THE MATING MAGIC
Werewolves of Montana Book 13
Bonnie Vanak
Contents
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The Werewolves Of Montana Series
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Copyright
Blurb
The Mating Magic
One desperate dragon with a crippled wing. One stolen potion granting powerful magic. One furious, immortal wizard who wants it back.
All Evie ever wanted was to fly like other dragons, and win the heart of sexy dragon Chase Burke. After she's snubbed by Chase's wealthy family at an elegant society ball, her sister Lacey concocts a powerful potion to give Evie magick beyond her wildest dreams. The problem is, Lacey stole the ingredients from the immortal Coldfire Wizard and now an infuriated Drust wants it back or there will be hell to pay.
Chase Burke has secretly loved Evie, but pressured by family demands, must hide his true feelings. To grant Evie's dearest desire, he's apprenticed himself to the Coldfire Wizard. But when Chase accidentally consumes the immortal elixir and becomes as powerful as Drust himself, he threatens the welfare of every fire-breathing dragon on earth. Evie and Lacey must find a cure for Chase before Drust is forced to exterminate him, or Chase threatens to destroy everything in his path, including those he loves...
Chapter 1
Days like this, sometimes he wished he were still dead.
He was immortal now, a powerful wizard on the council of the Brehon, the wizards who ruled over Otherworlders on earth. It was nice having power and flying as dragon once more instead of sulking in a cave in the afterworld of the shadowlands.
Except for days like this, when he had worked for 30 days straight flying over the earth and aiding dragon shifters. Or punishing them for breaking the rules.
And now, just when he wished to return home and rest a little, perhaps take a long bath in the hot springs near his castle, he had Tristan on his case.
“Zipline? What is this zipline you reference?” Drust asked.
Tristan, the Silver Wizard, looked with patience at Drust, the ColdFire Wizard. “It is a most amusing pastime for humans.”
“And why should I be bothered with such matters?” Drust stretched out his wings as he settled on an overhead tree branch. It felt wonderful to rest, after patrolling the earth and overseeing his dragon charges. He finally felt settled in Tir Na-nog, home to the Brehon.
Speaking as a dragon also took some getting used to. But he rather liked it, especially on days like this when Tristan refused to get to the point.
“I have no need of entertainment. Or ziplines. Unless you know of a reason I should know,” he added.
“Alligators,” Tristan said serenely. “It’s a zipline over a swamp filled with hungry alligators.”
“So?”
“So right now two of your people plan to zipline over this hungry pool of alligators, and the zipline will break and they will become alligator bait. A nice meal. I do not know if alligators like dining on dragon, but when one is a hungry alligator, I suppose dragon will suffice.”
Were he in human form, he’d face palm. Instead he stretched out his long neck and blew fire at the sky.
“I understand. But no one said this would be easy when you took the job,” Tristan remarked.
Drust flapped his wings, making Tristan’s shoulder-length hair blow in the breeze. “I didn’t exactly take the job. I was recruited.”
Tristan shrugged. “The price one pays for immortality and all this power.”
“Where are these charges of mine?”
Tristan waved a hand and image floated in the air of two brunettes who looked to be in their twenties. The shorter one was plump, and had a soft carnation pink mouth and large, woebegone gray eyes.
The taller brunette, hair tied back in a long braid, concentrated as she knelt at the water’s edge. She had eyes green as his beloved forests of home, a shapely figure and a no-nonsense air he immediately recognized.
“Lacey McGuire.” Drust groaned. Not again. “Where are they?”
“An amusement park in south Florida that was shut down long ago.”
“Sounds like an easy assignment.” Then again, with that Lacey, nothing was easy. She was a 25-year-old dragon who broke the rules and had been so adept at doing so he failed to see her misdeeds until Tristan pointed them out.
The Silver Wizard’s mouth curled downward. “Not quite. Do you recall that small vial of the Bloodmoon flower potion you left at Chase’s house last month?”
Drust went still. All the wizards of the Brehon drank the potion every six months to maintain their powerful magick and their immortality. But because he was a new wizard, he required more doses, and kept a small vial to drink every six weeks.
“The one that went missing?”
“One of the girls stole it and is using it to manufacture a potent drug to empower mortal Otherworlders. Dragons, werewolves, all of them.”
He stared at Tristan. “The nectar is supposed to be benign in mortal hands.”
“It is.”
Hope rose up in Drust. “It could be worse.”
“It is.”
Tristan continued. “The potion is useless to mortals unless one has added other ingredients, specifically luminous water lilies, grown only in the swamp where the girls now are. The amusement park is Swamp World, the same land we have been using for your practice sessions to hone your wizard powers.”
That land? Terrific. More complications.
“You could have gotten to the point faster,” he told Tristan.
“I like telling a good story.” Tristan smirked.
He growled and snapped his wings. It wasn’t Chase’s fault about the stolen potion, but his own. “I was careless.”
Tristan nodded. “And now you will take more care to never leave it where mortal hands can obtain it. You are still learning, Drust. The rest of us have had centuries to be wizards.”
