A moment of clarity directed Asena to the path of least resistance. "How about you call on me again to explore whatever this is? You don't have to pay either."

Prince Drach Nassau's lips thinned. "Much obliged," he muttered and enveloped her smaller hand in his. "I'd like us to be exclusive. It is no secret I find you inordinately attractive." A puff of smoke accompanied his huff. "Visit to my lair, my lady. Stay there instead while you decide our fate," he repeated, very much a broken record.

"I'll think about it." Hadn't she already told him so?

"Least allow me to pay off your contract. In no uncertain terms, by no means or form, it implies you're beholden to me. You're free to choose..."

"I can do so myself." She raised her wrist.

He observed her thick bangle and scowled when he understood what it implied.

'So this is what mates do?' Moggie pondered.

Male alphas and betas were said to be overtly possessive and controlling spouses. She'd speculated if it was insecurity, distrust, or just superiority. The attitude towards females had gotten a lot worse during the Revolution, followed by the Great War, and the Exodus because of their dwindling numbers. In Europa, that archaic sexism was the norm.

The Prince's nails pressed into her flesh. "You don't hanker for wealth, advantageous alliance, or favors for your birth pack. Nor are you ambitious. So, what is it you seek, my lady?"

He kept pushing and pushing. Asena had enough. "Stop calling me that. I am no lady, by any measure." His weird diction, best left within the pages of Regency novels, irked her.

When she sidestepped his looming presence, he moved to bar her way to the exit.

"I'd appreciate a straightforward answer, Asena." The edge in his guttural voice reminded her why Zane feared offending a royal. One of the most influential, and formidable shifters in Europa had her alone and cornered, and he presumed to know what was best for her.

'Freeze not working. He's a dog with a bone. Flee and fight are not a possibility. So what's left?'

Except Asena did not fawn. She never had. Wouldn't start now. But she'd never met someone like him before either.

Frustrated, she threw her arms up. "I'm after stupid, crazy love. The mythical version that sustains the soul, outlasts the living realm and sees past the veil of death. Defies reason. It threatens to swallow all you were, yet you dive in and drown. So powerful it destroys who you were... it is my destiny. Maybe it exists. Maybe it doesn't. I didn't find it back home; maybe it's here. Maybe not. Could be a male or a cause. I'll know when it finds me." Her chest rose and fell and her cheeks burned. All she said was ridiculous but conformed to the passionate declarations in love stories.

'If human movies are to be trusted.'

The Prince's scowl deepened. "So you've said before. I must pontificate. You're a terrible liar, but some of that is true. You're a seeker."

Some of it was the truth. Two long years she was torn between self-preservation and the sheer stupidity of her decisions. She'd hurt Papa, risked her life, and ruined her career... all because she loved Vic. In her gut, she knew her sister was in trouble, and nothing except a word from her would change Asena's mind.

"I've upset you." He sighed. "I confess I'm overwhelmed by your company and making many a faux pas."

He placed his hands on her waist to pull her closer. His irises turned red again as he bent. Without realizing it she stood on her toes and clenched his shoulders to steady herself. He was so tall. Her lips parted as his warm breath, perfumed by a hint of mint, fanned her face.

Asena shut her eyes as he cupped her face. She'd always trusted Moggie's instincts, but for the first time resented her beast's intuitions. The Prince fascinated her. Though her lack of experience shouted dire warnings, she longed for him to just kiss her... to know how it would've felt.

Moggie's aggrieved wails broke the spell.

As she turned her head away, his lips brushed her jaw.

Undeterred, he nuzzled her while emitting a vibrating purr. "Even if you're scared of the hearsay, you cannot deny mutual attraction. I cannot wait for the pleasure of proving that all your misgivings are unfounded. Allow Attor to meet Moggie. It's but fair they—"

A beep interrupted him. He pulled out a sleek touchscreen phone from his pocket and clicked his tongue.

