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When I used the keypad to open the door, I found the pretty young man sitting with my cape still wrapped around him on one of the racks. He snarled at me as I came in the room, so I stayed near the door, leaning back against it.

“I’m not here to fight you.”

“Well, that will make a nice change,” he said, lifting his stubborn little chin and glaring at me. His extraordinary eyes flashed at me, and the tiny room was filled with his scent. I tried to remember to breathe through my mouth.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Prince Rylan of Morovia, and you’ve seriously fucked up by kidnapping me like this. And those Lycans have too! My father is a king, you know. He’ll gut you like a fish for taking me like this.”

Did I believe him? Not really, no. Not that I didn’t believe the “gutting” part.

From what I knew of kings, I could well believe that.

I had no doubt he’d try, if such a person existed.

But considering how volatile—and young—he was, what was a king doing by letting him run around stealing dragon eggs anyway? It seemed farfetched to say the least.

“Well, I’m suitably terrified, ‘Prince,’” I replied. “Do you have any way of verifying any of this?”

“I had the receipt, but you knocked it out of my hand and to the floor. Just before you threw me to the floor and ripped up my clothing.”

“Which happened, by the way, because I was disarming you after you attempted to murder me with your disruptor.”

He folded his arms over his chest, pushed his bottom lip out into a pout and glared at me. “That’s not what happened.”

“Then please tell me your version of it.”

“I admit I shouldn’t have pulled the disruptor on you. That was wrong of me, but I never would have shot you!”

“The charge whizzing past my head told a different story.”

“I-I never meant for that to happen. It was an accident. I thought I had the safety on!”

“Well, that would be a great comfort to my friends and family. You could have explained that to them at my funeral.”

He blushed very prettily, and this time he bit his bottom lip, which I found way too adorable.

“How old are you anyway?”

“I’m twenty-one, if it’s any of your business.”

I was surprised and relieved to hear it. I was afraid he was more like sixteen.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” he said, in a small voice that made me feel sorry for him. I tried to steel myself against him. He needed discipline.

“Please,” he , looking up at me with those extraordinary eyes of his. “You have to believe me and let me go home.”

“All right, calm down. No one is going to hurt you. I admit that both of us lost control. I shouldn’t have been so rough with you. And I should have let the Lycan officials search you for more weapons instead of taking matters in my own hands.”

“Indeed, you should have!”

“As I said. Now, we’ve both apologized. I hope we can put that part of all this behind us.”

“Oh, I just bet you do!” he shouted at me, “now that you know I’m a prince.”

“Actually, I’m from a royal family myself, so that goes both ways.”

He looked startled. “What? You are?”

“My grandfather was a king of Horvath. My father wasn’t the direct heir, so I don’t use my title, and I’m not in the direct line for the throne. But I have a title, nonetheless. And, oh yes, one more thing is in my favor…I didn’t try to murder you as you did me.”

He looked mad enough to spit at me, so I decided not to keep bantering with him. He needed to understand what had happened and what he was to me. But how could I explain it?

“None of that is what I need to talk to you about. I have something I need to tell you. To try to explain to you.”

“What’s your full name, sir?” he asked, ignoring what I’d said.

“I’m Marshal General Quinn Fortina. The egg you were trying to steal belongs not only to my queen, but to me and my unit.”

“I’ve already told you that we weren’t stealing it! My father, the king of Moravia , purchased the damn thing. I was simply there to pick it up.”

“Yes, but my aunt, the queen of Horvath , wasn’t willing to sell it.”

I was relieved to hear his father had been duped—if it were true—though his story still had to be verified.

“If indeed your father was purchasing the egg, then I regret to inform you that he was the victim of a thief. Vetami eggs are never sold. They’re an endangered species on our moon, and King Davos and his son Mikos have certified them as such. ”

He flushed a dark shade of red. “My father didn’t buy it from your moon. He bought it from Thalios, because they also have vetami. My father would never steal.”

“Then again, he was duped. Thalios has no rights over our vetami. The ones they have were stolen years ago. By law, they should have been returned to us, but our parliament didn’t want to start a war over the issue.”

“But that can’t be right. My father bought it from the king of Thalios, King Travon. He brought it as far as Lycanus 3 for us to pick up.”

“And Travon is a thief. As was his father before him.”

