Gwen's heart thundered in her chest. This wasn't what she had in mind when she'd come up to swim. She thought she would exhaust herself so she would be able to sleep the next night. Finding her mate already in the pool had been a surprise.

As much as she wanted to keep to business, she'd found it impossible once she'd given in to the whim to claim a kiss as her prize. Her dragon had roared inside her head as lightening and heat shot through her body. She dabbed the extra water from her hair before dropping her towel and slipping her cover-up on, then turned to find Neo watching her.

“You ready?”

“Whenever you are.”

“Come on.” Neo tilted his head then headed for the lift.

Gwen slipped her sandals on and followed. They were both quiet and Gwen wondered what he was thinking, but she didn’t want to ask. The lift stopped and Neo waited for Gwen to exit first. He set his hand on her lower back and walked beside her to his door where he pressed his thumb to the pad and opened the door.

Inside his apartment, Gwen looked around and found it not entirely unlike the room she had been given. The furniture was mostly the same, though arranged differently, and the floor plan seemed to mirror her rooms. It was the wall art that caught her attention. There were a couple of paintings, though not like what was on her walls, but it was a large metal sculpture of a man with a bowed back, and his long hair seemed to stand on end. She'd never seen anything like it and it called to her in a way she didn't understand. Her dragon growled, then purred inside her head, finally she went silent, refusing to elaborate.

“Do you like it.” Neo asked after a moment. Gwen glanced over and found him gazing up at the sculpture, a slight frown on his face she didn't know how to interpret.

“I'm not sure.” She stared at it a moment longer. “It calls to me, but for some reason it also makes me sad.”

“Sad?” Neo's tone changed. He turned, went to the sofa, and sat. “Why does it make you sad?” He sat on one end, one arm along the back as he rested an ankle on the other knee and watched her.

“I'm not sure exactly.” She sat next to him, close but not quite touching, and looked up at the piece again. “It's only a silhouette, so I have to be reading into it. I'm guessing that's some kind of instrument he's playing, and from the hair, I'd guess he's dancing. But he's all alone.” She fell quiet a moment. “I don't know. He just strikes me as lonely.”

“I take it you’re not familiar with the icon?”

Gwen shook her head. It was unique enough she would remember having seen it.

“That's kokopelli. He's also known as the flute player. He was a fertility deity to a number of Native American cultures in the region.”

“Fertility deity?” She turned to look Neo in the face.

“Yes. He was very lonely. He traveled from tribe to tribe, village to village, but was never welcome anywhere for long. Oh, and those are feathers, not hair.”

Gwen frowned, turned to look at the statue again. “How can you tell?”

“I remember what I wore.”

Gwen looked back to Neo. His mouth curved into a vague smile, but his eyes were sad.

“That's you.” She motioned to the sculpture on the wall. It wasn’t a question, somehow she knew, but it was still hard to believe.

“That's a representation of who I once was.” Neo told her about his past, how he'd been cursed and roamed the desert for centuries without a place to call home.

Gwen's heart ached for what he'd gone through, but it only hurt worse when he ended his story.

“My dragon says you're ours, but I know it can't be. I was cursed to loneliness forever.”

Gwen wondered for a moment if maybe he was right, maybe he wasn't her mate after all. For some reason, the thought didn’t sit well. She reached over and laid her hand on top of his, trying to offer comfort.

The touch of her skin against his was electric. She watched him a moment then opened her mouth to ask how long since he'd been cursed, but the words never came. Instead, she met him half-way and his mouth covered hers in a searing kiss that sent bolts of heat all the way to her toes. Without breaking the kiss, Gwen moved until she faced him, her hands falling to his arms. Her fingers curled into the muscles of his upper arms, and she couldn't resist the urge to pull him closer. His arms wrapped around her, and Gwen knew she was home as Neo held her against him as carefully, as if she were made of spun glass.

Neo broke the kiss, they were both breathing hard. He pulled his t-shirt over his head. Gwen shrugged out of her cover up and leaned close. Once more the touch of his skin to hers sent fire through her. Gwen lowered her mouth to Neo's neck as she grabbed his wrists and placed his hands on her hips before reaching back and catching one of the ties securing her bathing suit top, tugging it until the knot pulled free.