Carol snorted. “Why should I take advice from someone who looks like a drunk fairy dipped in glue and rolled in loamy strings of melted pink cotton candy?”
“I look good,” Hildy insisted. She frowned and touched the frilly, pink lace tulle she’d glued to her hair clips. Her gaze dropped to her matching dress with its short flared skirt, more lace hanging below it, and the tight satin bodice that pushed up what little cleavage she was blessed with. “I have no hips as well as no boobs. It’s not easy to look good when you’re shaped like a stick. In this outfit, I look like Cindy Lauper… only classier.”
“No. You look like someone ate a hundred fairies and barfed them back up all over you. They dress human girl babies in that color, Hildy. Pale pink doesn’t look good on anyone, especially not a witch who’s supposed to look powerful,” Carol exclaimed, lifting her hand for emphasis.
Hildy narrowed her gaze and flicked out a hand. Pink glitter filled the air. “That dress requires boobs… big boobs… and don’t get any crazy ideas about faking them. Remember the Poison Class incident? By the time you’d emptied your fake boob stash wiping up the spill, your giant boob holder hung down to your belly button and showed through your blouse. Not a good look, Carol. Not a good look.”
Huffing, Carol pulled the purple dress off over her head. She tossed it into the air, waved a hand, and sent it flying back to her closet. Waving her hand again, she dressed herself in the exact clothes Hildy had suggested.
Hildy glared as she hissed.
A loud knock on the door had both their eyes flying open. Carol winced when Hildy glared harder.
“Girls? Are you two using magic in your room? You know that’s not allowed.”
“No, Professor Long,” Carol called, shaking her head and her finger at Hildy who was biting her lip as she fought not to rat them out. She always had to do all the lying for both of them. Hildy was a do-gooder wimp. “We’re almost done. I lost some weight and Hildy was helping pick out my outfit. I’ll clean up the mess later.”
“Okay. Hurry now. You two don’t want to be late for your Dedication Ceremony.”
They stared at each other as their dorm monitor walked away. Then they both let go the breath they’d been holding.
“You’re wasting your power,” Hildy chastised in a whisper.
Carol rolled her eyes. “I didn’t even feel it. And I’m not wasting anything… especially my time changing clothes. It’s your fault anyway. I was perfectly fine in the purple dress.”
Hildy rolled her eyes. “You can’t enchant your boobs to make them bigger. The cost of such magic would be too high. You need to make peace with your body and love it like it is. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
Carol snorted. “Give it up. You need to stop trying to fix everyone… especially me. Come on, Wussy Girl. Let’s go strut you in your pink fluffiness and see who wants to take a bite.”
As they headed to the door, Hildy reached out and smacked her friend’s arm. “I do not dress like this for boys. I like clothes. I dress like this for me.”
“How many dates do you have for the dance afterwards?” Carol demanded, glaring at her friend for playing too cool. “Tell me you don’t have at least three.”
“I don’t,” Hildy denied.
Carol snorted. “Liar.”
Hildy’s teased chin-length hair stayed perfectly in place as she shook her head. “I’m not lying. I have five. But I don’t see why that changes anything.”
Carol shoved a smirking Hildy into the nearest wall, laughing herself as her bragging best friend bounced off. “I have no date and I don’t want one. Tonight is about me celebrating that I will spend the rest of my life becoming the most powerful witch I can be. A guy would only mess that up.”
Hildy rubbed her arm as she straightened. “You’re just saying that because all the guys at Witchery U are afraid of you. Fabio will be there though. He likes you, Carol… and he’s not afraid. Maybe you could dance with him.”
“With Fabio? No freaking way. Your warlock brother is a fourteen year old dork-faced skirt chaser. I don’t care if he is more magically gifted than warlocks three times his age. No secrets worth knowing are hidden in your brother’s pants. Even if there were, I wouldn’t want to know about them. Why are all guys like that? Maybe the Amazons have it right.”
“Not all guys are like that,” Hildy denied fiercely.