He knew of Lacey, but the younger and shorter one was unfamiliar. “The younger one, who is she?”
The Silver Wizard’s mouth tipped upward in a smile. “Evie is nineteen.”
“And you call them girls?” Drust shook his dragon head.
“Your race grows to be more than 400 years old. They are girls to me.”
“That’s because you are an old fart,” Drust said, ducking from the bolt of lightning Tristan hurled his way.
A soft pop in the air and a veil of silver smoke. When it cleared, Xavier, the Crystal Wizard sat on the soft grass besides Tristan with a little girl was in his arms. Cooing, he bounced her on his knee. Drust stared in incredulous disbelief. Always flashy, Xavier wore silver bell bottoms with a silver belt and a silver sequined shirt. The baby wore a onesie that matched her father’s outrageous outfit.
“You are burning my retinas with your sequins. Must you dress like an old harpie?” Drust growled.
“The word is hippie and I’m dressed for the disco, not as a hippie. Get out of the 15th century and with the times, dragon,” Xavier advised.
Xavier threw the baby high into the air to Drust. She laughed and Drust caught her gently in his claws. Sonia looked up at him with large blue eyes, totally unafraid.
Something in his chest tightened. Such a sweetheart. Living here i
n Tir Na-nog with the other wizards who had mates and families now reminded him of all his mortal losses.
But he had a long line of descendants. He supposed he should be happy with that. Chase, a younger descendent, had especially proven useful since he’d become an apprentice. Chase aided Drust with patrolling the earth for dragons who broke the rules.
Drust grinned at the child, showing rows of sharp, jagged teeth. Sonia laughed and clapped her hands. Truly a child of Tir Na-nog, where an ordinary day was filled with magick and dragons and toys that appeared out of nowhere.
He flew down to the ground and returned her to her father, and then shifted back into his human form.
When he was a mortal on earth, he’d had a family of his own, like Xavier and Tristan now did. They were happy and content. He was restless. Oh, his job looking after his people kept him busy, but lately he felt there was something more waiting for him.
Always keep moving forward, he learned.
Xavier snorted and pointed to the cobalt blue tunic and trousers Drust now wore. “And you say I don’t know how to dress. Have you ever heard of modern clothing?”
“I am old-fashioned,” Drust shot back. “I prefer the clothing I wore when I was mortal.”
He turned to Tristan. “If these women are trouble, why can I not foresee it myself?”
The Silver Wizard shrugged. “You are still new to your powers. Do not be so hard on yourself if you miss one or two incidents. Did I not inform you that this is why I’m mentoring you?”
Xavier bounced the baby on his knee. “Sonia, want to go for a ride with Uncle Drust?”
Uncle Drust. He made goo goo eyes with the child. Truly, he was turning soft in his immortality. Drust sighed. He envied Xavier and Tristan their happiness with their mates and babes.
Then again, he also hadn’t had sex in a long time. Years? He lost track.
“I don’t have any time for fun,” he muttered.
“You can make time. You have an apprentice now to aid you.” Tristan sat on the ground next to Xavier. Sonia reached for his long hair and gave it a tug, but Tristan did not seem to mind.
“I’ll take Chase with me on this assignment,” he said aloud. “He needs the practice.”
Xavier and Tristan exchanged looks.
And perhaps assigning routine duties to Chase would free up more time. After this assignment, he would find a nice bed partner and spend hours indulging his carnal desires. Yet he suspected the restlessness would not cease with mere sex.
“Does Sonia have time for a ride or are these idiot dragons in danger right this minute?” he asked Tristan.
The Silver Wizard closed his eyes. “You have an hour.”
“Good. Find Chase and send him to Swamp World. Tell him to rescue the women, hold them there and then wait for my arrival.” Drust cooed to the baby and shifted into dragon again.
Xavier placed his precious daughter on Drust’s back, securing her with a harness he conjured out of thin air.
As the Crystal Wizard stepped back, Drust spread his wings. “Come on, little one, hang tight.”
Sonia chortled as Drust lifted into the sky, winging on the breeze.
The two wizards on the ground watched him fly off.
“Does he know yet?” Xavier asked with interest.
Tristan smiled. “That he can’t foresee the fate of the girls in the swamp because one is his intended mate? I think not.”
Chapter 2
No one would ever mock her again for being a dragon with a broken wing who couldn’t fly straight.
Hands on hips, Evie Marcus surveyed the swampy pit. More than two dozen alligators swam in the brackish water, some of the reptiles eleven feet long. A steel zipline hung overhead, a weathered, battered sign on the ground daring passersby to risk their lives.
Evie shivered. A dragon shapeshifter had nothing to fear here, after all she could shift and fly off if threatened. Still, something about this deserted amusement park gave her the creeps. Tangles of kudzu draped over the trees sandwiched between the swamp, and covered the rides long abandoned after the Florida site shut down years ago after a hurricane had torn through the area.
