I was never much of a morning person. That was Pierce’s thing. He’d get up before the sun and hit the ground running.

While he never admitted it, I was fairly sure he liked holding it over our heads. Moral superiority and all that. Look what I’ve managed to do in the time it took your lazy ass to get out of bed. Sometimes, when he was feeling especially sanctimonious, he’d make the walk to and from the truck over and over to bring in all the supplies on his own. He had no idea how insufferable that was.

Which was what made it so improbable that I’d get out of bed at the crack of dawn. Not so improbable, however, in light of who I was looking forward to seeing. I was never so glad to be alone, where nobody but me and my dragon knew what Carissa had already done to me. The guys would eat me alive with their ball-busting. Or maybe not, considering what life had already done to Pierce and Smoke.

Not that I was in love. A serious case of lust, perhaps. Lust at first sight. I imagined all the ways I could make her blush and squirm when she came in. Getting stuck with a man would’ve been so much less interesting.

After a hot shower, I went back to the bedroom. A tray full of food was waiting for me on the bedside table. Who prepared it? Who left it? When had they done it? The food was hot, so it couldn’t have been long. Whoever they were, they were as quiet as a mouse. I hadn’t heard so much as a footstep while I showered. Just another layer of intrigue to ponder as I made short work of a steak, eggs, potatoes, and toast. Not a bad breakfast, and decently cooked. Who were these people?

It was around eight o’clock when I heard her come in. Earlier than before. Maybe she couldn’t wait to see me again, I thought with a self-deprecating chuckle. I noticed the way my pulse picked up speed. The smile which spread across my face in spite of my best efforts to control it. The feeling that something good was about to happen.

I had it bad.

“Good morning,” I said as I stepped into the lab to greet her—then stopped in my tracks. It was her, of course, the same girl as before. But so different. When she briefly acknowledged me, I took in the sight of her. What I saw disturbed me.

There was no light in her eyes, not like there was when we first met, and the dark circles beneath them were pronounced. I’d lived with five other dragons for a thousand years, but even I knew better than to tell a woman she looked like shit.

“Are you feeling all right?” I asked instead of asking why she looked like she’d died the night before.

“Sure. Just didn’t sleep well. Or much at all.” She tucked her hair behind her ears as she logged into her machine.

She hadn’t removed her jacket yet, I noted, and her car keys were still in one hand, forcing her to peck with only the forefinger of her right.

What changed? I couldn’t imagine. Something at home, obviously, since she hadn’t spent more than a few hours with me the day before. Otherwise, I’d been in my room.

“Would you rather I leave you alone for a while?” I jerked my thumb in the direction of my room.

“No, no. Please. I need to draw some more blood first.”

I couldn’t help but frown. “Already?”

She frowned, too. Deeper than I did. “Is that a problem? Are you out of blood?”

“Of course not. But you took so much yesterday and haven’t given me anything yet—injections or anything like that.”

“You have no idea how much blood I need to get my work done,” she reminded me. “And if you want to get this finished in a timely manner…”

“I do.” I held up my hands. “You’re right. I have no idea what goes into something like this. My job is to act as your lab rat.”

She half-smiled, shaking her head. “I used to work with rats. They were much easier. They didn’t ask so many questions.”

“I’ll be quiet as one of them,” I promised, miming the act of zipping my lips shut.

That got a begrudging laugh. She had a beautiful laugh, even when her heart wasn’t in it. It was enough to make me wonder what she sounded like when she meant it.

“I shouldn’t snap at you. I’m having a difficult time, is all, but that’s not your fault—or your problem.” She averted her gaze and got the same things together that she’d used to draw blood the first time. The tray shook slightly as she moved it.

This was not the girl I met the day before. I had left that girl flustered, flushed, unsure of herself. She hadn’t been shaky or distracted. Or snappish.

I sat, extending my arm as I had before. What could a girl like her have to worry about? She was smart, beautiful, had a good job—perhaps it was a bit sketchy, all the secrecy, but the pay had to be good. Mary would see to that, and we would see to compensating Mary. Money didn’t only pay for skill. It paid for silence, too.

I watched her even closer than I had the first time, dissecting every move. Both the dragon and I did. He was even more interested than I, for similar reasons. But while I felt genuine concern for her, he only cared inasmuch as he was certain she belonged with us. To us.

If she were ours, we’d see to it that no one would dare harm her, he reminded me. in my mind’s eye, I saw him pacing dangerously, stalking to and fro, caged and brimming over with viciousness. Almost wishing for the opportunity to lash out, to make somebody pay. She deserved better than to jump at the slightest sound, like when I dragged the stool up to the table.

“I’m sorry things are difficult for you at the moment,” I offered. Why did I care? The sane part of me, the human half, warned me to shut up and mind my own business. I had much larger problems than a red-eyed, pale-faced girl, even if that girl had an important role to play.

She nodded, distracted. “Thank you. I can assure you, this will bear no impact on the quality or efficiency of my work.”

“I wasn’t worried. If you weren’t reliable, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Just the same. I thought you should know that.” She finished filling six tubes, and I bent my arm to hold a small patch of gauze in place. Not that I needed it for long—the tiny pinhole left by the needle would heal almost instantly, thanks to my dragon blood. I removed the gauze, and sure enough, there was no evidence of ever being stuck.

She noticed. A very observant girl. “You’d never know I just did that. I mean, it’s a pinprick, but there’s usually a small mark for at least a little bit.” Her eyes met mine. “Is this normal for you?”

“You could say that,” I replied.

She frowned.

“Yes. It’s normal for me,” I amended. She was quite literal and preferred her communication short and to the point. One of many things I needed to keep in mind if we were going to spend time together.

Which reminded me. “Have you any idea how long this might take? I mean, when can I go home?”

She frowned again. It seemed like her expression for the day. “When I’m finished, of course. I need to run tests on you in order to complete the formula for the antidote—and, honestly, it would be best for me to observe the longevity of the antidote, too. I can’t inject you and assume the results will be permanent. What happens if they’re not?”

“Och. I hadn’t thought of that.” It was enough to plant my ass on the stool.

“Och?”

I smiled distractedly. “Sometimes my Scottish comes out. The rest of my family have managed to water down their speech to the point where you’d never know where we came from.”

“So, you’re from Scotland?” She raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“Why? Because I don’t wear a kilt or carry bagpipes?”

She chuckled, and her cheeks flushed. The only color on her chalk-white face. “How long have you been here?”

What would she say if I told her exactly how long it had been? I’d likely have to pick her up off the floor and place her beneath a cold shower. The dragon grunted in approval of the notion. Wetting her down, enjoying the sight of her body as the clothing clung to it…

“Much of my life,” I ventured. Would she press the subject? She didn’t seem inclined to. Too wrapped up in whatever was plaguing her.

“Is it a problem?”

“Is what a problem?”

“Staying here.” Her eyes met mine and held them. There was so much happening in her head.

I wished for a way to break through it, get to what was really bothering her and make it right. She seemed to have aged ten years overnight. At least. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she waited for my reply.

“No problem at all.”

Nothing in the world could’ve dragged me away.