Carol huffed. “Really? Name one who isn’t.”
“Chuck,” Hildy said instantly.
“Chuck?” Carol exclaimed, giving her friend her most pathetic look. “He’s in second grade, Hildy. He’s a baby bear shifter. No guy is bad at that age. Wait till Chuck grows up. He’ll be just as bad as your brother. Wait and see. They all turn out that way by the time they’re teenagers.”
Hildy sighed, nodded, and then shrugged. “Okay. You’re right. Most guys are like Fabio. Is it bad that I still like them anyway?”
Carol stopped and turned to check out her friend. Half of Hildy’s confidence was in her power to attract all kinds of creatures. No guy had gotten the better of her yet. How many times had she seen the Jezibaba using her womanly wiles to get her way? Their mentor and protectoress said they needed to use all their powers and Hildy definitely had a power over all males.
Carol shook her head. “No. It’s not bad that you like them, Hildy. Just be smart and don’t take the stupid horn-toads too seriously. Boys are all asses of one sort or another.”
Hildy nodded as she sighed. “Are you really going to join the Amazons, Carol? You’re starting to talk like them. I don’t want you to give up our Baba Yaga calling and go live on the island.”
Carol’s eyes widened. “Geez, Hildy. Why don’t you just accuse me of being a lesbian? I like guys too. There just aren’t any good ones around here worth my v-entry. I’m tired of going out with guys who only want to pop my powerful Baba cherry to see if it changes them. But I’m not that curious. I can wait for someone worthy.”
“I know what you mean. The ones that are v-entry worthy are always too old for us,” Hildy declared. “Like Thane.”
“Yes—like Thane,” Carol agreed, repeating his name reverently and sighing herself. “Professor Hottie’s intern is certainly v-entry worthy. Too bad he only works with the little kids.”
Hildy giggled. “He’s also a dragon like Professor Smoke. Thane is actually over sixty… that’s almost a hundred years old.”
Carol bit her lip. Thane was old, but he didn’t seem old. Professor Smoke was a lot older than the Jezibaba and you couldn’t tell at all. She shook her head to clear away her doubts.
“Sixty in dragon years is only twenty in human witch ones. Technically that’s just a few years older than the two of us. After our Witch Dedication today, we’ll practically be his equal. I don’t think our age difference will be a problem then. I’m not worried.”
Hildy rolled her eyes. “We’re invisible to him, Carol. We’ll never be Thane’s equal, not even on a good day. Give it up and find another guy for the honor. Find a talented warlock.”
Carol shook her head. “No. I’ve now officially decided he’s going to be the one.”
“Thane?” Hildy squealed in a whisper. “You’re going to let him be your first v-entry?”
Carol nodded. A vision of Thane kissing her until she was dizzy danced across her brainwaves.
“Wow,” Hildy said. “You’re going to do it with a dragon. Then you really will be like the Jezibaba.”
Carol laughed and ducked her head. “Not even on my best day,” she said quietly.
“We both know you’re a lot closer than I am,” Hildy declared just as quietly.
Carol felt Hildy reach out and rub her arm. Sometimes she wondered how she and Hildy were ever going to take the Jezibaba’s place. The powerful dragon witch was unstoppable, or she had been so far.
The woman was also a legend. Everyone at Witchery U thought so, including her and Hildy.
Unless she got a lot more confident in her abilities,
she would have to rethink living on the Amazon island where at least she would fit in.
Chapter 3
“Who are you glaring at now?” Damien asked, looking out over the mass of young people gyrating wildly on the dance floor. He supposed the exhaustive movements kept their bodies occupied while their minds figured out how they felt about engaging in sex.
“Thane is talking to Hildy. He’s making her giggle. Damn that boy.”
Damien lifted an eyebrow. He looked toward his assistant who was keeping a respectful distance from the girl. “Will the Baba Yaga witches not be allowed to be giggling females?”
“No. Tell him to stop,” Jezibaba ordered sternly.
