“Well, thanks. Like I said, I’ll be in touch.”

He hesitated, long enough I thought he might argue, but he just slid his portfolio under his arm, flicked one long piece of unruly hair out of his eyes, and stood to leave.

I glanced at the wolf. Its gray eyes gleamed back at me, urging me to stop this man from going. I shoved the paper under a folder and plastered an efficient smile on my face. “Should know by the end of the week.” The sentence sounded false even to my ears, but my applicant just smiled and turned to leave.

“Wait.” The word passed my lips before my common sense could stop it.

He paused, his expression unreadable.

“The dragon. Do you think I could have a copy of that too? I’d like to show these”-I gestured to the folder that now hid the wolf from view-“to my partner, my mother. In case it’s a close decision.” Technically, my mother was my business partner, but I ran the place. I had no more intention of showing her his work than I did of giving Harmony a tattoo. But it was a good excuse, and I really wanted another look at that dragon.

If he thought my request odd, he didn’t show it. Just pulled out the Celtic dragon image and held it out toward my desk. I reached for it, but he dropped it too quickly. In a graceful zigzag motion it floated like a feather caught on a breeze before landing faceup in front of me.

I refused to look at it again until he left. So, I stood there waiting while he nodded a last good-bye and wandered from my office. When I was sure he was gone, I strode to the door and pushed it closed with a click.

Back behind my desk, I pulled out the wolf and stared down at both pictures. They were fantastic-no doubt about that-but mystical? I ran one finger over the surface of the dragon. Nothing. Just ink and paper. I let out a breath in a relieved puff; obviously, the tension of the past few weeks was getting to me.