�Ha! Your aim is even worse than your chocolate!�

An enraged squeal was the only response. Another missile launched itself at Solis. She ducked, but laughter made her slow and she felt the object mash into her shoulder. Solis looked down, stunned. A large ball of runny, clumpy fudge had embedded itself in her tank top and sprayed dark spots across her chest and arm.

�Percival!� she shrieked in shock. Her mouth snapped closed. Her eyes sought out the opponent in question. She raised an arm. One long finger pointed at the smirking drake who still had one of his clawed hands in the pot of cooling chocolate. �You will pay for that,� Solis predicted darkly.

Very deliberately, she peeled the ball of chocolate off of her shirt and hefted its sludgy weight in her hand. Unfortunately, her ki melted the thing before she could do anything with it.

Percival laughed in his scratchy voice as the concoction ran through her fingers onto the stone floor.

She watched in dismay as her weapon disintegrated.

At the drake�s laughter, Solis looked up. Her eyes widened and she dodged yet another missile with little time to spare.

�That�ll teach you not to criticize my cooking!� the drake declared. �I have seen the Iron Chef! I know how this is done!�

�But Percival,� Solis said, one of her hands reaching behind her as she kept herself on the other side of the kitchen island, �you asked me what I thought.�

�That�s irrelevant!� Solis�s temperamental chef snarled. �You were supposed to acknowledge my greatness at all things gourmet, not . . .�

�So you wanted me to lie?� Solis summarized for him.

He let out a strangled squeak of rage. �What an ungreatful guardian you are! Your parents never complained about my preparations. They at least had taste.�

�Oh, you are right there, they certainly did. I just don�t think that they had any taste buds.�

�Ahhhh! Ungreatful fiend! I�ll put a laxative in all of your casseroles!�

Solis cringed at the thought. �I�ll not tolerate runny bowels, Percival,� she replied in grim determination.

The chef laughed in wicked glee.

Solis surfaced from behind the island. �I mean it, Percival.�

Percival cackled and launched another fudge bomb.

With a growl, Solis ducked again behind the island and the chocolate soared over her head and smacked solidly into something. Solis frowned. She turned around, wondering what had become the missile�s target. Her eyes went wide.

�Gods!�

There stood the saiya-jin she had named Miracle. The slurpy pile of chocolate had hit him squarely in his bare chest. He wobbled where he stood from the force of the blow. His weakened muscles shuddered and his arms wind milled in a vain attempt to retain his balance.

For one breathless moment, it looked as if he might actually do that.

But then a tremor ached his big body and he fell to the floor, sitting down hard on the warm stone. He winced at the harsh, bone-jarring impact. When his eyes opened he looked at Solis, as if to assure himself that she was alright, and then down at the offensive object plastered to his chest. Something volatile and dangerous flashed in his black eyes.

Solis suppressed a shudder as she moved toward him slowly.

�Alright, Percival,� Solis said loudly. �You�ve hit an innocent bystander. Fun�s over.�

Percival grumbled indigantly. �There�s nothing wrong with my chocolate.�

Solis let the comment slide as she moved forward to help Miracle up. �Are you alright?� she asked him, holding out her hands for him to take. She watched, breathless as the rage flicked for a moment through his eyes. His teeth and hands clenched. For a moment she thought that he might throw his head back and scream.

And then it was gone; the rage disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. He blinked and looked up at her.

�I heard you cry out,� he said. He looked at her outstretched hands as if he weren�t sure of what he should do with them.

Solis glared over her shoulder at Percival who had turned back to tending his, uh, creations. �I didn�t mean to wake you with all of this noise,� she replied, a scowl settling over her face which the drake pointedly ignored. She turned back to him.

One at a time, he lifted his hands from the floor where he braced himself and placed them in Solis�s. She pulled him to his feet easily. �You�re much stronger already,� she commented, steering him toward a chair. �I came in here to get you something to eat but since you�re here . . .� She sat him down at the island and grinned.

Rather than setting food in front of him, she soaked a cloth in warm water. The act of doing so brought her within range of her cook, who took great care to ignore her existence. Miracle didn�t know what to think of them, so he glared with barely suppressed hostility at the creature that had offended Solis.

When Solis turned back to her patient, she knew that although he was stronger today he was still too weak to manuever either a cloth or eating utensils. Without a word, she began to remove the goo from his chest, thankful that his ki hadn�t been strong or else the stuff would have run down his torso and dirtied the only pair of pants that she had been able to find that fit him.

