“First of all, she may not be the sister of my blood, but she’s the sister of my heart, so she is my sister. Second, Evie is innocent in all this. It was my idea to take the potion when Chase had it out on his counter. Evie told me,” she added hastily, seeing his mouth turn downward and his gaze harden in pure cynicism. “She told me about seeing the vial, but I’m the one who snuck into Chase’s house and swiped it.”
An eerie blue glow ringed Drust as power hummed in the room like the low pitched whine of an electric motor. Whining, Lucky backed away and then scampered toward the safety of the back room. Yeah dog, I’d get as far away as possible. Phoenix would suffice. I hope if he is going to blow up the store with me in it he’ll at least call the fire department after so the neighboring shops can be saved.
Lacey lifted her chin and looked him square on. “It was me. Everything is on me, Drust. Not Evie.”
The hum of power eased slightly. “Why?”
She licked her lips. “You wouldn’t understand.” How could he, with all his enormous magick? This was the same wizard who’d failed to aid Evie when she was hurt, who had failed to answer Lacey’s plea for help in greater issues…
“Try me.” Unsmiling, he stared at her, his blue eyes glowing.
Ignoring the fear making her pulse race, she folded her arms. “Because you let us down, and I knew the only way to help my sister was to do it myself. I knew I couldn’t rely on you.”
The power faded more from his body. Drust frowned. “Let you down? When?”
“Shall I count the ways?” Lacey held up her hand and began ticking off her fingers. “First when you let Chase’s nasty ass cousins kick Evie out of the ball and humiliate her…”
“There was a reason for that, which you are not privy to, mortal.”
“Second when you ignored my pleas for financial assistance so we wouldn’t lose the shop, a store, I might add, that is of tremendous benefit to dragons. You know, your people you’re supposed to help? The dragons, since you are the new judge and guardian over our kind?”
“I am not an ATM, mortal. Next.”
“Third and fourth,” Lacey’s temper began to rise. “You never showed up when I was flying and accidentally set the forest on fire when I belched flames, nor when I called on you for help when I got stuck in the swamp and my powers failed.”
Irritation creased his forehead. “The fire was put out by Skins and you need to control your powers better. And I am not a, what do you call it? An Uber.”
“A lift would have been nice! Or at least send someone to free me. I was surrounded by gators and snakes and all kinds of things.”
“Because you failed to properly care for your dragon nature and maintain your magick, Lacey. You experimented with illegal, dangerous herbs from this very store and that is why you ended up in the swamp.”
Lacey arranged her expression to look innocent. “There’s nothing deadly in this shop.”
Snapping his fingers, Drust turned toward the shelves of potions and herbs. He pointed to the top shelf, the jars she deliberately kept out of reach. A glass jar labeled DRAGON’S BLOOD floated to his hand.
Lacey’s breath hitched. Please don’t open that, please don’t open that…
He dropped it.
The contents spilled onto the hardwood floor and Lacey ran for the door. A hissing sound ensued as vapor rose from the floorboards at Drust’s feet. It did not affect the wizard.
Of course.
He was immortal.
Drust snapped his fingers again and the jar and its contents vanished. Lacey breathed a sigh of relief.
“Case in point,” he said dryly. “You mislabeled poisonous nightwing, which can suffocate a dragon in minutes.”
“I knew what it was.” She opened the door and breathed in fresh air, just in case, and then closed it. “It’s poisonous, but when combined with sage and distilled eucalyptus leaves, it heals a dragon’s wracking coughs. But you never asked. You simply left me there all night in that swamp with the creepy crawlies.”
“A night there gave you time to reflect on your misdeeds, did it not?”
His voice was silky and smug and suddenly she wanted to slap him. “No it did not! How the hell was I supposed to reflect when my mother was dying, dying, damnit, and the only reason I was in the fucking swamp was to get her swamp plants to make a potion to ease her pain? But you wouldn’t know that because…”
Trembling, her breath coming in little gasps, she ticked off her thumb. “Reason number five. I begged you to save my mother. I pleaded. She never hurt a living soul in her life and you let her die. You weren’t there.”
