Page 41 of Surge of Ice

“You should. You are a dragon queen. You reign over me and the rest of your harem. Other dragons see you and know that to tangle with you is to bring the wrath of us all. Once we have the storm dragon, you shall see how things change. How the other dragons cower before us.”

Some of the tension leaves my body. “You’re right. Kind of. As scary as all of this is, I’m a dragon. I can handle some issues from humans. I’ve just spent my whole life being careful, listening to my instincts, and never putting myself in dangerous situations.”

“Why?” he asks, looking confused.

“I’m a woman,” I tell him simply.

He still looks confused. “You are a woman…”

Oh, he really doesn’t get it.“Women always have to be more cautious than men. We have to be aware of our surroundings at all times. We have to anticipate dangerous situations, so we don’t end up in them in the first place. Out of all the animals in the world, there’s nothing we fear more than men themselves.”

His brows draw together. “I forgot about such human problems. Males of all species do not treat females the way they should.”

“No, they don’t,” I say, frowning at the group of men in hoodies, carrying televisions and other electronics out of a store. Then another thought occurs to me. “If female dragons end up with the same mates each lifetime, why do the other male dragons bother trying to steal us each time?”

He gives me a funny look. “Because just the chance to have a mate is worth the fighting for them. And because it is always possible that a female will take another lover, and a male will finally have his chance. Nothing is written in stone, after all.”

Across the street, a little supermarket has been broken into. A man literally comes running out carrying two hams, with sausage around his neck. It’s not funny, but I snicker, pointing. “I don’t blame him. With the price of groceries lately that might be my pick of the stores to rob too.”

Zane gives me a funny look. “I do not understand.”

“You will the first time I take you grocery shopping… to buy food in trade.”

His eyes light up. “Trading with you was always my favorite. There was never a time you went home without some pretty trinket that caught your eye.”

“Really?”

He nods. “There have been more than a number of stories about dragon females and their love of treasure. We males don’t care about sparkly things, we only care about giving our female what she wants.”

I try to ignore how hot my face feels. “There are a lot of stories about dragons having hordes of gold and gems. I’d never heard of it specifically being female dragons.”

He lifts a brow. “How do you think I stole your heart the first time we met?”

I can’t seem to take my gaze off of him. “Oh?”

He explains, “When I first came upon you, I was smitten, but your fire dragons would not let me near you. I spent months leaving treasures for you until you rewarded me with a conversation. It lasted all night and into the morning. I drank in your laughter, I thrived beneath your smile. And when we were done talking, you allowed me to court you, much to the unhappiness of your fire dragons. But even they knew, that first lifetime, that you needed more dragons in your harem to stay safe, and I was tolerable to them.”

I smile, steering around another abandoned car. “So, I can be won over with shiny things. Like a crow… like those really smart black birds. Interesting.”

“You should be proud. Crows are wise and wonderful creatures.”

It’s impossible not to laugh. Zane just has such a different way of looking at things. I know part of it is that he doesn’t understand this modern world, but part of it is just who he is. I can tell.

We turn another corner and find a thicker throng of people in the street. I pull my hand from Zane’s and put it back on the steering wheel, then slow but keep going. People shift out of the way, shouting and thumping my car as I drive past them. I checkto make sure the doors are locked, even though I know they are, and keep going, my nerves screaming.

“Are we getting closer to your friend?”

I spot another familiar building, one with a sign that says ‘In Stitches’ and appears to be some kind of fabric store, then nod. “We’re almost there. We just have to get through this safely.”

“No,” he corrects me. “These people just need to be smart enough to get out of our way, or else they will force us to take on our other forms.”

His words calm me just a bit as a huge, tattooed man thumps my window with his hands, screaming and cursing. I wince, continually pressing the gas pedal, even if we’re crawling. It’s too dangerous to just stop.

“Would you like me to kill him?”

“What?” I ask, confused.

“The man that scared you. Would you like me to kill him?”

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