Brittany woke up the next morning feeling vaguely ashamed about what had happened.

She rubbed her head, watching Lead, who was still asleep next to her in bed, his big body sprawled under a sheet, wearing only pajama bottoms.

Looking at him just made her remember everything she did. How desperate she’d been, how hard she’d pushed him. But she’d never wanted anyone more in her life, and the more he’d been concerned and honorable regarding her, the more she just wanted to debauch him, make him her own.

She sighed into her hand. She was so selfish. Had he even enjoyed it? He’d seemed to. And he’d said he liked her, that he found her hard to resist. But would that still apply now that she’d practically ravished him?

Of course, he was a big, strong dragon, so she couldn’t really take advantage of him, but what if he just felt too bad turning her down? What if he woke up this morning regretting things?

She would hate that but probably deserved it.

She got up to get dressed, hoping to be quiet enough not to wake him, and saw him stir.

Oh no.

She grabbed her clothing and was about to run for the bathroom to change, but couldn’t help looking over to see how he felt.

He was blinking and pushing himself up in the bed, looking around, and then she saw his face drain of color and knew the moment he recalled what had happened last night.

His eyes darted around and found her, and his jaw dropped slightly as he stared blankly, as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Brittany, I’m sorry.”

She froze. “What?” That was not what she wanted to hear.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pushing the covers aside and getting out of the bed. He came forward and took one knee in front of her, lowering his head. “I behaved in a dishonorable manner last night, and I beg your forgiveness.”

She stuttered for a second, then gathered her wits and her pride. “I don’t need to forgive you. In case you don’t remember, I was the one wanting it.”

“Yes, but you were vulnerable. I was the one who should have stayed collected and calm. I should have protected you, even from yourself.”

“Well, that is trash,” she muttered, heading for the bathroom. “No one should protect someone from what they want. You aren’t my parent.”

He blinked. “Of course not. I—” He sighed. “I am still sorry, Brittany.”

Her pride was still smarting over his apologies for the best sex of her life. Sex that had felt so right, so enjoyable in the moment. But here in the morning light, without the adrenaline rush from prior danger and without the thought that darkness would hide them, everything was somehow murkier.

She lifted her chin. “And I said there was nothing to apologize for.”

He nodded. “It would be best if we both tried to forget what happened, then. I will not make the same mistake again.”

Mistake? He thought she was a mistake? Did he even like her? If he did, what was holding him back?

“I don’t get it,” she said, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I saw how you looked at me last night. How you held me so tight, like you couldn’t stand to release me. I could tell you felt like I do, so why are you acting like this just because it’s morning?”

“Because I’m lucid enough to see I was in the wrong!” he burst out, running a hand through his hair and turning his back to her in frustration. “Brittany, I violated your trust. I’m supposed to be your protector, yet I—”

“If anything, I took advantage of you,” she said coldly. Perhaps he was just worried she would want more than he could give her. Perhaps, unlike the other dragons, he didn’t want to mate her and was worried they were on that path. Either way, he was pulling away, just as he had the other day, and she was sick of it.

It hurt too damn bad, especially after what they shared.

“Fine,” she said. “We’ll forget about it.”

He let out a sigh of relief, but she noticed his shoulders were still slumped. He turned to face her, and she didn’t know if she was sad or relieved to see the weary resignation in his eyes.

How long had he been living like this? Denying what he wanted and constantly flogging himself for anything that wasn’t solely for the greater good?

She didn’t know, and at the moment, she couldn’t help him with it because he was pushing her away.

Her chest tightened as he got dressed and pulled his hair into a low ponytail. “You can have the bathroom,” he said. “I have things to do this morning, and I can meet you after.”

“It’s fine,” she said tightly. “There are other dragons in the house who can protect me.”

He whirled to face her, heat in his eyes. “What?”

She smirked slightly, glad to not be the only one caught off guard, even if a part of her ached at the idea of spending time with anyone else. “I’m sure there are other dragons who are willing to spend time with me. Even… help with my tension, if necessary.”

His jaw clenched. “They’d better not.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe not. But either way, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“After what we’ve done—”

“Didn’t you say it was a mistake?” she asked shrewdly, waiting for him to correct her. Instead, he just stood there looking furious, his face going a particular shade of purple-red.

She probably shouldn’t have pushed him that far, but she needed to see that part of him she’d seen last night that wasn’t just okay with walking away and pretending there was nothing between them.

