“They’re coming.” Leanne stared at the basement door, heart pounding, as she heard the guards and whoever else coming down. “We didn’t make that much noise.”

“For all we know, they were supposed to get a check-in from Barney,” Zinc said.

“Maybe.”

“Are you ready to leave?”

She nodded. “I don’t have anything. They confiscated anything I had on me at the time, and I’ll just have to get copies.”

“Fine,” Zinc said, and she could already tell he was in warrior mode. He was standing so tall, so strong, looking like a completely different person than he had when he was brought in.

He was so gorgeous it was almost hard to look at him. He always had been, even when he was sick. Now he seemed imperious. Almost… regal.

He stepped in front of her, extending his arm to block her from view. “Do you see the keys?”

“Yes, they’re in the cell.”

“If things go bad, grab them and lock yourself in until I’m done.”

“What about you?”

He flashed her a grin, a twinkle in his dark-gray eyes she’d never seen before. “I’m a dragon.”

She still didn’t know exactly what that meant. Would he be about the size of a human but the shape of a dragon?

She didn’t really have any option but to trust him, so she took a couple steps back as he stood in front of the door, rolling up his sleeves to bare muscular forearms as he readied himself to face their attackers.

The heavy door leading out of the basement flung open, and several men walked inside, glancing around warily.

“Barney?” one said out loud, spotting the sleeping jailor on the ground in her cell.

“The prisoners!” another shouted, pointing ahead at Zinc. Instinctively, Leanne backed up, bumping into the cot where just a few minutes ago she and Zinc had been—

“Restrain the dragon. Return the human to her cell,” one of them barked out. “You, inform Hora immediately,” he added, looking over his shoulder to someone higher up the stairs where Leanne couldn’t see.

“But his collar,” one of them remarked, shrinking back slightly.

By now, Zinc had begun to move toward them, each step intentional, powerful, striding with the feral intensity of a lion.

“I don’t care. Stop him,” the head of the group said. But before he could move an inch, Zinc’s fist connected with the man’s skull, sending him flying backward into the steps. The basement practically rattled from the impact.

Leanne’s heart was racing harder than it ever had before. But somehow, just being in Zinc’s presence, seeing his strength return to him, calmed her a little.

The men at Zinc’s left and right attacked in unison, each trying to grapple with him. But Zinc was completely unmoved by them, as though they were bugs trying to break a concrete wall.

He threw one backward, slamming him into a row of thick iron bars on the right and bending them dramatically. The other’s face registered sheer horror for a split second before Zinc punched the man in the gut with his free hand, and he slumped onto the ground.

Leanne emerged from the cell, ready to follow Zinc up the stairs, when several more men came down, snarling like rabid animals as they attacked Zinc. For his part, Zinc seemed completely unfazed by the aggression.

Perhaps dragons were on a different level than wolves.

The first one threw a wild punch, and Zinc caught it. Leanne heard cracking as the man fell to his knees, yelping, then a loud punch that silenced his cry of pain.

Another man leapt bodily at Zinc, flying from the bottom of the stairs toward him, arms outstretched. Zinc caught him by the throat midair, stopping him in his tracks. He hung there for only a second, struggling to free himself from Zinc’s grip before he launched him into the ceiling. He collided with it like a sack of flour, then crashed onto the ground.

To Leanne’s right, she watched as the wolf who’d been thrown into the iron bars of the cell started to get up. For a second, he just appeared dazed. But then upon noticing Leanne not far from him down the narrow hallway, he rose and started to come after her.

In an instant, Zinc’s attention snapped to the side, and he waved his hand with a swift flick in the wolf’s direction. Suddenly, the iron bars melted into a metallic mass, warping and twisting as they caught the man by the arms, the waist, the legs like silver tentacles. Then they froze solid, returning to regular metal once more, leaving the man struggling helplessly against the metal restraints.

“Not a chance, vermin,” Zinc said with a frown, stepping toward the wolf and knocking him out cold with a single blow.

Leanne just stood there watching in wonder, almost forgetting the world around her as she watched the man she’d been tending to for days fight like some untouchable monster.

“It’s clear. Let’s go,” Zinc said, turning to Leanne and motioning for her to come. She did, suddenly remembering what they were doing, trying to make her steps lighter as if sneaking could somehow detract from the fact that Zinc had singlehandedly taken care of more than half a dozen wolves as though they were nothing.

She followed close behind him as they went up the long staircase that led out into a great hallway of the castle. When they finally reached the top, Zinc looked around, quickly taking stock of the situation.

“Do you remember the way out?” he asked. Thankfully, there was no one to be seen yet, but not too far off, noise could be heard that likely signaled danger.

“No. They brought me inside when it was dark, and that was weeks ago. The only places I’ve been are the dungeon and Hora’s office. I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault. I have an idea,” he said, looking at the end of the hallway a couple dozen feet away on their right. He quickly strode toward a small window that was barred, showing nothing but black midnight through it, and took a quick look before backing away from it.

Were they going to escape through that tiny window?

“Stand back,” he said abruptly, and she did so. The sounds at the other end of the hallway getting louder by the second started to make her nervous.

Zinc cracked his knuckles, then lunged forward with a single fist and punched the wall before them. Like cardboard, the solid, heavy stones erupted outward, splitting into pieces and flying away from them, creating a sizable hole in the wall.