A deep rumble coming from the back of his throat and the slight tensing of his body made Solis look up. He was watching Percival as the drake reached for a large knife on the counter. The fact that Percival had a maniacal gleam in his eye as he watched Solis wasn�t lost on her guest.

She laid a hand on his shoulder and turned to Percival. �Dammit, drake! Don�t irritate my guest. He is only thinking of my protection from you. I doubt that you would want to grapple with a saiya-jin, Percival.�

Instantly, the drake cocked his head to one side; curiosity had replaced fiendishness with lightning speed. �He�s a saiya-jin? A male of your kind?�

Solis�s eyes narrowed but she was careful not to show her suspicion in any other way; she could not have her guest hurting himself any more than he already had. �Yes. Percival, this is Miracle. Miracle, meet my chef extrodinaire.� She alternated her gaze between the two males, and although Miracle didn�t make a move to attack the drake, neither did he relax. Solis sighed and finished cleaning his chest off. At this point, if they went for each other�s throats, she wouldn�t stop them. By pointedly ignoring them, she managed to get her guest�s meal ready in minutes instead of hours. And when she finally turned back to him, she noticed that he was still watching the drake, but with less of a murderous glint in his black eyes.

While Percival putzed around Solis�s kitchen, preparing her meals for her for the next three days, Solis fed the large, volatile saiya-jin. It was quite a job considering that he ate a good three times more than she did. She glanced over her shoulder at Percival as the fifth bowl of broth disappeared down Miracle�s throat.

�Uh . . . Percival?�

The drake looked up and grinned as he took in the stack of dirty dishes next to Solis on the counter top. That boy had one helluva healthy appetite. �It�s all under control,� Percival assured her, and added enough ingredients to the casserole he was preparing for a quadruple batch.

Miracle stared down at the crater that he had created in her target upon crashing on Balite. His expression was so lost and apologetic that Solis could have smacked him.

�I�ll put it back together for you,� he insisted.

�If I wanted it to be put back together, I would have done it already; don�t concern yourself with it,� she repeated for the third time.

He shook his head, his dark eyes watching her with an unnerving intensity. He stepped closer to the rubble, his stance wide.

Solis would have thrown up her hands and marched away, but she was too curious. Over the past weeks, this quiet, contained man had begun to intrigue her. The depths of his soul seemed without end. She wondered if he could reconstruct her target, plucking the scattered boulders from the far reaches of the enormous field and balancing them against each other to create a formidable mountain. And so she watched him, her curiosity greater than her useless concerns over the limits of his endurance. He was a saiya-jin after all; it wasn�t as if Peppermint had decided to try this stunt.

Her eyes moved appreciatively over his figure, now clad in clothes similar to the ones he had come here wearing. Audovauld had been unable to repair the damage done to the mysterious saiya-jin�s clothes, but he had managed to recreate replacements that looked (supposedly) just like the old ones. In the never ending glow of Balite, Miracle seemed to shimmer in the loose, white pants, yellow boots and gold belt. Although she could not image what purpose the long, red scarf around his waist and hips served, she knew that he was familiar with its weight and feel. Since receiving the new clothes, he had been more confidant. And now he was confidant enough to fix the damage he had done to her training ground.

She waited.

The plain was utterly silent, even the wind had calmed down to a soft gust. The creatures which occasionally crossed the plain headed toward the horizons. Solis resisted closing her eyes when she normally would have. The sounds of feathers rusting and grasses stirring still reached her but they were not as strong as when she listened in darkness. She had always listened as all sounds of life had faded into the distance, creating a vacuum of focusing silence like the eye of a storm. Solis grinned. Yes, the 'eye of a storm' was an adequate discription of her infuriating guest.

A soft rumbling began, tumbling through the air. Solis blinked and trained her gaze more carefully on Miracle. She felt a soft pulsing quiver through the air just as she heard the low growl emanating from him. The hair at the back of her neck stirred at the sound. Beneath her feet, the ground began to quiver. Her eyes widened. He was drawing energy from Balite. He would kill himself if he managed to tap into the tiny planet�s ki.

Solis reached forward, intent on stopping him from merging with Balite but stopped when something in the distance caught her eye. The rocks were moving.

She blinked.

The earth beneath her rolled. The sky glowed down at the rustling grass, radiating white energy. The wind gushed toward the center of the plain as if a black hole had opened up just in front of Solis. She gritted her teeth and shoved her pale hair away from her eyes. She squinted, her gaze inevitably drawn to the man only a few feet away. Blades of grass and clouds of dust orbited around him in a rapid cyclone. His hands fisted. His head went back. His hair flashed blue in the white glow.

