Her lover was dying, sinking deeper into the dark water.
Ignoring the danger, Evie swam closer. “We can fight them off together,” she screamed. “Move with me and I’ll give you strength!”
She wrapped an arm around his waist, dragging him backward. His heavy weight threatened to drag them both downward.
“No Evie. Go. Swim for shore. I won’t let you die.”
“And I won’t let go.” Tears swam in her eyes as the gators surrounded them. Too late.
No escape.
With a mighty roar, Chase thrashed in the water, and shifted into a dragon. She found herself on his back as he stood, the water coming up to his waist. Chase blew fire at the gators, who swam away.
Then he beat his wings and lifted into the air. Water streamed from his body. Evie coughed and spat out the swamp water, the taste of it flooding her mouth.
He landed on the shore and shifted back into human form, Evie atop him. Showering his face with kisses, she looked at his hands.
They were healed.
“Chase? Are you yourself again?” Evie threaded her fingers through his wet hair.
He nodded and held her close. “I thought I’d lose you.”
Wonder filled her. Lacey had said the greatest human emotion, fear, would cure Chase as he submerged himself into the swamp waters. But fear wasn’t the greatest human emotion.
Love was.
“The baby,” she gasped, remembering. “What happened to her?”
Chase rolled over, and they stood, searching. There, near the steps to the zip line.
Her jaw dropped. The tousle-headed baby was dry, and clad in a bright green onesie that glittered with… small mirrors? Evie blinked, wondering if she was seeing things.
Before they reached the child, a cloud of bright white smoke appeared. A man stepped out of the cloud, clad in neon green trousers, and a shirt that matched the onesie. Thick, dark hair curled at the edges, each strand glittering in the sun. His hair was tipped with clear crystals. He was quite handsome, with chiseled cheekbones and full lips. A strong jaw was covered with a short, trim beard and his sensual mouth was framed with a mustache.
Chase immediately bowed low. She followed suit, realizing the man was one of the wizards of the Brehon.
“Xavier, the Crystal Wizard,” Chase murmured, squeezing her hand.
As they straightened, the wizard strode over the baby and picked her, cooing to her. “How’s daddy’s little girl?”
Babbling, she touched his bearded cheek.
Xavier cradled her in his arms. “Drust was otherwise occupied, so I sent Sonia to nudge you both into action. She loves the swamp.”
“Sire,” Chase began.
The wizard snapped his fingers and an alligator appeared before Xavier, who set the child down. Sonia patted the reptile on his head. A tentacle snaked out of the beast’s mouth. Evie gasped, but her shock, the tentacle tickled the baby beneath her chubby chin.
Xavier laughed as the baby giggled.
He snapped his fingers again and the gator vanished, reappearing back into the swamp.
What did you say to a powerful immortal wizard whose child played with alligators?
Evie decided nothing was a good start.
Overhead, a cobalt blue and silver dragon and a dark green dragon flew fast and furiously toward them. One turned human, hurling toward the ground at a lethal speed.
“Lacey,” she screamed. Oh dear goddess, her sister had come here as dragon, but couldn’t hold her form as she entered the biosphere surrounding the swamp…
Suddenly the blue dragon dipped below Lacey and caught her in his claws. Everyone craned their necks, even the baby, looking upward as the blue dragon descended, and gently deposited Lacey onto the ground.
Naked.
A flush suffused Lacey’s face as she realized she was nude and lacked the magick to clothe herself.
Drust shifted into human form and then waved a hand. An elegant cobalt blue gown covered her sister’s body, but not before Evie spotted the flare of pure male interest in Drust’s blue eyes.
Lacey plucked at the fabric. “A gown? In this swamp? Are we attending a ball or something?”
Drust blinked, and for a moment, Evie saw a shadow in his gaze.
“Jeans and a T-shirt,” please,” she told Drust.
He waved a hand again and a cobalt blue T-shirt and jeans appeared on Lacey.
“Thanks,” she muttered.