Asena rested her forehead against his chest, which was radiating warmth. While she struggled to catch her runaway breath, she also grappled with disappointment. They'd almost kissed...

'You are an idiot,' Moggie yowled. 'Get it together. Ogle to your heart's content, but no touchy touchy.'

The doors cracked open and a guard with a masked face stepped in. "My Prince." He stood by the arched doors with his head hung.

Drach responded with a curt grunt.

Asena wriggled out of his hold but his grip on her lower back tightened before he released her. "Stay a while longer. Watch the moon up close with me?"

"It's dark? Already?" She peeked out of the transparent glass walls. Dusk had fallen.

"Time flew, didn't it?" He chuckled.

"How can you afford to maintain all this?" Asena feigned ignorance. If she acted materialistic, it might deter him from reiterating that invitation.

'As if,' Moggie grumbled. 'He might fancy that, you know. After all, he's loaded and you're invaluable to his dragon, my precious.'

Asena snickered at the ridiculousness of that rare backhand compliment from her beast.

The Prince shrugged. "This and that. Calek, my brother, is next in line, but he refused to shoulder our commitments at court. So, I have to travel once every six months but prefer the remote cordilleras. It's peaceful and it has everything we need there. The location allows Attor the cloud cover to fly without constraints."

To her, he'd described a prison.

It also didn't explain how the dragons dodged scrutiny from high above. The rags—tabloids or sites—had printed the photos humans accidentally took of shapeshifters but not of dragons. Cameras and cell phones were a bane. At home, they had an entire division dedicated to erasing all traces from the internet and debunking sightings.

The Third Eye, her baby, fooled all aerial and atmospheric satellites and space stations. Her second born, Wall-E, cleared the path of any object that might disrupt the mirroring illusion called Odin's staffs that hid the Shifter settlements from humans. With satellite imagery and drones documenting every inch of the earth, they had to outsmart human tech. The USCA, America's governing body of Shifter affairs, had sponsored Wilford's work. The father of the modern shifter age, he had changed the game and given them an edge.

Rumors persisted that the powers that be had shared his cloaking technology with Europa and or leased it. The High Council repudiated such hearsay. Even selling life-saving medical supplies at an exorbitant price to Europa had been controversial. Few shared Oppenheimer's belief of 'uniti stamus divisi cadimus'. An alliance with Europa was a pipe dream, and if the royals didn't believe all shifters were equal, and had to stand united, a majority of her kind in the Americas did not wish to extend a helping hand to their greatest enemy.

Based on what Drach Nassau shared with her, Europa lived under the protection of both Odin's staffs and Hecate's veil. There was no other possible explanation for dragons flying. They weren't exactly tiny creatures.

"It occurred to me that I failed to inquire of your plans. Do you aspire to educate yourself or learn a profession? Or do you have a dream you'd like to pursue?" the Prince asked.

A perfect companion would be interested in that. Except what he offered had never been her life goal. Also, he was a foe, not a friend.

"I'm not sure yet." Except she had been sure about mastering intuitive AI before Vic disappeared.

His scent soured as anxiety flooded his veins with cortisol. "I learned that bitter lesson during my exile. Life is cruel, it knows no rhyme or reason, and is merciless. In such a world, dangerous people—"

She didn't ask what he'd endured that turned him this cynical.

"You are lucky to have escaped a host of potentially ruinous situations so far. I smell your fear. You've suffered. Let me protect you."

Even a noob like her accepted honesty was the foundation of healthy relationships, along with respecting boundaries. She had a different agenda, one he wouldn't care for, not if he uncovered her real identity and purpose. The added complication of a royal inspecting a cover story, that too the gem of Félix Ashkenazic Saxe-Coburg's court of inequity and excess could derail her plans.

"I've been at the mercy of strangers in strange places. It's a crime if this experience destroys your naïve idealism," he said with a bite of impatience.

'That train left the station two years ago,' Moggie chuffed.