�Dear gods,� she gasped. He had tapped into the power of the planet. And he was not only still alive, but using it. Solis had never guessed that another saiya-jin, certainly not a male saiya-jin, would ever be strong enough to survive the raw ki of a place like Balite.

Slowly, the boulders tumbled toward each other, crowding closer and closer until a small mountain was pieced together before Solis�s amazed gaze. She was so startled by his accomplishment that she didn�t see his body quaking with strain and fatigue. She didn�t notice that the growl that had begun as a low warning in the back of his throat had ascended to a scream of rage and determination. The wind howled at her and the grasses chirped at her. The rage pouring out of his soul was no louder than the rest of the world around her.

And then it stopped.

Solis shoved more hair away from her eyes. The wind was gone. The plain grasses were still. And there before her was her target, completely resurrected.

She grinned. The stubborn mule of a man had actually done it.

Solis turned to him just in time to see him sway tentatively on his booted feet before toppling head first toward the ground. She winced as the sound resonated through the air; he'd hit the dirt like a ton of bricks.

Her grin transformed itself.

She sighed as she walked over to him.

He lay with his face turned toward her, his eyes closed tightly against the pain wracking his body. Solis kneeled down, not sure of whether the obstinate wretch actually deserved her help after a stunt like that.

She surveyed his badly abused frame. �Tell me, if you don�t mind,� she began watching him carefully, �what exactly did this accomplish?�

His eyelids twitched.

�You rebuilt my target in order to save me the effort, but now I have to teleport you back to your bed. It would have been easier if I had simply rebuilt the target myself,� she informed him grimly.

He made no sound although she knew that he was hurting.

She sighed again. �Stubborn, obstinate, brainless . . .� she grumbled as she reached for him. �Even my father knew when to call it quits and he was obtuse.�

Solis laid her hand on Miracle�s back, projecting heat into his muscles to soothe their spasms. �But he never tried to court Balite�s ki.�

He relaxed under her touch and his breathing became less pained.

�Although you didn�t exactly court it did you? No, you, my friend, have a unique style of working.�

Somewhere along the way, Solis�s voice had softened a degree. Her words washed over the recipient of her lecture like warm gentle rain rather than a scathing down pour.

�No �how do you do�s or �don�t mind if I do�s, you just grab with both hands and make a run for it.�

Her other hand was traveling over his arms now, and the heat that trailed in her wake fought the cramping of his over-taxed muscles. He could have purred, and he would have if it hadn�t still hurt so damned much to simply breathe.

Slowly, Solis lifted one of his arms over her shoulders. With a grunt, he gathered his legs under him and lurched to his feet. For a moment he swayed, and Solis wondered if he was actually going to try to walk himself back to her home. A look of sheer determination descended over his features. He was going to try for it, the dolt, Solis concluded. Well, if he was headed for her home, he was pointed in the wrong damn direction. Solis rolled her eyes. Men have absolutely no sense of direction.

Miracle's dark eyes narrowed as he stared at the line of the horizon. He was strong enough to get back to Solis's home without assistance. He was.

You, my friend, have a unique style of working. Startled, he realized that she had called him friend.

The knowledge came from somewhere within him; he had never had a friend before.

He was on the verge of taking a step away from her when his body stilled suddenly. He turned his black gaze on her, his eyes narrowed and he glared intently at her. His expression was unpredictable to Solis. He seemed stunned and confused and hopeful and wary all at once. And every one of those emotions were funneled toward her. She waited to see what he would do.

He leaned against her.

Solis let out a breath of relief, and then she pictured her home. A heartbeat later, the plain was empty but for the dancing grasses and slow, lazy breezes.

Solis listened to the pounding of water in the next room. �He�s in the shower.�

�Ah.� Peppermint said this as if it explained everything. �So that�s why you�re all distracted.�

�Distracted?� Solis parroted. She frowned when she realized how inane her response must sound. �Why would I be distracted if he�s in my shower? This is the first moment of peace and quiet that I�ve had today.�

�My point exactly.�

�Excuse me?�

Peppermint sighed. �Well, it�s plain as the nose on your face that you ain�t comfortable without some action going on.�

�Peppermint, what are you getting at. I�m absolutely fine.�

Th drake sent a pointed glance down at Solis�s hands which were slowly incinerating the vegetables that she had gathered from the garden to kill time.