Gone was the hard expression, replaced by a deep, thoughtful look. Drust closed his eyes, cocked his head and appeared to be listening to something. When he opened his eyes, they were filled with sympathy.
“I am sorry you lost her,” he said quietly. “But you are wrong. I was there. You pleaded with me to save her. She pleaded with me to die. I honored her wishes.”
Lacey stared at him, her rising grief checked by incredulity. “She told you that?”
Drust nodded, his expression gentle. “She asked me to be released to the afterworld. Her pain was… tremendous. Her passing was easy and she did not suffer, not when she died.”
She didn’t want to believe it. Her mother had everything to live for, fight for, and she knew Lacey was trying everything in her power to concoct a cure. To discover she’d simply let go and let Drust take her…
“I escorted her myself to Tir Na-nog. She is happy, Lacey, winging forever in the skies, chasing the clouds.”
If that was supposed to make her feel better it did not. But she could not allow Drust to witness her sheer grief, her personal and private pain. “Whatever. What’s done is done.”
The wizard cocked his head again, as if listening to a faraway voice. “You never allowed yourself time to grieve. Nor did you shed a single tear over her death. It is not natural, Lacey. You cannot move forward until you do.”
Natural? Nothing was natural when you lost your mother. Not when you were a dragon, pretending to be a human and had to spend every minute trying to hold yourself together.
Some days the grief had been so terrible, she’d gone into the back yard, shifted into her dragon form and bellowed flames at the sky. Anger was far better than tears.
“My life is my business, wizard. Not yours. Stay out of it.”
That remark should have earned her a stinging blow of coldfire, but instead, Drust seemed intent on looking out the window. Men. They were all the same, never paying attention when you spoke…
“Your dog is outside,” he said mildly.
Lacey whipped around to look through the window. Lucky stood in the middle of the street.
Terror iced her veins, making her run faster as she unlocked and flung open the door and ran onto the sidewalk. Not Lucky, damnit, she’d already lost so much, she wasn’t going to lose the dog as well…
A medium-sized moving van barreled toward the dog, who sniffed a scrap of food in the street. Lacey yelled, but that damn dog never listened, he would be hit…
Ignoring the danger, Lacey dashed into the road to pick up the dog. Something body slammed her. Lacey tumbled to the ground, rolled, clutching the howling dog. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Did I die and go to Tir Na-nog?
She opened her eyes and rolled to one side, looking skyward. No, but damn, this looks like heaven.
Drust lay atop her, his blue eyes blazing, his mouth tight as he wrapped his arms around her. She inhaled his pleasing scent of spice and forest, and licked her lips. His muscled weight atop her felt comforting. Sexy even. It brought to mind images of satin sheets, hot summer nights, veils billowing in the wind, and their sweat-slicked naked bodies tangling together in pure passion…
I’ve nearly been killed by a truck and all I can think about is sex? Girlfriend, get your priorities straight.
“You can get off me now, wizard,” she managed to say.
He did, standing up and eyeing the street. Lacey gasped.
“Your legs!”
Drust turned one calf and looked down at the tire mark clearly indenting his trousers. “Damn. I just had these laundered, too.”
The twinkle in his blue eyes did not reassure her. “The truck didn’t miss me,” she guessed.
He shook his head.
“You grabbed me, and it ran over your legs as you shielded me with your body.” Lacey gripped Lucky harder, until he whined. “Why?”
“I may not have been able to save your mother, Lacey, but I am able to keep you from harm.” He patted Lucky’s head as she released the dog. “You are a quite fortunate dog.”
“Go Lucky, back inside the store,” she ordered.
As the dog bounded onto the sidewalk and vanished down the alley toward the back door, Lacey rubbed her cheek, which had met the ground hard. Drust reached out and thumbed the scrape. The brief burning vanished.
“Thank you.” She didn’t get it. “Why did you save me?”
