The next morning, Lead woke with the sunrise and waited patiently for Brittany to rise. When she did, she was startled at first, clutching the blankets around her, and then looked over at him and blushed.

Utterly adorable.

Was she trying to torture him?

He didn’t know what she’d been through, but he could only imagine that being captured and taken from your home was awful and terrifying for anyone, most of all a fragile human.

Did she even realize how delicate she was compared to others in their world?

And how was it that Earth dragons actually mated these creatures?

But he was pulled from his reverie by a gentle clearing of her throat.

“Um. I think I’m ready to get up.”

He jolted, realizing she probably wanted him to leave. “Right. Of course. I’ll be out… there. Come down for breakfast when you’re ready.” He smiled. “I’ll try to keep Arsenic and his evil food at bay.”

She laughed. “Is it really that bad?”

Lead gave her a solemn nod in answer.

She laughed. “All right. I’ll watch out, then. Still, I feel bad hurting his feelings.”

“I’m not sure Arsenic has feelings,” Lead said. “Kidding. But anyway, I guess I’ll see you soon.” He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward and stiff from the past night. On the other hand, he actually felt well-rested, despite his odd position.

Well, he’d been on more difficult missions and slept in more uncomfortable places.

And for much less worthy causes.

“Is it all right if I open the door?”

“Yes,” she said.

He did and then went through and quickly shut it behind him. When he walked to the top of the stairway, he looked down and quickly felt five pairs of intensely scrutinizing eyes on him.

“Uh.”

Chromium stood first. He pointed at the door and cocked his head, eyes narrowed.

“She wanted me to keep watch.” Lead put both hands up as he walked down the stairs. “I did only as she asked me. I promise.”

Cobalt raised an eyebrow. His dark-blue eyes were slightly cold. “I thought we weren’t supposed to interfere with her?”

Cadmium, who was relaxing on a chaise lounge, yawned and stretched. “I don’t remember the oracle saying that about her.”

“I thought she was supposed to be mating a pair of double dragons somewhere,” Cobalt said. “In my research, that seems to be who dragon-hearts pair up with.”

“Are there any?” Arsenic asked, looking curious now, too.

“I’m not sure,” Cobalt said. “It’s kept quite secret. Their locations are on a need-to-know basis.”

“I see,” Cadmium said. “And the oracle didn’t think we needed to know. Therefore, she doesn’t think we need to be saving this woman for them.” His eyes darted to Zinc. “Besides, we need her.”

This whole line of commentary made Lead distinctly uncomfortable. “Wait a second. We are here to protect her. Nothing more.”

“There’s Lead, the honorable broken record,” Arsenic said drily.

“Hey,” Lead said. “You usually back me up.”

Arsenic’s eyes darted to Brittany’s door. “Even I think she’s toothsome. Sorry brother, but all bets are off.”

With a snarl, Lead moved to block their view. “No one is going to touch her. I can’t believe we are even discussing this.”

The dragons looked amongst each other, confused.

“Wait a second,” Cadmium said. “Who said anything about touching her?”

“It would be extremely dishonorable to do that without her permission,” Zinc said. He glared. “Anyone who tries it will answer to me and then the court of Drakkaris.” He turned to Lead. “So you can relax a bit.”

Lead wasn’t sure about that, but he was at least relieved they were all on the same page about not touching Brittany.

“No harassing either. Apparently, the wolves said gross things to her.”

Grumbles all around at that.

“We should have beat their asses twice,” Arsenic said.

Chromium nodded darkly, cracking his knuckles.

“No,” Cobalt said. “The best thing we can do is be kind. Be gentlemen. Let her teach us about humans. Yes, she is objectively beautiful, and anyone would be lucky to have her, but there are other human females. Ones we will be better equipped to win if we pay attention to what Brittany can teach us.”

Cadmium raised an eyebrow at Cobalt. “Or are you just trying to distract us so you can move in and get an advantage?”

“Stop it,” Lead said sharply. “We are the dragon guard. Are we really going to do this? Let one female tear us apart? Let us stop this.”

There were mumbles and then reluctant nods of assent.

“I’m sorry,” Cadmium said. “I forgot myself.” He perked up slightly. “But you know, while we are learning from her, there’s no reason we can’t show her who we are, what we have to offer. If she ends up falling for one of us, completely by chance, is it our fault?”

Several of the dragons looked up hopefully, and Lead put a hand over his face.

“You slept in her room last night,” Arsenic said in a low voice, walking over to him. “It put ideas in some of their heads. We have been cooped up in this house with no company. Before that, we spent hundreds of years with only the vague hope of a mate. Be patient. I know that none of our guard will be dishonorable.”

Lead nodded. Despite his dour disposition, Arsenic was his second-in-command, and Lead trusted him implicitly. He put a hand on Arsenic’s shoulder. “Thank you. And I swear nothing happened.”