Unfortunately, the other part, the dutiful warrior, seemed to win out, and he calmed himself, rising to his full height with a cool expression.

He gave a quick bow. “My lady.” And then he pulled on a shirt and left the room, and she heard him storming down the hall as regret settled through her.

She sat on the bed with a sigh, then hit the covers angrily with one fist. Then she slowly composed herself and headed for the shower. Once she was emerged in warm, steamy water, everything seemed a bit better.

Maybe she really would just hang out with the other dragons. Hopefully, they could make her feel a little better about her situation. She wouldn’t be trying to make Lead jealous. She wasn’t a sadist.

Then again, if while she was simply trying to distract herself, he happened to realize all of his talk of “mistakes” was bull hooey, she wasn’t going to complain.

* * *

Lead had suspected he would feel like a human sewer when he woke up, but it was even worse than he’d thought.

Brittany had gotten up before him and was already walking around, looking so beautiful in the morning light that she took his breath away.

First, he’d thought he was simply dreaming and she was an angel. Then hot visions had flooded his mind, bringing all too tactile memories of last night.

He’d dishonored her. He’d sullied her. He’d let her use her mouth on him. He who was supposed to be her servant. A soldier protected his lady, not defiled her.

He put both hands over his face as he walked down the corridor away from the room where he’d left her, frustrated.

She would understand soon how wrong what he did was and how much she should hate him.

He hated that she hated him now, though, simply for stating the obvious.

Her words about spending time with the other dragons burned, but he had no right to say anything about it. He had gone and been more dishonorable than any of them, taking advantage of having her near him when he was supposed to be protecting her and nothing more.

He reached the living room and sank down against a wall. Just as he was relaxing his breaths, wondering what he should do next, how to repent for something like last night where he seemed to have lost his damn mind, he heard someone coming down the hall.

Footsteps stopped right next to him, and he looked up to see Mercury gazing down at him with narrowed eyes.

Mercury nudged Lead with one foot. “Hm.”

That was so like him, Lead thought. Literally kicking a man when he was down.

“Come outside with me,” Mercury said sharply.

“But—”

“No buts,” Mercury said. “Technically, on Earth, I outrank you. Now.”

Lead muttered to himself as he got up and followed Mercury to the kitchen where the coffeemaker was already on.

“I’m always up before Marina,” Mercury said. “I suppose I’m more ready to escape my dreams.”

“She is a great deal more innocent than you,” Lead said. “Then again, isn’t everyone?”

Mercury gave him a silver-eyed glare. “Watch it. I had a mind to help you, but if you’re going to be a jerk about it…”

“Help me how?” Lead asked, taking the offered mug of coffee. It was black, just as he liked it. Black like his heart felt after leaving Brittany.

Mercury’s eyes widened slightly, and Lead realized he’d read his mind. Mercury had always been a jerk like that. “You are really falling for that human, aren’t you?”

Lead nodded. No point in lying now.

“Now come on,” Mercury said. “We’ll talk on the deck where no one can hear us.”

They walked out into the cool, early-morning air, and Mercury took a deep breath and sighed.

“Beautiful. I love Earth weather,” he said, looking over at Lead. “Now, tell me what’s wrong with you and your human and why I had to spend part of my morning hearing you two shout at each other.”

“Noted that you can hear what goes on in my room,” Lead muttered, sipping his coffee.

“Don’t get snitty. Only when I’m already in the hallway,” Mercury said. “So what’s going on?”

“Why are you helping me?” Lead asked. “Aren’t we bitter enemies?”

Mercury laughed. “Maybe you see it that way. I understand how you helped me with Marina, though, and I would like to return the favor, if only so I can stop being indebted to you.” He wrinkled his nose. “It’s the most disgusting feeling.”

Mercury had been one of the most villainous dragons on Earth until he’d reformed for Marina, but sometimes the darkness in him was still there. Not a bad thing either, considering Earth needed Mercury’s significant power.

There was silence for a moment, and then Mercury spoke. “So you want that girl. What’s stopping you from taking her? And don’t say your pathetic sense of honor, because that’s getting tiresome.”

“I can’t just turn it off,” Lead said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “It’s something I’ve lived my life by. Something that helped my people and my world.”

“And now it’s time to help yourself,” Mercury said. “Isn’t that why you’re here instead of your precious Drakkaris? And now there’s a human woman right in front of you, and you’re just going to sit there with a frustrated boner and not do anything?”

