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A valore sat still on the bed and waited for Liekki to answer her questions—at least one of them.

However, he had finished combing her hair and sat silently behind her.

She could feel his powerful heat providing warmth along her back, wrapping around her like a blanket.

There was an energy that pulsed between them, one she continued to ignore even as it made her breath catch and her feet curl against the stone floor.

The flooring should have been cold at every step, but it wasn’t. She figured it had much to do with the roaring fire in the hearth.

As Liekki dragged the comb over her scalp and down her hair, she sank her teeth into her bottom lip to keep from whimpering at the pleasure.

She couldn’t stop the tingling sensations racing up and down her body, causing hair to rise on her skin, but she could keep her back ramrod straight and resist the need to settle back against his strength.

The big man remained silent.

She swallowed as nerves tightened her belly. I shouldn’t have asked.

Maybe he thought the questions were too intrusive or violated his people’s rules to tell her anything.

The longer he stayed silent, the more anxious she became.

“Umm...You don’t have to—”

“Little Lure...” He didn’t shush her, but when he slipped his hand around her waist, then pressed it against her stomach and forced her back, it was the equivalent of it.

Her words and air got trapped in her throat.

She would have resisted, continued to keep her spine firm and distance between them, but like always, his touch short-circuited all her brain cells.

It was strange to her how calm she felt by him, how the heat radiating from his skin produced desire, a reaction she could not deny to herself, but it settled her.

That frightened her.

She had a family, granted, one she was distant with, but even when things were at their best when she was younger, she wasn’t used to comforting touches.

The district was hard to live in as a child, so her parents dealt with her in reality and with tough love.

Avalore didn’t blame her parents, it was simply the facts of life for those who were Dispatch.

“I want to be honest with you. Share some of our truths... can you handle it?” Using his free hand, he brushed her hair away from one shoulder, but instead of sweeping the dense length over her other shoulder as she anticipated, Liekki wound the length around his hand.

He tugged.

She gasped.

Her heart pounded hard and loud in her chest as he used enough of his strength to draw her head to the side, not far, but it arched the column of her neck to him. The sizzling heat of his breath greeted her bare flesh.

Avalore fisted the hem of the shirt she wore, unsure what to do with her hands. The only other option available to her was gripping his thighs, and she couldn’t do that, wouldn’t allow herself to do it.

At his mercy, she braced herself. She sat, unsure whether she would feel his tongue or teeth next. He’d hinted at the fact they didn’t eat people, but there were so many things he could do to her in this vulnerable position, including drinking her blood.

“Do you drink blood...?” She would have believed those words silly and part of spooky legends in which Dispatch parents told their children to get them to behave, stay away from certain areas, or scare them from thoughts of fleeing to the other side of the Wall.

The growl coming from Liekki, she felt rumble at her lower back first, then sent tremors up her spine and over her back before she heard it.

“Not a Drahk’s delight.”

Not no. It's just something they don’t do as if Liekki knew of people who performed such acts. This dragon-man was enough. She never wanted to meet any entity that sank teeth into flesh and drank blood.

“Then what does delight... Drahks ?”

“Yes. My people.” His words fluttered along the shell of her ear. He still didn’t touch her, but as he leaned closer, the silky tresses of his midnight-black hair fell along her skin at the curve between her neck and shoulder.

She shivered, and her core tightened until she was feeling the pulse of it between her thighs.

It stunned her that his hair felt cool despite his body being hot.

She squeezed her hands tighter until she felt the points of her nails dig into her palms through the soft fabric.

She needed to do something to fight the urge to lift her hand and either glide her fingers through his long length or dance her tips over the shaved side of his head and discover if it felt prickly.

You don’t need to know these things about this man. You will be leaving as soon as you have a chance to gather some things and escape.

Avalore licked her lips as she arched her back away from Liekki. She was getting too damn comfortable in his arms. “Tell me about them.”

So, I can know how to escape them—know thy enemy.

As if hearing her thoughts or feeling her resistance, Liekki released her. Grasping her hips, he guided her away and then stood.

Immediately, she felt bereft at the loss of his heat and touch. She shook it away.

