Sofia twisted around, her heart pounding at the words Leif had just spoken. “Incoming Dragons” could mean so many things. She strained her eyes to see the dark forms flying toward them. It was hard to tell from here, but it looked like two dragons, maybe three. It might be Seth and Evan flying toward them. It might be more dragons from Torch Lake, sent to find and help Leif. Torch Lake was south of them, not north, but it was possible that any rescuers might have flown past them and had to double back from the north. It was also possible that these weren’t friendly dragons. Most dragons fought for the side of good, but that didn’t mean there weren’t some out there who would side with evil. Sofia tensed up, and she could feel Leif doing the same beside her.

“Do you recognize them?” she asked, hoping that maybe Leif’s dragon eyes could get a better glimpse of the approaching dragons than she could. But Leif only shook his head.

“No. They’re still too far out. We should be ready to fight just in case.”

“Shit. I don’t have my magic ring.”

Until that moment, Sofia had been too caught up with her infatuation for Leif to think about her missing ring. But with the prospect of a fight looming close, she started to panic. She was useless without a ring, and completely defenseless.

“You’ll have to hide, then,” Leif said, standing quickly. “Get into the trees, and stay there. Make sure you’re downwind so there’s less chance of the dragons catching your scent.”

“What about you? I can’t leave you alone out here.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m a good fighter, and I’m fast. It’s better that you leave me alone. If you’re out here, you’ll be worse than useless. You’ll be a pawn for them to use, and I’ll have to worry about not only fighting but also protecting you. I don’t need my strength and energy wasted like that, so stay put, okay?”

Sofia made a face, but nodded. Leif gave her a little push, and she quickly pulled on her clothes before reluctantly jogging across the meadow and into the forest. She knew she should go as far in as she could get in the few minutes before the dragons arrived, but she couldn’t bring herself to go so far away from Leif. They had just discovered their love for each other. How could she leave him alone now? Sofia climbed into a large tree, nestling herself into its branches in a way that allowed her to view the clearing and Leif reasonably well. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she tried to think of ways she could help him. Without her magic ring, though, she was useless. He was right. The best thing she could do for him was to keep the dragons from knowing she was here. With a frustrated grunt, she lay stomach-first on a thick tree branch and waited.

A few seconds later, she heard a long, loud roar echo through the surrounding woods. She peered through the trees and watched as Leif began to transform into dragon form again. She marveled anew at how large he was, and how beautiful his dragon form looked. His thick dragon hide seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, and Sofia found herself resisting the strange urge to jump down from the tree and run out to jump on Leif’s back. She could not fight with him, she reminded herself. All she would do was get in the way.

She cursed herself for being caught so off guard this morning. She’d barely realized she was under attack before Vincent and his cronies had subdued her with dark magic. If only she’d been more prepared and alert, then she might have been able to fight back and keep them from capturing her.

Sofia frowned. There was no point in dwelling on a bunch of “what-ifs.” Things had happened the way they had, and she couldn’t change that now. Besides, could she really complain about the fact that this morning’s events had resulted in Leif’s coming to rescue her? That had been a completely unexpected benefit of the attack.

“Lifemate,” Sofia said aloud, letting the word roll around on her tongue. She’d never heard of the concept, but she liked the idea. And, she had no doubt that she’d felt the lifemate bond. She’d been almost scared, at first, by the intensity of the heat that filled her when she made love to Leif. Now that she knew what that heat was, all she wanted was to experience it again. Leif had kindled a fire in her that hungered for more. She hadn’t been looking for a lover, but that was mostly because she’d resigned herself to a lonely life. Spies didn’t have the luxury of forming close friendships or relationships with others. But Sofia’s cover had been blown, anyway, and for the first time in a long time, she was letting herself imagine what it would be like to live a normal life. A life where she didn’t have to constantly worry that she was going to say or do something that would expose her. A life where she could actually love someone.

Did she love Leif? She felt like she did, but was it too soon to know? She’d felt strangely drawn to him since the moment she’d met him. Perhaps her heart was trying to tell her head what her soul already knew: Leif Redding was perfect for her.

A loud roar from Leif’s dragon brought her back to the present moment. She strained to see through the branches, her heart pounding again. Whether or not it was too soon to love Leif would be an irrelevant question if he lost his life in this battle. He’d proven that he was a strong fighter when he went up against the Dark Warriors, but could he really hold his own against two dragons? Two dragons who might be drawing on the strength of dark magic to help their cause? Sofia had never been the praying type, but she started praying now. She couldn’t bear the thought of watching Leif struggle against such large foes, all while she sat here unable to do anything to help him.

