“Choose your next move wisely, she-dragon, for I will not make such easy prey,” Arsenic said, squaring his shoulders and standing boldly between her and Farrah. But despite his words, Farrah could see his hands beginning to turn blue, could see his legs trembling as he struggled to simply stand.

At that, the woman threw her head back and laughed, a staccato, terrifying sound. Then as suddenly as she’d begun, she stopped.

“I have so many more important things to attend to. A single dragon who’s about to die and his not-a-dragon-heart mate couldn’t possibly be more uninteresting to me at the moment,” she said, sneering. Then with a wave of her hand, she turned toward the purple vortex behind her.

“But mark my words. Your oracle and her dragon puppets’ days are numbered. Pity you won’t be around to witness it for yourself,” she said over her shoulder, then disappeared as the portal shut behind her, a kitchen wall once more.

“Come back here and face me, you—” Arsenic said, going after her. But he didn’t even make it two steps before he collapsed forward, plummeting to the ground limply. His sword fell to the side and disappeared into yellow mist.

“Arsenic!” Farrah said as she rushed to his side. With considerable effort, she was able to roll him onto his back, and his gaze moved to hers lazily.

“Are you all right?” he asked weakly.

“Of course I am. That’s not who I’m worried about right now.”

“I’m… I’m sorry, Farrah. I failed you. I let my guard down,” he said, frowning.

It seemed to take all his concentration just to speak. He was so pale now.

“No. No, no, no, there has to be something we can do.”

He tried to shake his head, but it just lolled to the side. “I’m immune to many poisons, but Crios was right. Not this one.”

“I know how you feel. Like it’s tearing you apart from the inside out.” Arsenic’s eyes widened slightly at that. “I had wyvern poison injected into me,” she explained.

He paused, sorrow in his eyes. “For what it’s worth, I would have done anything to keep you from experiencing that or any other pain.”

“Why is that?” Farrah asked, pleading for more time, for a miracle. Anything that could stop time from grinding forward.

At that, Arsenic managed a grim smile. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re my mate, Farrah.”

The words struck Farrah to her core. Suddenly, it all made sense. Why he’d been so possessive, so obsessed with her since the first day they’d been together. Why he’d acted so hurt every time she even considered having her memory erased.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Arsenic’s eyes rolled back, and he passed out, going limp in her hands.

No. This can’t be happening.

“Arsenic? Arsenic!” she pled, shaking him, hoping to bring him back to life. But he remained still, skin cold, eyes closed.

In desperation, she kissed him, hoping for a response. But his lips were cold, lifeless.

“You can’t go! Not like this,” she cried as tears of frustration and bottomless sorrow bit at the corners of her eyes. Why had fate allowed her to survive through a living hell, only to offer her happiness and then rip it away from her.

Her hands clutched his unmoving body, but she bumped a small metal object on the ground. She looked and saw the small dart, its wyvern poison payload enough to obliterate her joy for a hundred lifetimes.

Wyvern poison.

Farrah sat up, thoughts suddenly spinning like a top in her head. She’d survived wyvern poison. Perhaps her blood had formed antibodies against it.

Knowing she didn’t have a second to lose, she leapt to her feet and went to the kitchen, grabbing the first sharp thing her hands could find, a small paring knife Arsenic had left to dry next to the sink.

As a nurse, she’d administered antivenin a couple times before for things like snakebites, so she knew how it was produced. Maybe her blood would work?

Tears streaming down her face, she rushed back to Arsenic’s side, cutting a small mark in her palm, the pain of it nothing compared to the soul-rending torment overtaking her. Blood immediately began to stream down her hand, and without waiting, she found a spot on Arsenic’s arm and made a similar cut. She didn’t even hesitate, pressing her hand to him, letting their blood mix, praying it might work.

Farrah had no idea why she was doing this and whether or not it was a terribly wrong thing to do. But what could it possibly hurt now?

The seconds passed by like hours as nothing happened. Then, gradually, the bluish-purple color in Arsenic’s veins began to recede as his skin began to regain color. A moment later, she saw a small pulse beating at the base of his neck, followed by weak breaths.

Relief flooded through Farrah as full-on sobs of happiness cracked her voice.

And when his eyes began to open, hazy at first, then looking up at her with confusion, she felt relief for the first time in what felt like forever.

Her mate was going to be okay.

* * *

Arsenic didn’t know what was happening.

He’d felt weak, adrift, as if he were being pulled out to sea. And then nothing, total blackness. Oblivion.

And then suddenly, he’d felt his heart beating again. And when he’d awoken, Farrah was there, crying.

He hated to see her cry.

