Page 74 of Ensnared

His snort is definitely half-laugh. I’m fire and flame. I’m never cold.

“That must suck,” I say. “Being hot is the worst.”

He snorts, and flames burst from his nostrils. The air around us warms up.

My goosebumps finally go away.

But instead of blowing past the warmth immediately, the air around us stays warm. “Why’s it still not cold?”

I can regulate the temperature. I would’ve done it sooner had I known to.

“While I’m lodging complaints, what can you do about my leg wound?” I joke. “Because I think I’ve probably got another five minutes until I pass out from it. That’s an estimate, though, so it’s probably give or take four minutes either way.”

His head really does crane around this time. You’re bleeding. Quite a lot.

“I just fought three dragons,” I say, a little proud of myself. “But two of them chomped on me.”

I’m sorry I came too late.

“I think Axel can help.”

There’s nothing Axel can do that I can’t.

“Okay, maybe that’s true, but he’s my bonded.” I don’t say that I feel safer with the guy who doesn’t incinerate small towns, but I’m hoping he’ll intuit that last part.

I’m his best friend. You can trust me.

“Human factoid. When someone’s trustworthy, they generally don’t have to go around telling people they are.”

Now that the eminent danger’s past, my right arm’s throbbing so badly I want to cut it off, and my left leg both aches and stabs with every pulse of Azar’s monstrous wings. “Maybe make that a minute. I’m feeling pretty lightheaded.”

I’ll land now.

I want to be grateful, but I’m too busy hanging on for dear life. Apparently land now means plunge straight toward the top of a skyscraper at Mach ten. He whips his wings out at the last minute, and once again, I’m spared from becoming a Liz pancake. At least it got the small amount of blood I had left pumping.

Wait. Maybe that’s bad. It is kind of pumping out.

I’m at least aware enough to recognize that a skyscraper is not the house I was expecting. “Where are we?”

It’s safe.

“Where’s Axel?” I may sound like a petulant child, but I’m hurting, and I’m scared, and I want the person who healed me last time.

I wouldn’t have guessed that dragons could sound so annoyed through their thoughts, but Azar keeps teaching me new things about them. He’s coming.

I practically collapse against his neck. “Oh, good.”

He walks several steps across the helipad inside what looks like a keyhole-shaped cutout in the top of a skyscraper. With my eyes closed, I realize that his neck’s surprisingly smooth and soft for something that’s covered in impenetrable scales.

“Where are we?” My voice sounds faint, even to me. I’m not sure whether he can hear me.

The signs call this place the JP Morgan Chase Tower. Now, it’s mine.

Ah, yes. Dragons like to possess things. Why am I not surprised he claimed one of the tallest towers in Houston? “But no one lived here. How can you. . .”

No human residence would accommodate me. The top floors are two stories tall, and below that, there are two levels of living space.

Probably for the important executives or something. Or, who knows? Maybe there’s a Mister Chase, or a Mister Morgan? I don’t really know much about rich people or posh penthouses, clearly.