Cobalt’s mind was still trying to add up everything that had happened as they stumbled through the portal. Now they were back in the living room of the mansion they’d called home ever since coming to Earth.

And they had a very interesting visitor with them.

This was the first time they’d gone to rescue a dragon heart, only to find she had already rescued herself. She was a spitfire to be sure, unlike any of the other humans they’d rescued so far.

Her skin was dark and smooth, and her hair was very short compared to other human females he had seen, in tiny, unruly tufts teased to stand in all directions. She had large, luminous brown eyes, a short stature, and an athletic but curvy build.

She was also the first woman he’d been immediately attracted to.

It made no sense. He should be attracted to someone like him, bookish, sensible, quiet, thoughtful. Not this brash, overbearing, impulsive, and, if he was honest, endearing little dragon heart.

“This place is huge!” Their new friend looked astonished as she took in her new surroundings. She put her hands on her hips and walked forward. “You guys really know how to live.”

She had a high forehead, smooth and proud, and a small, rounded nose. Pert, full lips that curved up at the corners impishly. A dimple in her chin.

He stared at her as she continued to look around the living room, his brain needing to analyze every single part of her as he’d never needed to analyze anything before. His eyes trailed to her posterior as she turned away from him, and he frowned as he realized what he was doing, turning quickly around.

Something odd was happening to him around this human, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. It defied all common sense.

“Hey,” she said, and he jerked as he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Explain. You’re the talkative one around here.”

“Not really.”

“You were the one who convinced me to come.” She cocked her head impatiently.

“I’m the logical one…” He looked around at the other dragons who were staring at her with various expressions of either amusement or alarm.

“Lead, Cadmium, do you want to go get Brittany and Casey?” Zinc asked, always the calm one, the peacemaker. “I can go wake up Leanne.”

“I can get Farrah as well,” Arsenic said.

“If she is feeling up to it,” Zinc said. “I just think perhaps human women would be better to explain.”

“No.” Their new friend shook her head. “I don’t want to hear from some stranger that’s probably just taken in by how hot you all are. I want him to explain.” She pointed directly at Cobalt, and he felt his chest throb.

“Uh…”

“Sure,” Arsenic said, a mean smile curving his lips. “Why don’t you explain, Cobalt? It’d be easier for her to talk to one person. Why don’t you go down to the library?”

“I’m not sure she’d be comfortable with that,” Lead replied.

“Why not?” she asked. “I’d rather talk one on one, and I already like this guy.” She hooked her arm through Cobalt’s, and he looked around to his friends in mild alarm, hoping for rescue.

None came. Traitors.

She was already dragging him forward, though she didn’t even know where they were going. He stopped their movement and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Do you know where the library is?”

“Oh, no. Where?”

He pointed to the door that led downstairs, gently extricating his arm from her hold. He walked ahead of her and opened the door, and she hesitated, narrowing her eyes as if reluctant to walk through it.

Luckily, she ducked her head and went through, and Cobalt stifled a sigh of relief.

As he followed her down the stairs, watching her carefully to make sure she didn’t trip, it occurred to him what an odd situation he was in.

He barely knew this woman. She definitely didn’t know him. Minutes ago, she’d been thinking he was her enemy, and now they were going to be alone in his most sacred room in the house.

His library.

He hoped the oracle would get there soon.

She let out a gasp as she walked into the library and he turned on the lights. Mahogany shelves and bronze accents made up the decor, and he led the way to two soft, velvet chairs in a deep burgundy color, where they could sit and talk.

When they were both seated, facing each other, but not touching, Cobalt felt he could finally breathe.

“So I guess you have lots to tell me.” She clasped her hands and fixed her eyes on him with an intense expression.

Everything about her screamed intensity. Impulsivity. The polar opposite of himself.

“I guess I’ll start with my name, in case you didn’t hear it. It’s Cobalt.

“Odd name. But yeah, I heard you. Cobalt, like the element, right?”

“Correct.”

She leaned back, crossing one leg over the other lazily, though her eyes were still studying him warily. “I’m not too stupid. I did some classes in college before I left to become a fighter.”

A fighter? This little thing? He had so many questions about that, but that wasn’t why they were here. “Uh, well. What is your name, then?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m unsure if I should tell you.”

“I mean, we did rescue you. Or were going to before you somehow took care of it yourself.”

She straightened, looking pleased with herself. “Yeah, it took me weeks to pull that off. Look, I’ve spent weeks being held against my will by the last hot guys who showed up to talk to me, so I think it makes sense to be a bit suspicious.”

That made perfect sense. “Yes. But I think at this point, it wouldn’t hurt for me to know your name.”

“Sylvie,” she said flatly, folding her arms. “Now tell me more about who you guys are and why you came for me.”

