“It’s early for dinner,” she said.
“It’s my only meal today so we can call it late lunch,” Wrath replied as he set the table.
He figured she was torn between wanting to stay and wanting to escape. He knew which side would win. She’d try it tonight when she thought he was sleeping.
~
There was no way in hell she was going to escape so Jess decided to just go with it. She knew when she was outmatched. It’s not like she’d want a dragon or a hoard of basilisks hunting her. No, if she was going to get out, it would have to be with Wrath’s cooperation and that was that.
Plus, the whole dragon thing was cool. When she left, she’d probably never see one again.
When he’d slipped her phone out of her pocket, she’d briefly thought of seducing him to get away. He seemed to like touching her, but she was no seductress. Plus, it would be like rewarding bad behavior. It’s not nice to hold people prisoner, he shouldn’t get laid for doing it no matter how hot he was.
“Someone should go get my rental car and take it back to Avis,” Jess said as she loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. “Otherwise, people might wonder what my car is doing in the parking lot in the morning. Then they’d call the police. As much as I’m curious to see a dragon fight the police, I don’t think it would be fair to them.”
Wrath looked at her with obvious suspicion. “Yeah, I’ll get one of the guys to do it. Keys are in your purse?”
“Yeah. You can get them if you want. There’s nothing in there but a little make-up and some tampons.”
Wrath disappeared into the living room while Jess finished the dishes and washed her hands.
“Hey,” Jess said. “If you bite me, do I turn into a dragon?”
“No, that’s werewolves,” Wrath replied.
She dried her hands and went into the living room. Her purse looked untouched, but the rental car keys were in his hand. She wondered where he’d put her phone.
“Werewolves are real?” she asked.
“Yeah. They’re cursed and they can pass the curse on to others. There are also wolf shifters. Like other shifters, they can’t turn a human. Thing is, they started interbreeding with werewolves, so most wolf shifters are also werewolves. The remaining wolf shifters have adopted the term werewolf. It used to be a slur to them, but they realized fighting it was pointless. Now they own it.”
The front door opened, Wrath tossed the keys toward the large man in the doorway, and the man walked out, closing the door behind him. She was fascinated by the wordless exchange. The guy didn’t even get a thank you from Wrath.
Then again, who was she to judge dragon/basilisk culture? It was disorientating to realize that Wrath was the forefather to an entire race. Here she was lusting after him like he was a man her age.
“How old are you exactly?” she asked as she sat down.
“I don’t know exactly. I was born during the reign of Naram-Sin. So, I’m around four thousand fifty, give or take.”
It was clear now that her crush on him was silly. She was an infant to him. Then again, who wasn’t? Maybe there were others as old as him, but there couldn’t be many. He’d have to be used to being with younger women by now.
Whatever. She’d already decided not to sleep with him.
She wished she could talk to Drake. A third party with some idea of what was going on would be nice. Then again, he wasn’t an unbiased third party.
Maybe she just needed time to think. That would work.
“Could someone get some of my stuff from my apartment?” Jess asked, hoping Wrath would volunteer out of a desire to investigate her further. If he left, she’d get a chance to be alone. He’d be disappointed in what he found, though. It’s not like she kept a diary and she’d only brought her work laptop.
“Sure, I’ll send someone,” Wrath said, pulling out his phone.
Well, that didn’t work.
“I’m going to take a walk,” Jess said, getting up.
“Don’t stray too far. You never know what might be in these woods.”
Chapter 11
She was either going to try to escape now or possibly plan her escape. Either way, Wrath sent a text to let his people know to keep an eye on her.
Wrath only realized after she left that he didn’t know where she was staying. Her ID had her address in Austin. He was off his game. Without his stupid dragon chiming in all the time, he had to think like a human. It was still there—he could feel it. It was just unable to speak for some reason. At least, it refused to say anything about Jess. It had commented on the steaks, it approved.
If his dragon hadn’t already been broken, declaring every attractive woman his mate, Wrath might think Jess had put a spell on him. Though, that would be unlikely. Dragons were immune to all but the most powerful magic. Jess didn’t have the acrid scent of strong magic on her.
Without his dragon to give him a sense of what he should do about Jess, he felt restless. On impulse, he got up and headed out of the house. She’d only been gone for a couple of minutes. He could easily track her scent.
She wasn’t in any danger. His people knew she was on the property and they’d hear her coming before she stumbled into any sparring matches. Other shifters knew the territory boundaries and respected them, for the most part. Some werewolf pups liked to get a little too close. It was like a rite of passage to be chased off by a basilisk.
With an inhale through his mouth, allowing him to taste her scent like a lizard with his reptilian Jacobson’s organ, he found that she’d
