After Brittany got dressed in a white tunic with skinny jeans, and left her hair down in waves, she headed upstairs to see who might be up in the kitchen.

Luckily, her face seemed to have returned to a normal color, and hopefully, there was no remaining trace of her afterglow from what Lead had done.

She was falling for him. So hard. For a moment, back in his room, she’d thought he was about to say the same thing.

Then he’d pulled back. Again.

She hated when he did that. If only she had the dragon’s ability to read minds. She doubted she’d have been able to resist using it at that moment.

When Brittany walked into the kitchen, she saw someone was bent over the stove, stirring something and muttering to himself.

Arsenic, she thought with a grin.

“Hey,” she said, and he turned around, flashing green eyes at her. “What are you making?”

She’d been warned not to go in when Arsenic was cooking, but she’d become his friend at this point, or as close as one could probably be with this man.

He raised a dark eyebrow. “Why are you asking? Did Cadmium send you down here to mock me?”

“No,” she said, laughing. “I was just up early and figured your cooking couldn’t be as bad as everyone says.”

“I agree,” Arsenic said, looking pleased as he raised himself to his full height, which was quite intimidating. “I often think they are just mocking me for sport, but I can’t call them on it without more mocking ensuing.”

“Maybe they’re just exaggerating,” she said. “You know they like to tease.” Though, now that she was looking at the contents of the pot, she wasn’t sure.

Perhaps at one point it had been oatmeal, but now, who knew? It was dark and chunky, as if parts had burned to black and been stirred back in. There were little specks of orange. Could that possibly be cheese? Plus little bits of pink meat. And perhaps, if she looked close enough, bloated little raisins?

Uh oh.

“After all, I don’t do anything strange with my cooking,” Arsenic said. “I simply combine the human foods I like and can’t imagine why they would be unpalatable.”

“Well, do you follow a recipe?” she asked.

“Recipes are for fools,” Arsenic said stubbornly, stirring the gloop once more. He looked at her, and a light glinted in his eyes. She took a step back. “You want to taste it for me? You could tell me if the others are just being mean.”

She put her hands up nervously. “I’m not sure I’m the best judge.”

“Nonsense,” Arsenic said. “You are a human, and this is one hundred percent human food.” He took a step forward, holding a wooden spoon full of the gloop in his hand. He was tall, imposing, handsome, yet she couldn’t bring herself to eat the stuff he was holding.

Looking up at his face, which was slightly exotic, she thought he would play an excellent pirate in a movie. His natural tan and dark swarthy hair went perfectly with the role. Then again, maybe he was slightly too pretty.

“Why would I be a pirate?” he asked, stopping with the spoon in his hand.

“Excuse me?”

“I heard your thoughts. I’m sorry. I usually block them out and will go back to doing so, but you were blushing, and I was curious. Plus, you were nearly shouting them. You should be aware of that.”

She swallowed. “Ah. Well. Because you’re handsome and you… sort of just look like one.”

“Hm,” he said. “I have watched pirate movies and liked them. Perhaps if I’d come to Earth at a different time, I’d have been one.”

She smiled. “I can kind of see that. What did you do on your world?”

“I was an assassin,” he said flatly, shocking her.

“Oh. Um. That’s…”

“Not usual for this place, I know. But when someone had to be put down, when someone was hurting others and couldn’t be stopped any other way, they sent me in. My poison is very strong, you know, and I’m exceptional at controlling it.”

“Do you all have poison?”

“Of course,” he said. “We’re all metals. Or, as you so rudely pointed out earlier, I’m a metalloid, but my exceptional and desirable powers made me fit for the dragon guard.” He raised his chin. “No one would say otherwise.”

She cocked her head, realizing this was a person who felt a lot more insecure than he would ever let on. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she took a step forward and clamped her mouth down over the spoon, taking the whole bite in.

She chewed, trying not to feel woozy as the dizzying array of contrasting flavors and burnt texture flooded her mouth. No matter how she chewed, it seemed it was never going to end.

“Mm,” she said, hoping it didn’t show that her eyes were watering. “It’s pretty good.”