“Sylvie.” He tested it on his tongue and liked it. “As for who we are, we’re dragon shifters from Drakkaris, and we came for you because it’s part of our job here on Earth.”

Her jaw dropped, and she pushed up a little in her chair so one of her legs was underneath her. “Wait, you’re from another planet?”

“Yes.”

“You’re aliens?”

He nodded.

She settled down into the chair again with a sigh. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, now that I know about the shifter world, but this is still crazy.”

“Maybe it would help if you could start from the beginning of when you were taken so that I can be aware of what you know.”

She sighed, slumping back. “I thought it would come to that. It isn’t really a pleasant thought. I was going to the bank to see if I could get a short-term loan because my roommate had left me high and dry after skipping out on rent to go live with a guy, and I needed some help to stay ahead. While I was there, some guys came in and started threatening the teller while she was working with a guy in front of me.”

Cobalt nodded, just listening.

“Well, that guy took off running out of the bank, and I realized the man threatening the teller had a knife out. No one seemed like they were going to do anything, and before we knew it, that guy had pulled the teller over the counter and was threatening her with his knife to get the other tellers to move.”

“Wow,” Cobalt said quietly, unable to really understand the kind of being that would hold a knife against a woman.

“And everyone was just standing there. The robber’s friend came forward and got the money, but as they were leaving, they weren’t letting go of the teller.” Sylvie’s eyes clouded as she remembered, and she shook her head with a frown. “That lady was terrified, and I knew if we let them get away with her, we might never see her again.”

His heart tightened because even though he knew Sylvie was fine, the thought of her intervening in that situation made the dragon in him rage with worry.

“So I did what I had to. I got in front of the doors to block them. I pulled out my own knife that I carry for defense and told them to let her go. They didn’t, so I threw my knife in the one guy’s leg and then attacked him. I’ve been training for three years now, and I’m pretty good at taking down larger opponents.”

“Impressive.” Cobalt cracked his knuckles quietly in his lap in a bid to resist the urge to go hunt down these humans and kill them for the good of mankind.

“So anyway, I got that guy with a throat punch while he was trying to pull the knife out, and then when he hit the ground, I got him good with a kick to the head and knocked him out.”

“I see.”

“The guy holding the knife on the teller let her go, shoved her toward me, and made a run for it with the money.” She shrugged. “But no one cared about that as long as the teller was safe.”

“Of course.”

“Anyway, I gave the report to the police, but there were cameras, too. It all backed up my side of the story. The teller was super grateful. There was a nurse there to check on her. I was able to go home.” She sank her cheek into her hand. “Now that I think about it, I never did get that loan, so I probably got evicted while I was gone. Not that I had much to throw out. Just some training equipment mostly.”

“Oh.”

She sighed, putting her hands in her lap. “I didn’t really have time to think about it once I was captured and had to start plotting how to save my own life.”

“So how were you captured?”

“They came back later that night. Some good-looking men claiming to be reporters. I answered the door, blacked out, and that was it.” She shrugged. “So it goes.”

“And then you escaped.”

“Yeah, after weeks of biding my time. But they kept saying I was some kind of valuable dragon heart or something, so no one could hurt me.”

He sighed in relief. “So you weren’t hurt. They didn’t do anything to you.”

“No. But I feel like if I stayed, they might have.”

“We still don’t know why they are capturing dragon hearts,” Cobalt said.

“What does that even mean?”

“I should probably let the oracle explain it.”

“Oracle?”

“She rules this world and all of the shifters in it. She knows more than I do. She’s the one who sent us to rescue you. But in short, I believe dragon hearted simply means exceptionally brave, which is perfectly apt, given your adroitness in stopping the robbery and escaping.”

She rested her cheek in her hand and smiled. “I like the way you talk. Smart. Like the professors I had during my short stint in college.”

“Short stint?” He wondered why.

“Wow, we’re getting deep for our first conversation,” she said playfully. “But you might as well know I’m about action, not thinking. It’s just who I am.”

“I see,” he said, trying to ignore the fact that she put her hands on the arms of her chair and scooted it a little bit toward him.

“I follow my gut and act on instinct.”

“Right. Well, anyway, you are a dragon heart, so it’s our job to rescue you and then wait for the oracle’s next command.”

“And you guys came from another planet just to do this?”

“Sort of.” He wasn’t sure how much he should tell her. Given her reluctance to even let someone open a door, he wasn’t sure how she would react to the idea of dragon mates, given how smothering and possessive a dragon could be.

Perhaps she would want to leave the mansion, but there was no doubt that despite her physical adeptness in the human world, she would be safer here.

Shifters would be chasing her now.

“So tell me about you.” She moved her chair closer still.