Leif had his eyes locked in an upward gaze, squinting slightly against the brightness of the sun. The other dragons would be here any moment. Surely, Leif could see them by now? Why wasn’t he reacting? Did he not know who they were? Sofia felt her heart drop. If he didn’t recognize them by now, then they were probably enemies. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead.

“I can’t lose you, Leif. Not now. Not when I’ve only just found you.”

Leif, of course, could not hear Sofia’s barely audible prayer. He continued looking upward. For a half minute, which felt like an eternity, Sofia held her breath, waiting.

Then, the tension broke. Leif let out a happy grunt and suddenly began to shift back to human form. Sofia’s heart leapt back to its normal spot, and she whooped happily before she began to climb down the tree. If Leif was shifting back to human form, that meant that he had recognized the dragons flying in and considered them friends.

Sofia practically slid all the way down to the ground, ignoring the scratches that appeared on her arms and face from the tree’s rough twigs and bark. As soon as her feet hit the forest floor, she was off, running. She flew through the dense trees, and emerged back into the clearing just as the two dragons came in for a landing. Leif was fully back to human form, and he turned to watch as Sofia ran up to him.

“It’s Seth and Evan,” he said, gesturing toward them. “The real Seth and Evan. Not some optical illusion.”

Sofia watched as the large dragons began to shift back to human form. The clearing shook with the energy from their shifting, and the nearby trees swayed as well. Sofia braced herself by holding onto Leif’s strong arms until the shifting was complete. Then, standing in front of her were three naked men, all of them muscular, tall, and well-endowed—and all of them completely oblivious to the fact that they were naked. Sofia couldn’t help but giggle, which caused them all to turn and stare at her.

“What’s so funny?” Leif asked, then realized a split-second later what it was. He rolled his eyes. “You boys better get dressed. And do you have any clothes I could borrow? Our little wizard friend here isn’t used to naked shifters.”

Sofia blushed but couldn’t stop from giggling again. It struck her as funny how nonchalantly the shifters would walk around naked, forgetting that they didn’t have clothes on. She was also secretly happy to note that, although all of the men looked good naked, Leif looked the best. His body was perfect, and his muscles the largest. Sofia had a strange urge to run over and kiss him, but she resisted. This wasn’t the time or place to let her desires run away with her. There would be plenty of time for that once they were back in Torch Lake.

Seth and Evan pulled clothes out of their backpacks, and tossed an extra set to Leif. Sofia looked away as the men dressed, focusing her gaze on their backpack instead of their bodies. She noticed the long scratches on the backpack, presumably from where the dragons’ sharp claws had been holding the bags as they flew. Sofia shuddered, thinking again that she was glad these two had been friendly dragons. She would not have wanted to witness Leif fighting against two evil dragons who wanted to kill him.

As soon as the men were dressed, Leif reached out to shake their hands. Seth and Evan were having none of that, however, and pulled him into a big bear hug instead. Sofia could tell that this surprised Leif, although he said nothing.

“It’s so good to see you here, alive and well. We feared the worst,” Evan said.

Leif glanced over at Sofia and then back at the two men. “I take it you were somehow warned of the trouble out here? How much do you know?”

“Well, we know that Sofia isn’t really an audit agent,” Seth said with a grin in Sofia’s direction. “I always thought you were too nice for that.”

Sofia laughed. “That’s very kind of you to say.”

Evan’s head was bobbing up and down. “I thought you were too nice, too. We got an emergency radio transmission from the High Council this morning, and were told about the Dark Warriors and how they broke into the High Council building. We learned all about how you were a spy, and suddenly everything made a lot more sense.”

Sofia sighed. “Yeah. I guess that’s the story of the day, huh? Bitchy Sofia wasn’t actually a bitchy junior auditor. She was just a spy trying to stay undercover.”

Leif cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Sofia looked at him and laughed. “It’s alright, Leif. I already told you that you’re forgiven.”

Leif smiled at her, and Sofia felt herself go warm all over. She wondered for a moment whether it was obvious to Seth and Evan that she and Leif had suddenly decided they had deeper feelings for each other, but neither of them said anything if they had noticed. Leif had tilted his head sideways now to study his two dragon trainees.

“That still doesn’t explain how you ended up here, though? I’m assuming the High Council sent you over?”

Seth nodded. “They did indeed. Apparently a certain dragon shifter named Leif Redding took off to save Sofia without exactly stopping to get permission from the High Council first.”

Sofia watched Leif blush slightly. “Right,” he said. “About that—”

“Hey, hey! No need to explain yourself,” Evan said. “We were actually quite impressed when we heard you’d defied the High Council like that.”

“You were?” Sofia and Leif asked in unison.

