‘‘More,’’ I murmured, my hands in his hair, tugging on the dreadlocks. I was dimly aware that I was behaving in a manner wholly at odds with my normally unemotional self, but there was something about him that seemed to release all the inhibitions I usually held.

That thought scared me to my toenails.

Dragon fire whipped around me, spiraling up from my toes to my waist as Gabriel kissed me with a thoroughness that left no secrets undiscovered. I was shocked at the depths of my desire for him, a man I’d just met. I couldn’t hide from the fact that I wanted him, all of him, with a hunger that left me weak with sudden need. I moaned into his mouth as his fingers dug into my hips, pulling me tighter against the hard lines of his body. He tasted like fire, hot and exciting and dangerous, and I wanted more. The fire grew around me, twisting my desire higher, building my need until I thought it was going to burst from me in a primitive cry. The fire roared from me back to him, leaving me a blazing brand that threatened to burst into a million incandescent sparks.

‘‘Sweet May,’’ he groaned into my mouth as he rubbed my hips against his. ‘‘Sweet, sweet mate.’’

The words pierced my being like little bullets of ice, slicing through my almost out-of-control desire and returning me to reality with a shock that left me reeling.

With a cry, I pushed back, pulling my mouth away from his. ‘‘Don’t call me that,’’ I said, my voice hoarse and shaky.

Confusion filled his eyes.

I shadowed and twisted out of his arms, backing away a few steps. I touched my lips with a trembling hand, feeling empty inside, as if I’d lost something integral to myself.

‘‘May?’’ he asked, taking a step toward me, evidently seeing me despite the darkness of the evening. ‘‘What’s wrong?’’

‘‘Nothing. I just… I just don’t like that word,’’ I answered, clearing my throat and glancing around.

Everyone was standing where they had been before Gabriel sucked all my attention from the room, their faces displaying varying emotions.

Cyrene turned shocked eyes to me, but I sensed an underlying emotion that didn’t make any sense to me: pain.

‘‘I’m sorry,’’ I said, feeling the need to apologize. ‘‘I didn’t mean to turn the evening into a peep show.’’

‘‘You-’’ Cyrene started to say, then stopped, biting her lip as she looked away.

‘‘I liked it,’’ Jim said, plopping its big butt down next to a chair. ‘‘You don’t often get to see a wyvern claiming a mate. It’s better than Skinemax. Is there going to be an encore? If there is, can you hold off until I make some popcorn?’’

Aisling spoke a few hurried words and, before the demon could do more than open its mouth in protest, banished it to the Akasha. ‘‘I’m sorry about Jim. I think a little time-out is in order. I’m afraid, though, that it might be right about one thing.’’

I slid a glance toward Gabriel. He was watching me with an intensity that both flattered me and made me uncomfortable. ‘‘Yes, I’m afraid that it is… It would seem that despite the fact that I’m a doppelganger, I appear to be your mate.’’

‘‘I don’t understand how…’’ Cyrene ’s voice trailed away to nothing as she sank rather less gracefully than normal into a nearby chair.

‘‘The how is not important,’’ Gabriel answered, his dimples slowly emerging. ‘‘What matters is that the impossible has happened. I’m delighted that you understand the significance of being able to share my fire, May. I never expected to have a mate, but now that I’ve found you, I am very pleased.’’

I wanted to shadow, to go find a quiet spot where I could think over recent events by myself, without any other distractions. I was a thief, dammit, a shadow walker, servant of a demon lord, keeper of Cyrene ’s common sense, and responsible only for myself and her well-being. And now I found myself bound to a stranger? I shook my head. I just didn’t have experience with men, let alone dragons. The situation seemed untenable at best.

‘‘I don’t understand any of this,’’ Cyrene said, giving me a hurt look. ‘‘You do like men?’’

‘‘I’m sorry,’’ I said, dropping to my knees next to her. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. No matter how scatterbrained she was, no matter how many times she got herself into scrapes and expected me to pull her out, she was still my twin. I owed my very existence to her. ‘‘I didn’t like deceiving you, but it seemed like less stress for everyone if you thought I wasn’t interested in men at all.’’

‘‘You’re a dragon’s mate,’’ she said slowly, as if she was absorbing this new image of me. ‘‘I still don’t… Are you sure we’re not both your mate?’’

Gabriel considered her for a moment.

‘‘We are identical,’’ she told him, her expression earnest. ‘‘May is an exact copy of me. Well, she’s not a naiad, but other than that, she’s my duplicate.’’

I have never minded being called her twin, but for some reason, her insistence on referring to me in dehumanizing terms rankled a bit. I stifled that as best I could; with the exception of her common sense-a trait that had been given over to me at my creation- she wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t absolutely true.

‘‘You were born,’’ Gabriel said gently, taking her hand from me. ‘‘The black dragons are cursed to never have a mate born to them.’’

‘‘But if May-’’ she started to argue.

‘‘This is a question easily settled,’’ he interrupted. His fingertips suddenly burst into flame, causing Cyrene to squawk and leap backward, yanking her hand out of his when he touched a spot on her wrist.

‘‘My apologies if I hurt you,’’ he said, bending his head over her arm. Cyrene watched with openmouthed amazement as he first breathed on the small burn mark, then lowered his mouth to it, his tongue lathing the spot.

Rage burst into being within me, startling me with both its presence and its intensity. Gabriel was lickingCyrene.

‘‘Er…,’’ I said, taking a step closer.

‘‘It’s all right, don’t be alarmed,’’ Aisling said, watching them with interest. ‘‘Gabriel has the most amazing saliva. All the silver dragons do. They make a wonderful healing ointment out of it, but it’s not quite as potent as when it comes from the source.’’

‘‘Um…’’ I tapped Gabriel on the shoulder. He looked up with a distinct twinkle in his eyes. ‘‘That doesn’t look very hygienic.’’

‘‘I assure you, it will do her only good, and no harm,’’ he said, smiling as he returned Cyrene ’s hand to her with a little bow.

We both looked. The small red burn mark had disappeared.

‘‘That was amazing,’’ Cyrene breathed, gazing at him with wonder.

I stifled the last little bubble of irritation, reminding myself that he was just doing his job.

He didn’t have to enjoy it quite so much, though, did he?

‘‘And now May,’’ Gabriel said. I looked at him a moment, wondering what sort of a man it was that fate had bound me to. I held out my hand, watching with dispassionate interest as he traced a symbol in flames on my wrist. It burned merrily on my skin, although I felt nothing more than a mild heat.

‘‘Dragon mates have the ability to share dragon fire. They can use it, mold it to their own desire, drawing power from it when needed,’’ he said, watching me as I coaxed the little flame to my fingertips. It shimmered there, as if it was about to go out. I held my other hand out over it, willing it into a small ball, smiling to myself when it obediently formed a sphere. I held it in the palm of my hand for a moment, admiring the beauty and power held within it, before throwing it directly at Gabriel.

A slow smile spread across his face as the flame ball exploded against his chest, bathing his upper body in fire for a few seconds before it evaporated into nothing. ‘‘I believe that answers your question, Cyrene.’’

‘‘It doesn’t even begin to cover the questions I have,’’ she said softly. I took a few steps away from Gabriel, startled by the undertone I had heard in Cyrene ’s voice.