When they were seated on a bench at a beautiful, totally empty park with a little lake and bird sanctuary nearby, Magnus got ready to tell Lindy everything he had to say.

But it wasn’t easy, not after the way she’d gone off at him in the shop. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d done wrong. After all, he’d dispatched with ease the men threatening her place and reassured her he could protect her.

Perhaps Aegis really was right and humans just really struggled with the dragon thing.

It rankled to think Aegis was right about anything.

She took a bite of her sandwich, chewing quietly, watching the ripples on the dark-blue water of the lake, and sighed. “Okay, I’m ready. All about dragons. Go.”

“Um, well, we have scales,” he said. “When we shift.”

“Shift,” she said, waving a hand. “Is that like when you turn into a dragon?”

He nodded.

She only looked like she half believed him, but it was fine with him if she just played along. One day, hopefully, when she was ready, he would show her. Then she’d know he was telling the truth.

“In my time, dragons of my type formed crews for protection and to man the ships we explored in. The way we lived was something like you would call Vikings, except we formed much smaller crews. We would compete with other dragon crews and steal treasure and sail it over the ocean back to our town.”

“Sounds fun,” she said, taking another bite of her sandwich. “What’s with the axe?”

“We all have a different ancestral weapon. I can’t really say much more about that now, since you’re not my mate yet. Aegis would already be upset that I showed it to you.”

“Aegis? Your boss?”

He nodded. “He’s a different type of dragon, one that came after us but was awakened first.”

“Woke up?” Her brows wrinkled in confusion. “What?”

“Oh, yeah. Me and my crew were sailing in search of mates, having finally fortified our hold and our treasure. We were ready to settle down. But on the high seas, a bad storm took hold, and our ship sank to the bottom of the ocean. We were found through the magic of an oracle and awakened to fight alongside the other dragons in this modern world.”

“So why are you here rather than off fighting, then?”

He looked into her frank blue eyes, loving the dark lashes that curled up at the edges. “Because when we woke up, we wanted what we’d been looking for before we went down. Our mates.”

“Ah, so you want to find them before you join the cause,” she said. “Wait, what’s the cause again? Is there some battle I’m not aware of?”

“There are shifters everywhere,” he said. “Wolves, bears, dragons, and big cats. Whatever you can think of.”

“Dogs?” she asked.

“No,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Why?”

“Not Perky, then. I don’t think she’s a shifter.”

“No,” he said, amused. “Shifters spend their time in the human world in human form, hiding. We can sense each other for the most part, though.”

“And there’s some kind of fight going on?”

“From what I understand, it’s under control right now. But the bad shifters who think they should rule over humans are against the good shifters who want to live in harmony with them.”

“And my biggest concern is keeping my shop going,” she said, tucking a blond wisp of hair into her messy ponytail. “Sheesh.” She looked at him warily. “So does that mean at some point you’ll be fighting in this war, too?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “If I do, I’m not in any danger. We’re nearly invincible, except to other dragons.”

“So crazy,” she said. “I mean, it would be crazier if I hadn’t seen you pull a giant axe out of midair.”

“It’s a good axe. That man’s face when I cut up his weapon…” He grinned. “Extremely satisfying.”

“You did look like you enjoyed that fight a little too much?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he asked, leaning back with his hands behind his head, flashing her a smile. “I was defending my mate and showing her my skills. The best thing a dragon can do.”

“Um, so are you going to show me your dragon form?”

“No,” he said. “I’m afraid I’m pretty much forbidden from doing that in public without Aegis’s permission. People are unlikely not to see it.”

“So I’m just supposed to believe all of this, even though it makes no sense and sounds nothing like anything I’ve ever heard.”

He leaned forward, tilting her chin up, and placed a soft kiss on her mouth, loving the way she immediately sank in. “Do you believe in this?” he asked.

“I believe you’re super hot and super helpful, and you make me feel good. It’s kind of a jump from there to scales and wings. Do you have wings?”

He nodded.

“Okay, and this mate thing you keep mentioning. What’s that and what makes you think I’m it?”

“It’s like marriage but forever. There’s no taking it back,” he said seriously.

“But my parents divorced. What was that about?”

He shrugged. “They’re humans. It’s different with shifters and mates. We’re sure. There are no divorces that I’m aware of. Once a shifter finds their mate, there is no one else for them. They can’t love anyone else.”

“And you just instantly love your mate?” she asked.

