North could not take his eyes off the sexy hunk of a man who practically breathed fire on his attackers. His companion with the floppy blond hair and glasses was cute too, but really, it was all about the guy with the romantically long dark hair and broad shoulders. There was something about him, how he managed to look both protective and indignant with only a curl of his full upper lip and a shake of his fist. North half expected to see him pull out a sword and reveal he was wearing a knight’s armor.
But that was all fanciful nonsense.
The two men had come out of nowhere to rescue him, and they hadn’t looked at him like he was a lunatic because he was holding the remnants of a broken mirror in one fist. It was nice not to be treated like a crazy tourist.
He didn’t know what they were talking about with ice and fire clans. Gramps had mentioned something about mages being a part of clans a long time ago, but he didn’t have any interest in mages. North was in Europe hunting dragons, and he had a good lead on a dragon in Germany. Only finding a dragon would get him freedom from his family. They had no interest in mage, wouldn’t believe one. But a dragon was irrefutable.
There was no lingering with the sexy man and his friend. North’s train was leaving in a few hours. His would-be attackers were dispersed for now. It was the perfect time to get back to the hotel, grab his stuff, and head to the train station. He could find a place there to hunker down until his train was boarding. Then he was off to Munich!
“Hey! Um…thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it, but I’ve got a train to catch—EEP!”
The surprised noise escaped North as his knight grabbed a fistful of North’s coat and pulled him close enough that their noses bumped. It took an extra second for the man’s growled words to break through to his brain. North was lost in a deliciously warm scent of spice and…mmm…warm, snuggly man. So close to him, North could now see that his nose was slightly crooked from likely being broken once. He had a hard, angular jaw sprinkled with dark hair. And the fullest, most plush, kissable lips in all the world.
Truly, they were the most perfect lips North had ever seen. They were the kind made for kissing and doing some incredibly wicked, sinful things. How could such a grumpy-looking man have been born with such an amazing mouth?
It was a shame such lips weren’t doing important things like kissing him at that moment, but they were demanding in a low, rumbling voice, “I want my scale back.”
North blinked at him. Scale? He couldn’t possibly be talking about the scale. The gorgeous red dragon scale that had been handed down through his family for generations. Not that scale.
Staring past the ridiculously long eyelashes framing rich, sapphire blue eyes, North finally saw the gold ring outlining his irises. A ring that could only be found on the eyes of a dragon.
Oh. My. God.
A dragon.
A dragon was holding him. They were still alive. He’d been right. A dragon had found him. His spell had worked. A dragon. A dragon was here and holding him. Was he going to eat him? Probably not. He was too scrawny for this dragon, but he’d happily serve as this dragon’s sex slave. Yes, that was a much better option. The important thing was…eep…dragon.
“Dragon,” he breathed because his brain had completely locked up.
“Yes, and I want back my scale that’s in your pocket right now,” the dragon continued.
“Dragon,” North repeated, because what else was there to say? Well, a lot really, but his brain was a skipping record unable to move forward.
“Excellent, Warin. You’ve broken him,” the dragon’s companion complained.
“He’s not broken,” Warin snapped defensively, and something in North warmed unexpectedly at his words. Not that the dragon had meant them like North would have preferred. His family had always thought he was more than a little broken because he liked make-up, bright colors, and men. “I want my scale back. You’ve been driving me nuts.”
“What? How?” North finally managed to squeak out. He definitely didn’t want to upset the dragon. Not that the dragon was likely to eat him. Well, probably not.
“Your seeking spell,” the other one said. Was he a dragon too? North couldn’t be sure because he couldn’t drag his gaze away from the one holding him so close. “It’s been tugging on Warin’s tail. I’m guessing that’s where the scale came from, and it very much wants to return to his body.”
“Oh,” North whispered. He licked his lips, preparing to apologize, but the dragon’s crisp blue eyes darted down to his lips at that little motion, and his pupils dilated, nearly wiping out the blue to create this strange rainbow of black, blue, and sparkling gold. His eyes were mesmerizing.
And his lips still looked so kissable. He was just close enough that if North tipped his head up a couple of inches and maybe leaned up on his toes, he could brush his mouth across Warin’s. Would it be wrong to just steal a little taste of him? If he was going to be eaten for tugging on a dragon’s tail, didn’t he deserve a last meal? He could definitely make a meal out of this man’s mouth and still come back for seconds. Maybe even thirds.
Without thinking, North moved just a tiny bit closer, and the dragon’s breath hitched in his throat. His nostrils flared. But he didn’t move away.
“I think you can release him, Warin. Keep in mind, please, that he is a mage,” the other person muttered, breaking into their moment. Warin did not have to release him for any reason, but the dragon was already loosening his fingers from the front of North’s coat and taking a step backward.
“North?” a new, feminine voice broke in. “North? Are you okay?”
Rapidly blinking away all his errant thoughts about becoming permanently attached to the sexy dragon in front of him, North turned to find the dark-haired police officer he’d met earlier in the day marching toward him. She wasn’t in her uniform and orange coat any longer, but dressed in comfortable street clothes with an adorable pink-and-white knit hat on her head, complete with pink poof ball. But for all of her adorableness, the stern expression on her face showed she meant business.
“Oh! Hey, Didiane! Yep, everything is good here. I swear.”
Didiane slowed her pace a little, her expression becoming skeptical as her gaze darted from North to Warin to Warin’s companion. A few feet behind Didiane was a man in a dark coat carrying a little girl who couldn’t have been more than two or three years old. She wore a pink-and-white hat just like her mother.
“Are you sure?” she asked in a lower voice as she reached North’s side. Her hand came to rest on his arm as if she was preparing to pull him away from the dragon and shield him with her own slender frame.
“Oh, yeah. I swear. Everything is good. They were just helping me.”
“Warin Burkhard,” the dragon said with a stiff bow.
“Bon soir, madam. Gunter Burkhard, at your service,” the blond said. He also pressed his hand to his chest and gave the woman a courtly, shallow bow.
Didiane’s eyes widened at their behavior, and North had to admit even he was impressed. How old were these dragons?
“We’ve been looking for young North here for quite a bit,” Gunter continued. “We’ll be escorting him safely home.”