“It’s getting late. Are you sure you want to do this now?” I reached out and rubbed her calf without thinking. Somehow, it seemed so natural.

She eyed my hand and nodded slowly. “Definitely. We don’t have a minute to waste.” Peri kicked her legs over the side of the bed. “I had a couple of bags,” she murmured mostly to herself as she scanned the room.

I pointed to the spot near the door, then walked over and grabbed all of them for us. Setting them on the bed, I waited to see what she did next before jumping into action. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Her face was grim. “I wanted to change into something more comfortable.” Peri ran her hands over the bodice and full skirt. “I love this dress. I joked that I planned to keep it.” She sighed. “And now it’s ruined. Keeping it would be a permanent reminder of Devon’s death.”

“You and Devon were awfully…close,” I commented. For some reason, this burned me a little.

Unzipping the bag, she bit her lower lip. “We weren’t mates, if that’s what you’re asking.” Peri smiled sadly. “He treated me so well, I often wished we were, but it wasn’t meant to be, I guess.” Slowly, she pulled out her clothes. A half smile appeared as she dug deep and found a few extras. “He swore he wouldn’t need clothes for later,” she explained, “but I was always more prepared than he and added some just in case.” Peri blew out a breath. “I guess it’s a good thing I did after all. Now I have some clothes to sleep in.” She held a pair of boxer shorts and t-shirt to her chest then stood. “I’ll go change so we can get to work.” Whirling around, she showed me her back and pulled her hair over one shoulder. “Can you unzip me, please?”

I stared at her long neck, her creamy porcelain skin, and my hand shook as I struggled to get my big clumsy fingers on the delicate lavender pull. My brow furrowed as I focused and finally managed to tug it down, inch by inch. As the dress fell open more and more, I could see Peri wasn’t wearing a bra. My mouth went completely dry. She did, however, have a corset laced up her back. “This too?” I asked as I scratched my finger against the pristine white fabric.

“Please.” She nodded and waited patiently for me to assist.

This was some special kind of torture, obviously. And I didn’t mean for her. For some reason, this was killing me. While I carefully unlaced her, I considered how many women I’d undressed in the past year and felt absolutely nothing. There was the supermodel in Milan, who insisted on having me guard her. I’m pretty sure she was trying to seduce me. There was the rocker’s wife in Vegas. She was sloppy drunk and needed help getting ready for bed. She was tall, blonde, and surgically enhanced to near perfection, but my heart didn’t even beat fast. Here I was with Peri, Fredo’s niece, and my hands were shaking as I tried to assist her. There,” I whispered, afraid if I spoke any louder my voice would crack.

Peri glanced at me over her shoulder, her brows furrowed, a question lingering on her face, but she simply murmured, “Thank you.” Then she disappeared into the bathroom.

She had the right idea. I decided I’d better change into something more comfortable while I was alone in the room. I pulled off the doublet, the shirt, the breeches, hose, and my other sock. In my bag, I found my pajama pants. At first, I considered only wearing them, then I thought about Peri and how I wanted her to be comfortable around me. While I was grabbing a shirt, she walked out of the bathroom and froze a good ten feet from me. “Sorry. I’m working on a shirt,” I mumbled.

With a hand over her mouth, she shook her head. “My fault. I didn’t think. Of course, you’d want to get changed.” Peri shrugged. “It’s just…”

My head tilted. “What?”

“I didn’t expect you to look so…” She seemed at a loss for words.

I pulled my shirt on over my head. “Tan?” I suggested as I grinned at her.

She shook her head.

“Tall?”

Another head shake.

I began rattling off descriptors in an effort to hit on the one she sought. “Old? Hairy?” I held out my arm, covered in blond hair. This earned a giggle.

“Perfect,” she whispered. “Devon looked nothing like this.” She gestured to my torso. “He was thin, but he was a businessman…” Peri looked away while her cheeks turned pink.

A smile played on the corners of my lips. I wanted to take her in my arms. I needed to see if she felt anything at all for me. Then I heard the sound of sirens in the distance and I was reminded this wasn’t the time to even think about whether Peri might be made for me. Right now, it was my job to keep her safe, and hopefully save the dragons.

Peri plopped down on the center of the bed. “So, the beginning, huh?”

“What?” I shook my head and struggled to focus.

“We need to go back to how this whole thing started, how I ended up getting you involved, right?” She frowned as she studied me. “Are you feeling okay?” Peri crawled off the bed, rushed over to me, and felt my forehead.

Her touch had me on fire. I closed my eyes and savored the feel of her.

“You’re burning up,” she murmured. “Maybe you should rest and I’ll get on this.” She yanked her hand away, but I caught it and held it against my chest.

