Page 6 of Must Love Dragons
Nysa butted her head against Kinsley’s calf and let out a demandingmerowafter putting her paw very deliberately on the door.Since it was a mild afternoon, she’d opened the top half of the Dutch door to let in the fresh air and so she could keep an eye on Galahad who had gone out for his afternoon fly, perching in a tree at the edge of the yard and watching for mice to chase.
“Want to go for a walk, kits?”she asked, bending over and scratching Nysa behind the ear.
Merow.
She grabbed her coat off the hook and opened the door, walking out with Nysa.Shutting the door behind her, she noticed the other two cats were watching her, their whiskers twitching.
A chill came over her, like a breath of frosty air and she shivered.
Putting on her coat, she turned to the yard and looked around.She could feel the protection wards she had on the building and yard, the magic shimmering in a hazy way along the perimeter.They always kept protection wards around their territory because it was just smart in a world where danger could pop up suddenly.They didn’t have any enemies, but that didn’t mean things wouldn’t change at a moment’s notice.And it was better to have protection wards and not need them, than to be at the mercy of dark magic wielders or dangerous people and wish they had them.
Taking a few steps from the building, she felt the magical protections ripple, as if something was disturbing them.
She closed her eyes and focused her magic on the protections, but they weren’t being destroyed, they were just reacting to something.She felt a strange pull toward the trees and sent a quick text to Delaney.
Something’s coming.I don’t know what, just be alert.
Are you okay?Delaney texted back.
Yes.I’ll keep you posted.
Be careful, girl.
I will.
Putting her phone in her coat pocket, she rubbed her bracelet that was imbued with a powerful protection spell for good luck and headed toward the trees with Nysa prowling next to her.
“It’s the weirdest thing,” she said in a low voice to Nysa.“I feel magic, but not witch or warlock magic.Just… magic.”She wondered if there was such a thing as generic magic, like the sort you could get online at a discount.But just as quickly as she had the thought, she dismissed it.Magic was magic.
Wasn’t it?
When she reached the trees at the back of the property, she heard a loud roar of distress overhead and she looked up in time to see a dragon—a literal freaking dragon—crashing toward the earth.
Toward her.
“What the actual hell?”she demanded.
The dragon was in a freefall, tumbling ass over teakettle.
There was a loud meow from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see the other two cat familiars sitting on the top of the Dutch door, watching.Galahad hooted loudly overhead, and she found him in the trees, his eyes glowing gold.
What was going on?
She picked up Nysa and backed away, wondering if she was hallucinating.
But then the dragon changed, turning from a huge, black-scaled beast to a man.
A naked man.
The trees rustled loudly as he passed through the branches still covered with turning leaves, and then he hit the ground.
A cloud of purple mist exploded outward when he hit the ground and as it reached her, she stumbled, nearly falling on her butt with the impact.Nysa jumped safely from her arms with a distressed yowl, as if she was worried.The weird mist felt like magic, but some kind of strange, old magic.
Breathing hard, she gingerly approached the man who was now in a man-sized crater.She was very certain a fall like that would be a death sentence.Even for a dragon shifter.
Hell, she didn’t even know dragon shifters were around anymore.She’d only read about them when she was in witch school.They were magical in their own right, but not the sort of magic that could cast spells.
As she approached him, her magic flared, and Nysa let out a loud yowl.Kinsley hurried to the man.His chest was rising and falling.
