Page 20 of Destiny of the Dragons

“I just want to be sure we’re on the same page.”

“I don’t like either of you more than the other.” Mia tried not to blush at the thought of the two of them.

Jace angled his body toward her and brushed his hand against hers. “Help me understand, then, jewel. What’s making you uncomfortable?”

Mia shook her head, fiddling with the chain on her purse. “I just…don’t want to do something wrong.”

“What wrong thing could you do?” Jace tilted his head. He looked at her like she was the center of the universe, and she pushed the doubt away. For one night she would enjoy herself and not overthink everything.

“Make one of you feel…bad. Jealous or not good enough.”

Jace smiled, his real smile, and took her hand. He softly kissed the back of her hand before letting go. “Thank you for that. But so long as we talk through things, we’ll be okay.”

“I tried,” she snapped. “I asked. Both of you told me whatever I wanted.”

“Right.” Jace rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re both dragons. Dating more than one person at the same time is normal for us. I didn’t realize you were trying to figure out acceptable behavior.”

“There is no set way dragons handle their relationships.” Smoke said quietly. “It really is up to us.”

“Okay.” Some of the tension in her chest released. “So tell me about how you two got together.”

Jace grinned. “Smoke couldn’t help himself. I was his biggest rival for moonshine jobs, and one night, he couldn’t restrain his passion any longer.”

“Right.” Smoke sounded amused. “Tell yourself that. Jace kept throwing himself at me, and I decided to take pity—“

Jace laughed and hit Smoke’s shoulder. “Take it back.”

Mia laughed, and spent the rest of the car ride asking questions about their personal lives.

They drove further south, away from the cardboard cutout neighborhoods, heading for Red Rock Canyon State park.

It was beautiful, but remote. Mostly desert and mountains with very little in the way of places to eat or houses.

Mia frowned. “Are you guys taking me somewhere secluded so you can dump the body?”

“No.” Jace looked pleased with himself, and shared a look with Smoke. “I think we found a solution to your problem.”

“My problem?” Mia’s stomach dropped. They found out about Lover’s Pain spell. She broke out into a cold sweat. They were going to ask her how she could do such magic, and for money.

Her excuses about her family died on her lips. They wouldn’t understand. They were both clanless dragons.

“Yeah, that noisy cat-bird you got?” Jace grinned at her.

Smoke cocked his head. “We just need someplace private, but if you’re not comfortable…”

“I’m okay.” They were talking about Tikka. Mia smiled, but she didn’t think she fooled Smoke.

They reached the Moenkopi Trailhead, and Jace pulled into the gravel parking lot.

“It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best we can do.”

In front of them, the Red Rock Canyon was larger, with red stripes running through the rock along with white and bits of brown. Little dots of green shrub things littered the ground, and she’d come out here more than a few times by herself. There was a peace in this place she couldn’t find elsewhere.

Mia looked down at her high heels. She didn’t really expect to go hiking. The ground was hard, but the tiny pebbles and bits of sand everywhere make it unstable.

Jace closed the distance between them. “I could carry you, since I was an ass and didn’t warn you about this little side trip.”

“This isn’t the date?”

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