“I don’t know exactly how to describe it. Love at first sight, except almost like you know the person even before seeing them. And then as you get to know them, every single thing confirms to you that they were fated to be with you and you were fated to make them happy.” He stretched his shoulders back, feeling tense.

“So what happens to make it official?” she asked. “Some kind of ceremony?”

“We don’t need to talk about that yet,” he said, fingering an old iron chain that hung around his neck and dipped under his shirt. “Right now, we just need to worry about your safety. And making you fall in love with me, of course.”

“Do I have any choice once you think I’m this ‘mate’ thing?”

He snorted. “Of course. You’re the only one for me, but if I fail to win you over, that’s my fault.”

She took another determined bite of her sandwich. “If you put your mind to it, I doubt any woman could resist you. But you have to forgive me for being a little bit paranoid, given everything that’s happened.”

“Yeah, you’ve had a rough time in the past.”

She shook her head. “No, I mean with you telling me about a whole world that didn’t exist, while you’re supposed to be my handyman, while I’m fighting off evil dudes from a rival shop.”

“You won’t have to. I’ll be fighting them off. One of my ways of winning you.”

“You were pretty impressive with that axe,” she said with a grin. Then she sighed. “But I wish everything would just go back to normal.”

“Overworked, alone, and threatened?”

“No, like when I was growing up with my dad,” she said. “Before I had to do everything myself, before I got tricked and lost so much to Ed, and before Roscoe and his boys got his eyes on my shop.”

“But if you do have to deal with all of that, isn’t it nice to have someone beside you?” he asked. He gave her a small nudge in the side. “Someone extra hot and dragony and capable of protecting you? I can’t ever promise I can make things go back to normal. But I can promise to keep you safe while things are going wrong.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate it. I didn’t intend to get you involved in this much trouble when I hired you. I thought it was just some vandalism. Some vague threats.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “You’re just lucky you’ve rented a dragon.”

She flushed and took a long sip of her drink, making a cute slurping noise. “All right,” she said. “I’ll try to accept that about you, even if it’s blowing my mind. But in the meantime, I want to slow things down.”

“I guess it’s a bad time to tell you I think you should come to my castle now that we know you’re in danger.”

“No,” she said. “Even though they came to the shop, I see no reason they would come to my place.”

“They definitely wouldn’t come to mine, and if they did, there would be half a dozen angry dragons there.”

She rubbed her temples again, something he realized was a common nervous habit. He gently pulled her hands away and made her look at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have too many jobs right now to stay that far away,” she said. “Plus, it’s too much. I guess it’s good I’m not on my own anymore, but I’m not ready to just fall into this and jump into your world. I still need to be in mine, keeping things together, solving the problems there.”

“Hm,” he said. “I see what you mean. I don’t want to disrupt your life. How about this? I stay at your place where I can guard you.”

She eyed him warily, but there was amusement in her eyes. “You aren’t going to settle for anything less, are you?”

He shook his head. “I mean, I could creep around outside while you sleep, but I think we’d both prefer me in there with you.” He gave her a wink.

“Oh no,” she said, putting up both hands and backing him up. “No more funny business. Not right now anyway.”

He laughed. “Oh, really? Just try keeping your hands off me,” he said with a smirk.

“No, I’m serious,” she said. “This is a lot to take in, and I need time to deal with it. Not to mention, with all of this going on, I don’t have time for a normal relationship. Let alone one with a dragon.”

He stuck out a pinky finger, something he’d seen humans do on TV. “Friends, then?”

She stuck out her pinky and wrapped it around his, biting her lip. “Friends. I can do that.”

Even now, he could see how affected she was by that one little touch, but she was in denial.

That was fine. There was no need to rush his little human. He’d wait for her to come to him, and if his instincts were right, it wouldn’t be long.

* * *

A few days later, there hadn’t been any more incidents, and Lindy was getting used to having Magnus around.

She was also getting used to fighting off her own sexual attraction, which seemed to grow with each passing day.

She was currently watching quietly out of her office window as Magnus helped Mike rebuild an engine, and Magnus was leaned over the hood of the car, his magnificent, taut, muscular ass pressing against his tight work jeans.

Her eyes worked their way down his long, strong legs, then up to what she could see of his shoulders and arms.

She shuddered, releasing the tension of watching him. It wasn’t like her to get carried away. Even with Ed, she’d let go more because it was a welcome distraction after losing her dad and because it had made her feel less alone.

But she hadn’t really been emotionally intimate with him. When he’d betrayed her, it had hurt more that he could do that to her father and that she could be so stupid than it had hurt her heart.