Lead felt blood rush his face and scowled. “Don’t talk about her so crudely.”

“Hm,” Mercury said, ignoring him. “You know, if you aren’t willing to take a chance on being dishonorable, I bet some other dragon will.”

“No dragon here will dishonor her,” Lead said, nervousness rising in his chest.

Mercury leaned back on his hands. “I don’t know. Aren’t most of you desperate?”

“The oracle didn’t say we could mate her.”

“She didn’t say you couldn’t either, did she?” Mercury smirked. “I know what I would do.”

“I do, too, given that you are the least honorable of dragons.”

Mercury stood, stretching. “Well, I can see we aren’t getting anywhere, and I would prefer to be curled up with my sexy mate, so I’ll just leave you with this last thought.”

“Yes?” Lead asked, impatient for him to just leave.

“Is it really honorable to pull back from her if she doesn’t want you to?” Mercury took another sip. “I don’t think so.”

Lead just sat there, letting it sink in. Brittany had only just left extended captivity. Did she even know what she wanted? And even if she did want it, if it wasn’t possible in the shifter world, was he just aiming to break both of their hearts by giving in?

He’d already given in last night.

Mercury grinned lasciviously. “Ah, so you did get a bit dishonorable. I’m proud of you, you big oaf.” He gave a small, sarcastic bow. “Good luck. I’m off to see my mate.”

Lead just harrumphed in his direction.

Mercury paused and rummaged in his pocket. “Oh, and I almost forgot.” He threw several small, shiny packages in Lead’s direction. “Use these things when getting ‘dishonorable’ and you won’t be mated before she agrees to it.”

Lead scooped up the odd packets that were flat and seemed to have a rounded shape inside.

“They go on your dick,” Mercury said. Then, with a crude laugh, he was gone.

Lead put the packets away in his pocket, sure he probably wouldn’t get to use them. After all, he’d already decided to pull back, to be the man Brittany and the others deserved and not the one his base desires wanted him to be.

Was she in there now? With the other dragons? Thoughts of her and their night together came flooding back into his mind, making the dragon inside him roar with jealousy.

Perhaps it was time for a good, long workout. Time to distract himself so he didn’t go seeking her out and ruining her time with the other dragons. At this point, given what he’d done, all of them were probably safer for her than he was.

Probably.

* * *

Brittany was able to avoid Lead until lunch, when all the dragons were gathered in the kitchen. She’d already been served her sandwich and was seated in the kitchen, so she felt too awkward to move.

This morning had been uneventful. She’d showered, changed into a soft gray turtleneck tunic and black leggings, and put her hair in a loose, comfortable braid, and then gone downstairs and had breakfast with some of the other dragons. Then she’d played some games with them, in an effort to distract her mind from thinking about Lead.

Right now, Lead was seated on the other side of the table and eating his sandwich with a frown. She tried to avoid looking at him and hoped no one else would notice the awkwardness in the room. Even after he’d hurt her feelings, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. About everything they’d done.

The other dragons were talking about some kind of gaming tournament and what they should do that night.

Other discussions included when the oracle would call them for the next mission and what they should do that night so they didn’t get bored again.

Cadmium paused in eating a pickle and looked at her pensively. His brown eyes sparkled. “So, Brittany, we still don’t know much about you.”

“Um, what did you want to know?”

Cadmium leaned back in his chair. His blond hair was dark blond with light blond streaked through, looking like bronze in the sunlight. “You know what we did in our jobs in our previous world. What did you do as a human?”

She smiled, thinking about it. That seemed a million years away, though it was only weeks. Maybe it was just that ever since she’d found out the world was full of magical creatures that could shift into animals, everything else had seemed kind of petty and uninteresting.

“I worked at a craft store,” she said.

“What is that?” Lead asked, sitting up. Just looking into his hawkish yellow eyes made her blood burn.

“Um, crafts. Like material for sewing things or making clothes.”

“You could make us clothes?” Cobalt asked. “Then we wouldn’t have to have someone go shopping.”

“Or shop online,” Cadmium said, resting his chin on his palm.

“No,” she said. “I’m not actually good at this stuff. I’m just good at recommending what to buy. The owner was a friend of a friend, and she gave me a chance after I was laid off at a big company where I did office work. I mean, I’ve always just moved from job to job, whatever paid the bills. I never put down roots.” She let out a wistful sigh. “I guess moving around all those group homes as a kid kind of made me that way.”

