Christy stared at Heather. Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh my God. I am so sorry. Is it too much to hope that this is all some kind of whacked-out dream and we’re both going to wake up at any second?”

Christy swallowed hard. “I think so.”

Christy’s tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, girl. I am. I don’t…I mean, how was I supposed to know this would happen? I was just trying to get you laid, and instead I got us both kidnapped by…” her throat worked, and she fell silent.

“Dragons.”

Christy’s eyes went wide. That was the truth, as crazy as it all was and she had no idea what to do next. They were…somewhere, and the guy who had met them at the coffee shop—her supposed date—was busy stomping along the edge of the cliff and muttering to himself, while the jet-black dragon—which looked like a really hot guy when he wasn’t sprouting wings and threatening to drop them off the side of the world—was gone. Heather’s eyes went to the sky. Totally gone: he wasn’t even a speck in that blue sky anymore. Tears filled her own eyes. What were they going to do?

Blake stepped up. He coughed into his fist. He gave them both an abashed grin. “This is not how I planned this to go. I thought…”

Christy shot out, “You thought we’d just have your dragon babies and whatever and we’d be okay with that?”

He gave Heather a wounded look. “No, I mean I never thought of a we in there. I was just thinking of you.” He gave Christy a long look. “You were just…”

“Kidnapped by dragons,” Christy supplied in her haughtiest tone. “I demand to be returned, and right now too! We both demand that, and if you don’t, I’ll…I’ll…I’ll…”

“I can’t take you back. Max closed the portal. It won’t open again for at least sixty Earth calendar days. That’s ten days here, or eight, depending on how well the time stream’s working.”

Heather gasped “What? What do you mean the portal won’t open?”

Blake lifted an eyebrow. “I’d say that’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s closed. You can’t use it.”

Her teeth clenched. “You’re a big jerk! You had no right to bring us here!”

He said, “I didn’t. Max did that. I went to your world. I was hoping to get you pregnant today and come back when the child was ready to be born so I could raise it here.”

Was he for real? How could any man, even a dragon man, be that damn clueless and…and gross?

Christy screamed, “This is unacceptable!”

Blake gave them both speculative looks. “I know. But since you’re here anyway…”

Heather warned, “Don’t even think about it.” We’re here, at least until the portal opens back up. Think dammit. Now what?

She was clueless. This wasn’t a situation she could have, ever, prepared herself for. She gave Christy a beseeching look. “What do we do now?”

Christy asked, “Do dragons eat people?”

Blake’s upper lip curled back off his lip. “No.”

Heather felt relief at that. “Okay. That is something, I guess. So, what do you propose we do in the meantime? And do not say breed with you. If you do I’ll…I’ll do something you’re really going to regret.” What she could do to a dragon was something she didn’t know. But he looked human right then, and he apparently had reproductive abilities, which must mean he had balls—and she would kick him right in them too!

Blake sighed. “I know you think I’m the worst—”

Christy said, “That’s because you are.”

He gave her a long look. “No, I’m not. I’m the last of my clan, and we have no females, so I’m liable to stay that way unless I find a female willing to give me a child.”

Heather asked, “And no other…what? She-dragons? Want you? What a shocker.”

Blake’s face took on a crestfallen look. “It’s against the pact. I’m not allowed to have children with the females of the other clans.”

Christy snapped, “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m sure your kids would be charming.”

The sarcasm was clearly lost on Blake because he said, “They would. I always wanted them. Now I have to have them.”

Heather decided to point out an obvious truth. “But if you have them, they can’t…er…mate with the other dragons either, so…so what? You go full on to inbreeding?”

Blake literally recoiled. “What? Where do they do that at? No! My kids would not be bound by that. It’s just me. My line up until me is the law. That’s the way it was worded, so if I had sons or daughters, they could.”

Christy, clearly interested now, asked, “But your kids would be half-human. Is that not a little out of the ordinary?”

“We were all human once.”

The words took Heather aback. “What do you mean?”

Blake said, “You don’t know? Dragons were knights cursed by a wizard to fly forever. Our ancestors were loyal to a king whose banner had the emblem of a dragon. Up until then, dragons didn’t really exist; they were a myth. After? Here we are, and banished to this world forever, unless we choose to leave and never return.”

Heather looked around herself, trying to make sense of their surroundings. The mountains rose up high all around them. The grass was thick and high and the sky so blue it almost hurt to look at. She looked at the tall castle, its black spires rising high against the sky. “What is that?”

Blake said, “That’s Reganal. Max’s home, and mine too. Come on, I’m hungry, and it’s a long way.”

Heather spat out, “I am not going to some creepy Gothic castle! Have you lost your mind!”

Blake’s eyebrow rose. “Then stay here. But you should know that those are Orcs coming up the mountain now.”

Orcs? Orcs? Heather looked in the direction that Blake’s finger was pointing and a loud scream ripped from her lips. The things toiling up the side of the cliff were hideous and squat. They were also waving clubs and other weapons, and they didn’t look like they wanted to have a friendly chat.

Christy cried out, “What do they want?”

“You. Human women are highly prized, and Orcs can’t cross the portal.” Blake changed then. His body lifted slightly off the ground. His voice issued from his dragon-mouth. “Either get on and go with me or stay here. Your choice.”

That was no choice at all! Heather and Christy raced to the dragon, and he flattened himself onto the ground so they could climb aboard. Then he took off. Heather, shrieking, tried to find something to hold onto. Christy was also screaming, and her hands were grabbing at any and everything. Blake shouted, “Use your legs, dammit; use your legs to hold on before you put my eyes out!”

The earth dropped away from under them; Heather had to fight back an urge to vomit. She hated to fly in airplanes, and they were definitely safer than this! She’d already had one terrifying trip through an open sky thanks to Max, and now she was soaring upward, the wind blasting back at her from the mighty lift and beat of Blake’s wings as he turned toward the castle.

Below them, the Orcs scampered and screamed and threw weapons into the air in an attempt to stop Blake, and them. Heather’s eyes squeezed shut. This was the worst thing that had ever happened to her in her entire life, and she was pretty sure it would just get worse.