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“But your first choice was to come here, almost as if you were looking for this conversation rather than retail or blackout therapy.” Chloe grinned. “I’m quite proud of your healthy choice.”

Rowan threw a throw pillow in her direction but it didn’t give her the satisfaction she sought.

“I know being the youngest sister to three amazing women has given you the impression that you have to impress people for their approval, but in relationships as intimate as your insane sex one with Alessandro, you don’t have to. Just being you is enough and his beast realizes it. I’ve worked with a couple of shifters and more often than not, if there’s conflict between a host and his beast, it’s due to the host side being slow on the uptake.”

“The thing is that I don’t want to be marked by a shifter. I have commitment issues!”

Chloe nodded her agreement. “Oh, I definitely don’t think you’re ready for that level of commitment. You haven’t even explored your true magic limit with everything that’s been happening to the shifters. Your relationship with magic is the most important one you’ve had up to this point. Until you figure out where you stand there, I don’t think you’ll be ready to explore a new relationship.”

“You’re right.” Rowan grudgingly accepted the analysis and pouted. “By the time I get my shit together enough to even think about considering it, he’ll have moved on.”

Chloe patted her arm. “Now I know you’re really bummed out. The Dragon King hasn’t found someone to sit at his side for a couple hundred years. I don’t think another potential mate is gonna pop up in the months it’ll take to get where you need to be. My dad said no one has ever gotten an offer of the bite before, so keep that in mind.”

Rowan blinked in surprise. “Huh?”

Chloe nodded. “Yep. you’re the first person who has ever gotten his lamps to go off.”

Something big settled on Rowan’s chest as her cellphone’s alarm went off and she stood. “I have to go.”

Chloe glanced towards the clock on her wall and nodded. “Please be careful with the sphinx. Try not to let what just happened overwhelm you.”

Rowan’s bravado sounded false even to her own ears. “I’m a professional, Chlo.”

The door opened, and the brunette walked in with three cups of coffee on a tray. He looked surprised to see her standing. “Leaving already?”

“Try not to cry about it too much, Tomas.”

Asif. If the sexual tension that had filled the room as soon as Chloe’s eyes landed on her new boy toy was anything to go by, he was going to have a better time than she was.

She gratefully took the cup he offered and phased away.

XOXOXOXO

Rowan was wary of returning home, but she needed to collect a few tools for the sphinx lair that Zeva had specifically requested.

It didn’t take long to note two things.

One, the cabin had remained exactly where Rowan had last seen it, an oddity to be sure.

Two-there was a familiar energy pulsing from the direction of her bedroom. She bit her lip.

He had stayed. One half of her cheered, the other closed its eyes and held its breath.

She marched forward even as troubled as her mind was until she saw his broad back, taking up the space of her doorway.

Okay, he hadn’t stayed. He was returning. Dressed in a pair of light jeans, brown boots, and a brown trench coat. His curls were still drying and the scent that radiated off of him could only be a fresh wash.

“I thought you would still be gone.” His voice was gruff.

“I thought you would have stayed gone.” She rebuked.

The smile he flashed her when he turned to look at her showed how much her back-talk amused him.

The poor fool.

“I needed to apologize.” It was then that she noticed he was holding yet another plant. The vines that had grown around the room from his last one plant were still there. She’d only gotten to juggling three of her chakra points at once; she was unsure what would happen when she got all seven.

This plant, however, was in full health, gorgeous forest green leaves full of yellow and red dots. On the saucer a single black scale caught the light of the sun flooding the room now, itreflected dozens of rainbows. Her jaw dropped as she looked at it.