Page 3 of The Mating Magic
“You can make time. You have an apprentice now to aid you.” Tristan sat on the ground next to Xavier. Sonia reached for his long hair and gave it a tug, but Tristan did not seem tomind.
“I’ll take Chase with me on this assignment,” he said aloud. “He needs thepractice.”
Xavier and Tristan exchangedlooks.
And perhaps assigning routine duties to Chase would free up more time. After this assignment, he would find a nice bed partner and spend hours indulging his carnal desires. Yet he suspected the restlessness would not cease with meresex.
“Does Sonia have time for a ride or are these idiot dragons in danger right this minute?” he askedTristan.
The Silver Wizard closed his eyes. “You have anhour.”
“Good. Find Chase and send him to Swamp World. Tell him to rescue the women, hold them there and then wait for my arrival.” Drust cooed to the baby and shifted into dragonagain.
Xavier placed his precious daughter on Drust’s back, securing her with a harness he conjured out of thinair.
As the Crystal Wizard stepped back, Drust spread his wings. “Come on, little one, hangtight.”
Sonia chortled as Drust lifted into the sky, winging on thebreeze.
The two wizards on the ground watched him flyoff.
“Does he know yet?” Xavier asked withinterest.
Tristan smiled. “That he can’t foresee the fate of the girls in the swamp because one is his intended mate? I thinknot.”
Chapter 2
No one would ever mockher again for being a dragon with a broken wing who couldn’t flystraight.
Hands on hips, Evie Marcus surveyed the swampy pit. More than two dozen alligators swam in the brackish water, some of the reptiles eleven feet long. A steel zipline hung overhead, a weathered, battered sign on the ground daring passersby to risk theirlives.
Evie shivered. A dragon shapeshifter had nothing to fear here, after all she could shift and fly off if threatened. Still, something about this deserted amusement park gave her the creeps. Tangles of kudzu draped over the trees sandwiched between the swamp, and covered the rides long abandoned after the Florida site shut down years ago after a hurricane had torn through thearea.
Sweat streamed down her back, soaking her shirt. Dragons weren’t supposed to sweat, for they loved the heat, and yet she hadn’t stopped perspiring since setting foot upon this land. She wasn’t superstitious, but a nagging feeling of danger lingered here. And not merely from the alligators swimming lazily in theswamp.
“Got the last of it.” Lacey dusted off her hands after tucking the white lilies into her bag. She stepped away from the water and surveyed the swamp and the surrounding area. “Let’sgo.”
“Just a minute.” Evie pointed to the zipline. “Want totry?”
A deep, gurgling laugh from Lacey. “Breaking and entering isn’t enough for you, now you want to risk that? What happened to my shy little sister? What did you do withher?”
“She left after Chase’s family tossed her out of their home.” Evie bit her lip. Damn that hurt to say it aloud. Hurt even more to realize that Chase Burke, her lover for more than a year, would never make their relationshippermanent.
Not when the Burkes were one of the wealthiest and most influential dragon families in Florida, and Evie was on the same level as the maids who scrubbed the floors of theirmansion.
Lacey’s expression turned stormy. She clenched her fists. “Bastards. You’re better than they are, sis. Forget them. You havethis.”
Lacey pointed to the bag holding the flowers. “This will even the playing field. Once I perfect the dragonspice potion and you take it, no one will ever mock you again. Your powers will be nearly equal to the wizards of theBrehon.”
Her sister patted the bag. “Can you imagine the expressions on the faces of his nasty cousins when you drive up to their Palm Beach mansion in a new Ferrari, dressed in a designer outfit even they would covet? Then you could turn them into those cute little Cuban lizards. Show them exactly whom they mocked. It won’t last long, but it will give you everything you’ve everwanted.”
Not Chase. No potion would ever make Chase’s family accept her as she was, Ferrari or not. His illustrious and wealthy family dated their lineage back to Drust, the Coldfire Wizard. She was a little nobody dragonshifter.
Although turning his cousins into Cuban lizards did seem like a splendidplan.
A shiver rushed down Evie’s spine. She hugged herself, staring into the pit of alligators. Always the good one, the obedient, as opposed to the daredevil and rebellious Lacey. Lacey hadn’t let poverty or lack of a distinguished dragon bloodline stop her in obtaining what shewanted.
But this latest venture of Lace’s carried a greater danger than her sister’s previous adventures. One thing to sneak onto Skin land to steal a few precious water lilies. Another to steal a potion belonging to Drust himself and then use it to manufacture a synthetic potion that would empower a dragon to have almost as much magick as Drusthimself.
