Page 19 of The Mating Magic
Of course not. I was an invisible dragon. Chase waved a regal hand. “Greetings, Juan. You maycontinue.”
Juan frowned. “Are you feeling okay, Mr. Chase? You look a littlepale.”
“Never been better. Have you seen mymother?”
“No. But she’s probably inside with yourfather.”
Turning, he strode toward the back patio. The doors stood open to allow in the fresh air. He stepped inside the house. Such fine taste, the white, gold-veined marble floor, vaulted ceilings, expensive, colorful art on thewalls.
Everything screamed money and luxury, two things Evie deserved and did nothave.
It was time he evened thingsup.
“Mother,” he calledout.
Twin staccato heels clicked on the tile. Two women, wearing matching silk designer blouses and black silk trousers, entered the living room fromupstairs.
“Hullo, cousin. Your parents are out playing golf with friends,” drawled his cousinHelen.
Good. Nowitnesses.
“I need to speak to both of you.” Chase leaned against the door, watching them, wondering how best to handle this. Should he roast them in flames or vaporize them with coldfire? “You insulted and threw my girlfriend out of the ball. You need to apologize to her, and tome.”
“Chase, what’s with you?” Helen frowned and flopped onto the white leather sofa. She studied her phone. “It was merely ajoke.”
“Please, darling, that slut? Not worth your time. We can find you another sex toy if you’re horny.” Lynna snapped a photo of him with herphone.
He felt himself begin to change, to grow taller and more muscled.I’m the Incredible HulkDragon.
The phone tumbled from Lynna’s hand. Her jaw dropped. “Chase, what’s happened to you? You’re …glowing.”
He grinned, showing a mouthful of sharp, dragon teeth. “How’s this for your social mediaposts?”
Helen tugged at her sister’s hand. “Lynna, let’s get the hell out ofhere.”
They made it to the front door when the screamingbegan.
With her crippled wing,Evie had never mastered flying long as dragon. Usually her flights were less than a half hour long, which kept her grounded most times. Today, she pushed on, flying to Chase’s family home in Palm Beach. Panic did wonders for stretching one’slimitations.
Although she’d been there only for the gala, she knew exactly what house was Chase’s. She’d seen it often enough in his snobby cousins’ social media postings. They loved taking selfies on the wide, expansive lawn that bordered thebeach.
Even from the air, she could hear the screams as she approached. Evie landed on the soft grass with a hard thud. Ow. Landings were never herspecialty.
No time to see if Skin eyes observed her. She shifted into her human form, clothed herself with jeans, a pink T-shirt and sneakers. More screams from inside themansion.
A wide-eyed gardener, clippers in hand, ran around the hedges and saw her. “Call the police,” he yelled. “Mr. Chase is going insane! He’ll kill Miss Helen and MissLynna.”
Fear loaned her legs speed as she ran into the house through the opened patiodoors.
Evie ground to an abrupt halt. In the pristine white living room, Helen and Lynna cowered behind one of the white leather sofas as Chase hurled energy balls at them. The sofa was slowly disintegrating with each hurled globe of power. Soon it would vanish, exposing thetwins.
For a moment Evie was tempted to do nothing. Ignore the screams of the women who’d made her life hell, who’d bullied and taunted her simply because she was poor and moved outside their socialcircles.
And then she took a hard look at Chase, herlover.
Red rimmed his eyes and his maniacal expression resembled that of a man who’d tipped the edge and fell into pure rage. He had grown at least a foot, standing seven feet tall, so muscled his shirt bulged everywhere. Blue glowed from his fingertips as he summoned power. Chase cackled with glee as he tossed another fireball at thesofa.
“Come out bitches and play with me,” heroared.
