Her lips pursed a little as she made another note on her notepad. I resisted the urge to crane my neck to see what it was she was writing. "I see. And yet, despite this, you did spend the night with him?"

I bristled. Just a little bit. "I realize you have to ask all sorts of personal questions about me in order to judge compatibility and all that, but I draw the line at discussing my personal relationships. Since you don't know me well enough to know that Drake is not a factor in my life, I'll make an exception this once. Yes, I spent the night in Drake's bed, but nothing happened there, nothing mateish, nothing intimate. We're just acquaintances, Drake and I. That's all."

"I wouldn't say that," a smooth, silky voice spoke behind me mere nanoseconds before warm fingers caressed the back of my bare neck. Drake pulled out the chair next to me and sat down, his movements smoothly elegant, hinting of controlled power. His fingers remained clasped around the back'of my neck, stirring little wisps of heat that streaked through me, touching off any number of banked fires. "Surely mere acquaintances do not fall asleep clasped in each other's arms?"

I shrugged his hand off my neck, giving him a good glare. How dare he come along and mess up my chances with Nora? "You know full well I was so tired and groggy I fell asleep a few minutes after that last incubus left. That's what you said this morning—that and that slanderous bit about me snoring, which is so patently untrue, I laugh at it. Ha ha."

"You did snore," he said mendaciously, cocking an eyebrow at Zaccheo. The waiter came running, giving me plaintive looks before Drake gave him an order for a Bloody Mary and sent him on his way.

"I am not the one who left scorch marks on the sheets," I pointed out. then quickly explained when Nora's eyebrows rose in shock again. "Unlike silent me, Drake does snore, and things tend to get a little fiery. Trust me—you never want to sleep facing him, or you'll end up with your eyebrows singed."

"Thank you for that advice," Nora said, her voice choked. My heart fell at the sound of it. Clearly she was marking me off the list of apprentice candidates.

Damn Drake and his manly-lipped blabbermouth!

"The only time I breathe fire when I sleep is when my mate is with me," the annoying man said, giving me a sultry look. I thinned my lips at him before I remembered that Nora was watching. I turned a smile on her—not that it would do me any good. My first full day at the conference, and already I had run through five—no six, counting Moa—potential mentors. At the rate I was going, I'd be through all of the attending Guardians before the final awards ceremony.

"I'm sure you have some questions for me. That is, assuming you're willing to overlook certain aspects of my life that would seem to prohibit a serious apprenticeship." I gave the certain aspect in question a quelling look. He simmered at me.

"Actually"—Nora eyed Drake in a thoughtful manner—"I don't think you being a wyvern's mate is prohibitive at all."

I almost choked on the piece of ice I was crunching. "You don’t? But all the other Guardians—Nora. I'll be frank. The other Guardians all more or less washed their respective hands of me the minute they learned about Drake." I cast a glance at him. "Not that there's anything going on there to be worried about."

"Do you challenge me, mate?" he asked, not touching me with anything but his gaze, but oh, baby, that was enough. I shivered under the heated look he was giving me and dragged my reluctant eyes to Nora. "You have not yet paid the price for failing your last challenge."

I ignored Drake. Sometimes it helped. Usually it didn't.

"I believe you must be an extraordinary woman to be a Guardian, a wyvern's mate, and a demon lord," Nora said briskly, putting her notepad in her case and standing up.

"What?" I blinked at her stupidly for a moment, then stood as well, shaking the hand she offered me. "Wait a second. I'm confused. You don't think the whole mate thing is an issue, but you're leaving? We're not going to have an interview? Don't you want me to fill out an application form like the other Guardians?"

"No," she said, turning to give her hand to Drake. He rose in a graceful movement, soberly taking her hand.

"Aisling is indeed a woman of many talents," he said, "but her priority lies with my sept. She is and will always be my mate. Because of that, I do not approve her seeking to apprentice herself to another."

"Hey!" I said, startled and angry at the same time. How dare he!

"I understand," Nora said. That's all. She just said she understood, and she walked away.

Fury like nothing I'd known since—well, since the last time Drake annoyed me—rose with its brothers irritation and vengeance.

Mindful of the audience of other conference attendees who were taking their midmorning break on the verandah, I didn't light into him right then and there. No, I reminded myself that I was a professional amongst my peers, or people I hoped would be my peers once I had the appropriate training, and professionals do not create scenes in public.

"You are so going to get it when no one can see me rip a strip off you," I hissed, grabbing my purse and conference program from the table.

"Have I told you how arousing I find it when you threaten me?"

I kept my voice low and as mean as I could make it. "Then you're going to love the descriptions of how I'm going to decapitate you if you ever again embarrass me that way. You do not approve me seeking a mentor, Drake? Just who the devil do you think you are? I told you last month that I wasn't going to be your mate. You let me walk away without a single word of protest, if you recall So don't give me this domineering crap now, because I'm not going to stand for it."

He grabbed my arm as I pushed my way past him, swinging me around to face him. His hand on my bare arm sent little frissons of heat throughout my body, frissons I steadfastly ignored. I had made my choice, and by god, I was going to stick to it, no matter how much his gorgeous green eyes seemed to sear my soul.

"I did not explain the situation to you last night because you were exhausted and needed sleep, and you slipped away this morning before I could inform you of your duties, but if you insist on having the discussion in public, I will oblige you. I allowed you to leave last month because you were still confused about your new role."