Page 5 of Primal Dragon

“You won’t take her?”

Quinn would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it, but… “I can’t. I already have two cats at home. I’m a bleeding-heart animal lover. Or crazy cat lady as my brother likes to call me.”

Henrik trained his gaze on her. “Crazy cat lady?”

“Because I have cats, and I’m single.”

“You don’t seem crazy.”

Quinn covered her mouth as she laughed. “I have my moments.”

The man just kept staring at her. What was it about him? She didn’t want him to leave, but his intense gaze was making her squirm where she stood. What was he looking for?

“May I have your phone number? I’m in the middle of a situation right now, but if she doesn’t get adopted, I might consider adopting her.”

She blinked at him. “My number? I can give you a card for the clinic.” Instantly she regretted the correction.

“I’d rather do it off books.”

“Why? You running from the law or something?”

“I don’t run.”

His responses were never what she expected. She wanted to ask if he didn’t run, then what did he do? But if he was some criminal, then she definitely wasn’t going to give him her number.

“If you don’t give me your phone number, then it’s just going to be that much harder for fate.”

Her brow furrowed at that. “Harder for fate to what?”

“Bring us back together.”

Quinn laughed. “I don’t believe in fate and if fate is real, then it’s completely overrated. Why would we need to be brought back together?”

Henrik bright eyes grew stormy, his frown deepened. “Maybe I’m mistaken. No matter.”

He was weird. What the hell was she doing contemplating giving him her number? The last thing she needed right now was to give some stranger her number just to invite dick pics in the middle of the night when he was hard up for some sex.

Though her body was screaming at her to throw caution to the wind and let him sex her up for one great night. She had no doubt he could rock a woman’s world.

“I’ll be seeing you, Doc.” He headed for the door. “Take care of my girl for me.”

And just like that, Henrik disappeared into the snowstorm.

Quinn was left wondering just what fate had to do with any of it.

2

To Be or Not to Be, That is Up to Fate

Henrik sat in his car waiting for it to warm up so he could drive without it fogging over. He loved his 1969 Mustang Fastback, but sometimes it didn’t do so well in the cold weather, which he was finding out the hard way. Offering to go to Chicago had been dumb on his part. At least, in so much as the most he’d accomplished was saving a kitten from getting hit by a car or freezing to death. Getting her off the concrete had been awful. He could still hear her tiny shrieks.

What he hadn’t expected was to find a woman who made his dragon wake up and take notice. The moment he saw her as he came into the clinic, his dragon demanded that he do whatever it took to get close to her.

Even in the white laboratory coat and blue scrubs, she was a vision of curves and beauty. Her touch was soft and gentle as she worked on the tiny cat. Henrik couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like when she touched him.

Never in his lifetime had he had such a strong reaction to a woman. He’d searched her for some evidence that she was wearing his tourmaline. He’d been so exhausted, he didn’t even realize he hadn’t been keeping his identity as a non-human very quiet. She didn’t seem to flinch. Either she got a bunch of crazies in the middle of the night or she knew about his world.

It always seemed like the veil between their worlds was growing thinner and thinner each day. How the humans would react when it disappeared completely, he had no idea. He didn’t much care. Enough humans knew about them that they were trying to kill them like in the ancient days when knights would go on a quest to kill the dragon.