“Ah, you’re with her?” The man pointed at me. “Sorry, man. Nice trick with the eyes though.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at Zav’s face as if they were bros, then walked to the coffee kiosk.
I pulled Zav back into his seat before he could contemplate incinerating anything on the man—or the man himself.
Willard was still watching all of this with her chin in her hand. Her eyes gleamed with amusement. That was because she didn’t know how irritated Zav got when men hit on me in his presence. And how dangerous an irritated dragon was.
“The males belonging to this verminous species are completely oblivious to my mark on you,” he stated, eyes still blazing.
“We’ve discussed this,” I said. “Humans can’t sense your magical claim on me.”
“You said we would acquire matching shirts with photographs of us together on the front, and this would inform the ignorant sense-dead of this race about our bond.”
“Oh, I’d pay to see that.” Willard snickered. Colonel tough-as-nails Willard never snickered, but her eyes were twinkling madly with delight now.
I glared at her. “That was a joke, Zav. I mean, if you want, we could get shirts like that, but I’m not wearing it every day.”
The ogre and troll villains I confronted in my duties as an assassin would fall over laughing if I showed up to their lairs in a shirt like that.
“There must be a way to mark you for them.” Zav glared at the man, who glanced back and winked at him.
Motorcycle Dude had a death wish and didn’t even realize it.
“You have to put a ring on her,” Willard said.
I shook my head and waved, trying to signal to her not to go down that road. I wasn’t ready to marry Zav. We’d only been dating for a couple of months, and he wasn’t even from Earth. How could a marriage with an extraterrestrial be legal?
“A ring?” Zav asked. “Finger jewelry?”
“Yup. An engagement ring.” Willard smiled, looking at me but completely ignoring my imploring waves for her to drop the subject. “If you propose to her, and she says yes, you can get married in the human way. Then her ring would let others know that she’s claimed.”
“This is an excellent idea.”
“You’d have to wear a ring too,” Willard said, “so available women also know that you’re claimed. You would be monogamous with Val, right? I don’t want to push for this if dragons sleep around.”
Zav’s brow furrowed as he worked through what sleep around meant. “I have no need for another female. Val goes into battle with me and vexes my enemies. She is an excellent mate.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
I lifted my hands. “Guys, could we change the subject back to our enemies and dealing with them? I’m not ready to get married.”
“You’re getting up there in years, Val,” Willard said. “You can’t be too picky or wait too long.”
I shot her the dirty look that deserved. “You’re single and older than me. You don’t get to talk.”
“Dragons do not typically wear jewelry.” Zav looked at his hands. “But I could make an exception when I am in this form. Yes, I will get two rings, and we will wed.” He shifted his gaze to me and grasped my hands, nodding intently.
“The girl gets a say in this, Zav. Marriage is forever, or at least as long as we’re both alive.” I decided not to explain divorce to him. Divorcing an extraterrestrial was probably as hard as legally marrying one. “We should spend more time together before taking that next step.”
Especially given that he would live for centuries. Supposedly, my half-elven blood would allow me to live longer than the average human, but I had no delusions about living as long as a dragon. Given my dangerous job and my propensity for getting into trouble, the odds of seeing my next birthday weren’t even that good.
“I please you, and we are excellent in battle together,” Zav said. “There is no need to spend more time together. I have already claimed you as my mate. You are my mate, and I am your dragon. You have agreed to this.”
I rubbed the back of my head and hoped the coffee drinkers at nearby tables weren’t paying attention to this conversation. At least Motorcycle Dude had turned around to place his order.
“You are my dragon,” I said, glancing at Willard and not appreciating her smirk. This had gotten serious, and I didn’t want to continue the conversation in public. “Let’s talk about it later, all right?”
“I am a powerful protector, among the greatest warriors of my kind,” Zav said. “You would be foolish to wish another dragon as your mate.”
“Oh, I know that.”
“I also please you in the nest.”
“I know that too.”
“Is that dragon slang for the bedroom?” Willard asked. “Or is there an actual nest? I know he remodeled your house for you…”
“Don’t you have a meeting?” I asked her.
She glanced at her phone. “I do. I’ll let you know what I find out about the fae.” She stood up but addressed Zav again before leaving. “Make sure you get the proposal right. That’s the most important part. The ring needs to be perfect, and the proposal needs to be perfect. If you sweep her off her feet, she’ll be yours forever.”
“Stop giving him advice.” I waved her toward the door. I was tempted to bodily push her out it.
“Don’t forget my invitation, Thorvald.” Willard smirked again and headed out but not without calling back, “I do enjoy a good wedding.”
Zav looked far too contemplative.
6
Chopper lay on the magical anvil in the basement—a leftover artifact from the vampire smith who’d lived in the house before Zoltan had traded places with him—and Zoltan paced around it, his hands clasped behind his back. He wore a pinstripe suit with a red bow tie, stylish as always, though as far as I knew, he only left the house in the depths of the night to find promising veins. I pretended that didn’t happen. So far, he’d left my veins alone.
“I sensed it yesterday like a lighthouse on a stormy night when you were still many miles from Seattle,” Zoltan said.
“I know.” I flexed my bandaged hand, intending to ask him if he had any alchemical creams that might help it. But the sword was my priority. “Everybody is telling me about that.”
While Zoltan examined the blade, I dumped a couple of recently acquired Theo’s apple-cider caramels out of a narrow box and into my hand. They were seasonal, so I had to stock up every fall. I’d stashed a couple dozen boxes in my bedroom, trusting that Zav, even though he did occasionally snoop around and examine my curious human belongings, wouldn’t be interested in them. Dimitri was another story, but he didn’t go in my bedroom, so they were safe there.
I popped one in my mouth and noshed the chewy chocolatey caramel goodness with delight. Given the way this week had started, and the throbbing pain in my hand, I needed some delight.
Val, Zav spoke into my mind from the dining room upstairs. I’d left him gnawing on several racks of ribs fresh out of the commercial smoker that I’d purchased—a kitchen item I never would have expected to need, but that had been before I started dating a dragon. I sense that a portal has opened in the park nearby.