Perhaps because her heart had been closed after her dad had died. She tried not to think of it because it made her want to shut down. She felt her chest, wondering how love could be such a literal physically crippling pain at times.

She couldn’t think of it too often or she’d crumble and want to crawl back in bed, and there was too much to do. She was grateful for her work, as it kept her busy and focused. There was no time to collapse, and as time had gone on, she’d gotten stronger. She had focused on saving the business and not letting down her remaining employees.

If that had left a gap in her life where enjoyment or pleasure should be, so be it.

But now Magnus was filling a little of that gap, and it was odd having someone to talk with over dinner again. Someone to smile at and care for. Even Perky seemed happier, coming to greet them both when they came home at night, wagging her little tail and bouncing like an excited fluff as she waited for Magnus to hold her.

It was like even she could tell there was a different feeling in the house. More hope and happiness. Lindy supposed her dad would have liked Magnus, too, dragon delusions or not.

She didn’t know how seriously to take the dragon talk. She was able to just sort of block it out, like she blocked out a lot of things in life in order to function.

She accepted there was a possibility that something was truly different about him, and the axe thing did point toward what he’d said about where he came from. But right now, she was just trying to get things done and adjust to life in his presence.

And trying to resist embarrassing herself by jumping on him.

Like her, she’d noticed he liked being at work, that it seemed to distract him in good ways.

When he was around her, he seemed happy, but once in a while, she’d heard him pacing in the living room and gone out to see what was happening.

She’d seen him staring out the window and then sitting on the couch, rubbing his hands over his face, sighing, and looking at the muted TV with a dazed expression that reminded her of the first night she’d met him.

She’d been worried when he first pulled up on the side of the road because he’d seemed a little out of it.

Living with him, she’d seen little hints of it and wondered what had happened to cause it.

It wasn’t the haze of drug use, but the haze someone got when the past intersected with the present in bad ways. When someone was trying to block out a memory.

She got the same look when she thought of her dad, how he’d suffered in his bed, becoming someone she didn’t know.

Once again, she had to wonder if love was really worth it.

She could love Magnus, she thought, if she let herself. But that was risky, and if she really let herself get to know him, the burdens he was carrying, she had the feeling she’d never be able to pull back from him again.

And then what if something happened to him?

Her heart couldn’t take that kind of pain again.

She moved away from the window, still lost in her thoughts, and went back to sorting some papers and stapling completed invoices.

She heard a knock at her office door, and before she could answer, she saw Tommy come in. He pushed a hand through his hair nervously and then shut the door behind him, locking it.

Then he walked over to her window, pulling down the shades.

She looked at him, confused. He was young, but he’d been working at the shop since before her father had died, and she’d considered him a friend. He wasn’t nearly as young as he looked, and right now, his handsome features were pulled into a petulant, unpleasant expression that sort of made her want to unlock the door.

She got up to do it, but he blocked her way with folded arms, backing her up until she fell back into the chair. She looked up at the window, realizing Magnus wouldn’t be able to see her with the blinds closed.

Damn, had she come to be that dependent on him?

“I need to take the rest of the day off,” Tommy said.

That was it? Why did he need to lock the door to say that? He’d been asking for time off a lot lately, though, and she couldn’t really let him off while they were behind. “Tommy, we need you here. I’ve been letting you off a lot lately, but—”

“If it was Magnus, you’d let him off, right?” he asked in a bitter, sarcastic tone. “Because you’re fucking him, right?”

“You watch your mouth,” she snapped. “I’m still your boss.”

His mouth twisted, and he lunged forward angrily, slamming his hands down on the desk on either side of her. “I’ve had my eye on you for years, but you never noticed, and that new guy comes in and you’re slobbering after him like a dog in heat.”

Her eyes widened in disgust. She’d never heard him talk like this, never guessed such gross words hid under that quiet, pouty demeanor. “I never thought of you like that, Tommy. You’re my employee.”

He leaned in until their faces were close, trapping her against the chair, much bigger than her even though he wasn’t a very muscular man. She was very much aware of being a woman right now, and she hated it.

“So you’ll look at some employees, but not others? Where’s your loyalty?” he hissed. “Oh well, not like it matters. Pretty soon, this shop will be nothing but an abandoned wreck, and you’ll be begging me for help. We’re going to burn it to the ground, and you’ll have nothing.” He ran a hand over her collarbone and down toward her cleavage. “You’d be wise to make a friend in me. We can start right now.”

She shuddered and cringed away, trying to figure out her next move.