“Shit, shit, shit.”

Mandy’s mother was probably turning over in her grave at the amount of cursing that Mandy had done today. But Mandy didn’t have the energy right now to act like the “proper lady” her mother had raised her to be. Not when Mandy had botched this job up in the worst way possible.

“Shit,” she said again, under her breath as she caught a glimpse of Russ walking down the lakefront path. He was still a good ways away from her, but his tall, muscular stature was easy to spot from a distance. Mandy felt her stomach turning nervous somersaults as he slowly ambled closer.

She knew what she had to do, and she wasn’t looking forward to it. Something told her that as soon as she came clean with Russ about who she was and why she was here, he wasn’t going to feel quite as lovey dovey toward her as he had last night. Mandy knew she was risking his anger, and risking losing what might be her only opportunity to lure him back to Torch Lake. So far, everything had gone more or less according to plan. She’d found Russ, seduced him, and even convinced him to call her back and invite her out for a date of sorts.

But she hadn’t counted on actually falling for him. Her conscience had already been screaming at her that tricking Russ into falling for her wasn’t an appropriate way to go about a dragon recovery job, but she had pushed away those thoughts because she trusted the High Council, and she wanted this job so badly. Now, though, things had gotten personal. She’d realized that she cared about Russ. He had been friendly to her in the bar last night when no one else had. Their conversation had been engaging. She had enjoyed his company. And, heck, she had enjoyed his kiss. There’s no way she could lead him on, continuing to get cozy with him while all the while knowing in the back of her mind that she had only been in that bar because she was stalking him for the recovery team.

“Hey, you.”

Mandy looked up and forced a weak smile onto her face as Russ approached her bench and sat down. He was wearing shorts today, and the sight of his muscular legs made her heart do the same sort of flip-flop it had done when he first walked into the bar two nights ago. Mandy had seen plenty of dragon shifters before, of course, but none of them had been quite as handsome as Russ. She felt a pang of sadness, knowing that after she told him what she had come here to tell him, he would probably never want to kiss her again. In fact, odds were good that he would hate her. Mandy just hoped that hate wouldn’t be strong enough to keep him from accepting the alternative offer she had prepared for him.

“Hey, Russ. I was glad you called.” Mandy didn’t bother mentioning that she could have called him at any time. She had his cell number, his work number, his address, and his typical daily schedule memorized. And those things only scratched the surface of how much she knew about him from his file.

“Were you now?” Russ asked as he settled in beside her. Mandy noticed that he didn’t sit too close to her. There was a good foot and a half of space between them, which struck her as a bit odd considering that the last time she saw him they’d been wrapped in each other’s arms with their tongues down each other’s throats. She glanced over at him. He had kept his tone light and easy, but she could see an unmistakable tension in his face. Something was bothering him, and Mandy had a feeling that she was that “something.” She could have beaten around the bush and pretended that she didn’t notice his darker mood, but she made the split-second decision to confront him about it instead. She had come here to be honest with him, not to play games and pretend that everything was fine when it wasn’t. And, if she thought hard enough, she realized that she had known since the moment he called that something was wrong. Meeting at a relatively deserted area of Lake Michigan’s lakefront path seemed like an odd choice for a date. Mandy would have bet her job on the fact that Russ had called her not because he was interested in romancing her, but because he had something specific he wanted to talk to her about.

“You don’t look quite as jolly as you did at the bar the other night.”

Russ frowned, and ran his fingers slowly through his thick dark hair. “Well, I’ve had some time to think since then.”

“And?”

“Who are you, Mandy? Who are you really?”

Mandy bit her lip. He suspected her. But of what? She would be surprised if he knew about Torch Lake, or about the wizarding and shifter operations that took place out there. Most of the dragons who had disappeared after the war had done their best to avoid any contact with wizards or other shifters. But Russ had figured out somehow that there was something off about her. He was observant, and his sharp eyes seemed to see right through her. She took a deep breath. Time to tell him the truth. All of it. She reached into her small backpack and pulled out her official badge, then held it up to him.

