complete outside the studio. There was still another batch being annealed, but he was worn out. He photographed everything, stored the images in the cloud and sent the link to Quinn, hoping he might inspire the Smith to try something new.
Then Hadrian yawned, feeling exhausted to his marrow.
That was the moment of weakness his mate awaited.
What if he pretended to be asleep? If she struck immediately, he might have a chance to fight back. If he could lure her closer while he was awake, he might survive to surprise her again.
It was past midnight and Hadrian knew that both Alasdair and Balthasar were asleep already. He could hear the steady echo of their breathing in the lair. He considered the studio and made a few changes. He cleared more space, so he could shift if he needed to do so. He let the fire in the forge die down until the coals emitted just a faint glow. The forge had been hot for so long that it continued to radiate a welcome heat and would do so for a while.
He could feel the silence of the forest that surrounded his home and the faint trickle of the river. He was sure he could feel his mate watching, too.
He placed her knife on a table in front of the forge. It glinted there, the only thing on the table and the only thing reflecting the firelight, and Hadrian hoped it provided a distraction. It was a lure and he hoped she went for it.
Then he pulled up a chair that he loved and sank into it with a sigh. The Arts & Crafts armchair was made of oak, with broad armrests and leather upholstery on the seat and back. He liked the patina on the wood and how smooth it felt beneath his hands. There was a second one in his lair that was a rocking chair.
Hadrian leaned back and closed his eyes so that they were just slits. He was facing the table with the knife and felt the forge’s heat wash over him. He slowed his pulse and his breathing, almost entering a meditative state, but still remaining alert and watchful. He’d been taught by Alasdair’s father, Boreus, to do this. It was a means of conserving energy while guarding a prize. Boreus had called it ‘banking the fire’ and Hadrian had always been good at it. The idea was to become as still as possible but always be ready to strike.
The challenge when he was so tired was to keep from dozing off. Hadrian hoped his mate was decisive and arrived soon.
They were all asleep.
Rania listened and when she was certain that the Pyr were out cold, she manifested inside Hadrian’s studio.
In the blink of an eye, she surveyed the entire space, verifying her assumptions. Hadrian was alone and asleep in a chair, facing the forge, his feet up on a table. His breathing was deep and regular, and there was no tension in his body at all. Rania was good at assessing such things and most creatures did a poor job of hiding or controlling their bodies’ rhythms.
Convinced that Hadrian wasn’t going to trick her this time, Rania relaxed slightly.
She guessed that he hadn’t slept in a while to have crashed so hard. He hadn’t even noticed that the white light of the firestorm burned brighter with her proximity. She glanced over his workshop, intending to choose a weapon from among his tools just for irony, and spotted her knife.
The bichuwa was on the table beside his feet. She stared at it, immediately distrusting that it was so readily available.
But Hadrian was a blacksmith. It would make sense for him to have an interest in weapons. Maybe he had been studying it before he dozed off. There was a pair of gloves on the anvil near the forge, and something shone beneath them. There must have been a blade there, but Rania reached for her own bichuwa.
She couldn’t deny the temptation of following her original plan.
It was only after she took a step toward the dagger that she realized her mistake. She’d turned her back on Hadrian. In the instant that she could have corrected her pose, the shimmer of blue light warned her that he was shifting shape.
He’d never been asleep at all.
She snatched for the bichuwa, but a dragon claw roared past her and closed over it first. She spun to find Hadrian filling the studio in his glorious dragon form. His scales shone emerald