Kirith turned away and walked towards the middle of the park, leaving Luna even more confused than before.

She shouldn’t go with him. He’d just been a total prick to her. But to be fair, he’d also saved her arse from the rogue Wolves, and besides, he was right; they needed to look after her wound. No way did she want to return to her flat with a torn shirt and an open cut. Silver would have freaked out, not to mention the fact that a first aid kit was still on her to-buy list.

So she followed the surly Dragon, not knowing where he planned to take her, but not much caring. All she knew was that she didn’t want to go back to the flat. Didn’t want to go to the club. Didn’t want to see Ripper, Silver, or any other Wolf right now. All she wanted was to be near the Dragon who seemed to feel nothing but disdain for her.

Why? Because she was an idiot.

After a time they came to the long row of tall reeds that flanked a small, man-made lake. She’d been here earlier; smelled familiar scents. Perhaps soon she’d understand what this place was.

Kirith turned her way and reached a hand out wordlessly, which she took. A moment later they seemed to be floating through space, then by some strange miracle they were standing in a bright white hallway, lit by phosphorescent lamps that hung on the walls.

“Where are we? What is this place?” she asked, looking around in wonder.

“The flat belongs to the Alpha of the Dragons’ Guild. His name’s Lumen, and he lent it to me,” he replied. “Come.”

After Luna had kicked her boots off and tossed her rain jacket on top of them, Kirith led her through a doorway into large bedroom, then over to what looked like the master bath. Overhead, a glass ceiling seemed to move in gentle waves of lapping water, the moonlight casting a faint glow through its layers.

“We’re under the lake?” she asked. Kirith nodded as he opened a drawer under the counter.

“Under the lake, in a place only a few can reach.”

A moment later he turned back to her, cotton in one hand, a bottle of something brown and painful-looking in the other.

“Take off your shirt,” he commanded. Without a word she lifted it over her head, revealing white, freckled skin. She felt suddenly self-conscious when his eyes went immediately to her chest. The Dragon man had sure spent a good deal of time staring at her breasts, considering how much he seemed to dislike her.

“It’s only our first date,” she said in a coy tone. “This is all moving little fast for me, to be honest.”

But Kirith didn’t return her smile. Instead he stared into her eyes with that same cold, hard look that he’d already given her so many times. A look that said Don’t fuck with me, woman.

“You don’t have much of a sense of humour, do you?” she asked.

“I don’t enjoy playing as I once did,” he replied, “if that’s what you’re asking. Now move your arm up so I can get at your wound.”

He pressed the damp cotton to the cut, eliciting a wince from Luna.

“It’s not so bad,” he told her gently as he cleared the blood away. “Not deep.”

“I tried not to let them too close to me,” she replied, watching him tend to her. For the moment he’d turned caring, gentle. Not the angry man she’d encountered in the pub, or even the cold-hearted bastard who’d been talking about ridding the world of her kind.

This was his soft side. This was the man she’d watched in the woods so long ago, looking after his family’s needs. So, his heart was still in there somewhere, beating. He wasn’t entirely dead inside, whatever he tried to project.

“If you hate my Pack, why are you helping me?” she asked.

He lifted his head and looked at her as he pressed an adhesive bandage to her side, gently slipping his fingers over its edges to make sure it was on tight. “I don’t know,” he replied. “Probably because I find you very beautiful. I suppose that after all this time, I still have a weakness for beauty.”

Luna inhaled quickly, pulling her face down to look at the bandage. “Well, that’s a good answer,” she breathed, her heart pounding. An unexpected answer. He’d just said, honestly, openly, that he was attracted to her. The Dragon man she’d worshiped from afar for so long thought her beautiful.

She wanted to savour the moment, to relish the feeling of euphoria rushing through her. But the sensation was marred by the recollection of who and what he was. He wasn’t a potential romantic partner. He was a supposed killer. A nutjob. A certifiable lunatic.

A certifiable lunatic with the most handsome face and glorious body she’d ever seen.

Fucker.

Kirith pulled himself to his full height and stared down at her as Luna’s eyes looked up into his, timid and hesitant. For a moment she didn’t know quite what to do. Cover herself? Run away?

“Lean back,” he said quietly, “against the wall.”