“Who am I? I’m Mandy Evans, a wizard and a dragon recovery specialist.”

Russ’s eyes widened and he jumped up, scooting away from her like she’d just given him an electric shock. “What the hell! How did you find me? And what do you want from me? I’m not interested in participating in any wizard or shifter activities. I’m trying to live out my life as normally as possible here.”

Mandy patted the seat beside her. “Sit, Russ, and hear me out. I’ll explain everything. I promise, I’m not here to hurt you or out you to anyone in your normal life. But I have some information you need to hear, and an offer you might be interested in.”

Russ continued to glare at her, but did walk back to the bench. He sat down as far away from her as possible and crossed his arms, ready to leave again at a moment’s notice if he didn’t like the way the conversation was going.

“As you well know, after the Great Dark Magic War, many wizards and shifters were left without a home. A large group of these shifters and wizards formed a new village known as Torch Lake, where we can live in peace. We have a High Council who closely monitors what is going on in the shifter and wizard world so that we will not be caught off guard by any rising dark magic.”

Russ snorted. “Do they really think they can stay ahead of dark magic?”

Mandy sighed. It was a fair question. “They do their best. They have to try.”

“Dark magic is sinister, and silent. It seeps in when you least expect it, and once it has a hold on you, loosing yourself from its grip is damn near impossible.”

His voice shook and his face turned red as he spoke. Mandy couldn’t blame him for being angry. Not after everything he’d been through. But she had to make him understand that giving up was not the answer. Dark magic could be held back, but only if the entire shifter and wizard communities worked together and stayed vigilant.

“No system of protection will ever be perfect. We know that. But the more we work together to stay aware, the more we can keep history from repeating itself. No one wants to go through another Dark War.”

Russ only stared at her, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he continued to glare at her. Mandy knew he was only going to be angrier when she explained to him the specific reason she had come to Chicago. But she had to tell him, and hope that his anger would cool once he’d had time to process everything. Or that, at the very least, his anger would cool when he was offered an obscene amount of money to see things her way.

“I told you I was in Chicago for business,” Mandy said. “And that’s true. As you saw on my work badge, my official job title is ‘Dragon Recovery Specialist.’”

Russ narrowed his eyes so sharply that Mandy could barely even see them. “What in the world is a dragon recovery specialist?”

“There’s a whole team of us. We track down dragons who fled for human communities after the War, and do our best to convince them to come back to Torch Lake with us.”

Russ stared at her blankly for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, that’s rich. You track down dragons who returned to human communities? You know why we returned to those human communities, right? Because we want to be left alone.”

Mandy shifted uncomfortably. “I know. And I do respect that choice. It’s just that—”

“You respect that choice? Like hell you do. If you respected our choices you wouldn’t come chasing after us.”

“We’re only chasing after you because there is a force of dark magic that has continued to cause difficulty, even all these years after the war, and we need more help from dragons to stop it.”

A shadow of uncertainty passed across Russ’s face. “A force of dark magic?”

“The Monstrum spell monsters,” Mandy said. As she expected, Russ was not pleased by this news.

“I thought those were all destroyed after Saul’s defeat.”

“We thought so, too, but apparently some were missed. They went into hiding, and had to be tracked down, you know. And some of them managed to avoid detection until the searches had all been called off. We don’t know how many there were initially, but the few that were missed started breeding, and now there are quite a few. It’s become a real problem.”

“The dark monsters can breed?” Russ asked, widening his eyes.

“Yes, unfortunately. Most of us wizards and shifters were taken by surprise when we realized this. We thought the monsters could only be created by dark magic, but it seems they can self-perpetuate.”

“Well that’s just fantastic,” Russ said, running his fingers through his hair again. For a brief moment, Mandy thought he looked concerned enough that he might consider coming back to Torch Lake with her. But before she could broach the issue, he spoke again and dashed her hopes. “I can tell you one thing for sure, Mandy. Whatever is going on with those monsters, I want no part with it. I had enough of those damn things to last me a lifetime. I’m assuming you’re coming here to try to get me to join whatever little anti-dark magic crusade you have going on in your new little town, but I’m not interested. You guys can deal with those things on your own. I’m happy here, in my isolated human existence.”