The wizard sighed. “I knew you would risk your life for the dog and I could not allow you to get struck.”
“You could have frozen me in time and let Lucky get hit.”
“And you would have been heartbroken. Another loss, a preventable one, would crush your spirit. You have a fighting soul, Lacey McGuire. You intrigue me.”
Drust perplexed her. Just when she thought she’d figured him for a cold-hearted machine, he did something altruistic.
“You’re right. It would have killed me to lose the dog. Not that you really understand because you’re a powerful immortal. You don’t know what it’s like to lose someone you love so deeply,” she whispered.
“Alas, I do. I may be centuries old and now immortal, but I am well acquainted with grief, young one.” He stretched out a hand.
Dazed, she took it, let him lead her back toward the shop. The truck had driven off without a backward glance. The street was oddly deserted as well, even though it was barely past two in the afternoon.
Suspicion overcame her. “Did you cause that accident?”
His expression turned guarded. “No. Something else did. It is of no matter at this time. Come inside.”
When the door shut behind him, Lacey sat on the stool by the counter, her legs incapable of holding her upright. She pushed a hand through her bangs, and noticed it shook.
Calm down. Focus.
Drust snapped his fingers and his cobalt blue tunic and trousers looked neat and clean once more. She gave a wan smile.
“Cool trick. Want to head to my house and do my laundry next?”
He did not return the smile. “The potion. You were telling me where it was. I will not be distracted, Lacey.”
Time to pay the piper. Lacey glanced out the window at the gathering storm clouds. Though it was the dry season in Florida, the promise of violent rain lingered in the air.
Or perhaps it was Drust, losing his patience and his temper.
“All right.” She folded her arms across her chest and locked gazes with him. No longer fearing him, for if he’d wanted her dead, he’d have let the truck turn her into road kill.
“It’s gone.”
Drust went preternaturally still.
“I used it. Made it into dragonspice, an elixir for Evie. It was still too powerful and raw, and I needed water lilies to diffuse it.” Guilt tightened her throat. “Chase found the vial in my storeroom and tripped. He got some on his skin and it…changed him.”
For a moment he said nothing, the only indication of his anger a tensing of his jaw beneath his black beard.
“Why did you do this?”
“For Evie,” she said simply. “Evie can’t fly long because her wing never fully formed. Because of this, she feels inadequate and prefers to hide away from other dragons. When she met Chase, he brought out the confidence in her. But when his cousins threw her out of his parents’ ball, she regressed to where she’d been. I had hoped… to fix her wing and make her feel confident and proud of her dragon lineage.”
Drust’s eyes glowed radiant blue. “A noble gesture, but an ill excuse. No potion will be a magick cure for all someone’s ills, Lacey McGuire. No matter how potent it is.”
Before she could protest, he held up an impervious hand. Gone was the geniality and kindness of earlier.
“What happened to Chase after he absorbed the dragonspice?”
All her earlier bravado fled. “It changed him. He thinks he’s as invincible as you are. And I’m afraid… he may be right.”
“He must be stopped. Chase lacks the discipline and knowledge of the Brehon, and the years of wisdom I have accumulated. He will let the power get to his head…before it burns him up from the inside out.”
I was afraid of this. It’s probably worse than we realized.
“He already has,” Lacey burst out. “That’s why Evie went to find him. She’s the only one who can talk sense with him and reason him. And get him to the swamp where the waters will restore his humanity.”
Drust went still again. “How do you know about the magic in the swamp waters?”
Lacey said nothing, but her gaze darted to the locked cabinet containing recipes from the Book of Shadows. Drust strode across the shop and seized her by the jaw.
“This will not go well for you, Lacey. I lack the time to interrogate you. Find Chase and cure him.”
“And if I can’t?” She had to know the alternative, though Lacey suspected it would be much worse than she’d ever imagined.
Drust dropped his hand, relieving the pressure on her jaw. “You had better hope that your sister can get him to the swamp, Lacey. For if she does not by midnight tonight, I will be forced to destroy Chase. Before he destroys anyone else.”
