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Tiber shut the door to Starlena’s office, hard.

She grinned at him from her desk, propped her booted feet up on the worn and ancient thing, crossed her ankles.

“I stopped by unexpectedly? You demanded I come see you. What the hell?” he said as he moved to one of the serving trays next to the unlit fireplace and grabbed some cheese. She always had the best snacks.

“I was trying to give you an opportunity to speak to Mia. Soooo. What did you two talk about? Did you tell her how lovely she looked today?”

“We didn’t talk about anything.” He shoved a small block of cheese in his mouth.

They had talked about nothing because he couldn’t force words out when he was around her.

The last time he’d spoken in her presence he’d said unforgiveable things.

So now he could not speak at all. Because he was a fool of the worst proportions—and she hated him.

He hated himself a little too.

His oldest friend in the world blinked and set her feet down on the thick rug beneath her desk. “What do you mean, nothing?”

“I… did not say a word.”

She blinked again. “Are you telling me that you walked that sweet woman out of here and all the way back to the great hall in complete silence? Just…nothing?”

“I asked her if she needed help once we reached the courtyard and she said she was fine.” He swallowed hard. He’d also heard her say “good riddance” to him once he left and his dragon half was currently sulking at her dismissal.

Not sulking. But you need to do something, to show off for her. She’s an artist, I’m sure she wants to paint us. Make yourself useful!

He ignored his more annoying half. His dragon was wrong and there was nothing he could do to make things right with Mia.

Starlena scrubbed her hands over her face and stood. “I don’t know what to do with you!”

“Is that the only reason you called me here? Under false pretenses?” He ate some more cheese.

This time he piled the cubes high with meat.

He’d finished training his people for the evening, so he didn’t mind that he’d been summoned—especially since he’d gotten to see Mia.

Still, he had to give Starlena a little shit for it.

“No. It was simply a bonus. I need you to attend the auction tonight. It’s much larger than originally planned.”

“I’d rather gouge my eyes out with the femur bone of a giant deer.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

“I had my eyes gouged out in a similar fashion before we met.” Many years ago, and they’d grown back. “That’s how I know I’d prefer it to a party with a bunch of stuffy—”

“Mia will be there.”

His dragon perked up. “In that dress I carried for her?”

“Yes.”

He frowned. It was a bit showy for the petite human who seemed to prefer to blend in rather than stand out.

Though the auburn-haired beauty couldn’t blend if she tried.

“She won’t like it if I’m there.” Now that he knew Mia would be there, he was going to go, but he would push back here with Starlena.

There was no way he could simply give in to her on this without pushback.

“I need you to be her shadow. The menacing presence that will keep some of the…” She cleared her throat. “More eager patrons at bay. I’m worried that being in a room with so many supernaturals will be overwhelming for her. Our kind aren’t the best at giving space.”

His dragon bristled with protectiveness at the thought of anything or anyone alarming his petite human.

“She lives with dragons and they all have wonderful things to say about her.” He knew, because he’d made it his business to know everything about the talented human artist who gave him fake smiles and icy glares. Which he definitely deserved.

“It’s not the same and you know it. She lives with artists. They’re all…”

He snagged more food. “Soft?”

“I was not going to say that.”

Yeah, but she was thinking it.

“Delicate.”

Dragons weren’t delicate, but he understood her meaning.

Dragon shifters weren’t a monolith by any means, but some were more savage than others.

More deadly. And the artists tended to fall into a different class altogether.

Sometimes he thought of them as butterflies, though it was not a completely accurate description.

They could turn into dragons after all, could breathe fire, and destroy at will.

But more often than not, they lacked the killer instinct as the rest of the species.

“And I’m not concerned about them, but the royals and others who will attend tonight. I’m worried they’ll bully her into doing commissions for them.”

“It’s not like they won’t pay her.” He tried to keep his tone neutral, as if he didn’t care. But if someone tried to bully her, he’d gouge their eyes out and make them eat them. Then once they started to grow back, he’d do it again.

“I know that, but it’s not the point. Oh, sweet goddess, why are you arguing with me!” she shouted.

Which was about right. Starlena had patience in spades, except when it came to him. They’d been friends for far too long.

He grinned.

And she threw a paper weight at his head.

Tiber caught it midair. “I’ll be there tonight. And you owe me.”

“How about if you end up mated to Mia, you’ll owe me until your dying breath?” She kicked back in her chair again, looking smug in her power… And he threw the paper weight back at her.

She caught it easily. Her cackling laughter trailed down the hallway as he strode out.

“Stupid fucking auction,” he muttered to himself, earning a wide berth from some of the castle staff as he stalked by.

But his dragon half was extremely pleased that he had an excuse to see Mia again.

And the human part didn’t exactly hate it either.

***

Tiber resisted the urge to roll his shoulders as he casually walked through the gallery of paintings. The auction tonight was being held in a building directly next to the main castle and it was light and airy—and too full of people at the moment.

The tunic he’d borrowed was snug on his biceps and he regretted wearing a top at all.

If he had his way, he would simply walk around naked all the time. Or at least shirtless. But that was too much, even for dragons. He had to blend at this stuffy affair if he was going to be Mia’s shadow.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t scented her yet. Or seen her. And it wasn’t like he could have called on her, asked to escort her. She would have slammed her door in his face. Or just given him the politest rejection ever. Again, which he deserved.

He really hated himself right now.

“Surprised to see you here.” Valentina slid up next to him, wearing a simple silver dress and visible blades on her outer thighs.

In reality, the deadly dragon didn’t need them, but they were an outward reminder to everyone that she would and had used them on troublemakers.

“I heard it was going to be quite an auction.” He nodded at the picture in front of him, an image painted by Mia that reminded him of his homeland. All rolling dunes of stark desert sand against a backdrop of an inky night sky under a blanket of stars. “And I want this one.”

