I swallow hard before knocking on Rebecca’s door. I must get this right. There’s only so many times I can screw up before she gives up on me and moves on. She’s human. She might not be able to feel the mating bond as strongly as I do. If we’re not together, she’ll feel odd, unhappy, but she might not understand why.

I’ll be alone and in deep mourning pain.

I can’t risk that. I want Rebecca. I have to win her over with this.

I knock on her door.

Rebecca opens it, eyes a little wide. Then she sighs. “I should’ve known you’d be next.” She opens the door further and gestures for me to come inside. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to get rid of you.”

“I have something for you,” I tell her. “You’re a biologist. And you’re researching animals in this area.”

Rebecca nods, looking wary. “Yes?”

I pull out the rolled-up map from where I’ve been holding it behind my back. I’ve been working on it all night.

As a dragon, I know the forest better than anyone. I know the animals, and their migratory patterns, their habits. I know every tree and whether it’s healthy or ill.

Some things have changed because of the fire, so I had to go out patrolling in my dragon form to check up on everything. But, afterwards, I got right to work on this map. It shows all the migratory patterns, where all the animals have their nests, the number of babies… everything.

I hold it out for her. Rebecca takes the map with some confusion, and I think a bit of hesitation. I don’t blame her. I messed it up royally with the gifts last time.

“I also brought Chinese take out,” I add, holding up the bag of food in my other hand.

Rebecca rewards me with a confused smile. Then she unfurls the map and lays it down on the desk.

She gasps. “Xerxes, this is…Is this real?” She stares at it for a moment, transfixed. I don’t know if she’s going to be upset, or if she’s going to be ecstatic.

“I thought it might be helpful, for continuing your research after the fire’s changed everything.”

Rebecca turns and looks at me, her expression incredulous. I can see a kind of resolve come into her eyes, and then she steps forward and hugs me.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “This is…this is…an incredibly good gift. Thank you.”

I wrap my arms around her, tucking her head under my chin. I want to bury my nose into her neck, over her pulse and smell her deliciousness. But having her in my arms like this is okay too. It’s the way that it’s supposed to be. She’s so warm and soft. I never want to stop holding her like this, keeping her safe.

Rebecca pulls back, her cheeks pink. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.” I reach up, gently tucking some of her hair behind her ear. It could be my imagination, but I think she leans into the touch.

“I should… probably apologize for a lot of things.” Rebecca gestures for me to sit down.

I sit on the bed with the take out. “You like Chinese, I hope?”

She nods, sitting next to me and helping herself to food. It warms my heart to see her accepting my gifts. “I think I was a little unfair to you,” she tells me. “Yeah, so your technique could use a little work, but you took care of me, and you were kind, and generous. You tried to show me that you liked me. You were never rude or did anything that crossed a boundary. You were respectful. And I don’t think I’ve been giving you credit for that, or treating you that way in return. So, I apologize and thank you.”

Whoa. It is more than I could’ve hoped for so quickly. I try to contain my glee. My flame is blazing in my chest, triumphant at this victory and I struggle not to ruin it by doing something too forward like swiping the food off the bed and stripping her naked so I can taste every part of her soft, curvy body.

“Apology accepted and you’re welcome. It was my pleasure, though. It sounds to me, from what you’ve told me so far, that you’re not really close to anyone,” I say, trying to be delicate but tactful. “I don’t know what that’s like. I’m very close with my brothers. We’re like triplets, and my older sisters and my parents and I are all close as well. I can imagine that it has to be hard after a while if you don’t have anybody, to trust that someone else’s motives are pure.”

Rebecca looks down at her food, poking at it. “I haven’t really talked to anyone about this. Never wanted to either, but for some weird reason, you make me want. You’re easy to talk to, for some reason. It’s like I do trust you. Which… isn’t what I’m used to. But I’m not saying it’s unpleasant, it’s just new.”

I wait with bated breath. I genuinely want to know her story. This isn’t just about sex for me, as I told my brothers earlier. I want to know everything about Rebecca.

She takes a deep breath. She speaks slowly, carefully, as if weighing her words. She said that this is the first time she’s shared this with anyone. She’s giving me a very intimate piece of herself. I feel honored, and humbled, almost like I want to get on my knees in front of her to show her that I’m not a threat. Not to her. I’m her protector. I’ll never judge her.

“My dad—I don’t know who he was. He wasn’t around by the time my mom realized she was pregnant with me, anyway. Actually, I’m not sure my mom even knew who he was. My mom was… she was addicted to—well, you name it. I think heroine was her main drug of choice but she’d taken everything under the sun.

