“No, no, no! What are you doing, you stupid thing?” Cammie asked in frustration as she banged her fingers futilely on the keyboard.

She glared at the blank computer screen. She’d been halfway through an exam for one of her online courses when the screen suddenly flickered and went black. She tried everything she knew to do, but nothing fixed whatever was happening. She was screwed, because she was the only one in the house who knew anything about computers, so if she couldn’t fix it, no one here could. She’d have to take it to a repair shop, and she couldn’t afford the lost time.

“Need some help?”

Closing her eyes, she suppressed her groan. She’d successfully avoided Alex for two days now, but it looked like her reprieve was at an end.

Standing up from the desk, she gestured him forward. “I’ve tried everything and it didn’t work, but if you think you can do better, please, be my guest.”

Lips quirking at her sarcasm, he took her empty seat. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. It was working fine, and then the screen flickered and went black.”

She watched as he put his fingers to the keys and started typing out commands. She moved closer, staring in fascination as the codes he was inputting raced across the screen, his fingers moving faster than she could keep up. Within moments, the webpage her test was on popped up, and Alex was sitting back in the chair in satisfaction.

“How the hell did you do that? More importantly, how did you know to do that?”

He frowned, cocking his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t think about what I was doing when I sat down, I just seemed to know instinctively what to do. Maybe that’s what I do for a living, or something.”

Stepping back so he could stand up, she searched his face, but the truth was there in his voice. He really didn’t know how he did that, it just came naturally to him. Whatever the reason, she was grateful he was able to fix her computer.

“Thanks. I was panicking there for a minute. I have a deadline I have to meet.”

He glanced over at the screen. “Are you taking online classes?”

“Yeah, and I was in the middle of an exam when it acted up. I didn’t want to turn the test in late.”

“What degree are you going for?”

“I’m going to be a CPA.”

He blinked at her in surprise before laughing. “An accountant, huh? Just try to stay out of prison while you’re at it.”

“I’ll do my best,” she replied, laughing with him.

He looked at her closely her as his smile slowly faded. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Freezing at the change in subject, she looked at him in silence for a moment while she tried to decide on what to say. “I just want to avoid a repeat of what happened last time we were together.”

Moving closer to her, he studied her face intently. “Do you really, though? You seemed to enjoy it in the moment.”

She swallowed hard as he stopped in front of her, close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. “It doesn’t matter if I enjoyed it. What matters is that it was a bad idea.”

He reached a hand up and brushed his fingers down her cheek. She couldn’t help closing her eyes at the warmth spreading through her body, she and her dragon both reveling in the touch. Her animal had been in turns unmanageable and sulky since Cammie last left Alex, but now she was content, basking in the warmth he always brought them when he touched her.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Something that feels so good, so right, can’t be bad,” he said huskily, bringing her attention back to the moment.

Looking up into his gray eyes, so full of warmth, she was unable to resist leaning into his hand a tiny bit. “You have to trust me on this. There’s more to me, and my life, than meets the eye. I can’t drag you into it.”

“What if I want to be dragged into it?” he asked, his eyes already revealing his willingness if she just said the word.

“You can’t make a decision like that. Not without knowing the facts. And no,” she rushed out as he opened his mouth to reply, “I’m not going to tell you. Not now, maybe not ever.”

He nodded his head slowly. “Fair enough. But I reserve the right to try to change your mind. Starting with this.”

Her breath caught as he slowly leaned down, clearly giving her time to refuse if she wanted. The problem was, as much as she knew she should, she didn’t want to. Everything in her longed to feel his lips on hers, his body against hers again, so as ill-advised as it was, she didn’t try stop him. She even decided to help him out a little, and she put her hands on his shoulders as she went up on tiptoe, meeting him halfway.

A full body shiver wracked her at the first touch of his lips to hers. He didn’t take it as slowly as he had the other day, only giving her a few teasing passes before sweeping his tongue across her lips, asking for entry. She immediately opened, and liquid heat filled her middle as he thrust his tongue inside.

Plastering her body tightly to his, she moaned into his mouth as her tongue played with his. She couldn’t get close enough to him, couldn’t get enough of his taste on her tongue. His erection was firm against her belly, and she couldn’t help rubbing her body against his. He groaned, the kiss turning frantic as he licked and nipped. Sucking her bottom lip into his mouth, he bit at it as he filled one hand with her butt, his other hand creeping up her side.

He released her lip, trailing his mouth down her jaw to her ear. She gasped as he sucked the lobe into his mouth, and her head fell back as he trailed kisses down her throat.

“Oh, God, Camilla. Tell me you feel this, too. Tell me you can’t walk away from this anymore than I can.”

Cammie’s eyes popped open as she froze. Her blood iced in her veins, washing away the fire that was there just moments ago, and the contrast was jarring. Putting her hands on his chest, she pushed him back, her unintentional use of her shifter strength making him stumble.

