Page 165 of Happily Ever Witch
She was asking about him? Not the wolf? Trevelyan leaned against the doorframe, intense satisfaction filling him.Shedidlike him best. His mate needed him, just as he needed her. This was excellent news. It was only a matter of time before she loved him. After all, he was a dragon! Who wouldn’t love a dragon?
Esmeralda was so caught up in her search that she didn’t notice she’d found him. “I know you’ve got him someplace close-by. Stop!” A manicured palm waved out… and the escaping guards became a cheery hurricane of magazine pages. Glossy pictures of toys. Photos of brightly wrapped packages. Images of smiling women in pretty dresses. A confetti of colorful advertisements rained down, like a tickertape parade.
Trevelyan’s eyebrows soared.
“What the hell is this, now?” Esmeralda grabbed one of the bits of paper and squinted at it. “Catalogue.” She finally muttered in disgust, tossing it away, again. “That damn frog spell still won’t work. Good energy just makeshappyrhymes.”
Love spread through Trevelyan’s chest. Hotter than fire and more real than magic. “You need to useallyour powers to have balance.” He told her. “Good and Bad together.”
Esmeralda’s fake-face snapped around, wrong-colored eyes widening. “Trev!” She ran for him, believing that he’d catch her.
And he always,alwayswould.
Esmeralda jumped up and Trevelyan’s arms wrapped securely around her, holding her close. “I’ve been waiting for you, my darling.” Kissing her blonde temple, he carried her into the formal parlor, before someone else came along and saw them.
“I got here as quick as I could. Have you ever tried climbing a mountain in heels?” She pulled back to look him over, her legs looped around his hips. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? I’ve been so worried!”
“Hey, Ez.” Marrok said dryly, heading over to them.
“Hey, Marrok.” She shot him a quick, beaming smile and then turned back to Trevelyan. “Did someone hit you?” She ran a hand over his face, like she half-suspected he was hiding some grievous wound from her. “Why is your nose bleeding?”
“Marrok did that.” He might have an uneasy truce going with the wolf, but Trevelyan wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to score points. “After I rescued him from certain death, he punched me. But, I forgive him, because he’s your brother.” He endeavored to look noble. “I’d suffer through anything to please my future bride.”
Esmeralda stared at him, like he really was her happily ever after.
“Asshole.” Marrok flipped Trevelyan off, without any heat.
Trevelyan ignored him. “Why do you look like Cinderella?” He asked Esmeralda.
“Oh!” She instantly dropped the glamour, so she was herself again. Much better. “Right. Sorry. I had to get naked to kill a gardener and I used her body to do it.”
“Naked?”
“Relax. The gardener didn’t touch me.”
“But he saw you!”
“He sawCindy.” She rolled her eyes. “I just needed a distraction.”
Trevelyan was far from appeased. Even if it wasn’t his mate’srealbody, dragons didn’t share. “You’re sure this gardener is dead?” If he wasn’t, he soon would be.
“Yep. I pushed him into some carnivorous roses. It was a terrible way to go. You’d be thrilled.”
He was glad the man had suffered. Still… “You pushed him with yourhands?” He shook his head, because that news was even more upsetting than her nakedness. “No, darling. We need to work on ways for you to kill people at a distance. I don’t like that you got that close to him.”
Esmeralda hopped down out of his arms, disgruntled now. “Pushing him worked just fine. Stop nitpicking my villainy.”
“I’m not nitpicking. I’d just rather you not get beheaded. Our honeymoon will be a lot more fun for me, if all your body parts are attached.”
Marrok gave a bark of laughter. …Which he quickly tried to turn into a cough, when Esmeralda scowled at him.
“I can always tell Letty that you died during the rescue.” She warned, jabbing a finger in the wolf’s direction. “I’m already pissed that you hit my True Love.”
Marrok held up his hands in mock surrender, fighting a grin. Clearly, he was thrilled to have Esmeralda back, which made Trevelyan soften towards the man. Slightly. “You’ve met Trev, right? You know he deserved a bloody nose and a lot more.”
“I don’t care! He’s still my True Love, so I’m on his side.”
Trevelyan preened at the show of solidarity. Esmeralda had given him her loyalty. She looked for himfirst. Stood by himfirst. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. Whatanydragon wanted to hear. Except she still hadn’t told him she loved him.