Arsenic stared at her with a dark glare before grabbing her arm and pulling her to the sink. “Dammit, spit that out. I can see you think it’s terrible.” Arsenic let out a wary sigh. “Well, at least I know now that my teammates weren’t just mocking me.”

She leaned over the sink, and he held her hair back as she spat all of it down the drain. It was undignified, but she couldn’t help it. She stood up, wiping her lips with a paper towel and wanting anything to make the burnt taste go away.

Arsenic hurried to the fridge. “I’m sure there is something in here that Chromium has made.”

But as Arsenic was rummaging for something for her to eat, she looked out the window over the sink and saw Lead on the deck, sitting next to someone.

The female dragon, based on the long, blond hair hanging down her back. They were sitting fairly close, too.

“Is that Marina?” she asked, and Arsenic came over.

“Ah, yes,” Arsenic said. “Now there’s a messy story.”

Brittany’s heart made an oddly painful contraction. “What do you mean?”

Marina and Lead were leaned in as they talked, somewhat intimately, as if very good friends. Lead didn’t seem to be holding back with her the way he was with Brittany, but perhaps that was because she was his friend’s mate.

“Lead was one of the dragons competing for Marina on Drakkaris. Mercury won the challenge. Most of us knew he would from the start, but poor Lead really seemed to fall for her. I doubt he’s gotten over her still.”

Brittany’s heart felt as if it had dropped to the floor and was trying to hide under her toes. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, and she turned away from the window, trying not to look at the people outside. “I see.”

Was that what he meant by complicated? Did he still have feelings for another woman?

It all made sense a bit now.

He liked her, but he’d said he didn’t know if he could mate her. He’d said he would try to fix things. Maybe he was talking to Marina now, trying to figure out his feelings. But if he did have feelings for Marina, ones that were holding him back, that couldn’t be resolved in a day.

She hoped Arsenic wasn’t reading her mind, but he was definitely watching her intently.

“You like him, don’t you?”

She shook her head, praying tears wouldn’t fall. “No. I just… I think it’s odd I didn’t know. Were they ever together?”

Arsenic leaned against the counter. “An odd question to ask if you don’t like him, but no. I don’t think so. I just know Lead tried really hard to win her and was pretty depressed for a while after we came here. He’s been a bit better lately.”

So was she just a replacement? Did he just want to win her because he couldn’t win Marina and he didn’t want to lose her again?

He was so possessive, calling Brittany his. He barely knew her, yet he’d been telling her she belonged to him, that no one else could touch her. Was he mistaking her for Marina in his mind?

If so, was he then hesitating when he thought about anything long term?

She wasn’t going to be a substitute for anyone.

She couldn’t resist glancing out the window, and her heart ached again, seeing how close they looked.

“I apologize if I said something I shouldn’t have,” Arsenic said, looking uncomfortable. “I guess you two got involved?”

She shook her head but knew he could tell she was lying. Damn it all.

“Did he ask you to mate him?”

“No,” she said softly, still feeling coldness and confusion mingling in her heart.

“That’s odd,” Arsenic said. “Dragons usually proclaim themselves early, and he’s too honorable to drag you along.”

She blinked. He’d been calling himself dishonorable all the time, ever since he’d been with her. He was constantly beating himself up, as if he were doing something awful, and she’d just thought he was being hard on himself.

But if he’d just been using her while getting over his feelings for another woman, that was pretty much the most dishonorable thing she could think of.

He’d never said he could commit to her, but he’d also said he wouldn’t let her go.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

Her heart pounded, and she smiled weakly, trying to keep Arsenic from seeing what was going on. “I’m going up to my room. I forgot something, I think.”

“But wait—” Arsenic started after her, but she put up a hand and gave a violent shake of her head.

“Just leave me alone.”

Chromium was headed for the kitchen and stopped when she passed him without even a wave. She saw him look in Arsenic’s direction, totally puzzled, but she couldn’t stop to talk.

She needed to hide. To pack. To tell the oracle she wanted to go back to her world. Tell her she wanted to leave before she could fall even harder for the dragon that had stolen her heart.

The next time a man beat himself up for being dishonorable in front of her, she would believe him.

And run.