Solis followed her gaze and swore. With a sound of disgust, she tossed the mashed bits onto the compost pile. �There�s nothing wrong with him using my shower, Peppermint.�

�Sure there is, sugar,� the drake countered. �You ain�t in there with him.�

Solis stared at the creature as if she�d lost her mind.

�You�re insane. Why would I want to shower with him?�

The drake rolled her eyes. �Didn�t your mama have the talk with you, sweetheart? There are certain things that a male and a female can do that--�

�I�ve had the talk, Peppermint,� Solis gritted out. �But kindly explain to me why I should seek out the . . . attentions . . . of that male.� She jerked her head at the wall that Miracle stood on the other side of.

Peppermint looked at Solis as if she weren�t being very bright. �Well, he�s the only other saiya-jin on this planet, ain�t he?�

Solis�s eyes narrowed. �And so he wins my affection by default?� she charged.

Peppermint�s taloned hands came up. �Now don�t get all hot and bothered over it. Your mama always said that a mate would come along when you were ready and along comes this male--�

�I am not �ready�,� Solis countered.

A beat of silence thundered through the back yard of Solis�s home.

�Uh huh,� the drake finally said. It was obvious that she was not convinced by Solis�s bold words.

Solis turned and marched toward the house.

�Sugar pie, would you mind gettin� the sweet thing�s clothes for me? They could do with a good washin�,� Peppermint called after her.

Solis�s fists clenched. In order to get his clothes, she�d have to go into the shower room to retrieve them. �Why don�t you go on in and get them?�

The drake laughed. �Darlin�, I can charm a bee outta his honey but I sure as hell can�t charm that saiya-jin outta his clothes. Your home is safer if you go; he trusts you.�

As badly as Solis wanted to refute that statement, she couldn�t. �Son of a . . .�

Grumbling under her breath, Solis headed for the bathroom. The sooner she got his clothes, the sooner she could start to forget about the whole ordeal.

Solis simmered. Peppermint was beyond bold; that drake was down right cheeky. Why, the very thought that Solis might want to take a mate . . . and that she might want to take this saiya-jin as a mate! She snorted. The absurdity of the whole notion was hilarious. Quickly, Solis gathered up the second pair of clothes that Audovauld had made for her guest and turned to the bathroom door.

She knocked once and then entered, glaring at a fictitious Peppermint and thinking of a string of searing insults to deliver to the impertinent drake the moment she was back within range.

The room was filled with steam. Tentatively, she took a step and nearly fell on her face when her foot caught on Miracle�s pile of discarded clothing. Wrenching herself free, Solis waded through the humidity to the spare chair that stood next to the linen shelves. There she laid the clothing in her hands, not willing to put it on the floor and risk tripping over it and breaking her head on her way out. She straightened, turning to go out, when she realized where she was.

She was standing facing Miracle�s broad back as he relaxed beneath the persistent spray of water. Dear gods, how in hells had Peppermint talked her into coming in here of all places?

As much as Solis would have liked to have left to find Peppermint at that moment, she realized that she couldn�t. Or perhaps, she simply didn�t want to. She stared helplessly at the man in her shower. His black hair fell down in weighted tresses between his broad shoulders. Water tunneled down his tanned back, following the curve of his spine.

Solis�s eyes widened.

His tail . . .

She blinked; there must be some mistake.

She focused again on the base of his spine.

There was no mistake.

Someone had cut off his tail.

She had known that he was missing his tail almost from the beginning, but she had assumed that he�d lost it in some terrible accident. Now it was clear. Someone had deliberately removed it. She wondered why she hadn�t noticed it before, but that was simple to answer really. She had only been looking for tissues that had needed healing when she had merged with him, and his tail had been removed a long time ago.

Her hands fisted. Who would have done such a thing?

He shifted under the water, bracing his hands against the wall and leaning into the cascade. The sinuous play of steely muscles under flawless skin drew Solis�s gaze once more. The water tricked over his buttocks, across his lean hips, down his long, powerful legs.

Suddenly, the idea of taking a mate didn�t seem so distasteful to Solis.

When she realized what she was thinking, she almost screamed. Of course! This was why Peppermint sent her into the bathroom to get Miracle�s clothes. She had hoped for Solis to take one look at him, naked, wet, masculine, vulnerable, and mate with him right then and there. Well, that drake was going to have to be disappointed this time.

With one last, gulping look, Solis turned on her heel and headed for the door. Unfortunately she had forgotten about the pile of clothes that sat between her and the exit.