“How the fuck did you know that?” she spat, glaring at him.

“What?” he panted, brow wrinkled. “How did I know what?”

“How did you know my name is Camilla? What if it was Cameron or Camille, or something else?” she gritted out between clenched teeth.

“I didn’t, not really,” he answered, eyes still showing his confusion over her reaction. “It was just a guess. I thought Cammie was a nickname, and Camilla fit. And one of the meanings is warrior, isn’t it? It worked, to me.”

She searched his eyes as the truth in his voice washed over her. Turning away, she put her hand over her eyes as she shook her head, relief making her weak in the knees. She thought for a moment he’d managed to fool everyone, and he was one of them. One of the males of her kind, coming to take her away. It didn’t fit with how a dragon would go about it, but she hadn’t been able to help the suspicion she felt when he said her real name. No one else but Ian knew it.

She turned back around and headed for the door, putting distance between them as she passed him.

“Cammie—”

She threw her hand up, pausing as she reached the doorway. “Not now, Alex. I need to get out of here for a bit. I’ll talk to you later.”

She turned and made her way outside. It was time to go train, doing what always brought her peace. She’d been in turmoil since Alex showed up, and she’d take any bit of it she could get at this point.

Alex sat down on the computer chair, eyes still trained on the door Cammie disappeared through. Confusion swirled through him as he replayed the events of the last few moments.

Calling her Camilla was clearly a mistake, but it made his dream that much more real. He called her that then, too, and although he hadn’t leant any credence to it really being her name, he’d obviously been on the right track.

Her reaction made him shudder when he thought back to it. She was undeniably furious, but she hadn’t been able to hide the flash of fear in her eyes. She’d been scared, of him. He hated seeing any kind of fear in her normally brave face, but it gutted him to see it directed at him.

Cammie was generally fearless, so whatever she was hiding, whatever she was running from, it was even bigger than he thought. And she obviously thought for a moment he was part of whatever it was. Nothing could be further from the truth. He wanted nothing more than to protect her, for the rest of his life.

His mind went back over details, and he froze when he thought back to the moment she jerked away from the kiss. Her eyes were noticeably lighter, a swirly kaleidoscope of blue and pale orange, and her pupils had been elongated. He missed it at the time because he was stunned by her reaction, but he saw it clearly now.

So the shifters she was worried about from the fights, the ones Ian assured her didn’t have elongated pupils… she was one of them. She was running away from her own kind. But he couldn’t wrap his brain around her being a snake or a lizard. He just couldn’t picture it.

Jerking upright, his breath stalled as he remembered his dream. Cammie called the baby she was carrying a fire breather. And if his dream was right about her name, it could be right about that, too. But she couldn’t be… they didn’t really exist…

He exhaled as he realized there was a very good possibility they did, and she could. If he could so easily believe humans could shift to animals, then it couldn’t be much of a stretch to believe mythical beasts of legend were really alive, and dwelling in humans.

Rubbing his hands over his face, he forced himself to contemplate the very real possibility that his Cammie was a type of lizard, technically speaking. A gigantic, spiked, horned, scaly lizard with wings. A dragon.

The word sounded absurd when he said it in his mind, but it also felt right. Everything in him was screaming it was the truth. His tiny Cammie was a dragon. No wonder she was so fierce, despite her delicate size.

In a daze, he got up and walked out of the house, heading toward the woods. He took the long way around, avoiding the barn where he was sure Cammie had taken off to. He didn’t want to face her, or the others for that matter, until he had control of his thoughts and his facial expressions. He knew his shock was plain on his face, and he wanted to keep this knowledge to himself. He had no good way of explaining how he came to the conclusions he had, and the last thing he wanted was for them to think he was there to do whatever it was Cammie was scared of someone doing. He was sure his explanation of mysteriously vivid, waking dreams wouldn’t go over well with any of them.

He jerked to a halt as the implications of what she was, of what she was running from, hit him for the first time. He’d felt ineffectual when he first wanted to protect her from what was hunting her, knowing he probably couldn’t fight a shifter and hope to win. Hopelessness crashed over him as he realized it was even worse than that. He definitely couldn’t fight a dragon and win. It would be like a kitten fighting a lion.

But maybe she could turn him into a dragon. Or if she couldn’t, one of the others could turn him into their animal. Being any kind of shifter was better than being a human, and he’d have at least a shot at protecting her. Groaning as he realized the direction his thoughts were heading, he leaned his arms against a tree and slowly dropped his head onto the bark. He was seriously considering turning into a shifter, and he didn’t even know the extent of the problems Cammie faced. He couldn’t know, of course, but jumping into something without the proper facts and research didn’t feel like something he would do. The exact opposite, really.

But then, he’d already known there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to protect Cammie. Whether it meant turning into a shifter, or laying down his life for her… he knew he’d do it. Feeling like this for her so quickly felt a little insane, but he didn’t bother trying to fool himself into thinking he didn’t.