Arsenic let out a snort as they all headed to the kitchen for breakfast. “Of course nothing happened. I sometimes worry that for you, nothing will ever happen because of your damn honor.”

“What does that mean?” Lead said.

“Nothing,” Arsenic said. “Only that sometimes I worry that honor is all you think about, and you’ll never do anything for yourself.”

Lead was quiet at that because it was a fair point. One he’d been worried about himself. He didn’t see, however, how it related to Brittany.

When they were in the kitchen, pulling plates and leftovers from the fridge onto the counter, Lead decided someone other than himself should probably take breakfast up to Brittany, in case she didn’t want to come down.

If he went, it would only stir up more jealousy and conflict.

He appraised the other dragons and realized he could get two things done at once if he sent Chromium. First, it would ensure Chromium’s cooking would be taken to her instead of Arsenic’s, and second, it would show he wasn’t being possessive or selfish with the human since he wasn’t going himself.

“Chromium, do you want to make a plate to take up to Brittany?”

Chromium gave a small nod, then busied himself in the fridge, picking things out.

Whoever ended up with Chromium would be lucky. He was thoughtful, kind, a top-notch warrior, and someone who was always dependable.

He also apparently had a jealous streak, which Lead would have to keep an eye on.

When Chromium was ready, plates piled in both hands, he made his way carefully out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs.

The other dragons surreptitiously moved as if to peek on Chromium as he went, and Lead cleared his throat as if to tell them to stop it.

They would only make things more awkward if Brittany opened her door to see everyone staring from downstairs.

He went back to fixing his breakfast and was doing his best to stay focused when a feminine shriek rent the air.

Before Lead knew what was happening, he was at the top of the stairs, breathing heavily as he pushed Brittany’s door open and saw her sitting on the bed. She had her breakfast in front of her, staring aghast at Chromium, who was standing bare-chested with what looked like the remains of his shirt in his hands.

He looked over at Lead with a confused expression, and Cobalt walked forward and grabbed him by the arm. “Chromium, no.”

Chromium gave a quick shrug and exited with Cobalt, leaving Lead and the others with the awkward task of explaining what had just happened.

Lead entered the room ahead of the dragons, taking stock of Brittany as she exhaled slowly and began to laugh awkwardly, looking up at Lead.

“What happened? Are you hurt?” he asked sharply. His heart was pounding, but he was just relieved that nothing more serious had happened.

Brittany, who Lead now realized was deeply flushing, took a deep breath and let it out, her small hand pressed to her chest. “I’m sorry. I overreacted. It’s just… He brought my food in and seemed so polite and nice, and so I was eating, and I just thought I should maybe get to know him better. I just off-handedly asked him to tell me more about himself, and then I heard this ripping noise and looked up and just…” She trailed off, waving a hand as her blush grew even deeper. “I was surprised, that’s all. Why did he do that?”

Lead didn’t have a clear answer.

“Someone took our ‘showing what we have to offer’ a bit too literally,” Arsenic murmured, stepping forward. He faced Brittany. “You have to understand Chromium is a warrior. One of our strongest. He probably thought he was telling you about himself.”

Lead exhaled. “It isn’t uncommon as a means of courtship on our world for warriors to show their physique, their strength, to a potential mate. To show they would be adequate protectors.”

She swallowed. “Ah. I see.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to scare you,” Zinc said. “He probably just got nervous because he isn’t a big talker and defaulted to Drakkaris methods of trying to impress you.”

“Why was he trying to impress me?”

Now it was Lead’s turn to blush, and he and the other dragons looked around balefully, everyone trying not to address the elephant in the room.

“We’ll leave you alone for now,” Lead said. “You’ve had a hard morning. We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us. In a group.” His voice was hard as he ushered the others out of her room and down the stairs.

When he reached the living room, Cobalt was walking back in with Chromium, who had found a shirt but was looking sullen.

“Listen here,” Lead said. “I don’t care what the oracle said. Let me make this a little clearer. No one touches her. No one bothers her. Go about your lives. She either approaches you or you don’t see her at all. We may be on Earth, but I am still your captain.”

Five pairs of dragon eyes narrowed at him, and five nods followed. Most of them trailed back toward the kitchen, but Zinc stayed behind, watching Lead thoughtfully.

“What?” Lead asked, a little more harshly than he meant to.

The corners of Zinc’s mouth turned up in a smile. “You like her.”

Lead snorted. “That’s ridiculous. I’m just doing my duty.”

Zinc raised an eyebrow. “So protective.” Then, before Lead could retort, Zinc raised his shoulder in an elegant shrug and left to follow the others into the kitchen.

Lead exhaled roughly as he cast a glance up at Brittany’s door. This whole thing was going to be a lot harder than he’d originally thought.