“She was never around, and so it wasn’t long before somebody noticed that I was underfed and my clothes were too small. Or, for people to realize I’d stopped going to school. Or, to see me wandering around on my own. Take your pick. So, child services was called by some ‘do-gooder’. The first couple of times my mom held them off, but the third time, they took me and put me in the system.

“I’m not saying that foster care is bad for everyone. There are some wonderful stories. But, for many of us, it sucks. It’s a painful and lonely way to grow up. No matter how many people are in the home, you’re lonely. We have to put our stuff into trash bags to carry it around from home to home. And, it’s appropriate because most of the time I felt like I was trash.

“And I wasn’t okay. I think I needed therapy or something, probably, but people didn’t see that. They just wanted a happy kid who was easy to keep in line. I wasn’t used to rules or responsibility. My mom let me do whatever I wanted. So, I naturally fought back. I resented it, everything. I resented the world. Instead of being patient with me, my foster families just got angry, or threw up their hands. I wasn’t their problem.

“I never stayed anyplace for long. I’d get into fights and then child services would be called and I’d be moved somewhere else again. I don’t have pictures, or I’d show them to you, but I was a…” She blushes. “I was actually a cute kid. Freckles, big hazel eyes, red hair, I must’ve looked like a little elf. People saw me and expected me to be all cute and girly and easy to deal with. And I wasn’t. I was angry and lost.

“And to top it off, my mom would come back into the picture. She got clean, a few times, and demanded me back. The courts would put me back with her for a trial period and she’d be fine, for a few months. Then she’d get back again. She’d relapse. She’d stop going to her meetings, thinking that she could control herself, her habit, keep it light. And then the cycle would start all over again. I’d be neglected, someone would notice, child services would intervene, and back into the foster system I’d go. Schoolwork was my only escape, and I loved science. I decided to go to college.

“College was freedom to me. I fought hard and I applied and I got in. I threw myself into my studies, and then I ended up here. I take research jobs, the more remote the better.”

She adds, almost as an afterthought, “My mom died while I was getting my graduate degree. Overdose. I suppose it was only a matter of time. I had her cremated.”

It feels like my heart is cracking open. I can feel Rebecca’s pain like it’s my own, like it’s echoing throughout my body. She starts eating, as if she’s scared of what else she’ll reveal if she doesn’t fill her mouth with something else.

My mate has never known a true family. Never had friends. Never had anyone to connect with. Has she ever been told that she’s beautiful? Or was I the first one to do that? Not just romantically, but by her mother, a friend, a foster family? She hugged me just now—when was the last time before that? When was she last hugged? When did somebody last give her a gift or invite her into their home?

My mom and sisters are going to adopt the hell out of her when they meet her. I just know it. Family is hugely important to dragons, both blood family and adopted family. Being a dragon is dangerous, and throughout history, if people find out who and where we are, they tend to attack us.

The idea that nobody had the patience or the love that a child like Rebecca needed, that the child was clearly craving… it makes my blood boil. I know that she’s fine, now, but she’s also not fine. She’s lonely and sad. I can feel it. I want to track down the people who failed her and…

No, none of that will help Rebecca. What she needs is a family, and I can give that to her. What’s more, I want to give that to her. My family will just love her, and I think that she’ll really come to love them.

Then I remember… my family’s not ordinary.

Of course, I always knew I’d have to tell her the truth about what and who I am. She’s my mate. I really don’t think it’d be wise to wait until she’s carrying a dragon egg or two inside of her instead of a human baby.

Female dragons, like my sister Flavia, can go into dragon form for the pregnancy where they carry anywhere from one to six eggs (rumor has it the record is twelve) and lay them about halfway through the pregnancy, tending to them for the second half until the eggs hatch.

Female humans, however, like Rebecca, will only carry one, maybe two eggs. My mom had two her first time around, Flavia and Dido, my sisters. Then she had three the second time around, me and my brothers.

Rebecca will go into labor six months into the pregnancy, and birth the egg or eggs. Then the next six months, we’ll tend to them until they hatch.

I can easily imagine her face when I tell her this—pure, unadulterated terror. Never mind that the eggs are smaller than many newborn human babies. It’s the concept that usually scares human females.

And what about my true form? That might scare the living daylights out of her. When Dido’s mate first saw her transform, he fainted dead away.

Although, Stanley’s kind of a wimp if you ask me, even for a human male. A nice guy, great sense of humor, but terrified of everything. Dido has to kill spiders for him.

Rebecca’s made of sterner stuff. Clearly, she’s had to be. But this’ll still surprise her. Probably even upset her. And I don’t want to do that.

What if she doesn’t accept me for who I am? What if she only wants Xerxes the human and not Xerxes the dragon?

