“I don’t care.” She crossed her arms, glaring at him. “You get one chance to turn into a dragon. After that, I’m out of here.”
Timothy nodded towards the door. “All right. I’ll need more space for that.”
“I should have known you were too good to be true,” she muttered so softly that it took his dragon’s sharp senses to make out the words.
Still, she followed him back up onto the roof of the building. Even now, he could hear her calling to him, a gentle song that tugged insistently at his dragon. Could she feel it, too?
Once they were back up on the roof, he took a few steps away from her. And then, before she could change her mind, he shifted.
Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
He’d half feared that she would scream in shock.
Instead—
“It’s real!” she gasped.
She was laughing. Her eyes were bright with joy and wonder as she looked at him, and she couldn’t stop laughing.
“You’re my Ocean Dragon! Can I touch you?”
Timothy inclined his head. With awe, he watched how his mate came closer, fearless and brave.
She reached out with a hand to touch his leg—and then she laughed again.
“And you feel alive! You’re really real!”
Timothy lowered his head and gave her a very careful, gentle nudge with his forehead.
Then he shifted back again, standing in front of her on the roof, with the sun shining down on them and the city spread out below all around them.
Her eyes were still filled with the same awe, and she reached out for him again.
Carefully, her hand came to rest against his chest.
“You’re real,” she said again, her voice very quiet.
His heart was beating quickly in his chest.
“I’m real. And so were the fire dragons,” he murmured. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted to tell you—”
“What’s going on with those fire dragons? Who told you they were going to attack? And why—” Liana winced and raised a hand to her head. “No, wait. Actually, I’ll take you up on that glass of water. Or maybe coffee, if you’ve got some. I barely got any sleep, and now this...”
Ten minutes later, they were sitting next to each other on the huge, comfy sofa that faced the wall of glass, staring down at the city that was slowly waking up. He’d made coffee for both of them and brought Liana a glass of water and some Tylenol, which she’d gratefully accepted.
“So. Dragons are really real, huh?” she said as she inhaled the steam rising from her coffee. “Now I feel somewhat stupid going on about my silly game.”
“Don’t,” he said earnestly. “I thought it was charming. You obviously love your work—and it must make lots of people very happy. I get to talk to bankers all day, and believe me, nothing they do ever makes anyone happy.”
That got him an amused snort from Liana.
“I suppose I do get to make people happy,” she said. “And you aren’t offended that we’re just turning you into games and think you’re just myths and fairy tales?”
“Oh, we like it that way.” He took a sip of his coffee and stared out at the city below. “Once upon a time, in the Middle Ages, people knew dragons were real. That wasn’t good for anyone.”
“You fought against knights and kidnapped virgins,” Liana said, then suddenly twisted around to stare at him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Wait—is that why I’m here? Did you kidnap me because—”
She broke off in embarrassment.