Carly bit her lip as she finished washing the dishes and placed the last one on a dish towel. Drago had disappeared shortly after he had told her what had happened. She had sensed that he needed to be alone. She wasn’t going to argue about his leaving because she could use a few minutes to get her head straight.

“I can’t be in a magical land, but I am. This is crazy, Carly. You need to find the way back home. Jenny has probably called out the National Guard by now. I can see it plastered all over the news – ‘Assistant Branch Manager of small bank goes missing – foul play or stupidity? More at eleven,’” Carly muttered under her breath.

Wiping her hands, she glanced around the kitchen. It was obvious the room had not been used very much. Despite the layers of dust, there wasn’t a speck of evidence that the cooking utensils, pots, or pans were ever used. With a sigh, Carly knew what she needed to do.

“Well, I know what I want to do. I want to stay here,” she said, jutting out her chin. Then she took a breath and firmly shook her head. “I can’t leave Jenny wondering what happened to me, and I can’t leave poor Drago alone again. So, first thing is to tell Jenny what’s happened so she doesn’t worry. Once I’ve done that, I’ll come back and see if I can help Drago.”

She turned and bit her lip again. It was dark outside. There was no way she could find her way down the trail – if she even found her way back to it – in the dark. There was nothing else for her to do tonight. She would have to wait until morning.

Satisfied with her reasoning, she wiped her hands down her pants. She had discovered her backpack in the living room earlier. Walking into the other room, she picked it up and placed it on the couch. She opened it and rummaged inside.

There were three packages of peanut butter and honey crackers, a bottle of water, a flashlight, a small first aid kit – she’d learned the hard way that she needed to always carry one of those – and a pair of gloves. Nothing fantastic, but she was proud she had the essentials: food, water, light, and medicine – if you counted Band-Aids and aspirin as a first aid kit.

“Tomorrow I’ll search for the passage back home,” Carly said with a large yawn.

She rubbed her eyes. After all of her adventures today, she was exhausted. She glanced at the closed doors, worried because Drago was still out. Surely dragons could see better in the dark than humans….

Sinking down onto a long couch, she dropped her backpack onto the floor, pulled off her shoes, and stretched out. She would just lie down for a few minutes. Reaching up, she pulled her jacket off the back of the couch and spread it over her upper body before rolling onto her side.

“I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute… or until Drago returns,” Carly murmured, already more than half asleep.

Drago pulled in his wings and stretched out his lower legs, landing on the railing of the balcony before jumping down. He shook his head and turned to look up at the waning crescent moons and the brilliant stars above. He sniffed the clean, fresh air blowing in from the ocean.

He had been gone longer than he’d planned. He had wanted to check over the isle one last time before he settled down for the night. He wanted to be sure he hadn’t missed anything. He had even returned to the cavern below to reassure himself that no one else had found a way in to the treasure.

All his wards and spells were still in place, as strong as ever. A thorough search had revealed no breaches. How Carly had found her way to the treasure room was still a mystery to him. He did not know of a single creature that had the powers to break through his magic. Not even Orion, the Sea King, or the King and Queen of the Isle of Magic possessed that type of magical power.

With a mere thought, his body shimmered and he shifted. He glanced up at the night sky before he turned and walked toward the closed doors. Soft lights glowed from the interior, but he didn’t see any movement.

Pulling open the doors, he stood in the entrance gazing around. It had been a long, long time since he had felt warmth in his home. The room was spotless and the faint aroma of the meal Carly had prepared earlier still hung in the air. He had started a fire in the fireplace before he had left to rid the apartment of the chill that had crept into the very walls of the palace.

His gaze narrowed on the plush couch when he heard a soft sigh. Pulling the doors closed behind him, he quietly walked over to gaze down at Carly. His lips twitched. She was lying curled up on her side with her hands tucked under her cheek. She snored softly.

“If you are a thief, you are the strangest one I have ever met – and not a very good one either,” he murmured with a rueful shake of his head. “A bed would be much more comfortable than this piece of furniture.”

He bent and slid his arms under her. A fierce wave of possessiveness swept through him as he held her close. This soft, warm thief was now tied to him by the ancient creed of the dragon – what a dragon claimed, he kept – and Drago had claimed Carly. Whether she understood the implications of that or not did not concern him. She would understand it soon enough.

Drago chuckled when Carly snorted in her sleep and snuggled into his warm body. He turned and strode through the living room and down the long hallway to his bedroom. With a whisper, the covers magically drew back. The fresh scent of clean linen teased his senses. Carly had managed to get so much accomplished in one afternoon; it was no wonder that she was exhausted.

He laid her down gently. He sighed in exasperation when she immediately rolled onto her side. Reaching down, he carefully removed her jacket. Another soft chuckle escaped him when she blindly swatted his hand away.

“Go away, Jenny. Today’s Saturday,” she sleepily mumbled.

“I’m not this Jenny and I am not sure what day it is,” Drago replied.