Seth nodded. “We were. I have to say, Leif, one of the biggest reasons I didn’t want to move back to a shifter or wizard town is that I got tired of feeling like everyone in these towns blindly followed everything the High Councils said they should do. To me, that seemed like a recipe for trouble.”

“I was the same way,” Evan said. “I moved to a human town and started living like a human after the Dark War, because I saw so many of my friends and family blindly follow my clan’s High Council into danger. Anyone who tried to stand up to them was ostracized and ridiculed. By the time people realized that the High Council had made bad decisions and exposed my clan to dark magic, it was too late.”

“It was a similar situation in my clan,” Seth said. “The point is, I didn’t want to stay in Torch Lake because I didn’t want to be part of a herd of sheep anymore. But you gave me hope today, Leif. You showed me that there are still dragons out there willing to stand up for what they believe is the right thing to do, even when the High Council disagrees with them.”

Sofia saw Leif’s eyes widen. She instinctively reached out to hold his hand. He squeezed her hand and held on tight, shaking his head at Seth and Evan in slight disbelief.

“Boys, I don’t know what to say,” he finally managed to get out. “I had no idea you thought that way. I really thought that you would have wanted to see a strong High Council that didn’t take any shit. That’s what I wanted to see when I first came to Torch Lake, because the High Council in my old clan was completely wishy-washy and never took a stand for anything.”

Seth shrugged. “I think there has to be a balance. You don’t want a bunch of pushovers on the High Council, sure. But you also don’t want to completely smother citizens who are attempting to do what they believe in their heart is the right thing.”

Leif considered this for a moment. “Well, as much as it pains me to say this, because I really want you two to stay in Torch Lake, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much yet. I still haven’t talked to the High Council. They might punish me for this little stunt yet, although I’m hoping they’ll show some mercy since I did manage to actually rescue Sofia.”

Sofia saw Seth and Evan exchange a glance.

“Dude,” Seth said after a brief pause. “You’re a hero in Torch Lake right now.”

Leif looked genuinely surprised. “I am?”

“Yeah,” Evan said with a slight chuckle. “I guess a lot of people witnessed you running off to save Sofia despite Jake trying to talk some sense into you. Bit by bit the whole story got out, and now all of Torch Lake is talking about how you risked your own career and reputation to go save Sofia.”

“And, by the way,” Seth added. “Sofia is now a hometown hero as well.”

Sofia swung her gaze to look at Seth in confusion. “I am?”

“Uh-huh. All anyone can talk about is how Sofia fearlessly infiltrated the Dark Warriors, and Leif fearlessly went after the Dark Warriors to save Sofia. You two are going to be quite the celebrities when you get home.”

Sofia swallowed hard. She had never expected to be a hero, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. But she was glad that it didn’t sound like Leif was going to be in trouble, and she was glad that Seth and Evan’s opinion of Torch Lake seemed to have improved.

“Wait,” she said, suddenly realizing that none of this actually explained how Seth and Evan had ended up here. “You still haven’t told us how you found us.”

“Well, the High Council was worried that Leif might have encountered a bigger foe than he could handle. They weren’t sure what he’d be facing out here. So they radioed us and asked us to turn around and come help. We came as fast as we could, although it looks like you guys have the situation under control.”

Sofia looked around at the clearing. It was quiet now, with only the sounds of birds chirping. But there were signs all around that there had been a big fight here not too long ago. The ground was shredded and scorched in several spots, and the large branch that had fallen on Vincent still sat conspicuously on the edge of the clearing. On the other side of the clearing were several supply bags that the Dark Warriors had left behind. In their hurry to flee, most of the dark wizards and shifters had forgotten to grab their backpacks.

“We should probably search through those,” Sofia said, pointing to the bags. She hadn’t noticed them before because she’d been too busy noticing Leif.

“Yeah, we should,” Leif agreed. “And I guess we should radio Torch Lake to let them know we’re okay.”

“I’ll radio the High Council,” Evan said. “You guys can start sorting through the bags. And then I want to hear all about what happened.”

“It’s a good story,” Sofia said with a smile. “There were even fake dragons that looked like you here.”

Seth’s eyes widened again. “This I’ve gotta hear.”

And so, Leif told Seth and Evan all about the fake dragons, as well as all the details of the rescue, including the glorious moment when the huge tree branch fell on Vincent’s head. While Leif spoke, Sofia began sorting through the Dark Warriors’ bags. Most of what she found was basic supplies—food, water, and clothing. She did find a few items that might be useful, though. The radios that the Dark Warriors had left behind could be analyzed to see if any secret Dark Warriors’ information was stored on there. There were also several flash drives in one bag that might contain useful information. Sofia was sure that whatever was on here would be encrypted, but she knew some of the codes that the Dark Warriors used, so she might be able to decode it.

