Page 41 of Dragon Compelled
I sigh. “Lots of magic and spells. Nothing I can make work.” As proof, I crack it open and turn to a page. Then, holding my hand out, I mutter the incantation scribbled on the aged parchment. Nothing happens.
“What is that supposed to do?” he asks me.
“It should have opened this book.” I lift another, much smaller book, to show Aries. “It’s a book about an insect kingdom,” I say. “Nothing more dangerous than a praying mantis inside.”
“Not dangerous, huh? The females do decapitate their male counterparts after mating,” he says with a half smile.
“Fair enough.” I drop back into my chair with a sigh. “I don’t know what to do. We need me to be able to use my magic, but I can’t learn it without help. And I’m not finding answers in any of these books.”
Aries comes around behind my desk and grips my shoulders, kneading the tension from my muscles. I’d once called his hands magic, and that was even before I knew what pleasure could be had from them. The man can work a muscle, that’s for sure.
“We’ll figure it out,” he assures me.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you and I are capable of doing anything together.”
“Like rule a kingdom?” I ask. Aries freezes then releases me. I turn to face him. “I’m sorry. I just know it’s probably been on your mind.”
“It has been,” he admits.
“I want you to know that my decision hasn’t changed. We find Hoc, bring him home, and I still want to go back to your world with you. I want to be together, to build a future with you. To make a home with you.”
Aries’s smile is blinding. He drops to his knees and leans in to press his lips to mine. “You are so much more to me than you realize, Paige. And I don’t even know where to begin telling you.”
I wind my arms around his neck then wrap my legs around his waist and tug him closer. He presses against me, and heat blossoms in my belly. “You show me every time we’re together,” I reply. “And that is so much more important than words.”
Aries takes a deep breath. “Paige—”
Alarm bells screech to life. An awareness with the potency of a jackhammer shoots through me as Aries pulls away from me and we both sprint toward the door.
We race down the hall, reaching the main stacks in seconds.
A shrill howl breaks through the alarms.Bingo.
Still running, we weave through the stacks toward the sound of the pained howl. The creature lets loose another one, and it’s like a punch to my gut. Something is very,verywrong.
What if Constantine is back?
What if something else was freed?
Or—what if Hoc found his way home?
I shove that thought aside as soon as we reach the stacks, though. The alarm wouldn’t be going off if Hoc was here. The library would welcome him. “Blossom!” I yell.
“Here!”
The unicorn joins us as we sprint toward the back of the stacks.
The gnomes and Kitty sprint alongside us, though they’re above the stacks, running along the shelf’s ledge.
All of us prepared to fight.
We reach the back, and Bingo howls again. A blood-curdling sound that is a mixture of grief and fear. And it’s coming from the basement.
Hoc!
The basement door is closed, but Aries slams into it, shoving it wide open. We barrel down the stairs, Blossom just ahead of me with her sword already in hand. As I file into the basement, I see a portal swirling in the center of the room, a gray-skinned human figure reaching through it, one hand wrapped firmly around the ankle of another figure lying face down on the floor.
