Page 62 of Surge of Ice

I’m a total ass.“Of course you are. Let’s get out of here and give you some time to rest. We can talk more when you’re feeling better.”

She looks like she might argue, but then she smiles. “Okay, but we’re definitely finishing this conversation, and you’re going to prove all this dragon nonsense.”

We hug again, holding on just a little too long, but it just feels so good to have her back safely with me. Whatever happens from here, I’m glad we’re together.

After saying goodbye, Granger and I head back to the elevator.

“I’m glad she’s doing okay,” Granger says.

I nod. “It’s one less thing to worry about while we’re dealing with everything else.”

He hesitates. “But should you have told her?”

“About all the dragon stuff?”

He nods.

“Yeah, I’d trust Dahlia with my life.” And, I do. Even if she decides to hate me one day, she’d have too much honor to spill our secrets.

He doesn’t look confident, but he doesn’t argue further.

We get into the elevator, and Granger turns to me. “What do you think will be worse? Whatever the professors have to say? Or how Aydan and Evander are handling this whole thing with Zane?”

I wince, remembering that I’m in trouble with my boys. “Zane. Definitely Zane.”

TWENTY-THREE

Aydan

I don’t understandhow I’m feeling. It’s not the blinding rage I felt when I found Evander and Sam together. It’s something else. I don’t want another man touching Sam. I don’t want to share her with someone else. But deep down, if I have to share her, Zane doesn’t seem like the worst person to have to deal with.

Sighing, I get off the edge of my bed and go to the door. Dr. Duncan had called us to go to the labs, so there was probably something important that we needed to discuss. When I exit my room, I hesitate, staring down the hall. I know he has his card to open everything, but does he know how to use it?

Cursing under my breath, I go down the hall and push the buzzer beside Zane’s room. A second later, he opens it, and I see his blackened and bruised face and feel a strange amount of guilt.

He grins when he sees me. “Come look!”

Then he hurries back across the room and picks up a little tube with wet cat food in it. He lies down on the floor on his bellyand stretches out his hand with the cat treat to the orange mess on the ground. The cat, to her credit, is actually kind of beautiful, with long fur that goes from a burnt orange to a light orange color, even if she seems a bit thin. She’s certainly in better shape than she was yesterday.

“What am I looking at?”

He shushes me, then, very slowly, the cat creeps forward and begins to eat the treat out of the long tube in his hand. Every time the tube runs out, he pushes on the bottom and more comes out, until he rolls up the entire tube. Before she can dart away, he gives her head a gentle pet. She hisses, but there’s not a lot of fight in the sound.

“She’s coming around,” I reluctantly admit.

He looks up at me with his battered face. “She will love me soon. I know it. But I can be patient.”

I watch him as he climbs off of the floor. He’s still in nothing but his boxers, but his scratches from the cat have mostly healed. For a man, he’s tall and built muscular and strong, but compared to Evander and I, he has more of a swimmer’s build. I like that I’m bigger than him.

“Did you get the message that we have to go to the lab?”

Zane picks up the lanyard part of his badge and dangles it between his fingers. “It did talk to me, but it wouldn’t respond. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

I sigh. “Dr. Duncan was telling us we’re needed in the lab room, which means you have to get dressed.”

The ice dragon gives me a serious look. “Clothes are uncomfortable. I am already concealing my penis, what more do people want?”

I feel a smile itching at the corner of my mouth. “Clothes are mandatory. Now, go get dressed.”

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