Tide gently descended to the balcony and carefully released Meghan. He moved to the far side and shifted back into his human form. He had to speak with Torrent. He felt stressed and anxious. There would be no relaxing until he’d had it out with the male.

“Are you okay?” Meghan touched the side of his arm. “You’ve hardly spoken since we woke up.”

“It’s just that—”

“There you are.” Bay walked out onto the balcony. “I’m glad to see that the both of you are okay.” The male sighed.

“I’m glad you’re here. Stay with Doctor Roberts. I need to go and see Torrent.”

Bay shook his head. “With all due respect, my lord. Your brother has requested that I notify him immediately upon your return.”

“I’ll notify him myself,” Tide said.

“I need to do it or I’ll be disobeying a direct order.” Bay widened his eyes. “The king is in a bad mood.”

“I’m sure he is, but …” Fuck! Bay turned away from the balcony and headed into Meghan’s chamber. All Tide could do was follow, and by the time he made it into the room, Bay was already gone. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Tide couldn’t leave Meghan. He had to keep her protected. Although the peak of her heat was over, she still smelled of sex. There would still be those who would try their luck, which was unacceptable. His muscles bunched and he clenched his teeth.

“I take it that your brother is angry.”

“Understatement of the century.” He turned to her. Meghan pushed out a breath.

Tide didn’t want Meghan to witness his brother’s anger. Torrent was generally pretty easygoing and they had a good relationship, but the male had a serious temper on him. It might get violent. “Stay out of the way of Torrent when he gets here.”

“You really think he’ll be that upset? Surely he’ll understand. You did what you had to do. No one explained things to me. It’s …”

The front door crashed open. “Glad you could join us.” Torrent sniffed the air. He raised his brows. “I hope you enjoyed yourself over the last few days?” His brother folded his arms, clearly waiting for an answer.

“Yes we did,” Tide told the male what he needed to hear.

Torrent nodded his head. “Bay explained things. I’m not thrilled, but I understand why it was necessary for things to unfold as they did. Taking the female to your cave was the best solution. You pretty much killed two birds with one stone. Right?”

Tide hated how his brother spoke of Meghan like she wasn’t in the room. For the umpteenth time, he found himself sympathizing with Torrent’s mate. No wonder Candy had left him. No wonder it had taken Torrent crawling on his knees for months to win her back. He didn’t always think before speaking. He knew that Torrent didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Torrent could be an oaf.

“Yeah, pretty much. Where is Bay?” He didn’t want to antagonize Torrent.

“He’s outside.” Torrent was far more relaxed than he expected him to be. “There’s one thing I want to mention while the two of you are here. It’s why I asked Bay to call me the moment you returned. I was at your apartment, just in case you went there.”

Tide folded his arms.

“I’m glad you took my advice,” Torrent said.

“About that—”

"No. You get to listen right now." And there it was, a growl to his voice and a narrowing of his eyes. There was anger there, he was just doing an excellent job of holding it in check. "I said you should get your attraction to Doctor Roberts under control by sleeping with her again and I hope that the two of you have done that. I don't want a repeat of this. Doctor, you need to go on a birth control that prevents heat."

Meghan had a faraway look. She didn’t talk for a moment or two. “You told Bay to tell Torrent that you took his advice.” She narrowed her eyes for a moment and they flared with sadness.

“Yes, I said it, but just to appease my brother. I knew he was less likely to get too upset if he thought this was purely sexual.”

“It was. You went into heat,” Torrent pointed at Meghan, “and you, as her guard, needed to keep her safe. And get this whole thing out of your system.”

Meghan looked distraught. He could scent her pain. She quickly schooled her emotions.

“It wasn’t like that,” Tide insisted. “I meant everything I said to you.” He implored Meghan with his eyes but it didn’t seem to help.

“What are you saying?” Torrent growled. He knew his brother was going to explode when he told him he had feelings for Meghan. He couldn’t do it with her in the room. Needed to protect her. He would explain it all later.

“I need to speak with you alone,” he told Torrent. “I need you to trust me.” He turned back to Meghan.

She shook her head, her eyes welling with tears. Then she blinked a couple of times.

Torrent called for Bay to come into the chamber.

“Stay with the female,” Tide directed Bay once he was inside. “Do not leave her side. I’ll be back.” Once again, he tried to convey his feelings for her with his eyes but she turned away, seeming to fold into herself.

