“How you feelin’ cuz?”

Jason opened his eyes and let out a groan. The pain in his hands made him jolt. He raised them to his face and winced. “Like ass,” he said with a sigh.

“It looks much better,” Ben said, peering down at his palms.

“You mean, better than raw beef?”

His cousin chuckled. “Well, you’re back to making jokes, so you must be doing all right. The doctor said you should be fully healed by tonight.” Ben’s face darkened. “If you didn’t swoop in on time, who knows what would have happened.”

Jason shot up. “Christina—and Catherine,” he quickly added.

“They’re back at the castle. I had Luke take them home.”

He let go of the breath he was holding, his body relaxing. He had been in shock, seeing Christina so soon after last night. Her rejection had stung worse than any pain, even the one he was feeling now. Having her standing in front of him was too much, and he’d had to walk away.

But when he heard the commotion coming from the smelting room, instinct took over. Sensing that Christina was in danger, he raced toward her. He got there on time, just as that pot was about to pour hot, liquid metal all over the floor. His dragon ripped out of him and though the pain had been nearly unbearable, it had been worth it knowing Christina and everyone else was safe.

“What happened?”

Ben’s face got even darker. “You were right. Someone’s out to get us. We caught some guy sneaking away. Haven’t gotten a confession yet, but we have him locked up. P.D.’s on the way to pick him up.”

His inner dragon roared, urging him to go find the man and rip his head off for nearly killing Christina. Not until we find out who’s trying to sabotage us, he told the animal. But, he promised his dragon, they would get their revenge.

“Hey, hey!” Ben stepped forward as Jason tried to get up. “You gotta get some rest.”

“I’m fine,” he said as he reached for the spare set of clothes at the foot of the bed. Gingerly, he got dressed. “I want to see this guy before Chief Meacham takes him away.”

Ben shrugged and led him out of the medical RV then to one of the trailers across the lot which housed their supplies. Two of their guys were standing in front, guarding the door. When Ben and Jason approached, they stepped aside to let them in.

“We should still be careful,” Ben warned as he turned the knob and walked inside. “He’s unstable and … motherfucker!”

The metallic smell was unmistakable. A body was slumped on the ground in a pool of blood. Next to it was a pair of scissors, also covered in blood.

“Fucker!” Ben cursed and slammed his fist on the wall.

Jason had never seen him so agitated, though he understood. That man had tried to hurt their crew. Even if Christina and Catherine hadn’t been there, if any of their workers had died, there would have been hell to pay.

“He was working alone?” Jason asked.

“As far as we could tell. But no way he could have done all that by himself.”

“He had help,” Jason concluded. “I’ll tell Matthew. We’re gonna have to double up on security around here.” The sound of sirens outside signaled the arrival of the Blackstone P.D. “Go talk to Chief Meacham,” he told Ben as they walked out to the trailer. He turned to the two men outside. “Don’t let anyone except P.D. come in here, okay?”

Jason walked away from the trailer, his mind reeling. This was big. Someone was really out to hurt them. But who? And why did this man kill himself? He guessed it was so they wouldn’t be able to get more answers from him.

He made this way back to the middle trailer, where he and Matthew had their on-site offices. It was a good thing he always left his cell phone inside before going into the mines. As he reached for his phone which was sitting on the desk, it began to ring. Probably Matthew.

Not bothering to look at the caller ID, he picked up right away. “Jason Lennox.”

“Jason,” the breathy voice on the other end said. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day.”

“Jessica?” Why the hell was she calling? Sure, he walked out on their date, but she didn’t bother waiting for him to come back. He had been gone a few minutes.

“I should be mad at you, but how can I be angry when you’re taking me to the hottest social event of the year.”

What the fuck is she talking about? “I am?”

“Yes, silly! As if you didn’t know. Everyone wants an invite to your brother’s wedding.”

“When did I invite you?”

Jessica laughed. “Last night. Oh, stop joking around. Remember, I asked if you had a date to the wedding and you shook your head. Then, I asked if you would take me and you said yes.”

Jason felt a headache begin to build in his temple. He tried to recall what happened last night and he vaguely remembered saying yes to some question. Shit. “Uhm…Jessica…see—”

“You’re not backing out, are you? Did you find another date?”

“What? No.” Technically that was true.

“Good. I was going to ask you what I should wear.”

He really didn’t have time for this. “Whatever. I mean, whatever you choose should be fine.”

“Great! I was thinking of this strappy dress that I saw…”

He let her drone on for a few minutes, tuning her out halfway. Well, would it be that bad? Jessica was a beautiful woman, he couldn’t deny that. And he’d asked her out initially to distract himself from Christina who obviously wanted nothing to do with him. Why should he live like a fucking monk? This was what he wanted, right? No mate, just keep living his damn life the way he had been doing the last years.

“Sorry, babe,” he said, cutting her off in the middle of her monologue about nail polish. “I have to go.”

“Right. Well, I’ll see you at the wedding.”

He breathed a sigh of relief when she hung up, but inside, he was fighting his inner dragon. It was furious, and didn’t want anything to do with Jessica. He was tempted to phone her back and call the whole thing off just to have some peace. But, there were much more important things to think about right now. He dialed Matthew’s number.