Mandy cocked her head at him. “Are you?”

He snorted. “Of course I am. Didn’t you see me at the bar the other night? I have buddies here I can laugh and hang out with. I have a nice apartment and a good job. What more could I ask for.”

“Are you really all that close to your friends?” Mandy asked. “And is your job really that great.”

Russ gave her a sharp look. “I see you people have done your research. Maybe my job isn’t as great as it was before the war, but it’s still a good job. Better than getting involved with all of that otherworld mess again. God, I can’t believe I kissed you. That was pretty low, you know? Leading me on so that I’d fall for you. What was the plan? Lure me back to Torch Lake with promises that you’d sleep with me if I did? You people are disgusting, you know that?”

Mandy felt stung. Russ had a right to be angry, of course. His accusations weren’t all that far from the truth. Still, shouldn’t it count for something that she was confessing everything now? Sadness crept over her whole body, making her feel cold and alone. “I’m sorry, Russ. I was following orders. I was told that I should try to flirt with you to convince you to come back to Torch Lake. I guess it’s a new method of Dragon Recovery that the High Council wanted to try out.”

“Well, they should stop trying it out right now. How dumb do they think we are? Do they honestly think we are going to fall so hard for a girl that we’re going to give up our entire lives to go chase monsters with her? Especially after that girl lied to us?”

“I didn’t lie to you.”

“You tricked me into thinking you were attracted to me and kissed me like you meant it, but it was all just a means to an end. That seems like pretty much the same thing as lying, if you ask me.”

“I was attracted to you, and I did mean it,” Mandy said, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice.

Russ stared at her long and hard, with fire in his dark brown dragon eyes. Mandy knew the fire must come from anger, but she couldn’t help thinking that it looked a little bit like desire, too. Russ had to see that the kiss they had shared hadn’t been fake. He didn’t have to forgive her, or even like her, but she hadn’t lied to him. She’d realized that she couldn’t lie to him. That’s why she was here now, telling him every last detail of why she was really in Chicago. When Russ didn’t say anything else, Mandy took a deep breath and continued.

“I went to that bar to find you and flirt with you, yes. I was only following orders, trust me. I’m not very good at picking men up, as you may have noticed from my horrible attempt to dress up and wear makeup.”

Russ couldn’t hold back a short snort of laughter here, and Mandy shrugged sheepishly. At least making fun of herself had broken the tension between them a tiny bit. She held her head high and continued.

“As soon as I saw you, though, I knew I was in trouble. I thought you were the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. Your mug shot in your case profile doesn’t even begin to do you justice.”

“Great, they have a case profile on me?” Russ rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Nice to know how deep the stalking goes.”

“They need your help, Russ. No one wants to let evil get a foothold in our world again.”

“Then they should have done the job right the first time, and killed off all the dark monsters in the beginning.”

“That would have been ideal, yes. But we missed that opportunity, and now we need your help. We need your help so much that I was willing to attempt to pick you up at a bar under the pretense of randomly running into you. But once I started talking to you, I knew I couldn’t go through with that plan. I…I’ve never felt so attracted to someone before. This is all embarrassing to admit, but I want you to know that what I felt was real. I don’t expect you to forgive me and run back into my arms—”

“Good, because that is definitely not happening.”

Mandy winced. “But I do want you to know that I cared enough about you to tell you the truth.”

“Well, thanks for that, I guess. But your little burst of honesty isn’t going to soften my stance any. I’m not leaving my human life. I’m not coming back to Torch Point with you.”

“Torch Lake.”

“Whatever. I’m not going to any Torch Lakes or Points or any towns of any sort that are run by wizards and shifters. I’m done with that world.”

“Russ, it’s a chance to do some serious good in the world. Not only that, but you’ll have a prestigious job with room for promotion and excellent pay.”