"I will take it slow, more so because we are meant to be." He seemed rather certain as he plucked a daylily and slid its stalk behind her ear with a rueful smile. "Come with me," he whispered.

"Didn't you promise to show me Kamaria? Selene? Or whatever the blue bloods call her," she asked, to divert him from his single-point objective. She was not going to his unknown lair. She needed access to records or a sympathetic party who'd assist her in locating Victoria. Then she had to hack into a secure uplink to execute her exit strategy, with Vic if need be.

The Prince obliged. In the atrium, he tinkered with the settings of the telescope to focus on the Aitken basin. Asena pretended to fiddle with the aperture to admire the stars, namely the Ursa Minor. Next to it, she recognized a pattern of twinkles. The eye of Horus was orbiting this quadrant. She'd worked on the coding for its signal to mimic an astronomical satellite, masking their bid to spy on Europa. It intercepted and recorded all transmissions, from ham radios to satellite calls, and everything in the middle. What the agency did with the data it collected didn't concern her.

With the Prince hovering, she didn't get an opportunity to reach the fiber optical line. Also, it was too early in the game to use her secret weapon.

"For eons, most claimed the Draconis arrived from Luna."

The layout of the mountains, valleys, and basins did resemble a winged dragon from an angle on a full moon night.

"What is true of our kind is that our beasts sense their fated mate. It is destined we chance upon our twin flames, and our devotion burns eternal. Due to various reasons, we chose suitable and available partners, which led to our downfall. Attor and I are of one mind. We belong together. I just know it."

If she was honest, his earnest statement tempted her to see how this panned out.

'With us trapped in Europa until he gets over his infatuation. And if he doesn't?'

They represented extremes pitted against each other. Despite the uneasy truce, the Old and New World would eventually clash. If she succumbed to his charms, she would betray everything that made her who she was. She'd lose Papa, and have to abandon Vic. Even Prince Drach Nassau wasn't worth losing her family or betraying her people.

"I wish you'd share what you're thinking." With his arms crossed across his chest, he rocked on his heels. "We've chosen. All I've inferred from your guarded expressions and contemplative silences is that our certainty scares you."

"I am not expectational and will disappoint—" She tried, but he wasn't having any of it.

"You haven't, and the moments you were yourself, you're a joy to be around. A vexing joy, but a joy nevertheless."

She stretched her swollen lips into a small, sad smile. "What if I asked you to give up everything you've built, everything you are, and your title, for me?" These were unfair terms, and she predicted his reply.

The Prince mulled over her hypocritical question. "No, I wouldn't, but I would love to hear you illustrate why you'd make such inane stipulations?"

His stance forced his huge biceps against his shirt's sleeves. She might not encircle them with her hands. She pouted. If only he weren't a royal.

"It's the willingness to do... and you lie. You expect me to do so, so why wouldn't I? Isn't that what your people call fairplay..."

Her argument irked him. He glowered. "I am not a sentimental creature, Asena." The way he enunciated her name sent a shiver up her spine. With his clipped accent, he overstressed the 'a's, not the e, but she liked it and didn't correct him. "To prove my intentions, here is a token of affection." He opened a slim blue velvet box to reveal an obsidian stone on a gold chain.

The facets showcased multicolored spots and swirls. She'd seen nothing like that rectangular gemstone. The only way she could describe it, it encapsulated a Milky Way.

"It is from a meteorite, the heart of a dying star. Carbon dating indicates it is from the whereabouts of sixty-five million years."

Asena's fingers trembled as she rubbed the crystal. The timeline put it at the flag end of the Cretaceous Period. He claimed it was a remnant of the extinction-level event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

"It's... no." This was a piece of history, and priceless; accepting it would be wrong.

"Asena Sahel, I would pay a million bullion coins, this instance, to emancipate you from any obligations to Eros. Yet you're adamant about refusing my gifts. You wound me."

"I didn't get you anything. Next time..." There wouldn't be a next time.