“Saturday… so’s I don’t have to go to work,” Carly muttered in a slightly slurred voice filled with exhaustion before she started snoring again.

“A thief that works,” Drago replied with a shake of his head. “You continue to amaze me, little one.”

He ruefully reached down and gently removed her stained trousers. He chuckled again when she rose up enough for him to pull them off before blindly reaching out with one hand to search for the covers. Drago reached down and pulled the covers over her shivering form.

Straightening, he glanced around the room. The fire in the hearth had not been started so there was still a chill in the air. With a flick of his wrist, Drago sent a small fire ball to the logs. Blue, red, and yellowish-orange flames danced over the enchanted logs that would never burn down.

“If only I could have enchanted my people to protect them,” Drago said, staring at the flames for several long seconds before he pushed the melancholy emotions away.

He slowly removed his long, black coat, bent and picked up Carly’s jacket off the floor where he had dropped it, and carried them over to several pegs on the wall. After hanging them up, he removed his boots and socks and unbuttoned his soft, silk shirt.

It had been such a very long time since he had done the simplest tasks that even undressing felt odd. Drago carried his discarded clothing over to a woven basket inside the bathing chamber. He unfastened his trousers and pushed them off. Catching the soft, leathery trousers with one foot, he tossed them high enough to grab them and deposited them with his other clothing.

After crossing the smooth stone floor to a shower built into a corner of the room, he stepped inside and turned the tap. A smothered groan escaped Drago when a rain shower of warm water, supplied from deep beneath the castle, fell on him, caressing his broad shoulders and running down his body. It seemed like an eternity since he had felt anything remotely warm in his life. Bowing his head, he stood under the flow, losing himself in the enjoyment of the moment.

The water soaked his long hair. His hands rose to thread through it before running down along his face. He grimaced when he felt his beard. He would need to trim it.

He reached for the bar of soap Carly must have found and placed on the ledge. The soap lathered quickly between his hands, emitting a fresh rain scent that teased his nostrils. Running his hands over the light coating of dark hair that covered his chest, he drew in a deep breath. His body felt like it was awakening from a deep, eternal sleep. The palms of his hands slid down across his stomach before trailing downward.

A shudder ran through him. It had been a long, long time since he’d been this awake – and aware. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. The image of Carly flared into vivid detail. He shivered when he pictured her standing in front of him, looking up at him with wide, startled eyes and a very sexy O-shaped mouth. That image had ingrained itself in his mind even as his body had exploded with pain after she had connected the broom with his groin.

Yes, that feeling was not something he was going to forget any time soon. Opening his eyes, he finished washing his hair and body and rinsed off the soapy residue. Several long minutes later, he shut off the water and reached for a towel. He dried his body, toweled the moisture from his hair, and walked over to the sink.

He grimaced and wrapped the towel around his waist, tucking it in securely before he leaned forward to stare at his reflection. His dark, sapphire blue eyes glimmered with fire. He raised a hand and ran it over his beard.

It had been a long time since he’d seen his own reflection. There were a few new lines near the corners of his eyes and around his mouth. The spell he had cast over the Isle had preserved most things. While dust and leaves had settled and the vines had grown, time for him had slowed until it remained as still as the statues of his people.

Several minutes passed while he stared at his reflection, lost in thought. A scowl crossed his face when he realized the only reason he was scrutinizing his appearance was because he wanted to impress Carly. With a snort of self-disgust, he made sure the bathing area was as spotless as before. He didn’t want Carly to think poorly of him for messing up the room that she had worked so hard to clean.

“Since when did I have to try to impress a woman?” he asked his reflection with a raised eyebrow. “You are Drago, King of the Dragons! You do not have to impress women.”

Pushing the unusual feelings aside, Drago stepped out of the room. The light behind him faded, casting the bedroom into a soft glow from the moons shining through the long bank of windows and doors. He walked over and pulled the doors open so the fresh, chilly breeze coming off the ocean would sweep through the room.

He turned when he heard a sigh come from his bed. Carly had rolled over so her back was to him. Her arms were wrapped around one of the plush pillows. She had stopped snoring, and from her slow, steady breathing, Drago knew that she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Removing the towel as he walked closer to the bed, he tossed it across the foot of the bed before waving his hand for the covers to fold back. He slid between the sheets and pulled them back up before rolling over to wrap his arm around Carly and hug her tightly against him.

Tilting his head, he brushed a light kiss along her pale throat before relaxing against the pillows. The wards and spells would keep them protected while they slept. His arm tightened around Carly, holding her firmly as if afraid she might disappear.

“Never,” he said in a barely audible voice. “I bind you to me, Carly Tate. Thief, wanderer, unusual woman that you are – you are mine. I will always know where you are.”

The spell he wove with his words wrapped around Carly’s sleeping form. Drago could see the red fire threads of the dragon spell settling over Carly’s body before fading. Satisfied that she was locked to him, Drago’s eyelids slowly lowered, and he fell into the first deep, dreamless sleep he’d had in centuries.