Page 83 of Dragon’s Rogue

Blaze woke up to her cat Bucephalus standing on her chest, kneading her boobs and meowing. “It’s not time to get up yet,” she muttered, trying to bury her head in her pillow. “Go eat a mouse or something.”

Bucephalus licked her face, purring.

“All right already. I’m up. Evil cat.” She opened her eyes.

She was not at home, and she was not in her own bed. Above her was a blue velvet canopy. Vague memories and sensations flooded back to her, like a dream.

Men’s voices. Hot, excruciating pain, pain that made her scream until her throat was raw. Zane’s hands: tucking her into bed and giving her cool water; holding her up and spooning soup into her mouth; stroking her hair and soothing the nightmares away. Zane’s voice, murmuring words of comfort, and the faint song of gold.

She put her hand to her chest, and Bucephalus batted at it with his paw. She was wearing Zane’s necklace. She thought she remembered being angry and taking it off, but now she felt relieved knowing it was still there.

It meant she was safe. Cared for.

It meant she was Zane’s.

She wanted to be Zane’s, she realized with a certainty that flowed through her whole body. Somehow, while she was asleep, her mind had figured out what her body already knew.

They belonged together.

But where was he? The fact that he wasn’t here made her anxious. Something was wrong.

She sat up, shoving her tangled hair out of her eyes, looking for her mate. She was still in his room, but instead of Zane she saw Thorne sitting on Zane’s leather couch, booted feet propped on the coffee table, working on a laptop. He had headphones on.

He must have seen her move out of the corner of his eye, because he took off the headphones and glanced over at her.

“You’re awake,” he said. The treasure fever seemed to be gone; he looked and sounded normal—calmer than he usually did, to be truthful. And Zane wouldn’t leave him there with her if it wasn’t safe.

But his being there made her more worried about Zane. She’d been sick—she could feel it—and Zane would never have left her alone while she was sick. “Where’s Zane?” she asked.

“He asked me to sit with you,” Thorne said, not answering her question. “How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts, I’m hungry, and I have to pee,” she said. “What happened?”

Thorne almost smiled, she could swear it. Luckily he stopped himself just in time, so his face didn’t crack. “It’s kind of a long story,” he said. “You’ll probably want to pee first.”

Rude. But he was right. Blaze got out of bed, happy to learn she was wearing comfortable pajama bottoms and a camisole. Perfectly adequate to wear in front of Thorne. She went into the bathroom and peed in the golden toilet, which was something she never thought she’d say, even in her head.

When she came back out, she grabbed a water from the mini-fridge next to the TV and sat down in the comfortable easy chair that sat catty-corner to the couch. There was a plate of sandwiches on the table near Thorne, which he shoved in her direction. She grabbed a roast beef and brie on ciabatta and took a bite.

“How long was I out?” she asked him, mumbling a bit through wolfing down the sandwich. Like all the other food she’d had here, it was amazing.

“Two days.”

She swallowed, just barely keeping from choking.

“Two days? What the hell?”

Thorne put his laptop aside. “What do you remember?” he asked.

Blaze thought back. “We came back from St. Johns. I felt like roadkill. I took a shower, and… Zane and I got into a fight.” She put her hand to her chest. She had taken off his necklace. She remembered now. Why had she been so angry? She shook her head. “It’s all jumbled in my mind.”

Thorne nodded. “You were under the influence of the idol. Both of you were. It seems that it connected with you during the battle at your house.”

What. The. Fuck. Then Blaze remembered those shadows coming out of her and Zane and connecting to the idol, even as they’d tried to fight it off. The way it had pulled at all the darkness in her soul, trying to draw her in. Apparently, it had almost succeeded. She shivered.

“Zane’s okay, isn’t he?” she said. “I remember him taking care of me.”

“He’s fine. Tyr and I were able to cleanse him.”