Rebecca shoots me a nervous look and I realize that while I’ve been having my internal crisis, she’s been waiting for a response from me to her life story. A story she’s never opened up and told anyone before.

I reach out, gently cupping her cheek. “Would you believe me if I told you I want to find all those people who hurt you, gut them and scatter their end trails all over the city?”

She rolls her eyes, but there’s a fondness to it. She sets her food aside. “Honestly? I would believe you. But there’s no point.”

“I think you’re amazing, who you are. I don’t know what I’d do without my family showing me the way and supporting me. You, you have real strength and bravery.”

Rebecca’s blushing bright pink now. It’s adorable. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration. Besides, look at you. You’re a firefighter. You put your life on the line every day. You’re the brave one.”

“True bravery is doing what scares you,” I tell her. I’m a fire dragon. Fire doesn’t scare me. Going it alone? Without help or guidance from anyone? Figuring out taxes, and bills, and student loans, and groceries, and all the rest? That sounds terrifying.

Rebecca smiles. “You know,” she admits, “I like you.”

“Coming from you, that’s a huge compliment.”

She laughs. “I don’t… understand, what this is. But I know that I… for whatever reason, I feel different about you. I trust you.”

She’s looking up at me through her lashes, and my breath catches in my throat. We’re so close, I realize, our fingers braced on the bed almost touching.

“That’s all I want,” I tell her, and I mean it. “Is for you to like and trust me.”

Rebecca leans in, or I do, or perhaps both of us. This close, with the bond in our blood running through our veins and singing between us, it’s hard to tell who’s initiating what. But either way, our lips meet.

It’s like a taut string snapping in half.

I lick along her bottom lip and she opens her mouth for me. I groan, sinking my tongue in, licking into her, devouring her. Rebecca grabs at my shoulders and I haul her onto my lap, her legs immediately spreading so she can sink down onto me.

She’s perfect in my arms. I slide a hand down to her bottom, using it to guide her into a slow grind. Rebecca gasps into my mouth, then mewls, her hips speeding up.

“You’re so beautiful, Rebecca,” I growl, nibbling lightly down her throat. Her skin feels soft and smooth. I want to mark her as mine.

Rebecca makes a soft moaning sound in the back of her throat. “Please,” she whispers, her hands sliding underneath my shirt. I shudder at the sensation of her hands on my bare skin. “I want…”

I know what she wants. Her body’s calling out to me, begging me to connect with her. God, I want her so badly. It would be so easy, I could just flip her onto her back and pull down those dark jeans of hers and slide into her. She’d be wet for me, wet and open, and I could make her moan so loudly…

I can feel the dragon inside of me roaring in triumph. My mate is in my arms, she’s willing, she’s peppering kisses all over my face as we grind into each other. But, she doesn’t know the truth.

Before I actually met Rebecca, I’m not sure I would’ve cared. Getting inside of my mate, fucking her for days, that’s all that would’ve mattered. Fulfilling my sexual cravings was all I thought about.

But now, I can’t do that. Not until Rebecca knows what she’s getting into. Dragons aren’t generally more or less fertile than any human being, but the first time with a mate? It’s a one hundred percent guarantee the female will get pregnant.

I can’t do that to Rebecca if she doesn’t know the truth.

I slow down the kisses, grabbing Rebecca’s hips to stop her from grinding into me. She whines in protest, her nails digging into my back. Oh, god, I want to have her, taste her, find all the ways to please her.

But more than that, I want her to care for her and protect her. She needs to go into this with her eyes wide open.

I pull away, pressing a few last kisses to her mouth. “I want you so badly,” I tell her. My voice sounds wrecked, nothing more than a low, rasping growl. “But not yet.”

Rebecca looks incredulous. “You’ve been trying to get into my pants this entire time and now you’re saying no?”

I nod.

She slowly gets off my lap, sitting next to me. “Not that—I mean, it’s your right, I’m just confused.”

She sounds confused, and hurt, and lost, and I want to take her back into my arms just to prove to her how much I still want her. Not yet, I remind myself.

“Call me corny, but I want our first time to be more than this.” I gesture around us at the nondescript hotel room, the takeout containers on the bed. “I want it to be special. I don’t just want ‘to get in your pants’, as you put it.” I lean in, indulging myself by nuzzling at her neck, where her scent is strong and delicious. Rebecca lets me, releasing a tiny moan. “Besides,” I add, “when I finally get you into my bed, I’m not letting you out of it for days.”

Rebecca’s pulse is hammering under my lips. When I pull back, I see how wide and dark her eyes are. “Okay,” she tells me, nodding. “Yeah, all right.”

I want to purr in satisfaction, but I’ve still got a big task ahead of me—figuring out how to tell her the truth.