Page 45 of Red Dragon’s Flame

She bit her lip, then blurted out, “I just don’t understand why you’re calling in all your favors for me.”

Because you’re my mate, and I never want to let you go. But he made sure those words stayed inside his head. She wouldn’t get it—how could she?

He just said, “I like you.” He held out his hand, and after a second’s hesitation she put her hand in his, walking beside him like she belonged.

It was a start.

Devon had to let go of Mikah’s hand when they got to the last staircase. She discovered she really didn’t want to—she liked the feeling of walking along with him like that, hand in hand.

Such a simple little thing, but something she’d never had.

She had to be careful not to get too used to it. Because what if he got tired of dealing with her? She’d already caused him so much trouble.

The stairway was dark and narrow, with room for only one of them at a time. This really was like a movie or a fantasy novel—a real castle that probably had dungeons and secret passages.

The stairway wound down and down and down, and Mikah didn’t say any more about where they were going. She hoped the place where he liked to be alone wasn’t a torture chamber or anything.

No, that was silly. Mikah was one of the good guys.

But it was kind of creepy down here.

Finally they got to the bottom, and made a sharp right turn into a wider corridor. At one end was a large staircase that had been blocked off—it looked like part of the ceiling had fallen in.

That was a little scary—she hoped that didn’t happen often.

In the other direction, it led to two huge carved doors—an opening probably big enough for a dragon to enter. They walked down and Mikah put his hand on the huge studded iron door handle.

A tiny flash of light sparked from his palm, and the doors swung open.

There was another stairway in front of them, wide shallow steps leading into a huge dimly lit cavernous space—like, two gymnasiums put together huge, with high ceilings and smooth stone walls. The right side was completely empty.

The left side was full of gold and jewels. They were piled in careless heaps, spilling over onto the floor, twinkling and gleaming like some kind of Aladdin’s cave of richness.

Devon walked slowly toward it, her mouth open. “Holy shit,” she said, looking back at Mikah. “Is this stuff real?”

He looked pleased at her reaction. “Of course. It’s my hoard.”

She knew he was a dragon. Knew it, and kept forgetting. But this… this really was just like a movie.

She walked into the incredible pile of treasure, lifting a necklace of glittering jewels and letting it drop, scooping a pile of gold coins into her hand.

The gold hummed. At the same time, she felt a rush of wind behind her, and whirled around.

Behind her, instead of Mikah, was huge red dragon.

Duuuuuuude.

Devon froze. Was it friendly? It had threatened to eat her before, even though she was sure—pretty sure—it was joking.

And was Mikah in there somewhere? “Mikah?” she said softly.

I’m here, he said in her head.

the dragon said, in its rocks-tumbling-downhill mental voice. It tilted is head.

“Um. You’re very big. And your teeth are big? And you breathe fire.”