Leanne was woken the next morning by a rough hand on her arm, jerking her out of bed and dragging her out of her cell door.

She was still blinking and struggling and trying to gain her bearings as they shoved her in front of them on the hard stairs, telling her to go up.

Barney, one of the sterner head guards, was here for some reason, and even this early in the morning, he looked pissed.

“Hora wants you,” he said sharply, nudging her with his foot as she let out a little growl.

She’d about had it with the people holding her, but there wasn’t anything she could do. She’d realized weeks ago her puny human strength meant nothing against these half-human brutes.

Her mental strength was all she had to rely on for now. She pushed herself up, brushed off the gray pajama pants she’d been wearing, and was glad she’d always slept in a bra, not at all trusting the guards.

Her shoulder-length, curly hair was probably a mess and her clothing a bit scuffed, but otherwise, she should probably be ready to meet Hora as commanded.

She’d only met the woman who seemed to be boss of this place a few times before. Once when she’d been captured and told what was expected of her and where she would be staying. One time she’d been grilled about what she knew about the “dragons.” Plus one other time when one of the other “dragon hearts,” as girls like her were called, had been rescued. Hora had given Leanne some sort of truth potion to make her confess whether or not she had also been contacted by the dragons.

No such luck.

She didn’t know whether she should hate dragons for being the reason she was captured or be oddly intrigued by the fact that they were supposedly strong, magnificent creatures who were rescuing women like her.

Somewhere in the middle, she thought.

She trudged up the stairs, apparently not fast enough for Barney, who grabbed her by the arm again.

She tried to shake free. “I can walk on my own.”

“Don’t talk back to me, human,” he said, raising his hand as she flinched but stared back at him defiantly.

“Hey, Hora said we can’t touch her.” Gus, a shyer guard, interrupted.

Barney lowered his hand reluctantly. “Fine. But I won’t tell you again.” He tossed Leanne back to the stairs and she let out a sigh, pushing to her feet.

“This won’t go faster if you keep chucking me on the ground,” she muttered, more to herself than anything else.

“What was that?” Barney asked sharply.

“Nothing.”

She made it up the stairs and walked with a wolf guard on either side of her until they reached Hora’s office. The door was opened, and Leanne was ushered in and pushed onto a cushioned chair in front of a large, ornate desk.

The woman sitting there flicked her hands at the wolves. “You all may go.”

Everyone exited and shut the door, leaving Leanne and Hora alone.

The latter leaned forward, thin, pale fingers tenting together. “So I presume you’ve noticed we have a new visitor?”

Leanne stretched. “I’m not sure what you mean, unless you’re talking about the racket last night.”

“Surely, as a dragon heart, you noticed the presence of a dragon,” Hora said, her dark, wine-colored eyes glowing.

She had dark hair pulled back in a severe bun, pale, taut skin, and sharp features. Deep lines on either side of her mouth gave her a cruel appearance.

“Why would I notice that?”

Hora leaned back in the chair. “You tell me.”

“I told you. I don’t have any idea about this dragon heart stuff,” Leanne said. “You might as well just let me go.”

“I’m afraid that’s no longer possible. True, you may be useless to us, but the fact remains that you are useful to them. Thus, we can’t release you.”

“So you intend to just let me rot down there?” Leanne raised an eyebrow.

“Probably. Unless we think of some other use for you.”

“Great,” Leanne muttered, leaning back with folded arms.

“But actually, that’s why I called you here. We do have a job for you right now. It involves our new prisoner.”

“Oh?” That had Leanne’s attention.

“Yes. In fact, we want you to spend time with him.”

“Why?”

“Apparently, your kind offers some kind of suppression of the illness he is suffering. Not to mention, he isn’t allowed to hurt humans, and he hasn’t proven to be very… cooperative with the rest of us.”

Leann’s heart gave a little jump. “But… he’s a… dragon?”

Hora gave a nod.

“Uh, well… what do you want me to do?”

“Make sure he eats. See him twice a day. Give him medicine. Make sure he doesn’t die.”

“Um, I’m not really sure how I can do that, but sure. I’ll try.” She bit her lip nervously. “Is he going to eat me?”

“I don’t think so,” Hora said, an amused smirk on her lips. “But it isn’t a huge loss to us if he does. Disposal of evidence.”

“Ah.”