“You must turn this ship around then and go back to Lycanus 3. I demand that you take me out of this cell and return me so we can get this straightened out with my father. It’s all a terrible misunderstanding.”

“You’re not in a cell—this is just a room below decks. I had no place else to put you, as this ship has no guest quarters.”

“Oh. Well, I still demand that…”

“We turn this ship around and take you back?”

“Yes!”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible. First of all, I have only your word for all this as you have no receipt or paperwork or proof of any kind.”

“I did have it! But you knocked it from my hand!”

“Secondly, and more importantly, the vetami egg seems to be about to hatch. When it does, it has to be paired with a rider immediately, because if it’s not done right away, the hatchling could and probably would grow up to be a dangerous beast. They have to be handled with strength and kindness from the moment they hatch, or else they can become untrainable.

We would have no recourse but to send the hatchling to our breeding grounds and clip its wings so it couldn’t fly away and go back into the wild. No one wants to do that.”

“That’s not my problem!”

“You made it your problem when you pulled out that disruptor and tried to shoot me.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient?”

“It’s not convenient at all. But if you’re implying that I’m lying about the egg hatching, I can assure you, I’m not. I can’t rush you back to Lycanus 3 because you lost your temper and tried to kill me, causing yourself to be arrested and thereby putting the vetami’s life in danger too.”

He blushed again, and I felt bad for not telling him the whole truth of the matter—but I couldn’t have left him behind, and I didn’t think he was ready to learn yet why I’d had to take him with me.

It was bound to upset him, and despite his brash attitude and bravado, I thought he was frightened, and I knew he wanted to go home.

I needed time to try and win him over. I wanted to tell him about the mate bond, but maybe I could put it off for a little while yet. I had to stall for time, if I could.

“Where is this place you’re taking me to? And how will I get back once you find out the truth?”

“It’s Horvath, a moon of Lycanus 3. But try not to worry about that now. We have a day or so yet until we get there.”

“But why am I going there?”

I sighed. “How many times are we going to go over this?”

“But I don’t want to go to your moon.”

“Nevertheless.”

“Look, perhaps if I explain it to you calmly…my omak, who is my bearer…”

“Is he Tygerian? I’m familiar with Tygerian omaks.”

“Yes, he is. Anyway, he did some training on Lycanus after the war ended. He’s spoken of the vetami and how much he liked to ride them, so my father was going to buy one for him as a surprise gift. He had no idea this egg was stolen—if indeed, it really was.”

“It definitely was. They’re an endemic species to Horvath.”

More specifically, they were unique to a vast region in the northern mountains, where they made their nests high in the rocky terrain.

We’d called them “dragons” affectionately, like the Alliance soldiers stationed on Horvath had done during the war, and the name seemed to stick, even after they left and the Tygerians came.

Even though the vetami weren’t quite as large as those mythical creatures were supposed to be, nor did they resemble serpents.

They did have definite dragon-like qualities, however.

The vetami were beautiful and intelligent creatures.

We’d managed to build their numbers back up, but we still consider them to be endangered.

I explained that last part to him and he sighed. “I’m sorry for our part in it then. Though I think there was no need for you to get so excited about it.”

“The excitement came when you tried to shoot me.”

He pressed his lips together in a prim little line. “I’ve explained about that. When can I go home?”

I was saved from answering by a sudden loud and strident alarm going off. Rylan jumped to his feet. “What is that?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go check on it and you stay here. Keep this door locked.”

“Is there danger?”

“Prince Rylan, I don’t know. I’ll be back if there is. Stay inside this room and keep the door locked.”

As soon as I got outside his door, the call from the bridge was already coming through on my communicator. It was from my pilot, yelling in my ear that we were about to be attacked by a ship that had Thalian insignia.

“Sir, a ship has just uncloaked beside us, and it has Thalian markings, but it’s not the same one King Travon was traveling on. This one is smaller and faster. I’ve taken evasive action, but they’re still trying to ram us.”

“What in hell? We’ve just left Lycan airspace. Have they been waiting to waylay us? Send out a general hail to any ships in the area and address the Thalian vessel specifically. Tell them to desist immediately or prepare to receive no quarter from our guns.”

“Already done, sir, but they’re ignoring our hail.”