Page 23 of Dragon's Golden Mate
“Oh.” All of Maeve’s giggles died away in an instant. “I didn’t remember that.”
“I do.” Lucille sat back again. She picked up her coffee mug, but instead of drinking from it, she looked out through the screens of the porch and through the foliage of the backyard, into the distant past. “You knew he was the one, and you were soexcited. I was jealous, because I wanted a boyfriend.”
“Could’ve fooled me. All you ever did was tell me how ugly you thought he was,” Maeve reminded her.
“At least the two of you made pretty babies,” Lucille told her.
“Fine, fine. Not everyone likes redheads,” Maeve conceded.
“Anyway, I remember that time pretty well. You thought something was seriously wrong with you because you couldn’t perform spells anymore. It was just like what you showed me a minute ago, fizzling and dying without doing anything.”
Maeve was in the past now, too. “He told me the truth about himself, that he was a shifter. I already knew it. We could sense it in each other immediately, but he wanted to share that part of himself with me. He hadn’t told anyone outside of his family, so it really took a lot.”
She smiled, remembering the way his green eyes looked when he’d told her. He was a strong man, charismatic and attractive, no matter what Lucille tried to say, and that utter vulnerability had made her fall for him even harder than she already had. “I wanted to share something, too. Something beyond just saying, ‘Yeah, me too.’ So I told him I was awitch. He thought I meant it in the sense that a lot of people say it, that it was just a spiritual thing, but I wanted to show him that it was more than that. As soon as I sent those pathetic little sparks off my fingers, he laughed. He thought I was pulling a prank on him.”
“There you go,” Lucille concluded, as if that explained everything.
Maeve considered the possibilities. Her magic had first failed on the day of Corbin’s birthday party, when she’d first met Kendrick. They’d seen each other almost every day since then. It was only when they were in the church, an apparent source of great power, that it’d come back for a moment.
But if Patrick had made her lose her power initially, and Kendrick had done the same, then that meant…
Maeve shook her head. “I’m just getting old.”
Lucille raised her brows. “Magic isn’t like eyesight. It should be getting better with age, not worse.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Maeve sighed, “and I’ll even concede that there’s some good logic to it.”
“So generous of you,” Lucille muttered.
“But,” Maeve continued, “it doesn’t feel right to me. Kendrick has a lot of wonderful qualities, but Ialready met the man fate intended me to be with. Patrick meant everything to me, and I can’t just betray that bond.”
“Are you betraying yourself by trying so hard to deny it?” Lucille asked gently. “Maeve, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you need a man. You’re a strong woman, and you’ve always known your heart better than anyone. I just don’t want to see you deny yourself of something that could be really good when the only person you’re appeasing is already dead.”
Maeve’s throat was getting thick, and she took another sip of coffee. “Once all of this business with the church is over, I’ll distance myself from Kendrick. It’s the right thing to do for everyone involved. Just think about how awkward that could be with the clan and our coven. I owe him the help that I told him I’d give, but nothing beyond that.”
“If you say so.”
“Luce.”
“What?” Lucille shrugged as she brought her coffee mug back to her lips. “I was just saying that if that’s what you want to do, then that’s what you want to do. Nothing else.”
Apparently, little sisters could be irritating even when they were old enough to get a senior discount.
9
Kendrick got dressedwithout really thinking about it. His mind was elsewhere, mostly focused on the cathedral. He’d started the previous day looking for answers, but he’d only found more questions. He had to be missing something.
No one was in the kitchen when he came downstairs, something he was grateful for. He loved his clan. The other dragons were as important to him as his own life. Without them, he was nothing. Even so, idle conversations about the weather or calling the plumber weren’t what he needed right now.
When he was the Alpha, he would’ve gone to his den for some solitude. Kendrick had given that to Beck once he took over, though, which was only right. Beck needed a place to conduct the clan’sbusiness, pay bills, deal with arguments, and plan the future of their little family.
A long walk sounded like the right decision. He was just reaching for the door handle when a small weight slammed into his leg and wrapped around it.
“Unca Kennick! Where you going?”
“Ah, Corbin, my boy!” No matter how he felt—even if he was ‘brooding,’ as the other dragons liked to say—the sweet little boy put him in a good mood instantly. He swept him up into his arms, relishing the look of pure joy as Corbin soared through the air. “How are you this morning?”
“Hungry!” Corbin patted his belly with one hand for emphasis.
