“I’m going another round,” Leif panted out to Clint as they ran up to where Clint’s and Leif’s trucks were parked. The trucks were at the end of the same lake trail where Leif had first met Sofia three months ago. It felt like just yesterday, but it also felt like a lifetime ago.

“Another round? As in another ten miles? This trail isn’t exactly a short loop.” Clint was slowing as they neared the parked trucks, but Leif kept his pace up.

“I need to clear my head. I’ll meet you back at the office.”

Leif glanced over his shoulder to give Clint a wave as he passed him, and saw Clint shrug. A twenty mile run was a lot even for Leif, but Clint was probably not surprised. Leif had been growing more and more restless as the days passed, and even keeping busy at work hadn’t been able to fully distract him from the fact that Sofia was gone, with little chance for communication. The dark monsters had all been eliminated now, thanks to dragon fire from Seth and Evan, but Vincent had not been found, and there were few clues as to where he might be. That was the last that Leif had heard, and that had been a week ago. Leif never knew whether lack of communication was good news or not. He always hoped that the silence meant that the team was hot in pursuit of Vincent, and not that they had nothing to report. But he never could know for sure, and as the days passed without news from Sofia, Leif grew more lonely and worried.

Running was the best antidote he knew for worry. He liked to push himself until his muscles burned and he could no longer think of anything but the pain. The annoying thing was, the more he did this, the better shape he was in. These days, he had to push himself really hard before he could get his mind clear.

He tried to distract himself with thoughts of things other than Sofia, too. He thought about work, and the program he was creating to help ease new dragons into life in Torch Lake—and to keep them prepared for any fights against dark powers. The High Council wanted an army of dragon shifters ready to do battle at a moment’s notice, and Leif had been placed in charge of that army. It was a strange job for him, since he didn’t exactly have military experience. Then again, this wasn’t a normal army. This was more of a brotherhood, a group of dragons who stood together to defend each other and the Torch Lake clan. At least, that’s how Leif envisioned things. So far, no new dragons had arrived in Torch Lake. The Dragon Recovery Bureau was hard at work tracking down dragon shifters, but it was slow going. Many dragons wanted nothing to do with the shifter or wizard worlds, and many were hard to track down, even with information on their last known whereabouts. Still, the leadership at the Dragon Recovery Bureau was hopeful that soon they would have a few new dragons in Torch Lake. It just took time.

Time. Everything took so much time. All Leif wanted was for time to speed up so he could get on with his life. He was in a holding pattern right now, with no dragons to train and no word on when Sofia would be back. He felt an empty ache inside of him, an ache that not even miles and miles of running could erase.

And still, he ran on, trying to forget, if only for a few minutes. He felt sweat dripping down his forehead, and he felt the burn in his legs. But nothing felt stronger than the pain in his heart. As he finally came around the last corner of the trail, he was tempted to try for another round. But thirty miles was crazy. Even a dragon probably couldn’t run that much. That was more than a marathon! And so, he started to slow as he jogged toward his truck. That’s when he had a sudden sense of déjà vu.

He blinked his eyes and slowed his pace even more, trying to see if his vision was playing tricks on him. But no. There, leaning against his truck, was the same beautiful figure that had been there three months earlier. She wasn’t wearing an obnoxious red suit this time. She had on a pair of jeans and an oversized hoodie. But she had the same brilliant smile, and he felt like his heart might stop from the pure joy of seeing her.

“Sofia?” he asked. He had almost completely slowed to a walk now. Had he run too much? Was he overtired and hallucinating now? No, it was really her. “You’re here.”

“I’m here,” she said, her smile spreading wide.

And then, Leif was running again. Full speed, he covered the short distance left between them and pulled her up into his arms. She shrieked with delight as he swung her around, then set her down and planted a huge kiss on her soft, perfect lips.

“I’m sorry. I’m a sweaty mess,” he said when he finally pulled back.

“Don’t apologize. Just shut up and hold me.”

He didn’t wait for a second invitation. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

“God, it’s good to see you. When did you get back? I had no idea.”

“Our radios failed. We got in a huge fight with some of the Dark Warriors, and we lost a lot of supplies. We weren’t too far away when it happened though, so we decided to fly straight home and surprise everyone.”

“A fight? Are you okay?” Leif pulled back to look at her, eyeing her up and down suspiciously as though she was hiding a broken bone or huge wound from him. She laughed.

“I’m fine. The dragons barely even let me fight at all. You shifters are mighty overprotective. But the important thing is, we held off the Dark Warriors and even managed to drive them away in the end. Not before they caused a lot of damage to our stuff, but stuff can be replaced.”

Leif faltered. “So are you just back to replace your supplies then? Will you be heading out again?”

Sofia shook her head, and her smile widened. “No, I’m here for good. We found Vincent. He was barely alive when we got to him. It seems he was wounded horribly by the tree branch that fell on him, and has been barely hanging on to life since then. We put him out of his misery.”

“Vincent is dead?”

“Vincent is dead. And I’m back here for good. The High Council has asked me to serve in an advisory role at the Dragon Recovery Bureau. The Dark Warriors are still going strong, unfortunately, so our work against dark magic isn’t done. It never is, really. But my time of traveling around is done. I’m in Torch Lake to stay. I’m with you to stay!”

Leif stared at her in disbelief. “I…I can’t believe it. You’re here for good? You’re sure?”

Sofia laughed and nodded. “I’m sure. I came straight to your office to tell you, but Clint said you were still out running. So I decided to come pay you another little visit, like the first day we met.”

Leif grinned and threw his arms around her again, holding her tight. “This day is so much better than the day we met, because today you are mine. And today I know better than to act like a jerk to you. God, I love you so much Sofia. It’s so good to have you home.”

“I love you, too. And you really weren’t that much of a jerk.”

Leif grimaced. “I was. It’s okay, you can say it.”

“Okay, maybe just a little bit. But I understand. You didn’t know who I was.”

“No, I didn’t. But now I do. And I can’t believe how lucky I am to have found you.”

Sofia squeezed him tighter. “The feeling is mutual. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”

Leif pulled back to look at her. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face, hardly able to believe that she was finally home again with him. “Well, luckiest girl, we’ve been apart for some time and I think we have some catching up to do. What do you say?”

Sofia gave him a devious grin. “I say the back of your truck looks like a comfy place to start our little catch up session.”

Leif didn’t need to be invited twice. All thoughts of exhaustion fled as he lifted Sofia up, squealing, and carried her around to the bed of his truck. He was going to give Sofia a homecoming welcome worth remembering. And what a good home Torch Lake was.