“Ooh, that’s a hot ticket. The bidding starts—”

“I don’t care. Just make sure I get it.” He picked up a drink from a passing waiter holding out a tray. “You know I’m good for it.” He was ancient and had been hoarding gold and other shiny things since… he could not even remember how long. He couldn’t have Mia, but he would possess her art.

Valentina nodded approvingly. “You have good taste. This human has surprised me. Oh, this is by Mia,” she added, pointing to the barely discernible M in the right-hand lower corner.

He simply feigned surprise. No need to let Soleil’s spy know that he was obsessed with the beautiful human. “She’s quite talented.”

“Indeed.” Glancing over her shoulder at the growing crowd, she did a quick scan then looked back at him and lowered her voice.

“The McIlroy clan is going to offer her a year’s commission.

The money is obscene, so if you see anything else you like let me know.

I have a feeling we won’t be seeing anything else of hers for at least a year if she agrees. ”

Oh, he didn’t like that at all. He might not talk to Mia, but he liked watching her.

And maybe sometimes he followed her in the shadows while she was out at the market.

“Where is she, anyway? I haven’t seen her tonight.

” He hoped his tone came off as bored, when in reality all his muscles were pulled taut at the thought of seeing her, inhaling that sweet, fresh scent that reminded him of orange blossoms. He’d already done one loop around the gallery and hadn’t gotten a hint of her scent.

“Oh, she’s not here…” Valentina laughed lightly as she turned back to him. “Okay talk about timing. She just walked in. And I see someone I need to talk to. But I’ve made a note for that painting—it’s yours. Fair warning, it’s going to cost you.”

Tiber turned to find Mia on the arm of Jonothon, a male who created sculptures as beautiful as him.

Maybe we make a sculpture of his face with our claws, his dragon snarled .

That doesn’t even make sense, he told his other half.

Fine, how about we rip off his head? Better?

His dragon was the biggest asshole on the planet. But… his gaze narrowed to where Mia had her fingers gently holding onto Jonothon’s forearm. He wouldn’t mind bashing the other male’s face in. Just a little.

Inevitably, because he had no control where she was concerned, he drank in the sight of her. Every, single, inch.

The bodice of the green dress split right to her midsection in a huge V, revealing the soft swells of her breasts and every step she took, he realized there was a slit in the skirt right up to her left thigh.

He could feel the fire building in him, wondered if Starlena had picked out that…

that… scrap of material for her to wear in public just to make him crazy.

It was obscene and she wore it as if it had been made for her.

And goddess, he wanted to shred it and then bring her so much pleasure she never touched or looked at another male.

Because that’s how worked up he was, obsessing over a human who hated him.

He ducked out of sight, using his skill as a trained assassin to blend in among the growing throng of assholes. God, when had he turned into such a grumpy dick?

You’ve always been like this. Do not pretend otherwise.

Shut the fuck up, he snarled. He could not deal with that shit tonight when he was trying to keep an eye on Mia.

Her long, auburn hair was piled up on her head in a complicated twist of braids and as he moved in behind her and her date, he realized that the dress dipped even lower in the back, to just above the swell of her hips.

Her skin was so smooth, so soft looking and oh, he did not like the other man standing so close to her, his arm wrapped around her delicate shoulders.

At a cracking sound, he looked down and saw that he’d shattered the champagne glass in his hand. He ignored a couple snooty looks and placed the remains on a passing tray. He was supposed to be better at his job than this.

For the next hour he remained in the shadows, watching Mia talk to a handful of art collectors. Most of the time her joy at talking about art was clear, but when the male she was with left to speak to someone else, he could see her discomfort.

It was subtle, but her spine had gone rigid even as she laughed politely at something a mated couple said to her.

As he watched her, he flashed back to their first meeting and wanted to ram his big dumb dragon head into the side of a mountain and let the rubble bury him for a century.

He’d been in the training center with his friend and fellow warrior Octavia watching over a new group of trainees in the arena below them.

Their training center was built into the side of a mountain that gave off a natural gas that overwhelmed everything else to the point that their ability to scent an attacker was moot.

Which was part of the appeal. He trained these males and females without one of their senses, so they relied on other instincts, not their inborn scenting skill. It made them even deadlier.

“Lady Anastasia thinks you’re being too hard on this group,” Octavia murmured, coming to stand next to him as he surveyed the group of twelve in hand-to-hand combat. “I heard she was complaining to Starlena.”

“That’s because she’s a pampered moron.” It was also because her son was one of his newest trainees. Normally they only took in clan-less dragons to train. Dragons with no family and no wealth. Luckily, Anastasia’s son was holding his own and would hopefully make a skilled assassin one day.

“No arguments from me.” Octavia shook her head. “Who the fuck does she think she is anyway? Going to Starlena about this? She shouldn’t even know what we’re doing here.”

He grunted in agreement. And the truth was, the female didn’t know a thing about what they did or how they trained.

She was simply a wealthy dragon who was worried about her son.

Something he could possibly appreciate, but no one told him how to train his people.

His training meant they had a chance at survival when they infiltrated other realms. And it was how this realm remained safe, secure.

There was no room for weakness in his warriors.

“Next she’ll want us to recruit those new humans in the territory.” He still couldn’t believe Starlena was on board with humans living in the Nova realm.

Octavia snickered next to him. “Can you imagine?”

He grunted again. “Goddess no. They shouldn’t even be allowed in the realm. Weak and pathetic, all of them.”

At a gasp, he turned around and realized that a petite female was staring up at him. With emerald green eyes, long auburn hair and pretty pink cheeks, she was most definitely human.

And with one look, he was also certain that she was his… mate.