Page 57 of Her Purr-fect Christmas Mate

Wonder dawned on her face. “No.”

“No to what?”

“You’re not really— Park the car.”

He pulled over as soon as there was a good place to do so. In the time it took, Peony almost started to glow with excitement. She turned and grabbed his face the moment he turned off the engine.

He submitted to her inspection. Her fingers pressed into his scalp, thumbs stroking unconsciously along the line of his cheekbones, and her eyes were a hunter’s eyes.

She wasn’t afraid of him. She never would be. Not his fierce, wonderful mate.

Stop hiding,he told his dragon, and it did.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Hello.”

Hello.Scales twitched.Tell her I said—

“It says hello, too.”

Green fizzed through the amber-brown of her irises. Softness buffeted against his mind—and while he was reeling from the shock ofnotbeing affectionately clawed at, Peony’s cat wriggled over to nudge against his dragon.

The intimacy floored him. This was more than physical touch, or even the delicate closeness of their minds weaving together. He’d never heard of anyone’s inner animals interacting in this way.

“Oh,” Peony said again. “Are… are they meant to do that?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

Both creatures stopped and stared at them, as though to say,Who cares aboutmeantto?

*We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together, after all.*Peony’s voice filled his mind with petals. *I guess it’s good to know they get along, too? Er. If we can count this as getting along.*

Peony’s cat sharpened its claws on a convenient surface—his dragon’s scales—and leapt onto its head. It yowled triumphantly and bit one of the dragon’s spines.

Mordecai’s dragon reared up dramatically and fell on its back, wings fluttering weakly. The cat yowled again and smacked it on the nose. His dragon was delirious with delight.

She raised her eyebrows. “Your dragon…likeshow insane my cat is?”

“It does.”

“Even when it tries to attack it? And you?”

“It thinks that’s cute.”

“Oh.” Peony blinked. “It thinks my cat’s inherent violence iscute?I think I’m offended.”

“I was worried you might be.”

She shot him a concerned look, and he grinned back.

“Notthatworried, apparently,” she snorted. “Fine. Being attacked by a psycho cat iscute.”

“You have to remember, it’s a dragon.” He leaned across her seat, pinning her hands in a way that made her scowl and blush at the same time. “Most people who see it run away. They don’t try to scratch its nose.”

“It’s desperate for any sort of attention, is that it?” Peony was obviously trying to look unbothered by the weight of his body pressing her into the car seat. She was failing. “So desperate it’ll make do with a psycho cat. That’s horrible.”

“I think it’s sweet.” He lowered his lips to hers, stopping a quarter inch from kissing her. “I think you’re cute.”

“I mean it, though,” she murmured, her eyes soft. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad my cat is a fighter, not a doormat. But I don’t want to be your dragon’s tiny bully.”

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