Page 39 of Red Dragon’s Heart

After what seemed like an eternity, Zak said, “He’s gone. We lost him.”

She didn’t bother to ask how he could tell. He’d just give her another totally unscientific and implausible answer.

Magic and superstition. She felt a little shiver. He was right, ‘magic’ was just science that hadn’t been discovered yet, but still… she felt unsettled. The universe had rules, and discovering them was what science was about. Understanding the rules meant you knew what to expect.

The idea that the universe’s rules might not be anything like what she’d thought they were made her feel like she was standing on the edge of a bottomless abyss, looking down into emptiness.

Luckily, whatever he’d done seemed to have worked. They reached the lair without being attacked, and Zak directed her around to the back, where the loading docks were. One of them was an inclined ramp, so a small truck or van could pull inside.

Zak got a remote out of the glove compartment and hit a button. The door at the top of the ramp rose slowly, and she drove up, pulling far enough into the interior that they could shut the door and have room to lower the tailgate and unpack everything.

After getting out and hitting a button on the wall to close the door, Zak went and flipped on the lights, and found a battered old dolly that would fit all her boxes, plus the groceries. She helped him load it, then put the kittens back in their box and carried that herself.

Zak pushed the full dolly toward the elevator.

Maddie looked back at the truck, sitting there with the keys still in the ignition. “You’re just leaving it there? Aren’t you afraid I’ll drive it away in a daring escape?”

He gave her a quick look. “I was hoping you got that out of your system.” He moved on ahead of her.

He was giving off a weird vibe—almost as if his feelings had been hurt by her driving away in the truck, back at the other warehouse. Which was ridiculous, right? He’d promised to protect her, and he’d told her to go. At least, she thought he had. But maybe she made a mistake? And she didn’t want him to think she was the kind of person who didn’t care about anyone, especially shifters.

She hurried her steps to catch up to him. “I wasn’t leaving you there to die or anything,” she said. “Back at the warehouse.” The thought of that made something in her chest hurt. “I figured you could fly away. And I was trying to save the kittens.”

He snorted.

“And…” She took a deep breath. “I was scared. When I saw what that acid did to the concrete…”

“I would never let that happen to you.” He pushed the cart into the elevator and hit the button. “Dragons protect the things that matter to them.”

Of course. “And you need to protect me so I can fix you.”

He gave her a long, level look. “Yeah. Something like that.”

Chapter 18

Zak didn’t say anything more to Maddie after that. He just unloaded her boxes from the dolly and lined them up against one wall, and then began silently putting the groceries away.

Every now and then he glanced her way, and the one time their eyes met sent hot shivers down her spine. It was almost like she could feel his hands on her again, touching her, stroking her, coaxing feelings and sensations out of her that she hadn’t known were even possible.

He was a dangerous, dangerous man.

Maddie started with the kittens’ stuff, having no idea where she was supposed to put her things and suddenly feeling uncomfortable about breaking Zak’s silence.

She put the kitty bed over by the couch—the only homey-type human furniture besides the bed—and put the luxury cat tree condo next to it.

Then she set up their litter box in an out-of-the-way corner and made sure the cleaning mechanism worked. After that, she took Grayson out of the cardboard nest and introduced him to the litter box. Diana, always interested in whatever was going on, abandoned Zakerek to follow them over there and check it out for herself.

After they peed in approval, Maddie took them to the cat tree. She set them on the birdhouse level, in front of the door, so Grayson would have somewhere to retreat to if he was nervous.

Diana crouched next to Grayson and washed him vigorously. Then they both explored the little house, and Grayson stayed inside, tucked in the corner where he could see out but still be hidden.

Diana climbed to the top and sat upright in the middle of the cushion, mistress of all she surveyed, trying to be regal but just looking adorable.

Throughout all this, Zak had seemed to be focusing on the groceries—except for the way Maddie felt his gaze on her every time her back was turned. It was like a laser, penetrating straight through her and heating up her insides.

Damn the man, why did he have to be so sexy? She was never going to be able to work if he was going to have this effect on her. Especially because he was pretending that nothing had happened between them—probably because he’d been dreaming of someone else.

She turned around, and he immediately averted his gaze and pretended to be busy rearranging the refrigerator.