Just the sound of her voice made me want to go up all the three flights of stairs in one leap.

Her eyebrows jumped a little when I hit the top of the stairs. I thought maybe I’d scared her a little—and maybe I had.

“Did you run?” She smart-mouthed me. I wasn’t sure which one I liked most, the sweet blushing Kallie or the smartass one. I liked the mouth on both of them.

“I like to be prompt when a lady calls. Sue me.”

Her hand moved up and she whispered her pointer finger around the rim of her adorably curved ear. “Suing you for being prompt would be the very definition of frivolous lawsuit. Trust me. You, um, you didn’t wear glasses yesterday.”

A clue—and one hell of a clue at that. These glasses, the ones I wore only when I had to, did something to her. As she spoke, the most controlled of shivers passed through her, causing a husky quality in her voice and a hoarseness in her throat.

Made me wonder if other things caused that same rasp.

“I only wear them when I’m working outside. Contacts get all kinds of crap in them.” It was a lie and I was grateful she wasn’t yet my mate—or didn’t know she was. I wore glasses because I read so much that even my dragon irises couldn’t help me.

“Oh, that makes sense. I like them.”

She didn’t like the glasses. She liked me in the glasses. My dragon did a victory roll inside. He’d been downright unruly since the day before, wanting to rip me open and drag Kallie to the nearest cave and hide there away from the rest of the world.

“Thanks. So, are you ready to tackle Liam without any coffee?”

Her face scrunched up in confusion. “How did you know I hadn’t had any coffee?”

Looking down at the carpet didn’t help me make an excuse for what I would ordinarily call my enhanced dragon sense. If the woman had drunk coffee in the last twenty-four hours, I would’ve been able to smell the bitterness clinging to her brown hair that begged me to pull it—touch it—I meant touch it.

“I have a good nose,” I gargled out, tapping my finger on my nose.

“Oh, okay. Should I have coffee before tackling Liam? I thought having you around was enough.”

Taking one step closer to her—not enough but closer—I shrugged. “Here’s the thing. I need coffee before tackling Liam. He’s the Smaug to my Thorin.”

She stopped breathing for a second. “You like Tolkien?”

“Do dragons fly?” I couldn’t believe that just came out of my mouth. Why didn’t I just transition right there in the hotel hallway?

“Yes. I can quote Lord of the Rings. Rhi puts it on and mutes the sound and I can say every word.”

I clapped a little like a big stupid dork. “Nice. I’ve got most of it down but not all. You’ve got me beat.”

Her deep brown eyes looked down at the notebook in her hand, complete with a pen tucked into the spine, like she was begging it to remind her of her task.

I had to help her out. She was experiencing some of the first effects of the mating without even realizing it.

“Hey, so just for me, let’s get some coffee to go and then fuel up before the courthouse. I’ll give you a mini tour. Show you all the things that have changed since last summer.”

“Has a lot changed?” She finally got ahold of herself and began walking. I swore she almost threaded her arm through mine but stopped herself. Humans—always second guessing everything.

“Some. Come on. Maybe we will get Liam a doughnut.”

“A doughnut for a dragon?”

I stopped solid, wondering what she meant by the comment.

“You know, Smaug, dragon?”

“Oh, yeah. Dragons do well with doughnuts.”

I’m a colossal asshat.

I pointed, coffee to-go cup in hand, at the bank. It was a new addition since she’d been here last. Mentionable, but not necessarily noteworthy.

“Nice. A place to get money.”

Goodness, I loved the snark in this woman.

“Hey, it’s a progressive town. Don’t hate.”

She laughed and a thousand hairs stood up at attention on my body. I raised a hand to my neck, the scales left behind by my dragon still pulsing every time she spoke—every time she looked at me—every time she breathed. I couldn’t believe the sensation. I’d never heard of this happening, even during the Mate Craze.

And before Kallie, I had been slugging through the Mate Craze swamp without a rope in sight.

“So, what’s the deal with all of the Viking innuendos?”

“Innuendos?” I almost choked on my coffee. This woman was too clever for her own good. I’d really have to watch what I said.

“Yeah. On that building back there, two ravens on either side of the door, there’s Viking stew in small print on the menu, not to mention there are swords everywhere.”

The girl didn’t miss anything. I didn’t expect her to. Already I knew that she was as smart as a whip.

“Huh. That’s true. Maybe the founders of the town were descendants or something. I’ve never looked it up.”

Her eyebrows bunched again. “You’ve never looked up the history of this town? Weird. The way people act around you, you are the history of the town, and the mayor, and the president.”

I looked away. “Nah. They’ve just known my family for a long time.”