He felt a flush go over his nose and cheeks at how easily she could catch him off guard and put him out of his comfort zone. “Well, I’m the librarian to the king on our planet, and I’m still the most educated one here.”

“Nerd.” She laughed. “But you came with the others, so you can’t be all books.”

“No. I’m also one of the dragon guard and can fight alongside the others.”

“And are they your friends or something?”

“For the most part. One of them is my cousin.”

“Ah, the guy with white hair?”

He frowned. “How did you know?”

“I could just sense it.”

He was surprised she’d picked up on that so quickly, given that all there was to read was body language. “That’s Chromium. We’ve been together almost from birth.”

“Gotcha,” she said. “Are you all related?”

“No,” he said. “Only Chromium and I.”

“Okay.” She nudged her chair closer to him once again.

He cleared his throat nervously. “So anyway, I can answer any questions about the shifter world here or on my planet. I can tell you anything about the men upstairs. Firstly, I can assure you they are honorable, kind, and worthy and will never cause you any harm.”

“Oh, good.” Her tone was warm as she scooted even closer, until their chairs were almost touching. “Good to know.”

“They would all protect you with their lives.”

“I see.”

“And, um… What are you doing?” He looked down at her nervously.

“You’re super hot, you know that? Like super good-looking.” She glared at him intently. This close, he could see that her eyes were a sparkling shade of very deep brown, almost black. Dark as the sins he wanted to commit when he was this close to her.

She wasn’t his. There was no way to know if she could be yet. Not until he talked to the oracle.

She shouldn’t be that close to him, even if he was probably the most level-headed dragon in the house.

She was making his always-logical brain short-circuit.

She ran a hand over his chest, and he jerked tensely, making her smile. “Wanna make out while we wait for that oracle lady to come? I haven’t had action in a minute.”

He looked back and forth at nothing but air. No one was there to save him.

“That’s a, uh, very direct request.” He didn’t think any of the other dragon mates had been so forward.

She shrugged. “I told you I’m a woman who goes by my gut instinct. Right now, that instinct says you’d be a great kisser.”

“I do not know. Kissing is a uniquely human endeavor, and I have not attempted it with a woman yet.”

She wrinkled her nose. “What?”

“I have not kissed anyone but—”

“That’s even more adorable.” She shocked him by standing up from her chair and straddling his lap, sitting down without even asking his permission.

Her warm, feminine hips settled over him, and Cobalt’s lizard brain tried to take over, saying how good it would feel to just take her in his arms and ravish her the way she was asking for.

But he had to think about this analytically, as he did everything else in life. It had never steered him wrong.

“I… suppose I could use some more research in this area.”

So much for analytical thinking.

“Is that a yes?” She blinked long, curved lashes at him flirtatiously.

He wasn’t sure. With her soft thighs and posterior on his lap, it was hard to think straight. For once in his very logical life, he couldn’t get a clear, rational answer.

“I’m going to take that as a yes,” she said huskily. “Come on, big boy. Show me what you got.”

Then her lips closed over his, and Cobalt felt his breath catch as electricity zinged through him.

Was this really happening? Was a total stranger, a human woman they’d just rescued, coming on to him more than anyone had before?

He stayed there stiffly as her lips played with his, her tongue peeking out to press at the seam of his lips. He let them open, curious to see what she wanted, and when her tongue swept into his mouth, he lost the rest of his tenuous control.

His arm curved around her waist, and he pulled her forward, following a primal urge inside him. His tongue tangled with hers in a heated dance that sent little shocks all through him, and then it surged forward to claim her mouth as she let out a moan and went limp in his arms, letting him plunder and explore her wet, warm depths.

He paid close attention to every moan, every breath, every tense of her muscles, and the way his own body was responding with hardness and tension and a very strong need.

Then she broke away from him, breathless, and looked up at him with a glazed expression, the most disarmed he’d ever seen her so far.

He set her apart from him quickly, just as a knock sounded on the door, rescuing both of them.

“Compose yourself,” he said softly, looking in the direction of the doorway, heart still pounding over what had just happened, alarms running through him that maybe what they’d just done was wrong.

Sylvie looked reluctant, and now that she’d recovered, the fire was back in her eyes and she was looking at him as though she didn’t regret a second of what they’d just done. Like she very much wanted more.

“Cobalt, you in there?” The voice was Lead’s. “The oracle is upstairs.”

“Time to go.” Cobalt cleared his throat as he adjusted his clothing back into place. “We’ll have to talk about… this… later.” He tried to make his tone stern to say he wouldn’t permit any more shenanigans.

She nodded, but the gleam in her eyes said that as long as she was there, all he could probably expect was shenanigans.

And a part of him, a tiny, illogical part he was ashamed of, kind of looked forward to seeing what those shenanigans were.