“No,” Damien answered, just as sternly. He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to argue. “Thane’s doing nothing wrong. If you want to make sure he pursues her, warn him away. He is a dragon, Elenora… not human. Thane will not cower like those warlock boys you intimidate so easily. Your threats would only make him want her more. He is feeling his hormones these days. That’s all that’s going on.”
Jezibaba lifted her chin and narrowed her gaze. “Perhaps he would enjoy riding those hormonal surges out as a toad then. How long does that phase of dragon growth last?”
Damien shrugged, unwilling to battle her verbal thrusts. “What would his form matter? Hildy likes toads anyway. She’d probably carry Thane around with her all the time. Do you want to drive her into his arms, or worse?”
Jezibaba rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I have to watch this happen and do nothing, while you watch unwilling to intervene.”
Damien lifted a brow. “When something happens worthy of intervention, then I will get involved. You have my word.”
She sighed, frowned, and then nodded. “Very well. I will insist you keep your word in the matter when the boy oversteps.”
Damien smiled. It was a rare case where she conceded so easily. “You’ve been giving Hildy too much attention. Aren’t you concerned about the Elven lad who keeps putting unwanted moves on Carol?”
Jezibaba laughed. When Carol met her gaze across the room, she nodded once. The girl’s eyes lit with her intentions. The elf reached behind her and ran a hand over her ass stopping to pat. Two seconds later, he was on the floor, magically gagged and bound with ropes.
She turned to face Damien when he sighed at the kids now laughing at Iren who was helplessly constrained on the floor.
“No. I’m not worried about Carol at all,” she said flatly. Her gaze went back to where Thane was playing with the fabric Hildy had glued to her hair clips. “Hildy can handle boys all day long, but handling a man—that’s another matter. And you and I both know handling a dragon is a damn art form.”
Damien chuckled. “Yes, I do know. Want to make some art with me later?”
“Are you flirting to distract me, Professor Smoke?”
“I’m honored bound to try, Jezibaba. You’re belittling my kind,” Damien declared, grinning at her eye roll. “Thane is only a couple years older than Hildy emotionally. He’s just passing time pleasantly. It is the way of most males to flirt with females they find appealing.”
Jezibaba nodded. “That’s precisely why I never lingered with one long enough to let shit like this become a distraction.”
Damien chuckled low. “What would happen if I were to flirt with another female to pass the time while you’re busy worrying about the girls?”
Jezibaba turned her most brilliant, yet evil smile her lover’s way. “You’d become the first fire-breathing toad in existence. I’d put you into a terrarium until I required your stud services.”
Damien snorted, glad when no nervous smoke appeared. “You mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes. Want me to prove it? I haven’t done a single mean thing in months. It would be refreshing to unleash this pent-up frustration on something amusing.”
His booming laughter had all eyes turning to them. Dancers stopped, gawked, and then hesitantly went back to what they were doing. Some chaperones he and the Jezibaba were. Now everyone had one eye on them, waiting to see if the Jezibaba was going to explode into violent action.
The woman he adored was smiling at the attention. She knew they feared her and he knew there was no one else in the world who could command the attention of any crowd like she could.
“It is times like this that remind me my higher purpose in your life is to be your keeper. I know you’ve forbidden me to discuss our mating until the Baba Yaga witches come into their full magic, but nevertheless, my mother wants to meet you in your natural form. After eight years of us dating, I think it’s time we allowed her to get to know the Jezibaba a little, don’t you?”
Her sigh was long. “I suppose. She met me as Elenora the Dragoness. Wasn’t that enough?”
“No. My mother wishes to understand what is keeping me at your side and in human form when our family is free of our debt to the goddess. She’s deeply unhappy that I refuse to return to my cave and live as dragons do.”
Jezibaba shrugged as she met her lover’s gaze. “No one’s stopping you from going home. Why do you stay? I would come to you no matter where you are. We could remain lovers even if you did go back to your… cave.”
Damien reached out and stroked her lovely face. “I stay because I love you. That is all the reason I need. I will remain at your side and help you protect your replacements. When you are freed of the burden of your pact with the goddess, then and only then, we will both be free.”
