Page 19 of Bitten in the Wild

Izora grunted as he lifted the trap door and nodded for me to go down first. I hesitated.

“You’re not going to lock me in and fly away, are you?” I asked.

“Sweetheart, mate. Get your ass down that slide. So I can come in and get something to drink. I’m not leaving you out here to freak out on your own. Go!”

I went down the damn slide and found my feet as Izora started down the slide. He stopped himself with his feet and sat on the edge for a moment longer than normal.

“Do you want me to bring you water and coffee out here?” I asked.

“I’m okay. Just feels like someone sucked all the water out of me with a straw. Almost like a hangover from college.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind. It’s my fault and---”

Izora sighed and shook his head before pushing himself up to his feet.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked again.

He took my hand in his and tugged me close before kissing my forehead.

“A hangover never killed anyone. Besides, I’m on a whole new world. Something weird was bound to happen at some point. I am going to suggest Castor not let the others come out and eat them, but that’s about it.”

“You were gathering them up when I smelled you for the first time,” I said and led him down the cavern to the kitchen.

“I wanted to run tests on them to see if they had any other uses,” Izora admitted. “I wasn’t going to trip on them.”

“Good. I don’t think you should have any more. I don’t think I’m going to eat any more of them. What if I eat them and the oil is on my tongue or something and I poison you again?”

Izora let out a long breath and opened the fridge. He took out two bottles of water and handed me one.

“Drink,” he ordered, and I did because I wasn’t in any place to argue with him after my cooking poisoned him.

“It did not!” he growled, picking up on my thoughts over our link.

“It did, though.”

“I forgive you,” Izora said, his voice softer than before. “I don’t think you did anything wrong, but since you insist you did, I forgive you. If we ever get connected to Earthside, I’m running an allergy panel on you before you eat anything they bring over.”

“Okay,” I nodded, unsure of what the hell he meant, but I smiled because it smelled like he was telling the truth when he said he forgave me. “I’ll start the coffee, if you tell me why you think it was a lucky break that I poisoned you.”

He opened his mouth to object to what I said about poisoning him, but stopped himself.

“Sit,” I said, pointing to a chair.

“Bossy.”

“You’re one to speak.”

“Maybe that’s why fate brought us together,” he laughed and grabbed another bottle of water before sitting down at the kitchen table.

I started the coffee and Izora told me about his vision. I made him tell it to me three times before I was satisfied. Elves who were also dragons made sense. Dragon shifters could have kids with elves. So, of course, there could be dragon elves. I’d never heard the story the lady from his vision told him.

“I think it was an actual vision, Iz,” I said, leaning back against the stone counter while the coffee brewed. “Like I said, it looked like you were dead for a few minutes. Still breathing and all that, but you weren’t in your body. I couldn’t wake you up. I couldn’t feel you.”

“Your mom said to think about my problems,” Izora laughed.

“Next time maybe don’t listen to her,” I said, forcing myself to smile. “I’m so fucking relieved you’re okay.”

“I think I will listen to her next time. This is the best lead we’ve had about how to connect to the Other World gateways since we landed.”

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