“I already have a job. And what am I going to do with excellent pay stuck out in the middle of magical shifter land? I don’t want to buy a house or build a life in that world. I’m not leaving behind what I have here to get caught up in all that again.”

Mandy frowned at the tone in Russ’s voice. He wasn’t going to budge on this. She had somewhat expected that. According to his profile, he had vehemently resisted all attempts to recruit him for war recovery efforts directly after the war ended. But still, Mandy had an ace up her sleeve. She knew Russ was hurting for money. And she was hoping he was hurting badly enough that he’d take the offer she was about to make to him.

“Listen, I understand if you don’t want to leave your life here behind for good. But you have to admit that your current job isn’t a good long-term solution. We know that you’ve been blacklisted for any promotions there.”

His eyes flashed. “If you know that, then you should know that I was blacklisted because I disappeared for so long without explanation. I’m lucky to even have the job still.”

“Perhaps. But you’re a talented accountant. You could find another job if you wanted to. Which is what I suggest you do, after a brief stint in Torch Lake.”

“No. My answer is no.”

“You don’t have to move permanently. You’d only have to be there for about three months, if that’s all you’re willing to commit to. And I can offer you generous compensation.”

Mandy saw the briefest flicker of interest in Russ’s eyes. Emboldened by that, she continued. “The Torch Lake High Council is offering a sum of one and a half million dollars to any dragon who completes a short training course and then kills a dark monster. And trust me, if you complete the course, you will catch a dark monster. For most of us, this is impossible. For dragons, it’s an easy task. The problem is that there are so many of them and so few dragons. After you’ve caught one dark monster, you would have the opportunity to continue and catch more for additional compensation, but that would not be required. If you wanted to go home at that point, you’d be free to go and take your money with you.”

“Why would the High Council offer such an outlandish sum to train a dragon to catch just one dark monster?” Russ asked, his eyes full of suspicion.

Mandy shrugged. “They’re banking on the fact that most of the dragons won’t leave, once they see Torch Lake. The place is special. It gets under your skin, and you can’t bear the thought of leaving it behind.”

Russ threw back his head and laughed. “Well, I’m pretty sure the High Council would be disappointed if I went. There’s no way a wizard-shifter town is getting under my skin.”

Mandy smiled hopefully. “Well, that would be your choice to make. The money would be yours to keep, no strings attached. So you’ll come?”

Russ stood up, still laughing. “Hell, no. Your precious High Council is a trip, you know that? They think they can use sex and money to lure dragons? Dragons are noble creatures, not easily swayed by the vices your town is offering. We’re motivated by honor and principle.”

“What could be more honorable than bringing an end to the last remnants of Saul’s evil reign?”

Russ whirled to point his finger straight in Mandy’s face, his eyes flashing. “Don’t ever say that name to me. And my answer is no. There is no amount of money that could convince me to go back with you. Especially not after you pretended to be attracted to me. And that’s my final answer.”

Mandy watched with a sinking feeling in her stomach as Russ stormed away down the lakefront path. She wasn’t going to give up yet, but she wasn’t sure what her next move should be. Russ had refused her money and the temptation of a prestigious job, and he didn’t seem impressed by her coming clean about her original intentions at the bar where they’d met. Mandy had to find a way to reach him, though. Her job depended on it. If she didn’t bring Russ back, she’d never be given another chance. She was angry that she’d even tried the whole flirtation game. It had only made him angry, and made things harder. And it never would have worked with him. Mandy could see now that no matter how hard he might have fallen for her, he would have thrown a fit the moment she mentioned who she was and that there was a job opportunity for him in a wizard-shifter town. The High Council should have known that a tactic like that would never work on a dragon. What had they been thinking?

With a deep sigh, Mandy stood and started walking down the lakefront path in the direction Russ had gone. She could still see his retreating form, and could still make out the impossibly gorgeous lines of his silhouette. His last accusation against her before he stormed off came back to her, and she felt her stomach twisting into a sad knot.

“I wasn’t pretending, Russ,” she whispered after him. “I sure as hell wasn’t pretending.”