She “hmm”ed to herself, but I heard it loud and clear.

She sighed at the building ahead. “And of course, the courthouse. I haven’t finished my coffee yet.”

She held it out in front of her and twisted the cup a little, the imprints of her soft pink lipstick stained the rim. I wish she’d stained my lips instead.

“We can sit here and finish our coffees if you like.”

I sounded like a mushy beast.

“That would be great. The weather is perfect today.”

We sat on the steps of the courthouse. I would refrain from telling her that my grandfather poured the concrete himself. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, lengthening what looked to me like endless legs.

“Before we go in, do you want to give me a clue as to what you’re looking for in there?”

She squinted against the sun. “Maybe. I mean, what if you’re on the inside and try to derail all of my work?”

I blew out a heavy breath. “That sounds like a lot of work. I’m a little busy.”

“Busy doing what? I don’t know what you do other than glorified camping.”

I gasped in shock. “Glorified camping? Really? I’ll have you know that survivalist skills training is a big deal. The zombies are coming. Just you wait. I am a man of many talents.”

If zombies came, I’d eat them.

Just saying.

She smiled and took another sip of her coffee. I was pretty damned sure there wasn’t any left. She was milking an empty source.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to find out another day.”

I bit down on my bottom lip, knowing she was watching. “I offer private survival lessons as well. Sleeping under the stars, a fire crackling against the night wind, a tent for two.”

She smiled and it reached her eyes, making them almost sparkle in the sunshine. “You offer that to all the female tourists?”

I sat up and leaned forward, the tip of my nose almost touching her cheek. The wind blew in from the mountains. It smelled like the trees that grew up there, majestic enough to hide us in dragon form yet beautiful enough to admire from afar. Her scent almost knocked me back to the bank.

She was tangerine and honey and everything I loved.

“I offer that to no one except you, Kallie.”

We stayed there, close enough but still so far apart for a few moments until I heard someone clear their throat behind us. It was Liam. I only knew it from the tapping of his tiny man shoe on the steps.

“Excuse me. This is not a make-out place. The drive-in theatre is that way.” He pointed in the wrong direction. Dumb ass. “Even for you, Alph-Knox.”

For someone who claimed to be the smartest in town, his elevator clearly didn’t go to the top floor.

Kallie sat up straight again, flattening some non-existent wrinkles on her crisp button-down shirt and clearing her throat. She was trying to look professional-up for the task.

Liam was on my short list-again.

“We were just discussing how to sneak in and steal all of your files in one swoop, Liam. We had to whisper, that’s all.”

“Well, whatever. The whole town is looking at you. Good job on that.”

I ignored the snide remark and stuck out my hand to help Kallie up. She looked at the damned thing like she’d never been helped up before.

Maybe she hadn’t.

I knew the whole town was looking at us. They wanted to know about the visitor that the Alpha was more than interested in—the human, to boot.

“Kallie needs some information, and you’re going to give her access to whatever she needs.” I allowed some of my Alpha power to filter through my voice, commanding his allegiance.

His eyebrow said it all, but knowing Liam he wouldn’t be so easily subdued.

“All access? Just what other secrets were you sharing with this female?”

Kallie scoffed beside me. It hadn’t escaped my attention that she still hadn’t let go of my hand. I could barely hear myself think over the throbbing—all the throbbing and pulsing.

“Don’t act like a dick, Liam We aren’t in high school anymore.”

“Fine. Whatever. Come on in. It’s not like there’s a line.”

He stomped back inside, letting the glass door shut behind him with such force that I thought the glass would shatter.

Kallie stepped up two stairs and turned to look behind her. “You coming?”

I wanted to, but at the same time, I didn’t. I was afraid that if she looked at me long enough I would spill all of the secrets Liam was eluding to—maybe more.

“You’ve got this. Liam is going to let you in. I guess he’s not so bad after all. Go do what you have to do. Can I see you later? Maybe lunch?”

She was already focused on whatever she was searching for. “We’ll see. Thanks for this morning.”

I raised the hand that she was still holding, whether she realized it or not, and kissed her palm—mostly for me, but a little for her.

“Don’t work too hard. Liam will get the idea that you’ve got a crush on him and are using his position to get close to him. Then I’d have competition. It would suck—for him.”

She struggled with giving a response to that one. Her gaze went everywhere but on me.

“Well, I’ll get what I need to and get out as soon as possible then.” She muttered the words while walking away from me, but I heard her loud and clear, and my dragon did too.

* * *

Rhi and Samson were hovered over a roaring pile of smoke.

“Looks like things are going well here,” I said, slipping my sweatshirt off and dropping it onto the nearest boulder.