She had emptied the last bag completely when she realized that it still felt heavy. Confused, she picked it up again and searched the pockets. All of them were empty, but there was a hard bulge near the bottom back of the bag. She poked at it a few times and quickly realized there was a hidden pocket back there. Looking around for something sharp, she grabbed a pocketknife that had been in one of the other bags. With one quick movement, she sliced open the secret pocket. Immediately, a small pile of gold coins spilled out, along with a few jewels. The noise drew the attention of the dragon shifters.

“Whoa,” Seth said. “Those are some old coins!”

Sofia squinted at the coins. They were engraved with several runes that meant nothing to her. She’d never seen anything like this before. “What are they?”

Leif was looking at one now. “They’re ancient coins from one of the old dragon kingdoms. Some say they still contain supernatural powers, although many scoff at that idea and say that’s just legend. I didn’t know any of these existed outside of a museum, though.”

“Maybe they were stolen?” Evan asked. “A lot of shifter museums and treasuries suffered losses. It wouldn’t surprise me if these coins were among the stolen goods.”

“No one in the Dark Warriors group ever said anything to me about these,” Sofia said as she sifted through the coins. “But maybe they were thinking the supernatural powers would help better their dark magic capabilities. Hey! Look!”

A glint of sapphire had caught Sofia’s eye, and when she took a closer look she saw that the sapphire was part of a very familiar looking ring.

“It’s my magic ring!” she exclaimed, hardly able to believe it. “I have no idea why it was hidden away in a bag of old coins, but I can’t believe my luck at finding this. I was worried I had lost it forever and would have to get a new one.”

Leif came closer and peered down at the ring, then smiled. “Whoever was in charge of guarding that backpack is going to be in trouble. They lost your magic ring, a bunch of ancient coins, and a bunch more jewels, it looks like.”

Sofia nodded peering down at the jewels. “I’m not sure what the rest of these jewels are, but they might have powers of some sort. We should take them back to the High Council.”

“Agreed,” Leif said, then turned to Evan. “You told them that we were all okay, right? Have they heard any other news of Vincent or the Dark Warriors?”

“No. But they are very interested to hear a more detailed account of things from both you and Sofia.”

Leif nodded. “Alright. Let’s head back. Sofia, do you want to ride on my dragon back? I don’t see any broomsticks left behind that you could fly on.”

Sofia nodded her agreement. Flying on Leif’s back sounded wonderful. She had noticed the lack of broomsticks, too. All of them had either been burned during the brief battle with Leif, or belonged to the wizards who had escaped. In any case, Sofia felt exhausted, and was happy to have someone else fly her back to Torch Lake—especially when that someone else was the man she had fallen for completely.

As she climbed on Leif’s back a few minutes later, she marveled at how magnificent his strong dragon back was. His dragon hide felt surprisingly comfortable, despite the fact that it was so thick and tough to ward off enemy attacks. And his back itself was broad and muscular. Sofia had plenty of room to spread out without fearing that she was going to tumble over his side. She lay on her stomach and held on to his thick scales just above his wings, then relaxed as Leif’s dragon took off into the bright blue sky. They rose higher and higher, until the forest below looked like it was made of toy trees.

Sofia admired the view for a few minutes, but eventually gave in to the exhaustion overwhelming her and closed her eyes. She didn’t fall asleep right away, but rather enjoyed the gentle rocking motion of Leif’s dragon as he flew through the calm skies. This whole day felt like a strange dream. It had started with Dark Warriors storming into her house and dragging her to the High Council building, and had progressed from there to a rescue by a mighty dragon who turned out to be her lifemate.

Sofia blushed as she replayed the moments where Leif and she had made love openly in the Gray Oasis Forest. They were lucky that Seth and Evan hadn’t shown up until later. It would have made for an awkward rescue if they were still busy making love when their rescuers arrived. Sofia giggled at the thought, but then her thoughts turned serious again. Was she really ready for this? For life with a dragon and all the escapades it would entail?

She nodded to herself. She was ready. She had no way of knowing what, exactly lay ahead of her, and she knew things wouldn’t always be easy. But life as a spy hadn’t been easy or predictable, either. At least life with a dragon meant she was no longer alone. Far from it. She was with a man who would protect her and love her no matter what the world threw at her. Sofia hadn’t known Leif very long, true. But she’d known him long enough to know that he had all the traits one would expect from a dragon: honor, loyalty, and kindness. And after giving in to her overwhelming desire to make love to him, she knew that his body was just as good as his heart. How had she been so lucky, to catch his eye?

Sofia smiled as Torch Lake came into view in the distance. Perhaps being a spy, despite all its difficulties, had had some unexpected benefits after all.