"Ah, you're indulging me. Your presence is reward enough." He helped her down the steps and led her to the tropical greenhouse.

All reminders of the meal but the candles and furniture had been cleared. On the table lay a glass dome with a succulent within.

"This is Welwitschia Mirabilis sapling. It lives forever, well, up to two thousand years. We call it dragon wings. It also repels humans by causing dizziness and disorientation, but doesn't affect shifters. This is also a reminder of our first rendezvous and symbolic of my intent towards you."

The curling leaves formed an eternal flower. His selecting this particular plant melted her heart. "And you say you're not sentimental?" she pointed out.

'Oie, stop flirting!' Maggie yelled.

The Prince's cheeks and nose flushed pink as he rested his forehead against her. His breath, with the lingering aftermath of alcohol and mint, waylaid her. Or was it pheromones?

She was caught in a tug of war. He drew her towards him, yet Moggie dragged her in the other direction.

"You drive me to distraction so much so I am neglecting practical matters," he groused. "You need innoculations. Do you know fewer shifters have survived rabies than men have walked on the lunar surface?" He straightened to study her upper arm. He frowned when he noticed the two tiny bumps. "You're inoculated?"

She wasn't sure if he was shocked or surprised.

"Yes. Papa told me..." Her sleeveless shirt displayed the proof. She couldn't justify how her father had afforded or found vaccines in the savannas.

He stilled and his nostrils flared as if he spied on her deceptions. Red dominated his gaze again. "You'll need annual boosters. My physician will administer them." Yet again, he decided for her and assumed she'd play along.

"Do dragons—"

"No, we are immune," he said. His phone beeped. He closed his eyes and hissed, "Is it too forward to insist you accompany me to my home today?"

"Yup." Her response came out as a nervous chirp. He demanded too much, too soon.

"So it's true—it takes work to befriend a cat. I welcome the challenge. My pledges have fallen short. Henceforth, my actions will have to do the talking." He pecked her bruised temple. "Until our paths cross again, my lady."

'Uh...uh, nah,' Moggie replied within Asena's head.

He was not just handsome, but beautiful despite his hyper-masculinity. Asena avoided large predators; he was the largest. Yet he affected her though Moggie's initial fascination had withered away. But then, her beast was an independent loner and a bit snooty. It was a 'cats be catty' thing.

He lifted her hands to peck her knuckles. "Farewell, for now, meum dulcis felis."

She wondered if he'd called her a cat or a thief.

"Thank you for dinner and the tour." She'd been told to drop a curtsy, but on principle, she did not bow to anyone. So she nodded.

"You played with your food; have been petrified, and glanced more at the doorway than me." Why wouldn't she when he towered over her, still barring her way out?

She squawked when he hoisted her up. When he set her down on the platform, they were at the same height.

"Look at me." His rumbling command was more of a growl.

She scooted back, but he gripped her thighs.

"Why won't you look at me?" When she did, he said, "I insist."

She didn't understand why he wrapped his hands around her throat until he'd clasped the chain around her neck. He flipped the pendant. The casing graced an engraving. "That is my sigil. You shall wear it. If you sense danger or are threatened, find the gray coats or sentinels. This opens doors and grants the wearer my protection."

His index finger traced her pulsing vein along her nape. Though his high-handedness offended her, he managed to seduce her.

When she shuddered, he grinned. "You sense it in your bones too. It's visceral, this attraction..." He held her palm against the center of his ribcage. "The heart always knows."

His thundering heartbeat and racing heart filled her ears. She fiddled with his mother-of-pearl buttons, imagining what lay under the fine fabric.

His heated flesh, though sheathed by the waistcoat and shirt, reminded her of a fireplace in the dead of winter. 

Moggie wailed, 'snap out of it. You're encouraging him. Think of Vic.'

That was a splash of cold water. Asena scrambled away from him.

