Page 49 of Expensive

“Is Andrew with you?”

My stomach drops. “No. Why?”

“He just texted me. Said he was going to the Pallisade Ice Baths. It’s predominantly a spa, but there are a bunch of warlocks and doctors who have offices there too. Is everything okay? I thought you two were spending the day together.”

Andrew wouldn’t leave his house to go to a spa right after promising me he’d stay in the safe room. Maybe he isn’t feeling well and had to go to the doctor. I don’t know the first thing about dragon shifter pregnancies, but my omega father was always sick when he was pregnant.

“I’ll text him,” I say, then hang up. I pull over to the side of the road and send Andrew a quick message:Marjorie says you left the house to see a doctor. Are you okay?

Something huge and blue lands directly on the hood of the car with a loud “bump.” The windshield is completely covered by a veiny, blue tarp.

No, not a tarp. A wing.

The wing falls away and behind it a scaly head with long, pointy teeth stares back at me. Cold air puffs out of its mouth, fogging up the windshield.

But I’m not scared. I’d recognize those eyes anywhere. This dragon has scars along her shoulder and across her chest—in the exact same places the dragon who saved me from the pits was scarred.

She’s holding something large in her paw—something brown.

When she drops it, I realize it isn’t something. It’s someone.

Manny.

I throw open the car door and jump out to see Manny sprawled out on the muddy ground. His lips are blue and his whole body is trembling, but he’s alive.

Thank God. Manny is alive.

I crouch down next to him and bring him into my arms to warm him up. He’s alarmingly cold.

Next to us, the dragon begins to shrink, her bright blue scales muting to pale human skin. Her human form is shocking to me. I don’t know what I was expecting. She saved me a decade ago. Clearly, she couldn’t be young, but this woman is much older than I thought she would be—at least sixty or seventy. Her short hair is silver, and even though she’s clearly an alpha and her body is wired with muscle, she’s slender. She stands before me, completely nude, and holds out her hand. “I need your shirt.”

“What?”

“It’s not my fault that you can run around shirtless without getting arrested, but I can’t. I need your shirt. Hurry up before someone sees me.”

“D-d-do it,” Manny whispers.

I lower him onto the ground and unbutton my flannel shirt. I didn’t expect to be chucking clothing at my savior from the pits mere seconds after meeting her, but here we are.

She throws the shirt around her shoulders. “Manny was right.”

I glance back and forth between her and Manny. “About what?”

“You are ridiculously beautiful.”

Manny flushes scarlet. “Th-th-that’s not… I didn’t mean…”

She holds out her hand to Manny and yanks him onto his feet. “I’m just teasing you. But it got the circulation flowing to your cheeks, didn’t it? We need to get out of here before they find us.”

“Who is they?”

She raises both of her eyebrows. “Beautiful, but not very bright. The Monroes.”

“Who are you?” I ask.

“I think you know who I am.” She walks barefoot to the back door of the car and opens it.

“But—”

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