The distance between them was great as he leaned against the mantle across the room. His body appeared to both absorb and control the fire. The flames seemed to lick toward him as it roared higher, yet his pants didn’t catch.

She gasped and shifted back along the edge of the bed, placing more distance between her and Liekki.

“There’s no cause for your fear.” The arc of flame filled his eyes, then went away as the blaze in the fireplace receded. They didn’t go away but lowered significantly. “You will not be hurt here by the fire, my dragon...or me.”

The wicked smile that curled his lips made her question his words.

“So, you say. However, I’m a woman alone and don’t know you. Not anything about you.” She reached up, played with the ends of her hair, and was glad all the snarls were gone. “Thank you for helping with my hair.”

He nodded. “What I’m about to tell you... I need you to listen and take it in, but do your best not to ascribe your human understanding to the knowledge. I promise we’ll discuss it after you have rested and are fully healed, little lure.”

Liekki waited.

She swallowed, preparing herself even as she nodded. “I’ll try my best.”

“We are dragon-shifters.”

Avalore’s lids stretched wide before she could control her response after telling him she’d listen without her human judgment. But one could never be ready to hear something so outlandish— Ready to question him, she stopped herself. Listen .

“I don’t do artful words. I’m sure Aodh, my older brother, the Mckenna, our leader,” he informed, “probably handled telling Aguya Kai better, but that’s not my way.”

Straight, no chaser. That’s how people in the district said it was best to consume home-brewed liquor. They always said life was hard for those in the Dispatch and that you had to take it like an arrow to the gut. That seemed to be the way for her to deal with Liekki.

“Before you asked, little lure, Drahks were created like humans by the Great Spirit and have been around for millenniums.”

Millenniums. Made by God . Her mind seemed to find the only way to process the massive man’s words was in fragmented chunks.

“The sum of all our parts is fire. We are dragons, are one with the flame.” He raised his hand and instantly blew out a small, fiery ball into his palm.

Avalore jumped, almost falling off the big bed before she caught herself by gripping the covers. She kept her gaze on him, watching him flex his wrist and rotate the flame around his hand. “How’s that possible...? Is it magic?”

In the Dispatch District, plenty of con artists made cards or a pebble disappear from their hands and end up in the observer's pocket or behind their ear, all for a fee, or you’d discover your account book had also been picked from your pocket.

“No.” His wide smile and the wink of his white teeth showed he enjoyed shocking and toying with her.

She didn’t like that, and it raised her hackles, but she remained composed. “What do you mean when you say you are dragon-shifters?”

“Just that.” Liekki closed his hand and doused the fire. “We are either male or dragon.”

“But I saw your dragon...a dragon. It’s huge.” Then she balked as she took in the tall frame, broad shoulders, and thick thighs of the man before her. “Well, so are you, but...but—”

“My dragon.” He pounded a hand to his abdomen, not his chest, an indication of his core, not his heart. “No matter the size, we are one, and he still resides within me.”

When she began to speak, he held his palm up—the same hand that moments before held a flame but remained perfect and unscarred.

“The mystery of that is more than your human mind has the capacity to grasp. So, I’ll say that we have Mage power in our blood, as all Preternaturals have in some form. Even the ones who choose not to admit it.” He chuckled.

Preternaturals . Avalore wasn’t sure what other beings Liekki referred to were out there, but she decided it was best for her to focus on the cocky one keeping her in this place.

“How is it possible your kind can exist, and humans don’t have knowledge of it?”

“Your governments do. They’ve been well aware of our existence for centuries.” Liekki snarled and snapped his teeth in a threatening manner.

She didn’t feel like his response was directed at her. With her own convoluted feelings towards her government and the scientists who worked for them, she decided to direct the subject away from them. Avalore gestured toward him. “What about your ink? The tattoos on your arms.”

“The markings you see,” he deftly unbuttoned his vest, then held his arms wide.

His new position showcased the scale-like designs covering his arms from wrists to his neck, and those revealed along every carved muscle over his chest and abdomen until they disappeared into the top of his dark trousers.