GWEN

I push Vaan’s claws aside and race to her. “Are you okay?”

Mara doesn’t answer. She just quivers in place, utterly silent. Her eyes are blank and staring, but they’re open.

“Where are you hurt?” I ask, running my hands over her arms and ignoring the pain that shoots up mine. “Where did he bite you?”

“N-no bite,” Mara manages, gasping with fear. She curls up into a tiny ball and hugs her legs to her chest, the most pitiful human I’ve ever seen. “No bites yet.”

No bites? I frown down at her, confused. A moment later, Vaan’s big claws move to my hair and he starts to pet me again, making that soothing rumble in his chest. I don’t understand. He didn’t eat her? Does he expect me to? I glance up at him and he lowers his enormous head, peering at my face before nudging me with his nose in a dragonish nuzzle.

“Show me your teeth,” I tell him, scarcely believing this to be true. I put my hands on his mouth, feeling the hard scales that line the edges of his mouth, the leathery lips in this form. I peel one back, even as Mara moans in fear. I ignore her, grimacing wide at Vaan and gesturing. “Show me your teeth.”

He displays them for me in what should be an utterly terrifying display, but all I see are pearly white fangs without a hint of blood on them. I lean in and inhale his breath. It’s hot and acrid, but it doesn’t smell like blood like it does after he’s been hunting.

I turn to look at Mara again, absently caressing Vaan’s muzzle as I do, piecing things together.

There’s no denying that Vaan freaked out. The black eyes don’t lie and I know he can’t control them. I don’t think he would have burst through the roof if he knew it would have put me in danger. That was definitely all impulse. Even so…he didn’t kill Mara. He must have smelled or heard her, but when he got to her, decided not to kill?

Instead, he brought her to me.

Is it because I asked him not to kill her a few days ago? I look at my dragon in wonder. “Did you remember that, Vaan? Did you remember what I asked?”

He only noses my hands again. He can’t answer.

At my feet, Mara moans. I give Vaan one last affectionate pat, still reeling with what’s going through my mind, and I kneel next to her. “He’s not going to kill you,” I tell her, hoping I’m right. “But you need to tell me if you’re injured.”

Terrified eyes focus on me, and she slowly shakes her head. “N-no. Not injured. Just wet.”

“Sit up.” I add a note of sympathy to my voice, because she has to be utterly terrified. A dragon is normally a death sentence. Normally.

Unless…

A horrifying thought occurs to me. What if Vaan’s getting himself a backup plan? What if she’s Option B in case it doesn’t work out with me?

The thought is shocking…almost as shocking as the hot stab of jealousy that flares in my chest. Damn it. I shouldn’t be jealous. He’s not my dragon. I don’t even want him…right? Funny how things change after a week or so.

Before I’d left the fort, I’d have gladly pawned Vaan off on to anyone who wanted him. Wasn’t that what I was trying to help Andrea with? Get her to shack up with him so he’d stop being a problem for the fort? Except now the tables have turned a bit and I’m not liking the feeling at all.

I glance over at Vaan, and the dragon nudges me with his nose. One big foreleg strokes my hair again, and I feel a little better. I haven’t been thrown over yet, it seems.

I don’t know why I should care, but I do. I reach up and pet one of Vaan’s claws, and I tell myself it’s to comfort him and not the other way around. “Why are you back, Mara? I thought you were going to go to Fort Shreveport? It’s safe there.”

“I was going to,” Mara says in that small, terrified voice of hers. “But it was so far to walk alone, I got scared. I hid n-nearby hoping you g-guys would leave soon and I-I could stay here.” She lets out a small, hiccupy sob. “Everyone knows forts aren’t s-safe.”

Any lingering jealousy I feel at her reappearance disappears with that. She’s right. As a woman alone, forts aren’t safe. Hell, even several women together aren’t safe in a fort. Haven’t I experienced that in the past? Isn’t that why so many of us left Fort Tulsa at once to strike out on our own? We were tired of being prey in a place that should have represented safety. Of course she’s not going to trust a stranger who tells her that another fort is safe. Of course she’d rather stay here alone.

I’d have done the same thing in her place.

I give Vaan’s scaly foot one last pat and then move out of his embrace, heading to Mara’s side. I help her up, ignoring the filth covering her and the dragon drool adding to the mess. “I don’t know that you’re any safer here,” I tell her truthfully, helping to straighten her questionable clothing. “Vaan is volatile at best. I don’t know how to make him listen to me.”

She looks at me in surprise. “You don’t control him? But…you said…”

“I’m pretty sure I’m safe with him,” I amend. “I’ve been with him for days and he won’t hurt me, but I don’t know if that extends to anyone else at all. Like I said, he’s volatile. That’s the best word I can think of to describe him.”

“I don’t understand,” Mara says softly, huddling behind me when Vaan leans in. “How did you make friends with him then?”

Are we “friends”? That’s an interesting way to look at things, though I don’t know if it’s totally accurate. “Friends” implies that there’s a choice in the matter for either party, and I don’t know that I had a choice. I don’t know that Vaan did, either, or if he feels compelled to grab me because mine is the strongest scent that tickles his nose. I don’t know, and I can’t ask. At least, not yet. Being able to really, truly talk with him involves more than I’m willing to give.

But a few moments ago, I was jealous that Mara was here and that Vaan might be interested in her. Mixed signals much, Gwen? The thought plays in my head over and over again.

Friends.

Ha.

But if Vaan took off and left me alone, choosing Mara over me, I’d be hurt. It’s a weird realization to come to. I shouldn’t care, but I’m coming to the slow realization that there’s a lot of things I should be thinking that I’m not.

