Page 75 of Love's a Witch
“I already know the solution. The safe solution. And that’s to leave. I need… I just need some space to think.”
I slammed the door behind me and crunched through the snow, my shoulders bent to protect Blue until I reached the car and bundled him into the front seat. Rounding the car, I glanced back at the cottage to see Broca standing in the window, Lyra at her side.
They didn’t have to say anything, because I could see what they were thinking. They thought I was coward for wanting to leave, but I thought it was more cowardly to stay and let other people fight your fight for you. Frustrated, and slightly distracted, I started the car and pulled it gently into the recently plowed street, no specific direction in mind. My thoughts churned, my feelings rioting around me, and I was so stressed by the discussion that I’d forgotten one warning that Knox had given me.
An emotional witch new to her magick can wreak havoc.
Just like the witch who cursed my bloodline.
And just like now, when all of a sudden, my car morphed around me and no longer were Blue and I cozied into the front seat.
No, now we were tucked inside a sleigh, wrapped in blankets, while a dragon bucked its head against the reins.
The reins that I was now holding.
My mouth dropped open in a silent scream as the dragon blew out a breath of fire and took flight.
CHAPTER TWENTYKnox
Of course, Mrs. Stuart. I understand completely.” I stood patiently outside the Dragon’s Hoard, our local curiosity shop, and listened as Mrs. Stuart listed all the reasons why we needed to make the MacGregors leave. I’d meant to just pop into the shop quickly to pick up a wee bauble for my mum’s birthday, and have it sent off, but like everything in Briarhaven, it took double the amount of time to accomplish. It was part of the job, though, listening to the concerns of the citizens, so I kept a polite smile on my face.
“Those MacGregors are a menace to Briarhaven,” Mrs. Stuart warned, clutching her wool coat more tightly to her neck.
“I can’t say that I agree with that. Have you met them? They are all lovely people, and I do believe their intention is to break the curse,” I said, going to bat for the MacGregors, as I had been increasingly called upon to do.
“Surely they could have managed it by now. This is ridiculous.” Mrs. Stuart turned to the sky and sniffed.
Her eyes widened and she froze.
I whirled, hands already up, prepared to protect her from any incoming danger.
But I was not prepared for what I saw.
A green dragon with iridescent scales that shimmered with an underlay of orange writhed through the air, fighting the restraint of being tethered to a sleigh. Snow swirled, clouds concealing the dragon, but I knew what I’d seen.
A sleigh that held a shrieking Sloane and an exuberant Blue.
Shop owners ran into the street to look, and when the dragon opened its mouth and shot flames, they raced back inside, their screams deafening as the dragon whirled in the air, dragging Sloane behind it.
She was clearlynotin charge.
“Bloody hell,” I murmured, and ran out into the street. Invoking my elemental magick, I pulled from my very core.“Fires obey, in my command stay!”
The dragon swung, its tawny eyes on me, and swooped low, slowing enough that I was able to grab the side of the sleigh.
“Knox.” Sloane’s face was a picture of abject terror, and I swung myself inside the sleigh, prying the reins from her hands and squeezing next to her on the seat. With one steady pull of the reins, the dragon lifted us once more and I waved cheerfully from the sleigh at the shop owners gawking below.
“Everything’s fine. Just fine,” I shouted down, the icy wind stealing my words, but they got the gist. I directed the dragon toward my castle, bending my head against the icy wind. Fury rippled through me at the thought that Sloane might have been hurt.
How had she evenfounda dragon? I had a million questions for one Miss Sloane MacGregor, but I kept them inside as I focused on landing the dragon on the front lawn of the castle. The moment dragons suspected they could take command, they would. Once the sleigh lurched and skidded to a stop, the dragon stomping its feet in the snow and melting small patches of snow with its breath, I grabbed Sloane’s arm.
“Come with me. Slowly.”
Blue leapt into the sky and buzzed about, and to my utter astonishment, he flew to the dragon’s head.
“Blue,” Sloane shouted, worry in her voice.
When the emberwolf zipped forward and licked the dragon’s snout, my knees went weak.