“You are welcome.” His gaze glinted. “Although I do prefer you nude. You are quite lovely to gaze upon and without clothing or magick, I sense you will get into less trouble.”
Evie bit back a smile as Lacey scowled. “In your dreams, wizard,” her sister told him.
She spotted Evie, rushed over and hugged her. Lacey smoothed back her hair. “Are you all right?”
Evie nodded. “Chase is back to being an ordinary dragon. It worked, just as you said it would.”
Lacey sighed and hugged her again. “Thanks to the Book of Shadows.”
“What Book of Shadows?” asked a deep male voice.
Oh damn. Evie swallowed hard as Drust confronted them. Chase went over, slid an arm around her.
“Uncle Drust, leave Lacey alone. She helped me recover from the potion. What happened was an accident. She intended no harm.”
Lacey regarded the wizard with some wariness. Drust’s blue gaze glowed as he rested a hand on Chase’s shoulder.
“I am glad you are restored to yourself, Chase. It would have greatly pained me to destroy you. However, you will leave this matter to me regarding the book.”
She feared for her sister, who looked unafraid of Drust.
They were interrupted by a woman who materialized out of nowhere. Lovely, with soft green eyes and blonde hair, she looked younger than thirty and the glow surrounding her assured Evie this woman was also an immortal.
“Ciara,” Xavier murmured, shifting the baby’s weight in his arms. Judging from the heated desire in his eyes and his tender expression, the new arrival must be the wizard’s mate.
Unlike her mate, Ciara wore a simple green silk gown that flowed around her ankles. “There you are,” she cooed to the baby. “Did Daddy take you to see the nice alligators?”
The baby babbled.
Nice alligators? The ones that nearly killed Chase?
But all attention riveted to baby Sonia as the child’s babbles sounded more distinctly like words. Ciara and Xavier beamed at each other.
“Her first word,” the Crystal Wizard declared. “You can do it, Sonia! Say Dada.”
“Momma,” Ciara countered.
The baby opened her mouth, pointed to Drust. “Dragon!”
The Crystal Wizard and his mate stared at each other. “That’s it?” Xavier said, his mouth opening and closing. “Our baby’s first word is dragon?”
“Dragon,” Sonia burbled again.
Drust looked pleased. Evie snickered behind her hand.
“There are more of them than us, darling,” Ciara gently pointed out. “Four dragons, including Drust.”
Astonished, she watched the Coldfire Wizard take the baby from her father’s arms and lift her into the air. “Who’s the big, bad dragon, Sonia?”
The baby laughed and grabbed his nose.
He handed her back to Ciara. “My dear, would you mind returning with her to Tir Na-nog? My deepest thanks for allowing Xavier to fill in for my duties. But now we have an urgent matter requiring our attention.”
Ciara smiled and kissed Xavier. “Of course.”
When Ciara vanished, Drust and Xavier exchanged glances with each other.
“Caderyn, Tristan, Gideon, your presence is required,” Drust said in a loud voice.
Xavier rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, showing a slim cell phone. “You truly do need to catch up on technology, Drust. A simple phone call will suffice.”
He handed over the phone. “Press star 69.”
Immediately three more men materialized on t
he ground. Evie gulped. The rest of the wizards. She bowed her head.
They did not look pleased, especially Tristan, the Silver Wizard. She recognized him from the time when he’d saved Lacey from dying at the foster home.
He was kind, perhaps nicer than Drust, but he scowled and that facial gesture sent dragonflies fluttering in her stomach.
Drust nodded at Chase. “You have done well, Chase. As a reward, I am giving you what mortals call a bereavement. Take three weeks.”
The Silver Wizard whispered in Drust’s ears.
“Ah, I stand corrected. A vacation.”
Maybe the wizard would eventually mean bereavement if he ended up turning Lacey into toad food, for certainly none of the Brehon looked happy with her sister.
“And now, you. The book.” Drust turned to Lacey.
All five wizards regarded Lacey with such menace Evie feared for her sister. They had the power to destroy her.
Or forgive her.
