Page 39 of The Mating Magic
Drust waved a hand. Lacey found herself back in her store, the Coldfire Wizard standing beforeher.
Nausea swirled in her stomach. She licked her mouth, trying to will herself not to throwup.
“Deep breaths,” he advised. “The first few times one teleports, it does scramble the molecules, even if you are immortal as Iam.”
Thanks. We could haveflown.
She headed to the mini fridge in the back, found a bottle of water and chuggedit.
I’m in trouble. The wizards know I have this book and it’s obviously something no mere mortal should possess. But I’ve refused to run away from my problems. That never solvesanything.
Not that she could run away now, with the Coldfire Wizard able to transport her to wherever hewished.
Drust sat on the empty counter by the cash register as she returned. He jumped off, pulled down her T-shirt to expose herbirthmark.
“Where did you get this?” he murmured, tracing it with athumb.
His touch coaxed a shiver down her spine. “Had it since I was born. They are called birthmarks, youknow.”
“You did not ink ityourself?”
“I’m not into needles and pain, wizard.” She finished the water and chucked the empty into the recyclebin.
It made no sense. Why was Drust interested in her birthmark? And then he unlaced his tunic. Oh damn. Was he going to seduce her? Offer sex in exchange for forgetting about the book ofshadows?
Her body tensed with anticipation and dread.I’m not good at this. Hell, I’d always hoped my first time would be a little more…romantic instead ofbusinesslike.
But Drust did not remove the garment. Instead, he pulled downward at the fabric, exposing an identical dragon-shaped birthmark… in the exact same place ashers.
Lacey’s heart raced and her palms went clammy. Surely it was only acoincidence.
With brisk efficiency, he laced his tunic up. “I will address this later, Lacey McGuire. Where is the Book of Shadows? That ancient book has been lost forcenturies.”
“So many questions. You keep losing things, wizard. Maybe you should consult lost andfound?”
Had to distract him, stop him from asking so many damn questions. If Drust wanted to claim the book, he’d have to pry it from her. The book was her life raft, a promise of more thanriches.
Power.
“I have it. But the book was a gift. It’s mine. I didn’t stealit.”
Drust stroked the dragon-shaped mark on her throat. A shiver of awareness coursed throughher.
He cocked his head and closed his eyes, humming. “Ah yes. You were given the book by the proprietor of the shop you visited. That man had hidden it for years. He was a cleverman.”
Was? Lacey’s stomachclenched.
“What happened to him?” sheasked.
Frowning, Drust dropped her blouse and stepped back. “The shop keeper,Miles?”
A chill rushed through Lacey. “Yes, him! Whathappened?”
“He went mad, and threatened to burn Skins alive. Indeed, he had already severely burned two and I had to heal them myself. Chase tried to save the Skins, and in the process, nearly was killed himself when Miles shifted back to his human form and went after Chase with acleaver.”
The same older man Chase had mentioned, the man who’d gone insane, forcing Drust to step in. Lacey’s stomach roiled. She had a bad feeling aboutthis.
Drust cocked his head, appeared to listen to something far away. When he looked at her again, his expression seemed…sympathetic?
