wanted one thing in particular.”

Claudia makes a strangled noise.

“What?” Amy asks, curious.

Oh boy. My face grows hotter. “Um. A mate.” I sip my coffee, letting the cup hide my embarrassment.

Amy looks embarrassed. “Of course. I should have realized that.”

“You can’t really realize what it means until you meet a dragon face to face,” Claudia says sympathetically. “Even talking about it doesn’t really do justice to how…intense of a meeting it can be. How singularly focused they are.”

I nod, because she’s right about all of it. “It was definitely overwhelming. It’s very intimidating at first, but then you figure out that all they want is to take care of you, and the fear starts to go away.” Unless you’re afraid of having sex, which I was. That brought a whole different level of fear to the mix.

You are no longer afraid, Dakh tells me with a bit of smug pride in his thoughts. You are crawling all over me every morning when—

“That’s enough,” I murmur, embarrassed. Both Amy and Claudia look at me, and I feel even more silly. “Sorry, just responding to Dakh. I forget sometimes because his thoughts are so clear in my head, it’s like he’s talking to me.”

“You guys seem happy enough,” Claudia says, her expression guarded. “Are you?” She gives me a thumbs up and then a thumbs down, her expression curious.

It takes me a moment to realize she’s asking me to give her a thumbs down if I’m miserable and don’t want Dakh to know. I’m both offended and flattered. It’s sweet that she wants to help me, but does she think I’d really betray my dragon?

I am pleased you think so highly of me now. Dakh’s thoughts are practically a nuzzle all their own. Just a short time ago you feared my touch.

Of course I think highly of you. I love you. You make me feel safe. You treat me like no one else does.

His thoughts are full of affection. Do not be upset at your friend, my mate. She wants only the best for you. It is amusing that your small human females think they could fight me to protect you.

They’d probably just send Claudia’s dragon after you.

Bah. I would not fight him, and he would not challenge me over a human. We are brothers in scales but nothing more. A drakoni’s mate is sacred.

“Dakh is great,” I say when I realize they’re both staring at me, waiting for an answer. I give Claudia a thumbs up and a nod. “Like I said, I was scared at first, but I’m not scared anymore. He’s really wonderful. I’m never unsafe with him, and he keeps me well fed.”