And yet Lacey regarded them, seemingly unafraid. “I have a lot of books. I like to read. Which book? Want to borrow one? I enjoy romance novels. Interested in historical romance? “
Hands steady, she gathered her long hair back, the move shifting the fabric of the T-shirt, exposing the dragon-shaped birthmark on her lower neck.
All four wizards stared at her. Even Drust himself, who frowned.
A faint smile twitched Tristan’s lips, filling Evie with relief. Maybe they wouldn’t vaporize her sister after all.
The wizard with long blond hair tipped with crimson nodded. “Drust, we shall leave this matter for you to resolve. Call us if you need assistance.”
“Doubt it,” Xavier murmured. “I think he can handle this on his own.”
Tristan rested a hand on his shoulder. “My friend, we are leaving you, but if you cannot…rise to the occasion, I will give you advice. Until then…”
He waved a hand and vanished. So did the others.
Evie felt confused, but for some odd reason, the fact the other wizards had left reassured her. Because for all his scowling and enormous power, she sensed Drust did not intend to hurt her sister.
The Coldfire Wizard turned to Chase. “Tell me where you wish to go, and I will give you a boost.”
“Home,” Chase told him. “I have something important to ask Evie.”
Before she could ask, Drust waved a hand. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, they stood in the kitchen of Chase’s condo, with the sliders overlooking the tawny sweep of beach and turquoise ocean.
The same kitchen where Lacey had appropriated the magick potion.
Stolen, she silently corrected herself.
Chase wrapped his arms around her, kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry about Lacey, my love. She can handle herself.”
“I worry more about your uncle Drust.” She leaned against him. “But judging from the way he looked at her, there’s something there. I think he really likes her.”
“I agree. But right now I’m more concerned with us.”
Heart racing, she turned around. “Will there be an ‘us,” Chase? You apprenticed yourself to Drust, and your family reveres dragons with high esteem. I have no real family.”
Chase regarded her with such love, her heart turned over. “Dearest Evie, you have what matters more than a family name and background. You made me whole again, and opened me to love.”
“But your apprenticeship…”
“I did it for you. The only way I could break free from my family was through apprenticing myself to Drust for two years. When my service is over, I can buy your heart’s desire – an art gallery on Worth Avenue.”
She stared at him in confusion. Gradually the words sank in. An art gallery for her, where she could showcase her drawings, perhaps even the watercolors she secretly painted and had shown to no one.
“Chase, your father’s business!”
Anger flashed across his face. “It means nothing to me, Evie. Not without you. I managed the business, but I couldn’t break free without cutting ties with my father until Drust offered me this opportunity to work as his apprentice. And the money to shape my own life however I please.”
Her mouth wobbled as he dropped to one knee and took her hand. “Evie, darling, I want to marry you and be your mate for life. You say you can’t live fully as a dragon, well, then we’ll live as humans. I’ll have enough money to start our business. You create the art and I’ll sell it.”
Wonder filled her. “You’d give up your family legacy as a direct descendent of Drust, all that prestige, to be with me?”
“If you’ll have me.” His voice turned husky.
“But your parents…” Evie protested.
A rueful smile touched his mouth. “They won’t care, but even if they do, I will do what I wish, Evie. When you find someone you truly love, nothing else matters but making her part of your life, forever.”
Chase had done all this simply out of love for her and a deep desire to share his life with her. He hadn’t abandoned her for his family.
But he stood ready to abandon his family for her.
She slid her arms around his neck. “I don’t need an art gallery or a showing, preppie. Just your belief in me. Chase Burke, will you marry me?”
His smile widened. “I was going to ask you first, Evie. I don’t care where we live, here or at your house with Lacey. Anywhere with you,” he said huskily, as he pulled her close, “would be heaven.”
As his mouth descended upon hers, she thought heaven never tasted as sweet.
Chapter 14
Happy as she was for her sister, and Chase, Lacey knew today wasn’t a great day.
Drust waved a hand. Lacey found herself back in her store, the Coldfire Wizard standing before her.
