Jenny’s stomach clenched as she looked up at the man in front of her.

Though he’d taken out Drew, he didn’t look like anyone’s rescuer.

His features were hard, hawkish, and could probably be handsome if they weren’t contorted so severely into a stern expression. He had large, yellow eyes framed by dark brows that winged up at the corners, giving him an exotic look. His long, thick, dark-brown hair waved to his shoulders.

He cocked his head as he looked at her with those strange golden eyes, giving her the impression of an angry, predatory eagle.

“Where is Mercury?” he asked sternly.

“What?” she asked, feeling lost. Mercury was an element as far as she knew.

He grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the car, standing her beside it and trapping her there. “I’m not eager to hurt you, but I have travelled a long way and searched a long time, and now you will answer me. Where is the mercury dragon? I know you are hiding him.”

“I… What? Dragon?”

His mouth tightened into a frown, and she saw stress lines under his eyes, tension around his mouth. He pushed away from the car and turned his back on her. “Don’t move while I figure out what to do.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “But, um, thank you for rescuing me.”

“I’ve been camping out and watching things longer than he has.”

“I doubt that,” she said. “He has been stalking me for a year.”

“Then you are correct. He has been watching longer. I have only been watching the past few days, after I detected dragons in the area. You see, I have travelled a long way to retrieve one of my own, and your mate and his friends can take me to him.”

She put up her hands. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I have no mate, and as you can see, there are no dragons about.”

Great, she had a crazy person on her hands. She’d met a few before, especially homeless people camping on the beach or in the woods, and she’d tried to help as she could in getting them resources, but she’d never heard anyone talk about dragons.

“You will know what I’m talking about soon enough,” he said, pointing a finger at her. He lowered his finger to point at her hands, and she gasped as she felt cool metal wrap around them, pulling them together and binding them tight, but not uncomfortably. “You do have a mate. You just don’t know it yet. He has marked you.”

“Marked me?” she said dazedly.

He waved a hand, and a long chain appeared attached to her hands so he could pull her along behind him as he headed to the beach. “Let’s go talk to your mate.”

She shrieked as he pulled her along down the beach, then realized Kai was down there and hopefully he could help her, if he wasn’t still distracted by beating up the douchebags.

Sure enough, as they reached the beach, she saw Kai looking down in satisfaction at the men scattered around him on the sand. He was dusting his hands off when he heard them approach and looked up, his blue eyes immediately narrowing.

Thunder cracked overhead.

“Cease your dramatics, storm dragon,” her captor snapped.

“Release her,” Kai said. “Who are you?” He straightened, cracking his neck side to side as he walked over to them.

Her captor got between them. “Someone who has been watching your world. Now, return the mercury dragon to me.”

“Can anyone tell me what he’s talking about?” Jenny asked exasperatedly, looking at Kai.

To her surprise, instead of looking as confused as she did, an uneasy, guilty expression moved over his face.

What the heck?

“She doesn’t know anything about this,” Kai said.

“But she is your brother’s mate,” the stranger said.

“That’s none of your business. You better hope he doesn’t get back here before you let her go.”

“I’m planning on it,” her captor said. “I do not mean to be dishonorable by binding a woman, but I must have leverage against your dishonorable act of capturing my countryman.”

“I honestly have no idea what you are talking about with this mercury person,” Kai said, folding his arms. His eyes darted to Jenny, and while he was trying to stay cool, she could tell he was worried about her.

“You claim not to know. I believe it from the human, but not from you. You are a dragon.”

Kai cocked his head. “Maybe you don’t want to mess with me, then.”

“You sound so like the humans,” the stranger said with a scoff. “But I am Lead, and I am not from here. And it is you who does not want to mess with me.”

Kai glared. “Let my brother’s mate go.”

“Mate?” Jenny squeaked. “What is all this talk about dragons?”

“Tell her,” Lead said harshly.

“We… we were going to tell you,” Kai said, looking begrudgingly apologetic.

“Tell me what? That you’re dragons?”

He nodded, and she felt like her brain was collapsing.

“No, come on. You don’t expect me to believe that. I mean, yeah, you kind of just… walked out of the ocean. And you didn’t know anything about our world, but… tell me something more believable. Mermaids. Amnesia.”

“We are humans who can turn into dragons,” Kai said, his expression totally serious. No hint of joking. He had to be kidding.

“Take me to whoever has Mercury,” Lead said.

“Ugh, you’re as dense as your name,” Kai said. “What part of this are you not getting? I. Don’t. Know. Him.”

Lead closed the distance between them in a second, raising Kai by the neck. “You will regret your treachery.”

Jenny darted forward, wanting to help Kai despite her chains, but the next minute, Kai had disappeared from Lead’s grip, leaving him grasping only at water as it dispersed into the air like sea mist.

“I may not be able to take my dragon form,” Kai said from seemingly nowhere. “But I still have some powers. Now let my brother’s mate go. He entrusted me with her care, and I won’t let you hurt her.”

Lead spun around, trying to see him. “As if I would hurt her. You return your hostage, and I will return mine. It is simple.” He seemed genuinely confused by what had happened.

Jenny was, too. Had she just seen Kai disappear into droplets of water and then mist on the wind?

What was happening?

Perhaps they were really dragons after all. It was a crazy explanation, but she supposed it made as much sense as anything else when it came to finding beautiful, homeless people on a beach with no sense of modern time. Or was “dragon” just a code word for something else?

She saw the air blur near the ocean, about twenty feet in front of them, and then heard and felt something land with a loud thud that shook the sand beneath them. Whatever it was, it was huge and sent sand flying in all directions as it landed.

But as she raised her head to look, it was transparent.

And then it wasn’t, and she saw Seaton jump down off the back of a huge green, sparkling dragon with giant wings.

“Thanks, Emerald,” she heard Seaton say to the dragon just before running toward her. His eyes were focused on the man holding her chain.

She was damn glad there was no one on the beach today, thanks to Kai’s storm, and that the trees by the road would block passersby from seeing what was going on.

She didn’t want anyone to crash from seeing a giant dragon.

But in the next second, the dragon shimmered and disappeared again, and she let out a sigh of relief.

Yes, the dragon had brought her Seaton, but her human mind really couldn’t comprehend the size and shape of it. It didn’t seem possible.

Seaton was almost to her when Lead jerked on her chain, pulling her in against him as she let out a little scream.

“Stop,” Lead said, putting an arm around her shoulders and locking her close. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

Jenny just looked at Seaton, so happy to see him yet unsure what he could do about any of this. Was he truly a dragon? If so, what was her place in his world?

First, they had to figure out how to get out of this.

Lead narrowed his eyes on Seaton. “Now where is Mercury?”