Page 13 of Dragon's Golden Mate
“You’re not old,” she corrected him, studying his face and still unable to see all the years that he claimed. “If you are, you could make a fortune selling your skincare routine.”
“I don’t think people would be very interested in hearing about a boring old bar of soap,” he laughed. “And you’re one to talk!”
“Me? I’m a crone. It’s not an insult, either,” she said quickly when she saw him open his mouth to reply. “Not in my world, anyway.”
“Nor should it be, if it describes you.” His eyes moved over her face, studying her, absorbing her.
Maeve wanted to kick herself. Every time she thought she was getting away from any kind of conversation that could bring them closer together, she just steered right back into it again. She felt like they were each only a sentence or two away from saying something they might regret, something that was far more than polite conversation between two elders.
“Do you miss it?” she blurted out.
He blinked. “Miss what?”
“Running the clan,” she said. There. That was common ground that they could talk about for a long time without ever mentioning looks, attraction, mates, or deep feelings.
He considered this for a moment. “There are days when I do. You can’t do a job for that long and then just stop, not when it involves people you care about.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Maeve had never even considered ‘retiring.’ She knew she’d be involved in the coven one way or another, no matter what. It was impossible to think of it as something outside of herself.
“Beck is doing a wonderful job, so at least I knowI don’t have any worries there. Chelsea, too. The two of them are great together. We’re a small clan, and we don’t need a lot of structure to keep it going. Really, we’re just a family,” Kendrick explained.
“No wonder you looked so uneasy when I brought you through the covenstead yesterday,” she pointed out. “There are quite a few of us.”
“It wasn’t just the numbers,” he said with a smile. “It’s the way they all looked at me. Curious, but ready to pounce on me if I said so much as an impolite word to you.”
Maeve laughed. It was too loud, but no one looked. “I don’t know about that!”
“I do!” His accent came out a little stronger when he spoke enthusiastically. “If you’ve ever had any doubts as to whether or not those women would fight for you, just bring a relative stranger into their midst and see what happens. If any man says he’s not intimidated, he’s a liar!”
Now she was laughing so hard that she could barely see. “I was just imagining someone like Colette marching up to a big man like you and telling you exactly what she thinks!” Colette was one of their youngest members and probably the most petite, but she had a killer glare and a sharp tongue.
“I’ll be sure not to cross her, then!”
When Maeve heard a rumbling, she thought it was just Kendrick’s laughter. But then she stopped laughing when she felt the ground writhing under her feet. She threw her arms out, automatically reaching for the strength and security of Kendrick, but it was too late. She went down, her right knee slamming hard into the cobblestone.
Light radiated in her eyes, and she reeled with pain. “What the hell just happened?”
“It wasn’t just you.” Kendrick was next to her now, one arm around her back and the other reaching for her hand. “Are you all right?”
“I’m sure I’m fine.” She gritted her jaw against a wave of dizziness, brought on by the horrific pain that radiated from her knee. It jolted through her bones. “I just need to walk it off.”
“I’ll help you.” His arms were strong, and he easily brought her to her feet.
Maeve hardly had to use her own strength at all. That was good, since she had so little of it. The fall and the pain had drained her completely. She grunted as she tried to put weight on her right foot. The pain in her knee exploded. Her head spun and she could hardly breathe. Maeve collapsed against Kendrick’s side. “I’m sorry,” she panted. “I think I need a minute.”
“Take your time.” His arms were still clamped around her.
Maeve knew that even if she stopped trying to hold herself up completely, Kendrick had her. But how embarrassing! As if she wasn’t already conscious of her age, now he was holding her up.
Fortunately, she could fix this. Through the fog of pain, Maeve reached down. She spread out her fingers so that the tips surrounded her kneecap. She summoned energy, feeling it flow up through her body. There was that telltale tickle in her palm that she and Kristy had discussed with Nia. Maeve controlled her breath and focused on healing. She moved her mind into a special place that she’d found through her years of practice, one that allowed her to focus this energy on fixing wounds and reducing inflammation.
She felt the energy move up her fingers, but where she expected to see it flow out of her hand and into her knee, she only saw sparks.
“What the hell?” Desperation bloomed in her chest. Of all the times for her magic to fail, why did it have to be now?
6
“What’s the matter?”
