Page 16 of The Mating Magic
“Shit,” he yelled, falling on thefloor.
The vial landed beside him, but did not shatter. Relieved he picked it up, only to see a substantial crack in the glass. Liquid seeped out. Uncaring, for he knew the Bloodmoon flower potion would have no effect on him, he clutched the vial and marched into thekitchen.
“I found it.” He set down the vial upon the counter, his skin oddly tingling. “I will tellDrust…”
Two horrified faces stared at him. “Did you get any on you, Chase?” Lacey asked, all smugnessgone.
“A bit. It’snothing.”
Chase rubbed his hand against his trousers, his skin tingling and hot. To his dismay, he felt nauseated, and then watched as his hands began to glowblue.
“The potion, you altered it,” he whispered, his stomach filled with knives, his skin itching like ants crawled beneathit.
Lacey stared at him, all her attitude gone. “Yes, I made it strong enough to make a dragon nearly invincible. It’s not a potion you swallow. It gets absorbed through the skin. And you just touched it,Chase.”
Chapter 7
Evie had never thoughta potion could change anyone so swiftly, especially a dragon as strong as herlover.
Chase ran outside, howling in anguish, beating at his skin. Nails digging into his exposed flesh, he screamed as he danced around the yard, batting at his face as if thousands of mosquitos stunghim.
Her heart squeezed tight in frantic fear and sympathy. Chase seemed in unbearablepain.
“What the hell, Lacey? What did you do?” Evieyelled.
No time for answers, for Chase shifted into a dragon. Roaring, he bellowed fire at the dry grass and then lifted off, his powerful wings making leaves on the trees dance and making her hair flyback.
Lacey grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and put out the grassfire.
Despair filled Evie. Chase was gone and judging from what happened, reeling out ofcontrol.
“Wow,” Lacey murmured. “I never realized how the master control batch needed that much dilution. He’s going to be nearly as powerful as Drust himself. I wonder how long the effectslast?”
“Screw your experiments, Lace! We have to help him. You know how powerful that potion is and how it will mess withChase!”
Her sister paced the yard. Lacey seemed deeply worried and that made the panic inside Evie’s chest rise up and squeeze herheart.
“Did you make an antidote and not tell me?” Evieasked.
A head shake sent slim hope spiraling downward. “Maybe we should call on Drust,” Eviesuggested.
Lacey laughed, but there was no humor in it. “And watch me get turned into toad stew? That’s nosolution.”
“Then find one, damnit! You created thestuff.”
Her sister stopped in her tracks, blinked. “If I didn’t know better, Evie, I’d say you absorbed some of the potion yourself. When did you get soassertive?”
Love made one assertive, but she couldn’t tell Lacey that.Yes, I’m still in love with Chase and I don’t want to losehim.
“Let’s look in the book,” shecountered.
Inside, they dragged the heavy tome from its hiding place in the pantry over to the kitchen table and poured through it. Lacey squinted as she read over the potion’singredients.
“We have to find Chase and somehow immerse in into the swamp where the liliesbloom.”
“The same swamp with the dragon-eating alligators?” Evie’s heart felt as if it would explode in herchest.
“The potion endows an Other with powers and confidence similar to those of the wizards. The wizards are immortal.” Lacey tapped the book. “So what must be done is restore the Other’s mortality, his humanside.”