Fuck!

He forced himself to put one foot in front of the other. The sooner he dealt with Torrent, the sooner he could come back to her and explain.

* * *

Meghan wasn’t sure what to believe. What to feel or think. It would be better to try to put it out of her mind. It was her heat. Nothing more.

No!

That couldn’t be. It had to be though. She needed to try to clear her mind or to do something to stay busy. She quickly changed and headed for her laboratory. Bay fell in behind her like a silent shadow. She needed to get back to work instead of obsessing over Tide. It seemed like all she did lately was think about him. Ever since she came here. It felt like most of her thoughts outside of work revolved around him.

“How have things been here at the lair?” she tried to make small talk.

Bay smiled. “Interesting.”

“Why, what happened?”

“You will find out soon enough,” was his cryptic reply.

“You’re not going to give me a hint?”

Bay shook his head.

“Come on, just a little clue.”

“Okay,” he sighed, looking wistful. “It has to do with love.”

“Argh!” She pulled a face.

He chuckled. “Not one of your favorite subjects right now?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“It’s so damned complicated, isn’t it?” he said. “I was in love once. She was a beautiful Fire dragon. I was young and stupid.” His features tightened. His already dark eyes darkened up a whole lot more.

“Oh, what happened?”

"In hindsight, I probably wasn't as head over heels in love with her as I imagined I was. I decided to go on a stag run. I'd never been before and didn't know what the bid deal was. I was curious and stupid. Did I mention stupid?"

“What?” She cocked her head. “As in, you went into town with the sole purpose of having sex with a human woman? That was stupid.”

He made a face. “Yeah it was. I was young. I found pleasure between a female’s thighs for the first time and thought I was in love. If it was true, my friends would not have been able to convince me to go on the stag run. You see,” he paused, “I had not yet made any promises to Ember. I convinced myself it was fine. I would go on the stag run and then settle down with her, only …” He paused again, staring off at the wall for a long while. They had stopped walking.

“I take it she found out and that she was mad?”

“Fire-breathing mad and unfortunately she got her hands on a silver blade. Not that she knew it was silver. She grabbed the knife, burned me to a crisp and then stabbed me four times. I almost died. There were days when I wished I had.”

Meghan gasped. She covered her mouth with her hand. “I don’t care how much she loved you, she was raving mad. What happened to her?”

"Females are in such short supply, especially the fertile ones. Ember was given a slap on the wrist. She has since mated a Fire dragon. I am told they are very happy together."

“And you?”

“Let’s just say that I am not the male I once was and leave it at that.”

What did that mean? Oh … oh …

He smiled. “You don’t have to look at me like that. I am at peace.”

“The silver knife. She …” Meghan made a slashing motion with her wrist.

Bay nodded. “Yep. That’s exactly what happened. She blasted me with her flames, rendering me helpless and …” He made the same sweeping motion with his own hand.

Meghan made a squeaking noise. “That’s terrible. You have no …” She couldn’t say it. Couldn’t even think it.

“Oh, it grew back.”

“Oh thank god. You must have been in agony.”

“It grew back, but it doesn’t work.” He made a pained groaning noise. “I don’t know why I’m even telling you all this. I guess, I just wanted you to know that even though you’re feeling down, things could be worse.” Bay began walking towards the lab, which was just up the hall.

“I’m so sorry!” Meghan said as she caught up with him.

“I’m not looking for sympathy.” He looked at her pointedly. “You can trust Tide. He is a good male. I shouldn’t talk out of turn, but I think he has feelings for you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

She rolled her eyes. “With lust, yes.”

“No. Although yes, he does give you those kinds of looks too, but there is more there. I have never seen him look at a female like he looks at you. I know he has always wanted a mate and children but he has never been eager to join in on the hunt.”

“I’ve heard mention of this hunt,” she said, as they reached the laboratory door. “What is it?”

"We are here." Bay looked at the sizable beveled door before them.

It was clear, by his body language, that he was done with the conversation but went on anyway. “It is an ancient dragon tradition. One Tide can explain to you if it comes to that.”

“The hunt.” Whatever it was, it didn’t sound like anything she wanted to be a part of.

Bay held the door open and she walked in. George dropped the notepad he was holding. “O.M.G! You’re back,” he shouted and ran over to her, throwing his arms around her.

