Page 50 of Medusa

Yeah, okay, she’d ridden Augustine the night before. But this was different.

For one thing, she hadexpectedthe ride on Augustine.

For another, she’d been on his back, not being held in a strong claw.

To give Jaden credit, he hadn’t hurt her. She was out of breath from the suddenness of it all, not from being squeezed too tightly.

“Why are you here, Jaden?” she asked shakily, still facing away from him. She rolled into a sitting position, facing him. She was surprised by herself, her ability to face the man who had essentially told her she was a fling and broken her heart. Maybe it was the surprise of seeing him so soon. Maybe it was because he was a gigantic green dragon.

“Shouldn’t you be recovering in bed?”

Something about the dragon didn’t look quite right.

“Jaden?”

“Shit,” he cursed, and then the dragon vanished completely, leaving a completely naked and unconscious man on her front lawn.

Maddie’s jaw dropped open.

“Jaden!” she gasped. He didn’t look good. She crawled over to him, putting her fingers against his neck. It took her a moment to find it, but he had a thready pulse. Fumbling in her purse, she yanked out her phone and dialed Hera, putting the phone on speaker.

“Maddie? Everything all right?”

“No! Jaden collapsed and his pulse is weak and I don’t know what to do!”

“Put Augustine on the line,” Hera said, her tone shifting into business mode.

“I can’t!” Maddie wailed. “We’re in front of my house.”

“That’s a story I look forward to hearing. Be there in a tick.”

The line died and Maddie stared at it.

“How long is a tick?” she asked it desperately.

“About two breaths,” Hera said from behind her. She knelt on the other side of Jaden and examined him quickly. “I’ve got just the thing,” she said at last, pulling a vial from a satchel around her waist. “Help me sit him up.”

Working together, the two women managed to roll him onto his back and then prop him against Maddie’s body, his head falling back on her shoulder.

Maddie braced herself on one arm, his weight hard to bear, and wrapped one arm around his waist to keep him from rolling off.

“Good. You’re a natural,” Hera said with a small smile. Deftly, she uncorked the vial and opened his mouth, dripping two to three drops in at a time and closing his mouth in between each set.

“Is he going to be okay?” Maddie asked anxiously. She couldn’t see Jaden’s face from her position. “What are you giving him?”

“He’s going to be fine. As for what’s in this…” Hera smiled mysteriously. “It’s one of my rarest potions. I concocted it for Augustine and his brothers in case one of them ever got seriously hurt. It is geared specifically for dragon shifter physiology.”

“That’s amazing,” Maddie said sincerely. “Why didn’t they call for you last night when they brought Jaden home?”

Hera rolled her eyes.

“Believe me, Augustine will be hearing from me about that. Trying to take care of things all by themselves.” She muttered under her breath for a moment as she dribbled more of her potion into Jaden’s open mouth. “They probably thought that his body could heal itself on its own.”

“Maybe if he stayed in bed,” Maddie said, rolling her eyes. “And didn’t overexert himself, shifting into his dragon form.”

“He really is the worst patient.” Hera chuckled.

Jaden groaned, his eyelids fluttering.

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