Page 2 of Red Dragon’s Heart

Chrystal was just so… there. From the very first moment he’d walked into the internet café and she asked if she could help him, he’d never not been aware of her.

There was something about her he couldn’t define—something that made a part of him want to go sit beside her for hours and soak her in, like sitting beside a warm fire on a cold night. Looking at her soothed his mind, calmed his rage in a way that he hadn’t felt for a year.

But at the same time, she was… disturbing. She had a lush curvy hourglass figure that, under normal circumstances, Zak would have made an immediate move to get next to, and vivid blue eyes that seemed to see right inside him. And those full lips with a tiny curve of humor, that looked kissable as fuck despite the weird color lipstick.

He’d look up now and then and catch her watching him, and she sometimes brought him his coffee and sandwiches even though she was the tech person and not the server. She also seemed like she’d made some kind of bet with herself that she could get him to talk to her, because she kept trying even though he’d been as grumpy and rude as he knew how—and he was an expert at it.

And she was winning her bet. Because he did talk to her, even though he shouldn’t. He was dangerous, especially to fragile little humans like her. Not to mention he was about to commit a major felony in her café, by kidnapping Madeleine Fox. Better if he didn’t let her get too close.

So he tried not to watch her; he definitely didn’t fantasize about pressing her up against the wall and kissing that lipstick off, and maybe bite-kissing that soft-looking place right above her fake vampire blood and seeing if he could make her moan.

He was not even considering doing that. He had a job to do.

It was just that every time she looked at him with that little smile hovering around her mouth, he forgot everything he was supposed to be concentrating on.

And so did his dragon.

But the worst of it was, the way she looked at him made the monster inside him began to stir. And if the monster came out, they were all fucked.

“Zak?” she said. “Hello? Anybody in there? You okay?”

Even now, the monster was looking at her with interest. Zakerek shoved it down, into the inner recesses of his mind and body.

“I’m fine,” he said, trying to sound extra grumpy so she’d go away and not antagonize the monster. “Except I spilled my coffee because you snuck up on me.” He began mopping up the dregs with a handful of napkins.

“Sorry,” she said, although the hint of a smile around those tantalizing lips said she wasn’t really that sorry. Like she enjoyed knowing that being around her made him unsettled and clumsy. “It was probably cold anyway. I’ll get you another one.”

“Okay.” He didn’t look at her. Her eyes could see into his soul. Surely they could see the monster.

She said, “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” he repeated, in his surliest voice. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

“Um, because you’re growling?”

Dammit, he was. There was a low, continuous growl coming from his chest. Fuck. He had to calm the monster down.

“I am not,” he said, suppressing the growl. “And if I was, it would be because people won’t leave me alone.”

Unfortunately, she’d already learned to ignore his grumpiness. “You’ve been alone in here for three entire days,” she pointed out.

“Yeah well, maybe every day when I go home there’s an all-night party going on, and I’m the wild and irresistible center of attention. Ever think of that?”

Her lips twitched. “I have to admit that did not occur to me. But if you’re staying up all night and not sleeping, that would explain the Oscar the Grouch imitation.”

She walked away before he could say anything else, which was probably just as well.

His dragon said,

Zakerek said, We’re waiting for an evil murderer to come in here, remember? So we can follow her and seize her and take her back to our lair, and make her give us our life back.

That was all he needed. Zakerek snapped, I guess we’re never having a true mate then, if you’re just going to collect females and stack them up in our lair like sacks of gold.

Not that he wanted a true mate. Having sex with a pretty female was fine—at least, he thought it was. It had been so damn long he could barely remember how to do it.

his dragon said.