Page 49 of Dragon's Honor

“I’m always scared, Ash. I’m human. Monsters in the dark aren’t all supernatural, plenty of them are human. I took self-defense classes. I learned to use a gun. I even have a conceal/carry license. I protect myself the best I can, but I’m willing to bet a gun has very little impact on creatures like that.”

“You’re right.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.

And she didn’t want to ask.

“Knock knock,” Henrik’s voice filtered through the mostly closed the door.

“Come in,” Ash said.

He got off the bed and moved to stand by her.

Finley glanced up at him and then looked at the newcomers.

Henrik was followed by a curvy woman with bright green hair, brown eyes, and cat-eye glasses. She wore a bright red forties style dress that pushed her boobs up high and accented her smaller waist and round hips. She looked like a modern pinup girl.

“Thanks for coming, Syrena,” Ash said.

“Anything for you, your highness.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Would you not?”

She chuckled. “I love watching you squirm.”

Finley immediately disliked the rapport between the two of them. It was casual and easy. Ash was rigid most of the time he spent with her, but with Syrena he seemed comfortable and at ease.

Henrik sat down in the chair in the corner. “Good to see you awake,” Henrik said.

Finley shrugged. “Sorry to cause a scare. I feel okay. Not sure…about anything really.”

Syrena sauntered up to Finley, pushing Ash out of the way. Finley’s eyes narrowed where she put her hand on Ash’s chest to give a playful shove. “Hi, honey, I’m Syrena. Tourmaline witch at your service.”

“Finley Sawyer.”

“Why don’t we give your aura a looksie and see if we can’t find a place to start?”

“My aura?”

“Yep.”

Finley looked up at Ash, who just shrugged. “Think of it like the holistic, New Age stuff we talked about earlier. Trust me, Syrena won’t hurt you.”

Finley squirmed under Syrena’s intense gaze. Then she noticed the witch’s eyes turn a dark green and they started glowing.

“Are your eyes supposed to be doing that?”

“It happens to all magical creatures. You know how they say the eyes are the windows to the soul? It’s true in supernatural creatures.”

“That’s disconcerting.” Finley did everything she could to avoid looking up into Ash’s eyes. Even though she’d seen a couple instances of it in the warehouse, she’d tried to write it off as a trick of the light. Or her nerves playing tricks on her. To know it was real was something else entirely.

“You’ll get used to it. It comes in handy at times.” Syrena continued to examine her aura before her gaze landed on her wrist.

Finley immediately wanted to cover it up, to hide it from the witch. Even if she wasn’t sure she wanted it, she didn’t want Syrena to take it. If she even could.

“Ash, when did she get your heartstone back?”

“Just before she woke up,” he muttered.

Finley snuck a peek at him to find his cheeks looked a little pinker than usual, even under his beard.

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