Page 42 of Red Dragon’s Heart

Since there was no data file conveniently labeled ‘Evil Monster-Creating Serum,’ she had to sort through a ton of files looking for projects that might fit those parameters. That alone had taken hours, since she hadn’t previously examined all the files she’d taken. She had to constantly keep herself from going down rabbit holes—she’d had no idea there were so many fascinating projects she’d never been told about.

She’d ended up with files on four serum variants that looked like they used her work as a base. Now she just had to figure out which one they’d shot Zak with.

For that, she needed a sample of his blood. If she compared it to the chemical properties of the different serums in the data files, she might be able to tell which one Larkin had used.

And if it didn’t match any of them… well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

When she finally came up for air, she had a mild headache and she was starving. She also had no idea what time it was. There was no clock in the lab, and she hadn’t carried a cell phone since she went underground. Too easy to track.

She probably should get some food before she tackled trying to persuade Zak to let her stab him with a sharp pointy needle.

Out in the main part of the lair, the TV was off and Zak was nowhere to be seen. Everything was dim and quiet, with only a couple of lights on. She opened the refrigerator, looking for some easy food, and saw that there was a plate of sandwiches covered in plastic wrap.

She wondered if he’d actually made food for her, or if these were just leftovers from his own dinner.

Either way, they were hers now. She grabbed one and wolfed it down. Then, with a second sandwich in one hand and a bottle of cold water in the other, she went to see if Zak had been serious about sleeping in the cell. He seemed to be—the lunch meat mess had been cleaned up and the mattress in her former cell now had a pillow and blankets piled on it—but he wasn’t there.

Back in the main room, she checked the computer displays for the time. Only midnight—it felt later, somehow. And where was Zak? Surely he hadn’t gone off and left her alone here.

She was turning away when she noticed the framed picture in a shadowy corner of the desktop. It was a child’s drawing in crayons—a man and a little girl, with triangular bodies and scribbled hair. The little-girl figure had on a pink dress, and their stick arms were holding hands. There was a happy-looking sun in the sky, with green grass and flowers under their feet.

Above the man was written ‘Zak’ in crooked letters, and over the little girl was ‘Kay-kay.’ They both had big red smiles on their faces, and wings extending out from their shoulder blades, like angels.

Or dragons, she realized. Had this picture been drawn by a little dragon shifter girl?

Maddie stared at it, her eyes prickling with sudden emotion. She’d accepted that shifters had human thoughts and feelings, but the vision of a little dragon girl intent on her crayons, lovingly drawing a picture for Zak, brought it home to her like nothing had before.

Putting down her sandwich and water, she picked it up and ran her fingers over the glass in the frame. It was the only personal item in the entire place, so it must be important to him. She remembered asking Zak if dragons had families, and him saying, “We kick our babies out of the nest as soon as they can fly, and that’s the end of that.”

Obviously not. She wondered who the little girl was. Sister? Niece? Daughter? Even though the label said ‘Zak’ and not ‘Daddy’, that last one gave her a pang in her chest.

What if it were true? Zak having a daughter—with some other woman. One of his own kind. Could that be who he’d confused her with, in his delirium last night? The mother of his child? Had he been forced to leave them both behind when the monster had invaded his body?

And where was Zak? Suddenly full of questions, she put down the picture and went to the elevator. She had to wait for it to come down from the main floor, which meant Zak must have gone up there.

But the main warehouse was also dim and empty, only the truck sitting exactly where they’d left it. Which of course didn’t mean he hadn’t gone somewhere—after all, he had wings.

But that made her realize there was one place she hadn’t looked yet.

She found the stairway up to the roof without difficulty. The hatch at the top was open, with a short ladder taking her the last six feet.

She should have brought a jacket, she realized as she emerged. It had gotten colder. But the sky had cleared, and despite the city lights the night was spangled with stars.

She saw Zak right away, standing by the edge of the roof looking out at the stars. And he was singing.

His voice was stunningly beautiful, a soft melody of loss and longing and hope. Even though the words were in a language she didn’t understand, the song stirred feelings inside her, tugging at her emotions, making her yearn for something undefinable.

There were so many unexpected sides to this man. She was swept with an aching desire to understand him—what he was thinking and feeling, that spilled out of him in this beautiful, heart-wrenching song.

Her feet scraped on the rooftop, and the singing stopped, although Zak didn’t turn around.

She walked over to him. There was a waist-high parapet around the perimeter of the roof, and she leaned her elbows on it. As always, she was totally aware of his body next to hers, that magnetism that filled the air between them.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said, as if it could have been anybody. “Shouldn’t you be making scientific breakthroughs or something?”

She knew that he knew she’d barely started. “I should probably be sleeping. So should you.”