Nausea swirled in her stomach. She licked her mouth, trying to will herself not to throw up.
“Deep breaths,” he advised. “The first few times one teleports, it does scramble the molecules, even if you are immortal as I am.”
Thanks. We could have flown.
She headed to the mini fridge in the back, found a bottle of water and chugged it.
I’m in trouble. The wizards know I have this book and it’s obviously something no mere mortal should possess. But I’ve refused to run away from my problems. That never solves anything.
Not that she could run away now, with the Coldfire Wizard able to transport her to wherever he wished.
Drust sat on the empty counter by the cash register as she returned. He jumped off, pulled down her T-shirt to expose her birthmark.
“Where did you get this?” he murmured, tracing it with a thumb.
His touch coaxed a shiver down her spine. “Had it since I was born. They are called birthmarks, you know.”
“You did not ink it yourself?”
“I’m not into needles and pain, wizard.” She finished the water and chucked the empty into the recycle bin.
It made no sense. Why was Drust interested in her birthmark? And then he unlaced his tunic. Oh damn. Was he going to seduce her? Offer sex in exchange for forgetting about the book of shadows?
Her body tensed with anticipation and dread. I’m not good at this. Hell, I’d always hoped my first time would be a little more…romantic instead of businesslike.
But Drust did not remove the garment. Instead, he pulled downward at the fabric, exposing an identical dragon-shaped birthmark… in the exact same place as hers.
Lacey’s heart raced and her palms went clammy. Surely it was only a coincidence.
With brisk efficiency, he laced his tunic up. “I will address this later, Lacey McGuire. Where is the Book of Shadows? That ancient book has been lost for centuries.”
“So many questions. You keep losing things, wizard. Maybe you should consult lost and found?”
Had to distract him, stop him from asking so many damn questions. If Drust wanted to claim the book, he’d have to pry it from her. The book was her life raft, a promise of more than riches.
“I have it. But the book was a gift. It’s mine. I didn’t steal it.”
Drust stroked the dragon-shaped mark on her throat. A shiver of awareness coursed through her.
He cocked his head and closed his eyes, humming. “Ah yes. You were given the book by the proprietor of the shop you visited. That man had hidden it for years. He was a clever man.”
Was? Lacey’s stomach clenched.
“What happened to him?” she asked.
Frowning, Drust dropped her blouse and stepped back. “The shop keeper, Miles?”
A chill rushed through Lacey. “Yes, him! What happened?”
“He went mad, and threatened to burn Skins alive. Indeed, he had already severely burned two and I had to heal them myself. Chase tried to save the Skins, and in the process, nearly was killed himself when Miles shifted back to his human form and went after Chase with a cleaver.”
The same older man Chase had mentioned, the man who’d gone insane, forcing Drust to step in. Lacey’s stomach roiled. She had a bad feeling about this.
Drust cocked his head, appeared to listen to something far away. When he looked at her again, his expression seemed…sympathetic?
“He didn’t give the book to you Lacey out of altruism. He gave it to you because he wanted to keep it hidden and he handed over to his heir. He wanted the book to belong to you. Miles Wharton wasn’t a stranger.”
“I’d never met him before,” she cried out.
“I know.”
“Then who was he?”
His next words immobilized her with shock. “Miles Wharton was your father, the father you have searched for since birth.”
Lacey could barely breathe. “He’s dead?”
Sympathy and wariness filled Drust’s intense blue gaze. “Yes. I killed him.”
Look for Drust and Lacey’s story in THE MATING CLAIM, coming this summer! Read on for a special preview.
The Mating Claim
Copyright 2019 Bonnie Vanak
He could not believe his eyes. Drust stared at the red neon sign glowing in the window.
FREE SPELLS.
With a low growl, he ran across the street and flung open the door.
The shop was packed, crawling with witches. He could tell by the glow of their aura, pulsing weakly, threaded with flickers of hope. Witches who had lost much magick, and needed potions to revive it.
THE MATING MAGIC: Werewolves of Montana Book 13 Page 9