I wonder if Amy felt this torn between loyalty to the human race and attraction to her dragon? Because when I look at Vaan, I don’t see a scaly monster, devourer of humankind (no matter the truth in that). I see a man with unusual skin and horns, unable to speak the language but still human. I see a man whose mind is damaged by the situation he’s in, but who touches me reverently and is so protective that I feel safe for the first time in seven years.

Mara’s watching me, waiting for an answer. Her expression is impossible to read, but I sense worry and fear. Like it or not, Mayor Gwen comes surging to the forefront for the first time in a week. Can I control the dragon? I look over at Vaan, studying his eyes. They’re doing the mellow swirl of colors that indicates he’s relaxed. He’s not attacking Mara. He doesn’t view her as a threat.

Is it because he views her as a potential mate? I hate that my jealous brain goes to that. I should be thinking like Dragon Girlfriend Gwen and get rid of a potential rival, because what if Vaan mates her instead of me and she uses him to destroy my fort? Mara’s already had a crappy, abusive protector—what if she decides that a dragon is trading up and goes for him?

Why does that infuriate me so much?

Why is that even on my mind?

I’m ashamed such a thought ran through my head. Mara’s just trying to survive. It’s clear she’s been dealt a rough hand and I should feel sympathy for her. I shouldn’t be acting like a lioness whose territory has been threatened. Or like…a dragon.

That one hits a little too close to home.

I put a smile on my face, forcing Mayor Gwen back to the surface. “You’re right. We’re friends of a sort, and if he listens to anyone, he listens to me. I can’t guarantee that you’ll be completely safe, but I think it’s going to be okay.”

Mara offers me a tremulous smile. “There’s no such thing as completely safe anymore.”

How right she is. “Just stay close to me at all times, okay? Vaan tends to forget things when his emotions get the better of him, and if he forgets you’re a friend, we could be in trouble.”

Her eyes widen and she automatically steps closer to me.

“And if his eyes go completely black, get the fuck out of Dodge,” I tell her grimly.

“What happens when they go completely black?” she whispers.

Nothing good. “Just trust me.”

Mara nods. She looks around and then gives me a shrinking glance before gesturing at the nearby pavement. “Can I get my backpack?”

“Sure.” When she doesn’t move to get it, I head over a few steps and find that she’s practically my shadow, sticking so close that her stink is in my nostrils. I hold my breath and offer her a reassuring smile, then glance over at Vaan. The dragon’s settled in on his haunches, legs tucked under him like an enormous cat, and he’s studying me with whirling, calm eyes.

His gaze is entirely locked on me. I step away from Mara, testing something, and Vaan’s gaze follows me. Hmm. “Mara, can you go walk across the parking lot?”

Her face bleaches white. “But you just told me to stay close to you—”

“I know, but I’m testing how close he’s really watching me. We can’t be in arm’s length of each other always.” The look on her face tells me she thinks we can, so I make my expression more convincing, more soothing. “I won’t let him hurt you, I promise. But we need to test the boundaries.”

“Can’t we test after he’s used to me being around?”

I keep smiling, even through my next words. “If he’s going to attack, it won’t matter if it’s now or in an hour from now.”

“It matters to me,” she mutters. She shrugs her nasty clothes tighter around her and pulls a tattered brown hood over her hair, then gives the dragon an uneasy look before taking a few steps off to the side.

As she does, I wrinkle my nose, doing my best to keep the gesture looking as natural and normal as possible.

Vaan’s nostrils flare as he watches me.

“Keep going,” I tell Mara, my voice calm and even as I pretend to study my fingernails. “A few more steps outward.”

I can hear her bite back a frightened moan. She hesitates and then shuffles off to the side. I study my hands a moment more, then look up at Vaan. His gaze flicks over her and then moves back to me. He’s still watching me. Waiting. His eyes are swirling with that even color, and that’s a good sign. “Come shift and sit with me, Vaan.” I sit down where I’m standing and pat the ground, indicating he should join me. It’s a gesture he hasn’t learned yet, but I’m hoping it’s universal.

A split second later, the dragon vanishes and a crouching, golden-skinned man rises to his feet a short distance away. That’s my Vaan. He runs a hand through the spikes of his hair, mussing them in a very human-seeming move, and then saunters over to my side and crouches down next to me.

The way he crouches leaves a lot of, ah, dangling bits. I smile at him, stroke his arm, and do not look down. He covers my hand where it rests on his bicep, and his fingers tangle with mine.

It’s the most intimate touch and I’m entranced by it, and by the smile Vaan gives me. There’s a soft rumble in his chest, and I can practically feel the pleasure he’s emanating.

“So he really is human?”

Whoops. For a split second, I’d forgotten Mara was there. I can feel my cheeks getting hot. I’m holding hands (more or less) with a naked man. Awkward. “There’s a lot I should probably catch you up on. For now, though, Vaan, Mara. Mara, Vaan.”

“Hi Vaan,” Mara says.

He glances over at her and his lip curls slightly. He gets to his feet and puts a hand to my elbow, helping me to up like he has for so many days with my injured hands. Instead of letting me go, though, he holds me close and gazes into my eyes like they’re the key to his salvation. “Gwen,” he murmurs, and lightly runs his claws along my jaw. It’s like Mara isn’t even there.

That shouldn’t warm my heart like it does, but I’m a petty, selfish woman when it comes to this dragon apparently.

Mara’s watching us from a distance, and her eyes are wide. Her gaze slides down Vaan’s body, lingering below the waist. My cheeks get even hotter, because I know what she’s looking at. I can feel it prodding against my side. “I don’t think he wants you as a friend,” she says dryly.

Maybe there’s not as much to catch her up on as I thought.