Page 712 of Love Bites

Bethany hoped she wasn’t being politically incorrect, which was just another term for saying something ignorant and stupid. She really didn’t want to be stupid and ignorant to Math.

Because he was her boss.

She had to remember that he was her boss.

She asked, “Because you said you lived in the dens? Aren’t dragons’ dens in caves?”

Math laughed and sat on the bed, bouncing on the mattress as he tested it. “A few centuries ago, maybe. We just call them dens. Just another figure of speech.”

Oh, great. Now he thought she wasn’t politically incorrect, just a complete idiot who couldn’t understand figures of speech. “That’s interesting. Tell me more?”

Now she sounded like a hooker. Even better.

Math kicked his shoes off and sat on the bed, leaning back against the headboard with his fingers interlaced behind his neck.

“Hey! I just got those sheets perfect!” Bethany couldn’t stop watching the way his biceps bulged under his shirt.

Math crossed his long legs. Even his fine, dark socks were sexy. He asked, “Have you ever seen Kensington Palace?”

“I’ve never been to England.”

“Kensington Palace isn’t one large castle. It’s more like a small neighborhood of row houses and cottages, surrounded by a wall. Most dragons’ dens are like that these days. They’re compounds with individual residences and townhouses. Kensington Palace is just one of the most famous.”

Bethany’s mind clicked as she processed what he’d said. “Wait, you can’t be telling me that the British Royal family are dragon shifters.”

“Most of them. One of the side effects of being a dragon shifter is a longer-than-normal lifespan. Most of us live to be well over a century old, usually a hundred and fifty, sometimes close to two hundred years. How else do you think the Queen is ninety-five years old and still maintains a schedule of hundreds of personal appearances every year? She’s just reaching upper-middle age in dragon years.”

Bethany gaped at him. “No way.”

“She’s a little silver dragon, smaller than the vast majority of dragons. She’s hardly larger than a German Shepherd. I’ve heard she likes to transform and play with her corgis.”

Bethany was laughing at this point. “Now I know you’re kidding me.”

“Not at all. One of the Queen’s German relatives is a huge, blond dire-wolf shifter as big as a Clydesdale horse. He’s the scary one of that family.”

“No way!”

Math raised his hands. “That’s the rumor, but it’s been a persistent rumor. But the place where I grew up is a lot like that. Dragons’ dens are close-knit communities. New Wales is more like a housing development than a castle, but it’s conservative,reallyconservative. Like, odd governmental structure and societal ideals. Dragons Den, Inc. has an office building just down the block from the dens, so a lot of us work there. It’s north of Los Angeles, just another one of those gated communities up there. The naturals never bother us.”

“I grew up outside of Las Vegas, here,” she said. “It’s not much of a witching community. We’re highly integrated with the naturals. I didn’t attend a wizarding school and university like a lot of witches do. I just had Saturday school where I learned Witch History and magic. Lots of my friends were naturals.”

“I didn’t know any naturals growing up.”

“They’re just like us, only with less magic.”

“That makes sense.”

Bethany’s mouth often got her into trouble, and that day was no exception. “So, what color of dragon are you?”

A slow smile curved his lips. “That’s not how we usually say it.”

“Oh? I’m sorry.”

“The dragon is a separate soul from the human part of us. One would ask, ‘What color is your dragon?’”

“Oh, I see.” Anotherfaux pas.He was going to hate her.

“It’s gold,” Math said. “I transform into a gold dragon.”

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