"On, no, you don't—" His snarl reverberated to her very core. He grabbed her hair in a fist to bare her throat even as he yanked closer until she was plastered against his hard, unyielding torso.

The insanity in his glowing red eyes, sans any whites, warned her of what happened when he was denied. He was too good-looking, too influential, too wealthy, and too uncompromising. With him, it was all or nothing. And he took whatever he desired... though his illogical infatuation confused her.

His fangs bulged through his flesh when he captured her lips.

She gasped.

Their breaths mingled and hearts sprinted in tandem. The fervent pressure of his mouth spoke a language... of unspoken hunger; a yearning. His greedy tongue absorbed her essence. Weak, helpless, and willing, she slumped against him. His arms crushed her; her scalp ached, yet she didn't know how to respond to the intense passion or the magnetic raw emotion he evoked.

His soft and hot lips changed their tune to gentle caresses until he broke away to murmur, "Do you still dare to refute the bond, Asena?"

A strange sensation caught her attention. Her grasping hand bunched his shirt over his shoulder. The pristine cloth turned black and crumbled. Fiery particles flickered as they consumed the woven strands of cotton. "You're on fire!" The husky, breathless utterance couldn't be hers...

The Prince patted the sizzling sparks.

"That is a problem. I'm not fireproof," she said absent-mindedly. Her brain felt it'd been short-circuited; the boards were fried, so to speak. Tingles ignited her nerve endings. Current raced through her...head to toe.

'Sean, we gotta high tail outta here while we can.'

Asena pushed him away and almost screamed. He sizzled, and his mere touch singed her.

The Prince took her blistered finger; and licked the perforated skin. Despite the pain, there was something sexy about his lips around her—

Moggie meowed her outrage.

Asena yanked her limb back, hopped off the dias, and landed on all fours before straightening. "Okay, bye. Been a hoot," she squeaked and marched to the arched entrance on trembling knees. Beyond lay the courtyard, and open skies, and a chance of freedom.

Drach Nassau didn't follow her.

Unsure if she was relieved or disappointed, she sulked. A niggling feeling told her he was watching. Against her will and all reason, she turned.

He stood, framed by the massive doors, like some Adonis who should grace the silver screen. And his gaze was fixed on her.

She waved as she studied him for the last time.

He managed an awkward hand gesture before he banged his fist on his heart and tilted his head. As the door closed, removing him from her side, she could finally breathe.

'What the fuck just happened?' Moggie yelped.

She had no clue, but sure wanted to taste him once again.

'You need to get laid, that's all.' Her beast hissed. 'If we went with him, we'd end up shackled to a bedpost or—'

Asena giggled at the image that her beast's comment summoned. Part of her fancied discovering what that entailed; the other part of her, namely Moggie, screamed at her to run hills.

'We need to get far, far away; the farther the safer. To another continent with an ocean or two between them and us,' Moggie mewled.

The memories of her normal, boring old life grounded her. She had no business consorting with overbearing males who belonged to the Dark Ages. She came from the future, where overdramatic obsessive princes were labeled stalkers.

With every step, his scent faded and the thrall he cast over her weakened, freeing her from the effect he had on her. Her mind rebooted; sanity was restored. She licked her swollen lips and exhaled heavily.

Despite all her rationale, regret soured her mood. In another time, at a neutral location, if they were other people, whatever this was might've stood a chance.

'Hormones! Well, hence proven you ain't asexual. I suspected—'

Asena groaned. Moggie would never let her live this embarrassing encounter down. Ever.

'You said it! Now onwards and forward, towards finding an admirer with a half-decent computer. An internet connection. Or a social life. That's all you need.'

But what about what she wanted?

'I know you, Asena. He is not right for you.' Moggie almost sounded like Papa. He would concur. 

So why did that fact sadden her so?

Latin: uniti stamus divisi cadimus.

Translation: Thou shall not kill your own kind.

Phew ! This was a long scene. I'm glad it's over.  So did Drach make an impression on you too?