Page 49 of Red Dragon’s Heart

His chest ached with an echo of the pain she was obviously feeling. He wished there was something he could do, but he knew that no one had yet figured out how to transfer shifter healing to humans, short of Turning them. And that wouldn’t work for her brother—not if his health was as bad as she said. He’d likely die of the stress from the Change.

He said to her, “I don’t know if what you want to do is even possible, but if it is, you’re the one who can figure out how.”

She sniffled, wiping her tears away. “Not without a lab and a crap-ton of money. Neither of which I have, anymore.”

“Well, I have a lab. And Emon has a crap-ton of money. We might be able to work something out.”

Her face lit up with hope. “You’d do that for me?”

He leaned over and kissed her. “Yeah, probably.”

She said, “But I promised to help you first.”

Yesterday, he’d have done just about anything to get her to fix him as soon as possible. But now… The longer she took to find a cure for him, the longer he’d have her around. “I’ve survived this long. And I have my potion—or I will, as soon as Thorne Greystone sends me another batch.”

And there might be a few more things he needed to ask of Thorne. Things that would help both him and Maddie survive just a little bit longer.

Chapter 22

Maddie had no idea how she was supposed to be feeling. In fact, she was on the verge of being totally overwhelmed and possibly curling up in a ball and bingeing Netflix, just to keep the world at bay.

One minute she was on the run, trying to get her life back from Eric and figure out how to help Troy. Seemingly the next minute she was hiding out in the basement of a warehouse, with an incredible secret lab all to herself, and a dragon bringing her tea and sandwiches.

A dragon.

A magical dragon.

A smokin’ hot magical dragon, who could hardly keep his hands off her. Her, Maddie Fox, smart but not very pretty. Socially challenged. Not the type anyone lusted after, let alone a guy who looked like Zak.

She didn’t know which was more unbelievable, that or the magic.

And there really was magic.

In between the Netflix urges, the scientist in her was becoming fascinated by the idea of that. There must be rules to it, and learning the rules was the first step to understanding it. Understanding led to control and predictability.

Unfortunately, Zak was no help with that part of it. He had no idea how magic worked; he just did it.

Like the clothes. She’d asked him about that the first day, after he’d changed out of the tuxedo and back to his jeans and t-shirt. “So, how does the clothing magic work? Where do they come from?”

He looked like no one had ever asked that before. “Shit, I don’t know. I just think of them, and they’re there.”

“How long do they last?”

“Forever. I mean, until they wear out, or I tell them to go away.”

“Closet,” she murmured to herself.

“What?”

“That’s why no closet. I wondered why you didn’t have one.”

“Don’t need one here. I have one back at the territory, though, where my favorite stuff lives. It’s cool because if I leave things in the pockets, it’s still there when I summon them back.”

That sent her down a road of scientific theory that was completely outside her wheelhouse—matter and energy and particle physics. “But where do they originate? They must come from an actual place, before they end up on you or in your closet.”

A grin spread across his face. “Like, every time I conjure clothes, some dude somewhere wearing that outfit is suddenly naked? That would be awesome.”

She laughed. “Well, I was thinking more that maybe they came out of a warehouse or factory, but then they’d be folded up and wrapped in plastic, wouldn’t they? But matter can’t be created, only changed, so they have to come from somewhere.”