Page 11 of Primal Dragon

Henrik’s eyes immediately locked with hers. He let out a deep breath, like it was a relief to see her or something. She couldn’t be reading that right, could she?

“Hi, Henrik.” She held out the kitten for him.

She was still wrapped in gauze while she healed from her wounds.

Henrik took the kitten and cradled her against his big, muscly chest. “Hi, Doc. How are you?”

“Me? I’m great. So is your little friend there. She’s getting stronger every day. She’s even put on weight now that we got rid of the worms.”

“Hey, that’s good news.”

The calico looked up at him like he hung the stars and the moon in the sky. The kitten was clearly smitten by her savior.

Quinn couldn’t blame her.

“Did you want to adopt her?”

“Right now isn’t a great time. I wanted to check in on her…and you.”

She turned her back to him and pretended to straighten up the supplies across the counter. “Me?”

The silence drifted around them, bumping up against another sort of tension. The calico meowed and purred while Quinn tried to get a hold of her emotions.

“Yeah, I wanted to see you again. Needed to see you again.” His voice was quiet and deep. “Doc?”

She turned around knowing that she would fall into rude territory if she didn’t look at him and respond. “I, uh, I’m glad you came.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

“Are you available for a coffee?” he asked.

“I, uh, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

His jaw tightened. Quinn was surprised by the amount of emotion that flared in his eyes before he moved around the table closer to her. “Why not?”

Quinn pressed back against the counter. “I’ve got some stuff going on.”

Concern creased his face. “Are you all right? Can I help with anything?”

She wasn’t sure how to react by his concern. He didn’t know her. He had no idea who she was or what she did; but seeing that he worried about her made her feel good. “A friend of mine went missing. I need to focus on finding him.”

Henrik frowned. “Missing? What’s he into?”

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest. Defensive was a common stance she took when it came to people commenting on her life choices. “He’s not into anything. He was trying to do a good deed and I think it may have gotten him into trouble. I need to focus on figuring out what happened to him.”

Henrik stepped forward, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “That sounds dangerous, Doc. Do you have backup?”

“I don’t need backup. I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

Henrik cornered her against the counter. “I never said you weren’t. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take backup though. When are you planning to act?”

“Tonight.”

“Fuck.”

“It’s none of your business.”

He growled. “Stop shoving me out.”

Quinn wanted to rail against his macho talk, but for two things—it felt wrong to keep him out of her life; she didn’t know why, but it did. And she was scared out of her mind with what she was going to attempt tonight. She wasn’t even sure she should. She couldn’t tell anyone what she was doing. If she turned up missing there would be no one to look for her. She was estranged from her family, her best friend was already missing, and the clinic would file a missing-persons report maybe, but that would be it.

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