Once again she did as he asked, aware that she was far too deeply enthralled with him. Far too submissive to his will. She pressed her back against the white plaster, lifting her chin to look up at his face, to try and read his strange expression.

Kirith took her hands in his and lifted them over her head, then slipped his fingers down her body. Trusting him for a moment, Luna closed her eyes and enjoyed the ripple of sensation that drove its way through her core.

When she opened her eyes again, it was to see him moving down to his knees before her, pushing his face towards her torso as he inhaled through his nose. He put his hands on her waist, slipping his index fingers through her belt loops.

“There was a time when shifters were naked much more frequently,” she said softly. “Some spell has made us able to shift back into human form fully clothed.”

“Magic,” he replied, pulling her towards him. “Magic. It’s all magic.”

He slipped his fingers to the button on her jeans and snapped it open, yanking her zipper down. Brazenly he pulled the two sides of her jeans down over her hips like the petals of a flower and slipped his hand down the front of her panties, his fingers seeking out her sex. Again, Luna gasped.

“Had I found you naked in the park,” he whispered, “I would have lain down on the ground and asked you to crawl over my mouth. I would have licked and sucked this…” He flicked a finger over her bud, “…until you came for me.”

The young woman shut her eyes and pressed her head back into the wall, her upper teeth digging hard into her lower lip as Kirith sank his middle finger inside her.

“What is it about you, Wolf?” he asked her. Gently, he nipped at her left nipple through her bra with his lips. “Why do I crave you so much?”

“I don’t know,” she said, her hands falling to her sides, palms pressing into the wall. She wasn’t touching him, wasn’t holding him. There was no intimacy here; only raw sexuality. Her body was wet, her lips swollen with need. But she told herself not to let her fingers make contact with his skin, not to pull him to her.

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked.

Her eyes shot open. She stared down at him and nodded her head. “Yes, of course I am,” she said.

“Why?”

“I’m scared of what you are. Scared of what you’ve done. But I’m also scared of what I feel in your presence,” she murmured. “I’m scared of how much I like having that finger of yours inside me. I’m scared…that I’ll leave and that I’ll never see you again.”

He pulled his hands away and grabbed the sides of her jeans, tearing them down to her ankles. He pulled her left foot out of them and pushed her thighs apart, tucking his face between them and inhaling deep.

“Are you scared of having my mouth on you?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “Not at all.”

He slipped his tongue over her sex, lingering for a second on her bud before pulling away.

“Are you scared that I’ll make you come for me?”

“No.”

“Are you scared that I’ll claim you as my own and never let you go?”

Luna hesitated for a moment. She had to answer truthfully. Honestly.

“No,” she said. Insane a thought though it is, I still want you, Dragon.

He stood up and lifted her onto the counter, slipping her jeans over her right foot and splitting her thighs apart before burying his face between them. She watched as he streaked his tongue over her sex, rolling her hips forward to meet his mouth. She groaned with each lick, letting him know just how magical his touch was.

He pushed two fingers deep into her, sucking her clit as her head swam with pleasure, her body latching onto his own, trying to hold onto this feeling that would probably never return.

“I want you,” she whispered. “Kirith, God help me, I want you so badly…I want you inside me.”

He jerked backwards. In a flash he’d drawn away from her and pulled himself up, backing away to the opposite side of the room.

Her words, it seemed, were poison.

“No,” he said. He looked frightened, like he’d seen a ghost. “No. I can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to…”

He held up a hand to silence her. “Just go,” he said. “Please. I’ll see you out.”

She nodded. “All right,” she replied as she yanked her jeans up. Kirith was already striding away, and Luna followed when she’d finished dressing, grabbing her boots and jacket as she went. The Dragon shifter led her down a long hall to a strange, round room with multiple doors.

“Third from the right will bring you outside the park,” he told her. “Watch for predators.”

“I will,” she replied as he turned away without looking at her. “Kirith,” she said.

“Hmmph.”

“For what it’s worth, thank you for looking after me.”

The Dragon shifter stopped and turned back, stepping towards her aggressively. She pressed her back to the wall.

“Don’t make me protect you again,” he said. “Don’t ask me to, don’t expect me to. I don’t want to. I don’t like you. Now go back to your den, little Wolf, and don’t return.”

A moment later he was gone.