She tripped over the belt, slipped on the white pants and would have crashed into the sink if something hadn�t steadied her. She gathered her feet under her, chastising herself for her clumsiness. Solis straightened, prepared to finish her quest, when she realized that she hadn�t been steadied by grabbing a piece of furniture. There was a hand on her arm, a very wet, very large, very male hand. She swallowed.

�Are you alright?�

She could think of nothing to say. She thought, Why haven't I noticed what a nice voice he has until now?

She nodded.

She waited for him to remove his hand and step back, but as the moment dragged on with neither her nor him making a move, she was compelled to look up. His gaze was hot and black and intense. She had no idea of what to do. Oddly, he didn�t seem to know either. For a long, breathless moment, they stared at one another. His eyes were hypnotic, seducing her deeper, calling to her to discover his secrets . . . Just as she felt herself being pulled into a lethargic, black pool, she shook herself.

Forcing an over-bright grin, she said, �Thanks, I�ll be going now.� She stepped away to collect his clothing, painfully noticing that he didn�t turn away from her but watched her every motion with dark interest. Even through the blur of the steam, she could see the water clinging to his shins as she bent. The temptation to look up was so intense it was painful. Solis pounded it back into submission. She reached for the door and was out in the hall before the temptation had the chance to strike again.

What was wrong with her? She had healed the man, dressed him, even helped bathe him and only now she was being bothered by it. What had Peppermint said? Hot and bothered? Solis sighed. What an uncanny description.

Solis composed herself. There was no way she could take Miracle for her mate. No possible way. While he had lost his memory, she knew that he had not lost his life. Someday he would have to go back to it, and if he bonded with her, then he never would.

Solis stepped out into the back yard and found Peppermint lounging in a padded chair, basking in the ceaseless glow of Balite. Solis threw the clothes at her and grinned when they smacked squarely into the drake�s pleased face.

�Omff!� the creature exclaimed, clawing at the items. She freed herself and looked up, startled to find herself staring into Solis�s composed face.

�You�re back already!�

�Am I? How long did you think it would take me to perform such a simple task?�

�At least an hour,� the drake grumbled under her breath.

�What was that?�

�Oh come on!� Peppermint hissed. �You�ve been attracted to him since you found him! I saw how you held his head up so he could drink, and tucked yourself right up next to him to help him walk--�

�Get it through your scales, Peppermint,� Solis returned, interrupting. �I don�t want a mate.�

�You may not want one but you need one.�

�I don�t even like him!� she lied.

Peppermint grinned. �How would you know. You haven�t even kissed him yet.�

�Haven�t . . . even . . .� Solis muttered in disbelief. �What does that have to do with it?�

The drake rolled her eyes again. �Your mama and I had this runaround years ago when your father landed here,� she told her. ��The kiss is everything,� I told your mama; that�s what her mother had told me afore she�d passed on. And so your mama kissed your daddy and, wouldn�t you know it, she knew that he was the mate for her.�

For a long moment, Solis simply tried to understand the drake's rambling. �That was my mother,� Solis informed her. �Not me.�

�Baby cakes, my recipe works for all the gals in your family.�

Solis opened her mouth to refute that when a movement drew her gaze. Miracle, still wet from his shower, but donning clean garments, ducked out of the house. His gaze went from Solis to the drake and back to Solis again, his eyes uncertain of whether or not he should be wary.

Turning back to Peppermint, Solis said with uncharacteristic boldness, �Well, now�s as good a time as any to test your theory.�

Peppermint blinked.

Solis stepped up to Miracle, wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Peppermint�s jaw dropped.

So did Miracle�s.

Solis took advantage of his surprise to make the most of the kiss in every way.

The drake watched the succession of emotions cross Miracle�s face. He was shocked and then hesitant, and then he seemed to fall into her heat, giving in to the insistence of her mouth. Solis�s intensity in the kiss was as deliberate as charting a new galaxy. She held herself away from him, determined to prove that she was unaffected by their intimacy, yet her eyes softened and her lids drooped. The kiss became more cajoling than demanding. And when he moved toward her, rather than away from her, Solis jumped, as if caught red-handed.

At the look on Solis�s face, Peppermint had to laugh.

Miracle blinked, coming out of his trance.

Solis rounded on the drake and with a growl, leapt into the air, arching over the flat terrain and disappearing in the distance.

Miracle looked indecisive.

�Well, sonny, you liked that didn�t ya?� she demanded.

His eyes unfocused. He nodded once.

�Then go after her!�

He turned his gaze on the direction that she had taken. A frown pulled at his face. He felt his power level rise and then he followed suit, launching into the air and trailing after her.

