“Yeah, and why’s that?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to reply when he suddenly wasn’t in front of her anymore. He was being lifted into the air, and punched in the face so hard his nose made a cracking sound then he was thrown on the ground like he was little more than a discarded trash bag. The man who’d had hold of him turned on the second would-be rapist and dispatched of him with equal efficiency. If Amelia hadn’t been so annoyed at him for stealing her fun, she would have stopped and gawked. He was positively gorgeous—so handsome he stole her breath. And he wasn’t just a pretty face. His efficiency was nothing to be overlooked. He’d dispatched of the two men as quickly and as easily as if he did it every day that ended in a y. If she wasn’t pissed at him, she would have been impressed.
But shewaspissed at him.
The man nodded to himself, then turned to face her.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes widening ever so slightly when he took in her face for the first time.
The soft, caring tone to his voice made Amelia want to purr with contentment andthatmade her even angrier.
She glared at him. “No, I most certainly amnotokay. What in the hell do you think you were doing by muscling in on my action?”
He blinked a couple of times then stared at her as if she’d just said she was about to fly back to the moon on her pink unicorn.
“Your…action?”
“Yes!” she exploded, pointing down at the two men. “Their asses were mine to kick. How dare you butt in where you’re not wanted! Why don’t you mind your own business?”
Somewhere in the back of Amelia’s mind, she realized that she was being unreasonable and petulant even, but she was pissed off and felt entitled, goddamn it.
“Now you listen here, lady,” the man seethed. “I see two men with a knife dragging a woman into a deserted alleyway and what—I’m supposed to just ignore it and go about my day? Have you lost yourmind? Of course I was going to step in to help!”
Okay, so he had a point, but she was still annoyed at him.
“I had it covered.”
He took a few steps closer, getting right up in her personal space. “Yeah? Didn’t look like it to me.”
“Then maybe you should have looked closer, or used your damn ears. Did you not hear me tell them I didn’t need backup?”
“I thought you were blustering, like any sane person would do in that situation—but maybe that descriptor doesn’t apply to you!”
They stared at one another, breathing heavily, then froze at exactly the same time.
Amelia wasn’t sure what she became aware of first, the incredible scent that was pouring out of the man in waves, or the flash of fire in his eyes when he blinked. She gasped and when a wave of dizziness threatened, she reached out and grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself.
Whoa.
What the hell?
Her body temperature ran way higher than normal on account of her species and most humans felt positively freezing in comparison. Not him. His temperature was almost identical to hers. But that was impossible. Wasn’t it? She didn’t know of any other species that ran as hot. The man was incredibly tall too, just as she was, and that was another trait of her species.
Brow scrunched together, he stared at her for the longest time and his scent permeated her senses, growing more and more intense. It threatened to overwhelm her and she fought to stop her eyes from shifting to their other form. Then, the explanation for this weird occurrence became blindingly obvious, coming to her in a true lightbulb flash moment.
This man was her mate.
Amelia opened her mouth to say something when the man took two large steps away from her. He raked a hand through his hair, and the expression on his face grew tortured.
“I…” He shook his head as if to clear it.
He spared her one last glance then took off as fast as his feet would carry him, leaving her standing alone in the alleyway, the two unconscious men at her feet. What in the hell had just happened?
She stared after the man’s retreating form, despair clawing at her insides. Her every instinct told her that man was her mate, but he couldn’t have been. It was too impossible to be true. She didn’t understand it—her nose had never lied to her before, but on this occasion it had to be deceiving her because aside from the other members of her clan, of which she knew literallyeveryone, dragons were extinct.