“But really, we aren’t monsters. Why would we want to eat you?”

“We?”

“I am also a dragon, obviously,” Hora said.

Well, that was one strike against dragons.

“How was I supposed to know that?” Leanne shook her head. “Look, fine. I’ll take care of this guy. Not like I have any choice anyway. But I really don’t see how I’m going to heal him or whatever. What if he dies on me?”

“He dies, you die,” Hora replied. “So I suggest you keep that from happening.”

“But why did you take him? I thought you hated dragons.”

Hora’s eyes glittered. “I have my reasons.”

Leanne let out a resigned breath. “Fine. I’ll do what I can.”

“Good. Barney will escort you back downstairs and let you into the cell.”

“Can I just clean up a little first?” She had a small, enclosed bathroom and shower in her cell, and she didn’t want to really meet her new charge in her pajamas.

“No. It doesn’t matter how you look when you go to meet him because you aren’t going to be anything but his nurse. You better not try anything else with him because I have plans.”

“Try anything?”

“I have heard humans find dragons attractive. So keep your hands off my mate.”

Leanne was taken aback by that but just blinked at Hora, pitying the poor guy who had to somehow deal with that. She didn’t even know exactly what a mate was, but she figured it was something like marriage for shifters, based on the little she’d heard the guards saying about it.

“Whatever.” Leanne put up her hands. “Fine. Just take me back down now.” She really didn’t want to spend another minute in this crazy woman’s presence. Everything about her just felt evil, as if she were polluting the very air around them.

“Guards!” Hora called with a clap. “Come back now!”

The door opened, and Barney reached for her again, but Leanne jerked away and spun out of reach. “I can go on my own, for Pete’s sake.” She gave him a glare. “And you all need me now, unless you want that dragon to roast you, so you better show some respect.”

She heard Hora let out a laugh. Maybe dragons in this world didn’t actually roast people. Leanne didn’t know.

She dodged out of the room and headed for the stairs with the guards following behind, not giving them any reason to accost her.

When they reached the basement, the guards went around her to open the cell where the “dragon” was held, and she heard the heavy clink of keys and then a click as the heavy metal door swung open.

She was quickly shoved inside with a rough hand to her back, and she stumbled into the cell, landing on her knees. She looked up just in time to see the guards close it behind her, locking it with a laugh before disappearing through the door to go back upstairs.

Now she was alone in the basement.

With a dragon.

She slowly got to her feet, looking over at the man who was sleeping on the cot, which was clearly not the right size for him.

His feet dangled over the end, and one long, muscular arm was draped off the side, resting on the floor. The covers were pulled over him, and he appeared to be wearing some sort of gray tunic that covered his shoulders and arms.

From what she could see of his legs where they hung off the bed, he was wearing a sort of black pajama pants.

Then again, they had taken him in the middle of the night.

She got a little bolder, leaning over him to get a better look at his face, which was turned toward the opposite wall.

Her heart gave a little thump as she studied his perfect features. Even from this angle, she was certain she’d never seen a more beautiful man.

He was pale, though she thought that was probably from stress and whatever sickness he was dealing with. His long, straight nose finished with a tiny point at the end. His hard jaw mirrored the sharp line of his nose, complimented by a chin with a small dimple.

She couldn’t see his eyes, but she could see long, gray lashes spread over his cheeks as he slept. He had high cheekbones and high, arched brows in a dark-gray color that was slightly darker than his hair.

His hair was unlike any she’d seen, a medium gray that seemed almost to have the look of woven metal but the texture of hair. It waved around his ears and neck. The urge to reach up and touch it was almost unbearable.

Perhaps the lady dragon had been right about humans being attracted to male dragons.

Anyone would be if they saw this one.

His body appeared to be tall and perfectly muscled, but there was something elegant about him when, with his size, he could easily have seemed brutish instead.

She was trying to figure out how any being could ever be this beautiful when she suddenly became aware of a pair of sparking, liquid-platinum eyes staring up at her warily.

She jumped back, tripping and landing on her butt on the hard cell floor, letting out a little yelp of pain.

The man quickly tried to push himself up in bed but fell back down in a heap. She heard him take a labored breath, and then he slowly pushed himself up again, looking pained.

One wavy lock of gray hair fell over his pale forehead as he looked at her in concern. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but… Where exactly am I?”