He found her at the edge of a forest of short, bulky trees, sitting at the rim of a sheer cliff, staring down into the ravine. He approached her from behind, unwilling to disturb her quiet so soon but equally unwilling to stay away. Silently, he sat down beside her.

She didn�t look up. She didn�t have to. She knew that he was there, watching her. Her eyes stayed trained on the shadows of the ravine. This was the only place on Balite where shadows of any depth and darkness could form. Every other crevasse was too shallow and was suffused with Balite�s white-yellow glow.

The silence stretched between them and Miracle realized that he would have to speak in order to get her more direct attention. He searched franitcally for something to say, anything.

�Tell me about the drakes,� he said.

She looked up, startled at the question.

�What do you want to know?�

His black eyes never left her face. �Where are they from?�

Solis smiled. �I don�t know. They don�t even know. What they do know is that they came here after they had become hunted creatures on the planets that they had inhabited.�

�They would seem strange to many.�

"They're more than strange," she replied, "they're magical."

Miracle stared at her in a silent demand for her to continue.

"They were hunted for their magical powers. The native inhabitants of those worlds realized that the drakes had the Power of the Wish." Solis shot Miracle a look. "They can make wishes come true."

"How?"

"I'm not sure. But I do know that they wished to be safe from their hunters, and their wish brought them here, to Balite. That's what the name 'Balite' means," she told him. "In the ancient drake language, Balite means 'a safe haven'."

He nodded, intrigued. "What else can you tell me?"

Solis shrugged. �Audovauld told me that the drakes used to be much bigger, that their size is affected by the gravity of the planet that they are on.�

�You don�t believe him,� he guessed, his head tilting to one side.

�No, it�s not that. I just can�t imagine Peppermint as a giant. She would be an unstoppable force.�

She grinned at Miracle.

His eyes twinkled back at her. It was the first time that he had ever shown her his amusement. The hard edges around his mouth melted as a smile tugged at his lips. He said, �And there would be no one to rescue us from her.�

Solis blinked once and then laughed, really laughed. �You, my friend, are really funny when you aren�t so worried about saving me from my chef.�

His brow furrowed. �That is the second time you�ve called me �friend�,� he observed.

�Is it?� Solis replied. She felt a twinge of alarm as she realized that she hadn�t even noticed calling him that. She knew that was a sign of big trouble.

He nodded.

�Do you remember having other friends?� she asked him.

He shook his head. �I do not think I have ever had . . . a friend.�

She hurt for him. He seemed so genuinely curious about what it meant to be a friend that the loss of what he did not know or could not remember did not show in his face. Really, Solis reasoned, how could he grieve for something that he�d never had?

�Do you have many friends?�

Solis returned his gaze. She told him, �Well, all of the drakes, especially Peppermint, and I are friends.� Solis paused and realized that her hostile display at Peppermint might be misunderstood if she did not explain. �Peppermint and I do not always get along, but if she needs me then I will help her.�

He grunted softly. �Are we friends?�

Solis thought of the last half hour and tried very hard not to blush. �Yes, although I shouldn�t have kissed you back there.�

�A kiss,� he repeated, testing the word. He looked at her mouth. �Don�t be sorry,� he told her, his voice soft and husky as he remembered the feel of her. �I enjoyed it very much, Solis.�

Solis gulped as she watched his eyes study her mouth. He leaned forward, his gaze burning into her. She knew that she should leave. She knew . . . and yet she couldn�t.

The first, slight glide of his mouth over hers was like white angel�s wings, soft and gentle and suffused with light. This was torture. He could not stay and she could not kiss him without wanting to make him remain with her on Balite. Shaken, Solis drew away. Without a word, she rose to her feet and flew back toward her home.

Miracle watched her for a moment and then went after her. When he reached her home, he realized that she had passed over it instead of landing. He lifted his face to the sky to sense her ki, but she was already hiding her ki from him. He frowned and turned to the drake who had just watched Solis fly overhead, making her way toward her training grounds.

�Did I offend her?�

�What?!� the drake exclaimed, a smile forming on her odd face. She easily recalled Solis�s flight. That girl had some . . . tension to work out, that was for sure. And Peppermint could just guess at the cause of that tension. She turned to him. �Hell no! You just keep it up, honey, that�s called progress!�

Miracle blinked and turned back to the direction which Solis had disappeared into. A curious and determined expression settling over his features. He would kiss Solis again if it was the last thing he did.