Page 36 of Surge of Storms

Zane gives us a wide smile. “This is not alcohol. This is a dessert in a cup. Do not worry about me.”

“Famous last words,” Evander mutters.

When the waitress brings him another drink, Granger snags his own straw and says, “Sip. Like me,” then he proceeds to slowly sip his pina colada.

Zane gives him a wicked smile and goes to town on his drink again, but at least it’s slower this time than the first. Aydan starts laughing, and then we’re all laughing, having a good time, enjoying the sunshine, the cool air, and being free and normal for a little while.

“I think I’m going to enjoy this lifetime,” Zane tells me, kissing the tip of my nose.

“Yes, you are,” I tell him, knowing deep in my heart that he will.

“Excuse me.” I turn to see a woman in a deep blue dress that reaches her ankle, perfect makeup, and hair in a complicated updo, and she’s looking right at me.

“Yes?” I ask cautiously.

“Are you married?”

“Are you hitting on me?”

She throws back her head and laughs. “No. We’re just about to do the bouquet toss and need a few more girls. We only have two, and neither one wants to get married any time soon.”

“Do it,” Aydan says. “It’ll be fun.”

I give him a look, but the woman is so sweet and eager that I can’t help myself. “Alright.”

Zane pipes up from behind me. “What is it that she is doing?”

Granger starts to explain as I walk away.

Suddenly, Zane pipes up with, “She will be the next to marry if she gets this bouquet?”

I can’t help but grin as I join the wedding group. Luckily, I’m in a summer dress, so I don’t stick out too much like a sore thumb, but I gather with the two other women, who look annoyed to be there. The bride gives a little speech, the wedding guests clap and laugh, and then she turns to throw the bouquet.

As it sails through the air, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Zane leaps in front of the three of us, grabs the bouquet, then tosses me over his shoulder, screaming, “She got it! She won! She will marry next!”

There’s dead silence from the wedding for a minute before everyone starts laughing. I hide my face against his back until the laughter dies away. I look up to see Zane has brought me back to the three men, who are having an absolute fit over what just occurred. I’ve seriously never seen Evander laugh like this before. And the other two? Their faces are bright red as they try to choke in air.

Zane sets me down and presses the flowers into my hands. “Now, we will be married soon. The gods have decided based upon your most sacred of traditions.”

I don’t know what to say, so I just lean up and kiss him. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this embarrassed in my life, but at the same time, it’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. And I could have worse luck, being with one of those prick guys who runs when the girl catches the flowers.

We get back to the table and calm down before ordering basically one of every appetizer. We’d eaten just a short time ago, but I’d realized our little group could always eat. It’s one of the flaws with being dragons, I think.

Granger clears his throat, and a serious look passes over his face. “Should we talk about it now then?”

Aydan takes a sip of his drink. “I guess we have to.”

My heart sinks.Damn it.

We’d had another meeting with the scientists this morning in the lab. They’d shown us a current update of the dragon situation, and we’d decided we needed some air to best decide what to do next.

“More dragons have awakened. All male. Our teams are monitoring them, but not approaching,” Granger begins.

“And all betas,” Zane says, as if that’s the most important thing here. “And none of them are causing problems like with Malikay and his group. They are flying. They are exploring. They are likely going amongst your people in human form, trying to figure out this new world, but they are not violent.”

“How do we know they won’t become violent?” I ask.

Zane looks thoughtful. “I think that I need to explain things better. I always forget what you know and what you do not know.”

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