“Farrah,” Arsenic said, the feel of his own throat dry and foreign. He reached his arms up to hold her, and even though everything in his body felt it was weighed down by lead, the excruciating pain had mostly subsided.

Farrah didn’t resist him, embracing him roughly as he wrapped his arms around her.

“You’re alive,” she said with both relief and disbelief.

“So I am,” he replied in similar disbelief. “How?”

“I’ll explain later. For now, you have a lot to explain, mister.”

“Like what?” The feel of her soft body on top of him was so warm, so comforting. He never wanted to let go.

“For starters, like doing something so stupid as telling me I’m your mate when you were about to die.”

Suddenly, Arsenic’s mind flooded with his last words. His admission.

A few minutes ago, he’d had nothing left to hide.

And now it was all out in the open.

“I… I didn’t want you to think I was trying to manipulate you or change your mind.”

“Huh?” she asked, sitting up slightly. Her eyes were so beautiful he could stare at them forever.

“I knew from the start you were afraid of shifters. I didn’t think I had any right to put my feelings out there. I was just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t care about that. I was stupid for thinking I would ever want to forget about my time with you, about you. You’ve made life so wonderful. I could never want that now,” she responded hoarsely.

Arsenic lifted a finger to her eyes, pulling away a tear and flicking it away.

“But what about your past?” he asked.

“I can’t give up my past if it means giving you up with it. I want to be with you, Arsenic.”

Her words were hope, the possibility of his wildest, most perfect dreams coming true.

“Are you sure? You’d have to leave your world if we were together, Farrah.”

“I didn’t know it, but I was done with my world the instant a handsome, honorable dragon walked into my life,” she said, her smile lighting up the room around him.

“Who’s that?” Arsenic asked.

“You, idiot,” she said, prodding him with her finger.

“Ow, be gentle,” Arsenic said, pulling her in against him. “It’s not going to be easy, you know. Just a heads-up.”

“Maybe. But it will be worth it,” she said, relaxing against him.

“Hell yes, it will be,” he replied. “So how did you save me?” His curiosity was buzzing.

“I shared my blood with you. I survived wyvern poison, so I thought it might work.”

“That was risky. You could have been hurt.”

“Oh,” Farrah said, pausing for a moment. “Well, I don’t care. I couldn’t let you go.”

“Even if you could forget me?”

“I don’t think there’s any power in the universe that could make me forget now. I love you too much,” she replied.

He was loved.

Arsenic had been a lot of things in his life. Despised. Feared. Disgraced. But he didn’t think he’d ever been loved.

He didn’t even know how to respond.

“Arsenic?” Farrah’s voice rang out, giving him clarity.

“Yes?”

“You okay?”

“More than okay,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss. Her lips were so warm, the slight taste of salt on them. He wanted to kiss all her tears away, wanted to give her so much happiness she never had reason to shed another tear for the rest of her life.

Their kissing was interrupted by a blue glow filling the room, and both of them looked to the side just in time to see a wide blue portal open. A second later, half a dozen dragons spilled out from it, weapons in hand.

So great was their haste that they stumbled here and there as they filled the room. But they quickly righted themselves, holding their swords ready for battle and realizing the fight was already over.

“We’re late,” Cadmium said.

“Yes, you are,” Arsenic replied drily.

Muttering, they put their swords away. Chromium in particular looked more than a little disappointed.

“Are these your friends?” Farrah asked as Arsenic sat up and helped Farrah to her feet. He nodded in reply.

“Guys, this is my mate, Farrah,” he said, introducing her to the rest of the dragon guard. The others nodded, seemingly unsure about the whole thing. Zinc alone came to the front and offered his hand, and Farrah took it. Thankfully, he left out the hand-kissing part.

“I’m Zinc. A pleasure to meet you,” he said cordially.

“Likewise,” Farrah replied.

“Uh, we missed the action, I guess? What happened?” Cadmium said, looking around at the broken furniture and cracked walls.

“I was nearly killed, and the she-dragon incinerated our attacker. Then she disappeared,” Arsenic said, hoping to gloss over the part where he was caught off guard.

“You should probably come back and report,” Lead said, crossing his arms.

“Agreed,” Arsenic said, tightly pulling Farrah into his side.

The other dragons turned and disappeared into the portal one by one until Arsenic and Farrah were left alone in her home once more.

“You ready to go back to the shifter world?” Arsenic asked, turning to his mate.

“I’m ready to go anywhere with you,” she said, looking up at him hopefully.

“Okay,” he said, moving to her ear so he could whisper. “Then before we go anywhere, you should know that I love you. You’re my mate and I’ll protect you with my life.”

And before she could reply, he picked Farrah up into his arms and leapt into the portal, headlong into their future together.