With a wave of his hand, the Coldfire Wizard vanished. But the chill of his words lingered long after, making her worry double.
Where was Evie and did her influence over Chase allow her to do as Drust asked?
Chapter 11
After the loving, Evie lay drowsing in Chase’s arms, watching the sunlight sparkle as it reflected off the turquoise pool outside.
Their lovemaking had always been passionate and urgent, but now more so. She wanted to relish every moment with him, slow down time, for she didn’t know how much longer they had together.
Once Chase was cured, they had to go their separate ways. Evie knew his family would never accept her once they learned she was partly responsible for his transformation, and nearly killing the twins.
But for now, she only wanted to stay with him, cherish these quiet moments when the old Chase used to make her feel like the most important person in the world.
He kissed the top of her head. “Are you hungry? I’m starved. Let me go downstairs and raid the refrigerator. Want anything?”
Maybe food would help. No, it would only speed up his metabolism and make things worse. Somehow she had to convince him to take her to Lacey’s shop and then the swamp.
Evie sat up. “Let’s go flying. We can pick up food along the way.”
Chase gave her a doubtful look. “You never enjoyed flying before.”
Thanks for the reminder. She thought quickly. “Because I can’t fly long and I tire easily. But if you carried me on your back as you flew, that would be fun.”
“Wouldn’t you rather watch me go to Worth Avenue and open all the stores with my powers? I’ll freeze time so you can take all the expensive merchandise and shoes you wish.”
Her heart sank. “That’s stealing, Chase.”
A shrug. “Only from Skins. Doesn’t count.”
The old Chase would never even consider it. “I’d rather go flying with you and see the sun set from on high.”
Leaning over, he kissed her. Chase cupped her left breast. “I’ll fly you anywhere you wish, Evie, as long as you stay with me.”
Oh, I’ll stay with you. But you’ll hate me once you realize what I plan.
As they dressed, a door opened downstairs and
voices called out. “Helen, Lynna? Are you home?”
“Mama dearest,” Chase murmured, that eerie glow returning to his eyes again. “Come on.”
Oh no. This was so not the time when she wanted to formally meet his parents. Forget about the fact they’d just had sex. Chase was clearly on a power high, his magick flaring like a neon light in the dark.
If his folks did or said the wrong thing…
“Chase, let’s just leave.” She pointed to the balcony.
Instead, he took her hand and tugged her to the staircase.
In the living room, Charlotte and Cal Burke stared at the half-disintegrated sofa. They wore matching white shorts, with matching green polo shirts and white sweaters tied around their necks.
“Hullo Mother,” Chase drawled. “Sorry about the sofa. I used it for target practice.”
“Chase?” Mr. Burke squinted at him. “Where are the twins?”
“Probably halfway to Kansas by now.” He smiled, a terrible, awful smile showing jagged teeth.
“Chase darling, are you feeling well?” Charlotte Burke looked nothing like her photos in the newspaper’s society section. This Charlotte Burke looked more delicate, worried…and afraid.
Of her own son, her darling boy, as Chase used to tell her jokingly.
“I’m perfect.” He drew Evie forward, and she became glaringly aware of her wrinkled T-shirt and shorts with the frayed hem. “This is Evie.”
Evie swallowed hard. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she said feeling shy and desperate all at once.
Both his parents looked shocked and then equally confused. Mr. Burke frowned. “Chase, this is the girl you said you invited the ball? Helen said she broke it off with you and left you because she was bored and had no desire to meet us because we were stuffy and old.”
Mrs. Burke offered a hesitant smile. “You seem like a sweet child, not at all like what the twins said. And you’re still with Chase?”
Evie forgot about Chase’s condition. Forgot about everything. “Helen said I walked out because I was bored with a society ball and I didn’t want to meet you? Nothing could be further from the truth. Helen threw me out of the ball because she said I wasn’t good enough for Chase.”
THE MATING MAGIC: Werewolves of Montana Book 13 Page 7