Leanne would have stared agape if she’d had time. But his gaze on hers reminded her to hurry.

Zinc stood at the opening where a wall once had been, ushering her outside, then following behind her. Her eyes took a second to acclimate to the darkness before she got a better look at the surrounding terrain.

“Where are we?” Zinc asked, jogging behind her as they went down a hill. Leanne just wanted as much distance between her and this wretched castle as she could manage right now.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said, glancing around the landscape, looking for a city, a mountain, anything that could be remotely recognizable. But the foreboding darkness was silent in its response to her searching.

And between having sex with Zinc, escaping, and not having been able to be outside or work out in weeks (maybe longer), Leanne’s legs were already starting to fail her.

The siren of a klaxon blaring from the castle only made things worse, and Zinc and Leanne turned to see lights starting to turn on in the castle windows, the noise from inside becoming louder and louder.

There was still a hundred or so feet to clear before they reached the forest that surrounded the oddly placed castle that sat atop a small hill behind them. Maybe if they reached the woods, they could sneak away under the cover of darkness. But even that sounded like a stretch as far as plans went. Neither of them had any clue where to go or how to get home.

“I have an idea,” Zinc said, and Leanne stopped to face him as he looked down at her, those beautiful steel eyes bright even in the darkness.

“What do you mean?”

“Give me your hand,” he said. She’d barely raised it when he grasped it gently, and his hand closed over the metal band on her finger.

She’d almost forgotten it was there. So much had happened in so little time.

He closed his eyes for a moment, whispering something unintelligible. Then a black doorway opened in front of them, not much larger than a regular door.

She looked inside and saw an endless, swirling void that looked like space. Suddenly, stars and constellations and nebulas flew by at blinding speeds within the doorway, and Leanne almost lost her balance. Everything was moving so fast within the black mass, though she hadn’t moved an inch.

And then it stopped, a planet showing before her through the portal, swathed in greens and purples and other colors, unlike anything she’d ever seen.

What was this? Where was this?

But before Leanne could turn to Zinc and ask, an ear-splitting roar boomed from behind them, shaking Leanne’s entire body and interrupting all conscious thought. She whirled around and saw a gigantic dragon, black with iridescent purple scales and long horns, charging at them from the castle. The ground thundered around Leanne, groaning at each step of the creature.

Leanne glanced up to see Zinc looking in the direction of the dragon with surprising confidence.

“I can transform, but I don’t want you caught in a fight between two dragons. I won’t risk your safety,” Zinc said, his gaze coming to meet hers.

“What other options do we have?” Leanne replied, watching in horror as the humongous beast covered the space between them with shocking speed.

“Do you trust me?” Zinc asked, the calm in his voice a stark contrast to the imminent sound of roaring and crashing steps.

Leanne’s throat was so tight with fear she could barely talk. So instead, she grabbed Zinc’s hand and nodded quickly. The dragon was so close she could see the bright, glowing red of its eyes as it barreled toward them.

Zinc faced the doorway, and together they jumped into swirling, infinite blackness.

And the entire world behind them disappeared into nothingness. She held her breath as cold wild swirled around them, and the next thing she knew, she felt hard ground underneath her as she and Zinc tumbled together out of the portal, which closed behind them.

She separated from him shakily, still remembering the terrifying form of the dragon that had been thundering after them, death in its eyes.

They hadn’t had a choice but to come here.

And where was here, exactly?

Her heart couldn’t seem to stop racing as she looked all around her. Faces were swirling as people came closer. She looked at the floor to see sparkling material, something like granite, only more metallic.

The feel of it was so cool, so foreign. She stared at Zinc, who was climbing to his feet and brushing himself off, standing between her and the approaching crowd.

Everyone was elegantly attired, as if they had interrupted some kind of party. The women wore shimmering gowns and the men different colors of tunics with matching pants.

And everyone was huge.

She looked at one of the windows in the enormous, glittering ballroom and saw a pink moon that was completely unlike anything she’d seen on Earth. She slowly turned to Zinc as he took her by the hands and helped her to her feet, pulling her in against him.

A woman pushed through the crowd. She was old with lines around her eyes, dark-gray hair shot through with white, and sparkling silver eyes.

“Oh, Zinc, you’re home. It is so good to see you. You look well.” She put a hand out toward Leanne. “And who is this?”

“My mate, Leanne,” Zinc said, pulling her in against his side. “She saved my life.”

Leanne’s brain was trying to catch up with everything that was happening. Had she died when she came through the portal and this was her new heaven? Was she hallucinating from hitting her head on something? Or was it actually possible that they’d travelled through space?

Zinc looked into her eyes worriedly, as if he could hear her thoughts. “It’s going to be okay, Leanne. I’m here to protect you.”

She tightened her hand on his arm and leaned against him because she felt dizzy. Perhaps she should have eaten dinner before they left, because she wasn’t feeling good at all. “I don’t understand. Where are we? What’s going on? So many people…”

“Drakkaris,” he said, keeping an arm around her waist tightly. “My planet. Where I am to be the future king.”

“Oh,” she remarked softly as her body gave up on trying to deal with everything that was happening and ran out of energy altogether.

She fainted in his arms.