“Group home?” Arsenic asked, sitting up taller.

She didn’t really want to go into it, but it was probably fair since they’d already shared a good deal about themselves. “Where you live when you don’t have parents. Foster care, but for older kids. I don’t know.”

“Why didn’t you have parents?” Cobalt’s deep-blue eyes were concerned behind the reading glasses he had forgotten to take off.

“I don’t know who my dad is. My mom was young when she had me. Breast cancer runs in the family, and it took her when I was young. I took the best care of her I could, but she passed when I was fifteen.”

“And how old are you now?” Cobalt asked.

“Twenty-six,” she said.

“Cobalt, that’s rude to ask,” Cadmium said.

“How do you know that?”

“Women get very mad about it when asked on TV.”

Cobalt raised a gray eyebrow. “Ah. Well, I wouldn’t know since I don’t watch much of it.”

“Maybe you should. You might learn something.”

Cobalt leaned back in his chair, huge arms folded. He might be the nerd of the group, but he still made an intimidating presence. “I’ll watch TV more when you actually start visiting the library.”

Brittany sat up slightly, getting their attention and hoping it distracted them from the rising tension. “So what should we do tonight?”

“We can’t leave the house,” Cadmium said, expression darkening. “What are our options? What do humans do at home?”

She wasn’t sure. She often went out after work with friends or co-workers. Chatted at the bar about inconsequential subjects and just blew off steam. She didn’t particularly like being alone and wasn’t the type who could just sit at home and watch TV with a cat, as much as she liked animals.

She liked to stay busy, surround herself with quantity of people rather than quality.

So she had to think of what more introverted people usually did to pass time in their own homes.

“I’m not really sure. We could play a game.”

There were grumbles around the table. “We’ve played them all so often,” Arsenic said.

“You could ask me questions about humans,” she said. “I can answer them as well as I can. You’re supposed to be getting to know more about us anyway.”

Cadmium’s eyebrow rose. “You’ll answer anything?”

She laughed. “I don’t know about that.”

Cadmium was wearing a blue tee shirt that looked good with his tanned skin, and he stood and stretched, showing off hard muscles. “I saw them do something in a horror movie that was interesting once. It might be a way to have us all get to know each other.”

“What’s that?” Brittany asked.

“Truth or Dare,” Cadmium said.

Brittany looked at Lead one more time, but he was avoiding her again. She couldn’t take it anymore. “Sure, I mean, I haven’t done that in forever. We usually do that as teens, but it could be fun.”

Cobalt sat back in his chair, eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure I understand the whole concept.”

Zinc spoke up, having been quiet for most of the meal. He was still the one she’d seen the least, and he seemed to keep to himself a lot. “I think it sounds fun. You all should do it.”

Cadmium let out a groan. “You aren’t going back to your room, are you?”

“I still have something I’m working on.”

“Come on, Zinc. Live a little. We’re on Earth,” Cadmium said, frustrated.

“I know,” Zinc said mildly, standing with his half-empty plate. “Brittany, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Sure,” she said, watching as he rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher, then headed out of the room. What was going on with him? “Does he have a problem with me?”

“Oh no,” Cobalt said. “Zinc has always been like that. Likes to hide in his room.”

“There are reasons,” Cadmium said, a slightly pained look in his eyes as he tapped his fork against his abandoned pickle. “Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it.” He looked around the table. “So Truth or Dare after dinner, right? I’m going up to check on Zinc, and I’ll be down later.” He gave Brittany a slow wink. “Looking forward to it.”

She smiled back at him. “Sounds good.” The others got up to clear plates, and she stood awkwardly as Arsenic took hers.

“I’ll take care of this,” he said. “You look like you could use a nap. You should take a quick break while you can.”

She nodded. “That sounds good.”

“And about the group home, I really respect how you grew up,” Arsenic said. “You went through a lot, and I can only imagine how it was to lose your mom, but I can tell you’re a strong person.” His cheeks reddened and his eyes darted to the side. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you.” She heard a grunt from Lead’s direction and saw him glaring, but had to ignore it.

It was hard to talk about her past, and after the day she’d had yesterday, she needed the nap Arsenic suggested. It was fun being in a house full of dragons that wanted to get to know her, but sometimes it was a little exhausting.

Especially when one of said dragons was sending terribly mixed messages.

“All right,” she said. “I’ll see you all tonight.”

Nods all around, and then she left the room, not even glancing back to see if Lead was looking.