Sweat streamed down her back, soaking her shirt. Dragons weren’t supposed to sweat, for they loved the heat, and yet she hadn’t stopped perspiring since setting foot upon this land. She wasn’t superstitious, but a nagging feeling of danger lingered here. And not merely from the alligators swimming lazily in the swamp.
“Got the last of it.” Lacey dusted off her hands after tucking the white lilies into her bag. She stepped away from the water and surveyed the swamp and the surrounding area. “Let’s go.”
“Just a minute.” Evie pointed to the zipline. “Want to try?”
A deep, gurgling laugh from Lacey. “Breaking and entering isn’t enough for you, now you want to risk that? What happened to my shy little sister? What did you do with her?”
“She left after Chase’s family tossed her out of their home.” Evie bit her lip. Damn that hurt to say it aloud. Hurt even more to realize that Chase Burke, her lover for more than a year, would never make their relationship permanent.
Not when the Burkes were one of the wealthiest and most influential dragon families in Florida, and Evie was on the same level as the maids who scrubbed the floors of their mansion.
Lacey’s expression turned stormy. She clenched her fists. “Bastards. You’re better than they are, sis. Forget them. You have this.”
Lacey pointed to the bag holding the flowers. “This will even the playing field. Once I perfect the dragonspice potion and you take it, no one will ever mock you again. Your powers will be nearly equal to the wizards of the Brehon.”
Her sister patted the bag. “Can you imagine the expressions on the faces of his nasty cousins when you drive up to their Palm Beach mansion in a new Ferrari, dressed in a designer outfit even they would covet? Then you could turn them into those cute little Cuban lizards. Show them exactly whom they mocked. It won’t last long, but it will give you everything you’ve ever wanted.”
Not Chase. No potion would ever make Chase’s family accept her as she was, Ferrari or not. His illustrious and wealthy family dated their lineage back to Drust, the Coldfire Wizard. She was a little nobody dragon shifter.
Although turning his cousins into Cuban lizards did seem like a splendid plan.
A shiver rushed down Evie’s spine. She hugged herself, staring into the pit of alligators. Always the good one, the obedient, as opposed to the daredevil and rebellious Lacey. Lacey hadn’t let poverty or lack of a distinguished dragon bloodline stop her in obtaining what she wanted.
But this latest venture of Lace’s carried a greater danger than her sister’s previous adventures. One thing to sneak onto Skin land to steal a few precious water lilies. Another to steal a potion belonging to Drust himself and then use it to manufacture a synthetic potion that would empower a dragon to have almost as much magick as Drust himself.
Not for the first time, she wished she hadn’t told Lacey about the vial of potion she’d seen on the counter at Chase’s house, left out for the Coldfire Wizard.
Too late for regrets. Just keep moving forward.
“Maybe we should forget about this.” Evie scanned the swamp. “It’s not too late. Surely Drust or one of the other wizards will know what we’re doing.”
“What I’m doing, not you. You’re merely the guinea pig, so if we’re caught, you’re blameless.” Lacey’s expression softened. “I would never get you into trouble. Me, I’m already blacklisted.”
“But Drust… “
“Screw the Coldfire Wizard,” Lacey snapped. “He’s never done me any favors. If I had five minutes alone with him, I’d give him a piece of my mind.”
Evie looked around nervously. “Careful, Lace. They say the wizards have ears everywhere.”
Lacey pushed at a stray lock of brown hair escaping her long braid. Sweat trickled down her face. “If that’s the case, then why didn’t Drust come to your
rescue when the ogre threw you to the ground and scarred you? You could have been badly injured the way he tossed you out, but where was Drust, if he’s supposed to be our guardian and keep us safe?”
Her sister snorted. “No, all those damn wizards do is enforce the rules and tell us what we shouldn’t do. They don’t care about our fates.”
A flush filled her face as Evie’s hand automatically went to her marked left cheek. The ogre had been a bouncer at the Burkes’ prestigious Dragon Fire Ball and when he tossed Evie out on her ass, he’d left a permanent reminder never to visit the mansion again.
“Drust only cares about his own family,” Lacey pointed out. “He’s immortal and the honored ancestor to the Burkes and other dragon families. Do you think he gives a rat’s ass about dragons lower on the social ladder? It’s a double standard.”
Evie saw her sister’s point. Drust cared about his descendants. His family were allowed to break rules while Evie and Lacey were supposed to follow them.
Lacey went to her and wrapped her in her arms, hugging her tight. “I love you, Evie. I’m sorry about Chase, but forget him. Anyone related to that cold-hearted Coldfire Wizard isn’t good enough for you.”
Evie offered a wan smile. Hard to forget about the dragon you loved, even when his family didn’t approve of you.
She glanced overhead at the zipline. Humans, or Skins, as Otherworlders like herself and Lacey called them, liked adventures such as ziplining.
“Let’s try the zip line and then head out. Come on, Lace. I’m in a mood to be reckless.”
Casting a doubtful eye at the sagging steel cable, Lacey considered. “I don’t know. Although if we fall, we can always shift and fly away.”
THE MATING MAGIC: Werewolves of Montana Book 13 Page 1