Page 53 of Dragon's Honor

Finley rolled her eyes. “Wow. You’re a real stickler, you know? Thank you for saving my life.”

His expression softened. “Thank you for saving mine and Henrik’s. I would say we’re even.”

“Are you really okay with me shacking up in your home?”

He nodded. “In fact, I insist on it.”

Energy buzzed through her body, almost like she could feel how much it meant to him that she would be staying with him.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

11

A Tentative Peace

Ash liked having Finley watching him while he cooked. She offered to help several times, but he enjoyed taking care of her. He’d already healed from all the damage at the warehouse. She still looked a little pale. And he hated the scabs that marred her perfect skin. He should’ve taken more of the brunt of the damage.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” he said as he set food down in front of her.

He went back to grab his food and their wine before heading back. He sat down next to her at the counter, even though he generally preferred to eat at one of the many tables he had available. He didn’t want to make her move.

They ate quietly together.

The urge to reach out and touch her was nearly overwhelming. The intense expression on her face made it clear she wasn’t relaxed. He didn’t know how to soothe her or make her feel like she was safe.

The problem was, he wasn’t sure she was safe. With everything going on around them, there was so much to worry about.

“Ash, I need to know exactly what I’m dealing with. What exactly is a dragon shifter? What the hell does it mean?”

“You want what? The mythology of where we come from?”

She lifted her shoulder and dropped it. “I don’t know. Maybe. Do you know where you come from?”

“About as well as humans know where they come from.”

“Which version? The Bible? Evolution?”

Ash’s lips curved. “Exactly like both of those. There are those that believe the witches came first. They had great power and they created a creature so incredible the power could not be mastered by anyone. The world was on the brink of devastation, so the witches tied the creature to a man. Together the man carried the power but was able to maintain it. There’s another belief that we came from another world, a tear in the universe allowed us to come through, and we couldn’t go back so we made this our world. Others believe we were born of the rocks themselves, each clan of dragons brought forth from the stones we gained our coloring from. All we have are stories handed down, made into myth and legend.”

“What do you believe?” she asked.

“Honestly, I haven’t given it much thought. I care more about the future of my clan, not the past.”

She frowned.

“Does that bother you?”

“No, I suppose not. Is it the same for the other shifters? Did you all come from the same place?”

Ash shook his head. “No. The wolves have their own beliefs as do the felines and bears. Vampires too. Much like your religions, each faction of supernatural creatures has their own schools of thought. Nothing is black and white. We certainly don’t know everything about each other. The vampires have their own magic and we only know a small handful of facts about them. The fae too. They keep to themselves for the most part. The shifters have shared some knowledge, but like we have abilities over emotions and the mind, the wolves have abilities of strength and they can connect with animals. We’re all very different.”

“Do you fight with the others?”

He nodded slowly. “Sometimes.”

“And you’ve been around for hundreds of years?”

He glanced over at her. “Me? Or dragons?”

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