Page 84 of Red Dragon’s Heart

The monster cocked its head. What is a demon?

Kira said mentally, Does that mean it’s not one?

Not necessarily, Maddie said, considering. Demons probably aren’t demons to themselves. Only to us.

That didn’t seem to make anyone feel any better.

The monster pawed the ground, sniffed the air and said, I did not like being in your world. It was painful. This is better. I will stay here.

Zak stared at it. “Are you serious? All this time I fought you, and I could have just brought you here to the spirit world and dumped you off?”

I did not know of this place, and I was in a great deal of pain. Also, I was not evolved enough to speak to you. The monster turned and fixed its glowing eyes on Maddie. She is my mate. I created her. She must stay with me.

She felt Zak tense. “Um, no,” he said, not removing his hand from her head. “Maddie is my mate. I love her. And I’m not leaving here without her.”

Maddie’s heart felt like it exploded. He loved her, even when she was a monster, and he’d fight to keep her.

The monster cocked its head, as if thinking. Finally it said, You may have her human parts.

He made a low, thrumming noise, and Maddie felt another ripping, tearing sensation. Suddenly she was standing erect, in human form, still halfway immersed in the monster. It was the most bizarre sensation she’d ever had.

Before she could catalog the way it felt, the monster moved away, and she was standing there in her own body. Naked, but also with no bullet holes. Wow.

Maddie’s monster was sniffing at Zak’s monster, checking him out. Suddenly she pounced playfully on him, and the two of them rolled over on the grass, mock-fighting.

“Holy fuck,” Kira said. “So, is that it? Like, she’s human and can go back to our world?”

Zak wrapped his arms around Maddie and lifted her off her feet. “You’re okay. You’re not shot. You’re not a monster.”

She hugged him back, reveling in the strength and warmth of him. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m okay. Everything’s okay. You saved me.”

And then a rift appeared in the air in front of them, and Flynn stepped through, sweaty and streaked with blood. “Good,” he said. “You’re here. We need Zak and Maddie back at the Seattle penthouse.” He looked straight at Maddie. “It’s your brother.”

Chapter 35

They left the monsters frolicking around in the spirit world, and Flynn took them to Cazbek’s penthouse apartment in downtown Seattle.

Any other time, Maddie would have been dumbstruck at the view of Puget Sound and Mount Rainier from the penthouse’s wall of windows, but all she could see now was Troy lying on the huge couch in the living room, pale and obviously hurting.

She ran over and dropped onto the floor beside him. “Troy? Are you okay?” Troy tried to smile, but he grimaced in pain.

Maddie looked around the room at the assembled shifters. Besides Flynn, Kira and Rebel, Cazbek and Lucinda were there, along with Sean—a wolf friend of Cazbek’s she’d met at the barbecue—Princess Mayah and her mate Tristan, and Emon’s mate Trish, a slim blond-haired woman.

Trish and Mayah were both healers, Maddie remembered. She demanded, “What’s going on? What happened?”

Troy was the one who answered. “Damn security guard got my kidney when he hit me. I’ll be okay.”

One look at Trish and Mayah’s faces told her differently. She patted his hand. “Good. You rest now.”

She went over and pulled the two healers aside, where Troy couldn’t hear.

“How is he really?” she demanded in a low voice.

Trish put her hand on Maddie’s arm, sorrow and compassion in her face. “Mayah scanned him, and I’m afraid it’s not good news. His remaining kidney was severely damaged in the fight.”

Maddie felt herself go cold. She’d thought they’d saved him. It was the one thing she’d devoted her life to—saving Troy. And now he might die anyway?

Zak’s arms closed around her shoulders from behind, but even his warmth couldn’t dispel the cold.