“No, I’m fine. Maybe a little tired.” I inhaled deeply and stood straighter. “Let’s get to work.”

* * *

“Where should we start?” I mused as I reluctantly yanked my hand from Mishal’s grasp and hopped back on the bed. With a frown, I grabbed the bag Devon had entrusted to me. I hadn’t taken the time to explore the contents, but now doing so seemed imperative.

There was a knock on the door, which had me jumping, then Stephen peeked in. “I heard voices,” he noted. “Thought I’d check and see if anyone needs anything.” He opened the door wider and leaned on the frame. “I’m kinda hungry.”

I glanced at Mishal. He was holding a hand over his abdomen. “I think that’s a great idea.” The clock on the nightstand showed it was closing in on midnight. “About the only thing left open this time of night is pizza. You wanna pick it up?” My brows peaked hopefully.

“Here,” Mishal mumbled as he reached for his bag and pulled out more cash. “Let’s get three large pizzas. What do you like on them?” He looked back and forth between me and Stephen.

“Just extra cheese.” I grinned.

“I only eat pepperoni and extra cheese,” Stephen admitted.

“I need all the meat.” Mishal eyed our driver. “Got that?”

Stephen stepped in to grab the money and nodded. “Be back soon with food.” Then he disappeared and closed the door behind him.

Mishal strode to the door. “I need to lock up after him,” he explained.

I nodded and slowly opened the zipper on Devon’s bag. Taking a deep breath, I reached inside and pulled out the copies of the will, both the original written by Spencer and the one Devon had written up and we signed earlier in the evening. I set them aside and pulled out another stack of papers. Upon closer inspection, I realized there was a smaller version of the family tree he’d shown me a few days ago, which prompted my call to my uncle. There was also a notebook filled with scribbles. Like a true business man, he had created charts and graphs, and a few Venn diagrams as he tried to figure out how the dragons were dying.

I carefully spread it out, wondering where to begin and how to explain everything to Mishal. After all, it’s not like Devon and I had managed to figure everything out. If we had, he’d be alive, I wouldn’t be in hiding, and Mishal wouldn’t be here. All of that sounded pretty good, except for the last part. Ever since I’d laid eyes on him, whenever I thought of Mishal or was near him, there was an uncomfortable tickle in my abdomen. Laying my hand over it, I tried to focus on the papers surrounding me, but I couldn’t.

Soon Mishal peeked in. “Wow. That’s a lot. We need to move all of this down to the dining room so we can spread out. Let me help.” He seemed to glide across the floor to the bed. Without hesitation, he began to gather the papers at the same time I did and our hands collided. This kind of thing happened all the time in business, but this time…the tickle intensified.

“Something wrong?” he asked as he studied me.

Shaking my head, I murmured, “Just hungry, I guess.”

He sighed. “Me too. I hope Stephen doesn’t take long.”

Five minutes later, we were set up at the table as he suggested, with the curtains tightly drawn. “Draco Security, huh?” I commented.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “We’ve been doing this in one form or another for centuries.”

“Right.” I nodded. I’d been raised with dragon shifters, but hearing their life spans discussed in terms of centuries rather than years seemed to always throw me. “You good at what you do?” I eyed him carefully.

“I’ve never lost a client. My record is spotless.” Mishal chuckled. “I don’t plan on changing things now.”

“Good.” My shoulders sagged, which surprised me. I hadn’t even realized how tense I was until then. “Okay, so Draco Investments.”

He nodded. “Is this where it all began?”

“I think so. See, we manage money for all kinds of clientele, but pretty much all the younger dragons work with us.” I pushed a list toward him. “These are all the dragon shifters who have accounts with us. What do you see?”

“Wow. That’s a lot of death. What the hell are they dying from?” Mishal rubbed his forehead.

“That’s the thing. All different.” I flipped through some more papers until I found the one I wanted. “This. Oh, and by the way, don’t you have anyone who monitors the happenings in your world?”

Mishal grabbed the paper from my hand and shook his head. “We’ve never needed anyone to fill that position. Until now, it would’ve been entirely too boring. Look at my parents. They lived to be seven hundred and twelve, and seven hundred and fifty-seven.”

“So, no one tracks…anything?” I frowned.

He shrugged. “We have a law firm that pretty much oversees everything. They handle Draco wills, help manage Draco properties, draw up Draco contracts, that kind of thing. While some of us have branched into law, it was agreed upon long ago that for the sake of propriety, we’d be represented by an outside firm. So we chose…”

“Abbingdon, Betters, and Morse,” I mumbled.

“Yeah. You know them?” Mishal scanned the paperwork. “I’d have thought this would’ve triggered a meeting. This is what…now twelve dragons in the last six months?”

“Yes,” I murmured sadly. “And Devon makes thirteen.”