Meghan laughed. “It’s only been two days.”

“I was worried.” George put his hands on his hips. “Apparently you were in heat and had to be whisked away for your own safety.” He rolled his eyes. “These dragons are so dramatic.”

Meghan laughed. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”

“Who me?” he said with extra gusto as he cocked his head comically.

She chuckled. "Yes, you. I assure you that nothing about what happened was overdramatized."

George turned serious in an instant. “How so? Spill.”

Meghan went on to tell George all about what had happened at the meeting with Blaze. How Tide had been injured and what had happened after that. She didn’t go into detail though.

“You slept with him?” he whispered under his breath, his eyes glinted with excitement. “I was wondering when the two of you would get it on again.”

“Yes, I did and really? You were wondering?”

“You two eye each like nobody’s business.”

Meghan ignored the comment and went on to tell him about how the other dragons had come after them. She also mentioned the fight and then the cave.

“So, did the two of you end up having a fun-filled two days then?” He bobbed his eyebrows.

Meghan felt her cheeks turn decidedly heated. “Yes, we did.” She forced herself to smile. She didn’t feel like talking about Tide right now, because she didn’t know how things stood between them. She didn’t know whether to be angry with him. One thing was for sure, Tide had some explaining to do. “Enough about me, what’s been going on with you? How are things here?”

“Lots of things have been going on,” George gushed. He grabbed hold of her hands, his face animated. “I’m in love.”

Her mouth fell open in an all-out gape. It took her a few long seconds to close it. “What? How did that happen? Who’s the lucky guy? I’m sure I can guess.” There were several more questions floating around in her head but she stopped herself from bombarding him.

“It’s Ice. It’s been happening for a while. It became official the day you left. We had the hottest sex of my whole entire life.”

“I didn’t know Ice was gay.”

“You know me, honey.” George laughed. “I can turn straight guys like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Only kidding. Ice is bi.”

“I see.”

“We get along so well. We talked about everything under the sun. I so enjoyed his company as a friend. That was until,” George smiled, “until I caught him checking me out. Then all bets were off.”

“And? Are you dating?”

George shook his head. “No dating. Dragons don’t date. They tend to fall in love fast and hard when they meet the right person. I never thought love like this was possible.” He clutched his chest.

“That is so amazing,” she gushed. “You’re so lucky.”

“Yes and no.” George frowned. “Torrent was mad. Unbelievably mad! He was pissed at Ice. He ordered that he be strung up in a cage.”

“Oh no.” Meghan clapped a hand over her mouth. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish. It’s a big bird type cage that hangs out over the valley. The cage is silver-infused. It makes the occupant feel ill. It didn’t matter how much I begged and pleaded,” he pursed his lips together, “he just wouldn’t listen.”

“Silver would do that since dragon shifters are allergic. I’m sorry this all happened and that Torrent wouldn’t listen. How long does he need to stay in there for?” Meghan went on before he could answer. “I can’t believe he would do that.”

“Dragons are so barbaric. I guess it’s just as much a pro as what it is a con. Ice was only in the cage for a couple of hours.” George licked his lips. “Torrent called us both in for a meeting since then, and he’s given us permission to be together.”

Meghan felt everything in her relax. “That’s such good news.”

“He hasn’t made it that easy.”

“How so?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this.

“I have to take part in the hunt in ten days’ time.”

“Again with the hunt. What the hell is a hunt? I’m going to assume you’re not all getting dressed up in camouflage gear and going to hunt deer or something?”

“The hunt is where a group of people, normally women, are dropped off in the middle of nowhere. They are given a couple of hours’ head-start. Most of the single guys in the four dragon kingdoms then hunt them. They have to stay in human form the whole time. They generally tear each other limb from limb to win a woman. If a dragon shifter catches you, he gets to keep you for a couple of weeks to try to convince you to mate with him.”

“That’s crazy, George. You can’t tell me that you’re going to actually do it.”

“Of course I am.” He swallowed thickly and blinked hard a couple of times. “I love Ice and he loves me. We have to at least try. I’m lucky in that most dragon shifters are straight so, we’re in with a fighting chance. Anyway, I have a plan.”

“I’m not sure I want to hear it, but what’s your plan?”

“I’ll kick anyone else who tries his luck in the balls.”

Meghan choked out a laugh, even though her stomach was wound in knots.