“I’m teaching her the basics, and then she’s going to try for herself over there, her very own fire,” Samson said with a confident edge which was pure farce. He couldn’t have his very own fire if it wasn’t for the dragon breath roaring beneath the surface.

“I see. Enjoying all of this, Rhi?” I asked after she’d blown her bangs away from her face out of fury for the third time in the few minutes I’d been in range.

“In theory. I could think of a lot easier and more fun ways to make heat—and fire too.”

There she went with that naughty talk again. She winked at Samson.

“I’m sure you could.”

Rhi looked up from the pile of sticks. “What did you do with my friend?”

I pointed back toward the town. “She’s down there, probably knee-deep in documents and Sam’s drool. I’m sure it’s everything she imagined and more.” I chuckled a little thinking about Sam in dragon form, heaving with gobs of saliva coming from his mouth over Kallie, deep in thought and research, without a clue.

My stomach lurched against the thought. Even though I knew she was my mate, deep down, I still knew better. Being mated to a human had so many repercussions. Least of all, watching them run and protest once they knew what you were.

Mourning the loss of them for whatever time they needed to process what you were underneath the human skin.

Waiting for them to realize that the dragon was only a part of you—a part that maybe loved them more than the human side was even capable of.

“I’m sure. She lives for all of that research. I’m not sure what she will do with herself after she finds the answers she’s looking for. Well, that’s not true. I know what she’ll do. Kallie will immerse herself in some other cause. Dig back into school. Burn herself out on books and coffee, chasing something just out of reach.”

I turned to face the cliff. Somehow, if I faced away from the conversation, maybe Rhi wouldn’t know how completely invested I was in all facets of Kallie.

“What’s she reaching for?” I asked, mostly to the mountains.

“Not sure. I’m not even sure she knows. She’s always been a little displaced.”

“But she has a family. Her mom was here last summer with her, right?”

“She was—I’m not even going to ask how you know that.”

“She must’ve mentioned it,” I breathed the lie.

“Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I can’t get this fire started with Mr. Heavy-Breathing looking over my shoulder.”

Rhi moved to the smaller fire pit next to one of the picnic tables I’d built for the classes. Samson came over, both of our backs turned to the student.

“What happened with the girl? She your mate or what?”

I chuckled and bent my head to look down at the rocks. “Yeah. Think so. She’s got some effect on me, that’s for sure.”

“Damn, a human. There hasn’t been a dragon mated to a human here in-well, since Gram.”

There was a moment of silence between us. Gram had been the most special woman in the world to us growing up.

He cleared his throat. “You’ve got two weeks, right? Not so bad. I could court a girl in that amount of time, no problem.”

My brother wouldn’t know how to court a girl if she was hog-tied to a manual on how to woo women.

“Not so bad? I’ve got less than two weeks to try to get her to like me a little before I tell her about the big bad monster inside, then I’ve got to get her to like me again. Not to mention the other thing. Who knows what the little sleuth will dig up in the courthouse. Right. No problem at all. Two weeks is such a breeze.”

Samson slapped me on the shoulder, hard. “Little brother, maybe you’re making this too hard on yourself. Maybe she digs tails and teeth, you never know. It’s the quiet, shy girls like Kallie that you have to be careful with. She’s probably wild underneath all that.”

A growl ripped from my mouth after gathering in my chest.

“Don’t talk about her like that.”

“Shit. You’ve got it bad. Wait, you said she had some effects on you. I mean, other than the obvious,” he wiggled his eyebrows, “is there something you’re not telling me?”

I turned my head over my shoulder to see Rhi saying something to the sticks meant to be already on fire. She was either cursing Samson or asking Odin above why in the hell she’d chosen to take survival classes. Either way, she wasn’t paying any attention to us.

“The scales—the ones that are still here.” I pointed to my neck, the part hidden just below my shirt. “They buzz or something when she’s around—a lot.”

He clamped down on his lips, trying not to laugh. “Wait, are you saying that you vibrate when Kallie’s around? Hell, she might be into that. My mate certainly would.”

He got socked in the stomach for that one.

“Okay, okay. Sorry. What else? Anything else?”

“My dragon is restless. It’s like he wants out when she’s around. I’ve barely kept him under wraps. I have to fly tonight or he’s going to rip me apart.”

“Mine did that too when I was mating. I swear our dragons love our mates more than we do.”

A loud yelp from behind us startled me. We turned around, expecting the worst, Rhi was burned or had hurt herself.

“I did it!”

Kallie’s friend had done more than build a fire. The flames in front of her were roaring, but even more than that, they were flickering turquoise and royal blue under the morning sun.

“Samson! What did you do?”