Hours later, when Jim stood outside our door and started singing at the top of its lungs in a very off-key voice in order to convince me to take it out for its morning walk, I looked up from where I was plastered against Drake's body.

"That was, hands down, the most erotic night of my life. I feel like I ran a marathon. My body is weak, my brain is numb, and my girl parts are still smoking. Is it going to be like this every time, or were you just starting things off with a bang, so to speak?"

The very edges of his lips curled. "You are mated to a dragon, kincsem. You will have a bang every night."

I glanced up to see if he meant the double entendre, but his eyes were closed.

His lips curled even more, though.

He meant it.

Chapter 13

"What do you mean, I could have a bun in the oven? Drake is a dragon! I'm a human! That's a cross-species thing!"

Jim sauntered over from where it had been watering a small laurel shrub, one eyebrow lifted in delicate scorn. "You were a human. Now you're a dragon's mate, signed, sealed, and spent-all-night-making-little-dragons."

I stared at the demon, my mind screaming in horror. I had nothing against kids per se, but I wasn't ready to have them yet. Not to mention that I wasn't sure I wanted to have them with Drake. Not only did he not seem terribly paternal, I wasn't ready to be mom to a dragon. "But— but—it's got to be physically impossible! Last month, when Drake and I... I asked him about condoms, and he said that pregnancy was impossible between us, and that he didn't have any nasty dragon or human diseases, and since I don't either, we ... No. You're wrong. You have to be wrong."

Jim shrugged, and sat to scratch behind its collar. "You agreed to be his mate last night. You swore fealty. He accepted you. That makes you officially a dragon's mate.

"You're immortal, no longer human. You're kind of human plus, if you get my drift."

"That doesn't mean that suddenly Drake has super sperm that can leap a building in a single bound."

The big demon stood up again and shook itself before nodding toward the front of the hotel. Rene had pulled up, right on time, and was standing chatting with Tiffany. I tied on its drool cloth and followed after it. "A discussion of Drake's swimmers is going well over the border into Too Much Information Land. Just how do you think dragons reproduce, anyway?"

"I assumed they mated with female dragons, and then, I don't know, the females laid eggs or something."

Jim shook its head, muttering something about getting with the times, but the damage had been done, I tried to remember just what Drake had said the first time we made love, but I couldn't recall the exact details. I made a mental note to question him about it before he laid claw on me again, then slapped a smile on my face to greet Rene and Tiffany.

"—and I said to him, 'Josef, you might be an oracle, but that doesn't mean you know everything. I was born to be a virgin. It is a very high calling, and a most important position. Where would all the witches and sorcerers be without blood of a virgin?' And do you know what he said to me? He said, 'I might not know everything, but I know enough to recognize an ice princess when I see one.' Wasn't that thoughtful of him? He thinks I am like a princess. One made of ice. I like ice. It is pretty and shines nicely. Good morning, Aisling. Good morning, demon. I was just telling Rene the lovely compliment I had this morning."

"Yes, we heard. Ice princess. That's really ... uh ... nice. Morning, Rene. Are you both ready to do a little hermit hunting?"

Rene opened the back door to the cab. Tiffany swept inside with a regal smile. "I am most anxious to help you, Aisling. I feel it in my bones that today we shall be triumphant." He squinted at me as I started toward the back of the car. "Something is different about you today, yes? You look ... how is it said, like the cat who has eaten all the milk? Have you done something? Something important?"

Jim barked a short laugh. I ignored the demon and tried to look a little less like a woman who had spent most of the night being pleasured to the very tips of her toe-nails and more like one who was professional, determined, and every inch reliable. "It's 'cat who's licked up all the cream,' and nothing has happened, nothing at all. Nothing important."

Rene tipped his head as he eyed me even more carefully. "There is something different, Aisling. I know I am not mistaken."

My hand went to the chains around my neck. Thus far Rene hadn't shown any signs of caving under the influence of the dratted amulet, but at last its magic had worked its way through his normally placid temperament. My heart sank. I was counting on Rene to help me, but if he started acting like all the other lovesick mortals, I'd have to keep away from him.

"Honestly, there's nothing. Now, if you're ready, we can head out to the first park. I figure if we split up, we'll cover more ground, so I cut up maps I bummed from the concierge. Each one of us will take a section of the park and search for the hermit. Then we'll rendezvous and report our progress."

Rene still wore a puzzled look as I got into the car, followed by Jim. The demon stepped on my foot while climbing over me to claim the window next to the jump seat.

"Whoops. Sorry, Mama."

"Stop it," I hissed, making mean eyes at Jim.

"What was that?" Rene asked, sliding behind the steering wheel.

"Nothing. Ignore Jim, It's just being a smart-ass."

"Better than being a dumb-ass," Jim intoned, its head out the window.

"But not as good as an ice princess," Tiffany pointed out, smiling at her reflection in the rearview mirror.

I heaved a mental sigh. It was going to be a long, long day.

We found the hermit shortly after noon, sharing a pond in the Budakeszi Wildlife Park with a couple of fallow deer. Jim had been fretting because I insisted on searching one last park before we had to call it quits and return to the hotel. I had two more apprentice interviews, and I'd promised Drake I would attend a clan function with him that evening. It was my first time to formally meet his dragons, and I was more than a little nervous about the whole thing.

"But this is a wildlife park," Jim protested, its furry lips curled as it glanced around the parking lot. I passed out maps to the park. "It's big. And I don't see any handy food stands."

"We'll search as much of it as we can now. If we can't cover the whole thing, we'll come back this afternoon, after we get something to eat and I meet with the Guardians," I promised. "Jim, you search the area surrounding the big-game enclosures and the wildlife feeding points. I doubt a hermit would be there, but we shouldn't overlook any potential hiding spot. Tiffany, if you could take the Z trail and check out the beech forest, that would be helpful. Rene, do you mind doing the open woodland? I think I can handle both the pine and the oak forests. We'll meet at the owl enclosure next to the main entrance in an hour, OK?"