“It’s a good thing I brought you in when I did,” Phillip fretted as he helped me onto the table. “This storm looks big enough to knock out the power.”

“Really? Isn’t there a generator or something?” I couldn’t imagine the entire place going dark, all at once. Alone with one or two dozen dragons. No big deal. I was sure girls like me went through situations like that all the time.

It was enough to light my imagination on fire. There were a million questions clamoring to be voiced, and probably a million questions which would stem from the answers. On and on. It would take forever to ask them all.

Forever.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the thought of it.

Forever.

Why did my head keep going in that direction? Like there was something between Miles and me. We were friends, I guessed, and I owed him my life twice over. That didn’t bind me to him—and yet, I felt bound.

It wasn’t the same as being bound to Antonio. I was a prisoner then, miserable and beaten down. Any fluttering in my stomach when I thought of him was nausea, not excitement.

The tight feeling that used to spread through my chest, like an elephant was sitting on it, when I pictured myself married to Antonio wasn’t there when I imagined a future with Miles.

But it was all too crazy. He wasn’t even human—not really. I had no idea how he lived or what he and his family did with their time. They could’ve made a practice out of eating humans who crossed their path for all I knew. They could’ve lived in huts in the woods, or out in the middle of nowhere. No electricity, no internet. How would I survive something like that?

Then again, they did seem fairly well-acclimated and savvy. Was I trying to talk myself into thinking something could work out between us? And why? It wasn’t like he’d given me any indication of wanting to see me again once we both left the island.

He doesn’t need to. Stop kidding yourself. You know you feel this, too.

I squeezed my eyes shut as Phillip adjusted the machinery.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Oh, just fine,” I smiled, though my eyes were still closed.

I was afraid to face the obvious. The way Miles looked at me, the way we kissed… it was real. It had to be. Maybe it had something to do with who he was, what he was. If we were meant to be, the strength of my certainty would only make sense.

I sighed.

Just listen to yourself. You’re behaving like you live in a fairytale. You of all people should know better.

“All right,” Phillip called out. “Stay very still.”

I held my breath, going as still as I could as he took pictures of my insides.

Healing a compound fracture in roughly a week. Nobody would ever believe it. I hardly did myself. A dragon could make a mint through selling their blood, if it was really that potent.

With the room as silent as it was and with me holding my breath, I could hear the storm raging outside.

It had hit so quickly, tearing through the island. I hadn’t been paying attention to the weather, of course, so it was all a surprise. Not a hurricane, or else the windows would’ve been boarded, but still strong enough to make me wince when the thunder rolled.

Until it became clear that I wasn’t hearing thunder.

“What’s that?” I called out, my voice shrill, even to my own ears.

Phillip rushed to my side and pushed the equipment out of the way. “Come on. We have to get under cover. You’re fine—I can’t take the casts off now, because they’ll hear the saw.”

“Who’s they?”

I didn’t really need to ask. I knew who it was. He had come back for me. And he’d brought his friends.

“You know better than I do,” he whispered, and we crossed the room as quickly as I could with a cast on my leg.

I wanted to tear the damn thing off and run, but he was right. They might hear it. He locked us into the small, windowed room where he’d waited for my x-rays to process and motioned for me to get under a table before turning off the lights.

“They’re out there,” I breathed, halfway between terror and rage.

Who the hell did he think he was? I had underestimated him. Somebody must’ve given me away, somehow.

My hair hung in my face as I knelt on all fours, cursing how awkward it was to hide with casts on. Couldn’t they have waited until Phillip removed them? What was I even thinking? People could’ve been dying, and I was worrying about my discomfort.

A fresh round of gunfire made me jump.

“Don’t worry about our guys,” Phillip whispered, crouching beside me. “We’re all ex-military. Anybody who dared come in here would regret it. I almost feel sorry for them.”

“Don’t feel too sorry,” I muttered, barely managing to keep from covering my ears as another burst of shots rang out. “They’re getting closer.”

“It’ll be fine,” he replied, but his tone was tight enough to tell me he feared otherwise.

He reminded me of an animal waiting to pounce—or to run from the hunter.

He raised himself up just enough to look over the edge of the window. “Still in the clear.”

“Do you have any weapons in here?”

He shook his head, grimacing. “No, never thought to keep any in here. Never really had to use these facilities much before you came along.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. None of this is your fault.” A reassuring smile started to spread across his weathered face, but was instantly cut off when the door leading into the x-ray room from the hall burst inward.

I covered my mouth with my hand to stifle a shriek.

Phillip held a finger to his lips, both of us making ourselves as small as we could.

In his case, it wasn’t much good—while he wasn’t as large as Miles and the rest, he was hardly a small man.

The knob rattled.

We exchanged a look.

He touched his finger to his lips again, then slid out from under the table fast enough to keep me from trying to stop him. Not that I could’ve if I’d tried. I couldn’t breathe when he stood up, facing the window.

I couldn’t see above his knees, but I imagined he was staring down whoever prowled on the other side.

“What do you want?” he barked, sounding for all the world like a soldier on the battlefield. It seemed funny, feeling pride for a man I didn’t know. But he had saved me. And he was saving me again.

Or trying to.

The glass wasn’t bulletproof. I screamed when bullets shattered the glass and shattered him.

He hit the floor, eyes already glazing over. They stared at me, unseeing.

My fault my fault my fault.

The lock wasn’t much use after someone shot it out, and the door swung open.

I was a caged animal, or as good as, trapped under a table. Nowhere to go. I could only wait for the man who strode into the room to find me and pull me out.

Glass crunched under his feet as he took his time, drawing out the tension until I wanted to scream for him to get it over with. I didn’t need to go that far, for he bent over to look at me.

He looked vaguely familiar.

One of Antonio’s henchmen. A cold-blooded murderer, too.

“Look who I found,” he sneered.