Jezibaba hung her head. “Your loyalty still surprises me, Damien. Perhaps it even makes me weak. I find myself making decisions just to be sure what we have between us never changes.”
“My loyalty has been yours all along. I am your mate, Elenora. We just haven’t made it official.”
“So you keep saying.” His mouth sweeping over hers lifted most of the clouds. Damien Smoke did seem to love her. But that love had not really been tested.
Life was long and hard. No matter how magically powerful she was, the future was still beyond her ability to see or control. Not even her close ties to Morgana had ever changed that reality. One day she feared her dragon would change his mind and fly away. And if he did so, she would let him. But for now… she leaned until she could kiss him back.
“I really do love you, Damien.”
“A fact I thank your goddess for every day,” he said.
His fingers linking tightly with hers was the only appropriate way in that moment to celebrate their bond. A few hours from now? She knew their love for each other would bring forth a magic stronger than anything she’d ever created alone.
Chapter 4
“You didn’t have to walk me back to the dorm,” Hildy protested. “Carol and I usually walk together. I would have waited for her to finish lecturing the elf who got too handsy with her.”
The chuckle of the sexy dragon shifter at her side made her tingle in some interesting places. She’d tingled before, but nothing like the kind of tingles Thane inspired. Dragons seemed to ooze passion. Most shifters did, but with dragons it was always present and very noticeable.
“I have observed your friend. Carol is very… intense,” Thane proclaimed, happy to have found the right word. “And it is my pleasure to see you safely returned to your residence. I do not wish our time together to end yet.”
“Keep me safe? I’m a powerful Baba Yaga witch,” Hildy said, honesty pouring out. “I’m supposed to be the one protecting you.”
Thane laughed and shook his head. “Dragons do not need any witch’s protection. That’s merely a myth our elders perpetrate to keep from angering Morgana The Red. I find it regretful that your future position is based on that myth continuing.”
“What did you say?” Hildy tilted her head and looked at the handsome man at her side. Maybe she hadn’t heard him right. “Do you doubt my capabilities?” She frowned when Thane ducked his head.
“Forgive me, Hildy. I am not maligning your magical talent… or denigrating your witch calling. I’
m sure you’ll achieve the highest rank of your kind one day. Dragons aspire to such things as well.”
Hildy suddenly saw with clarity what she hadn’t been willing to see all evening. Thane’s arrogant opinions made her squirm and not in the good way. “There were dragon females and many other species present tonight at the dance. Why did you spend all your time with me?”
“You fascinate me on several levels, Hildy. You have a healing gift all shifters can appreciate. I believe that is your true calling.”
Hildy firmed her mouth and looked away. She remained silent, no longer comfortable with the conversation. She was pleased Thane had noticed her most prized gift, but what did everyone else think? She was supposed to be celebrating her dedication to being a lifelong witch. It was the first step on the road to becoming who she was meant to be.
“Your distress is larger than you are,” Thane declared. He laughed as he looked down into her confused gaze. “What’s the matter, Hildy? I can tell you don’t want to be one of the Baba Yaga.”
Hildy rounded without blinking. “It wouldn’t matter if I did want something else. I am a Baba Yaga witch. Carol and I will both finish our training and take over the Jezibaba’s job. It is our destiny.”
Thane snorted. “Ah yes… the Jezibaba… the irreverent Great One. Sometimes I find myself wondering what is so great about her. Damien swears she is to be his mate, but I do not see what he sees.”
Hildy glared at him. “How can you say that? It’s obvious they’re meant to be together.”
Thane laughed again. “You are passionate about things you know little about. Do you think the Jezibaba really wants to be bound to an academic dragon with outdated ideas of the world? That flashy witch wants attention more than she wants justice. From everything I’ve seen, the female is not wise enough to be so powerful. There are others much more suited for her position.”
Magic and Mayhem: How To Date A Dragon (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Baba Yaga Saga Book 2) Page 2