Page 48 of The Mating Claim
“Too bright for her own good.” The Crystal Wizard scowled at his daughter. “No more conjuring, Sonia. Do youunderstand?”
The babynodded.
“Tristan has twins and they’re not half the trouble you are, pumpkin. When you’re here on the mortal plane, you do exactly what mommy tells you. Do you see what your mischief did to your niceteacher?”
“I sorry, Lacey,” Sonia wailed, writhing in her father’s tightgrip.
Ciara sighed. “She’s your daughter, Xavier, and has your sense of mischief and adventure. She likes to play with alligators and snakes. Next time, take her to the zoo to see bunny rabbits and butterflies. They’re like fairies. They don’t hurtpeople.”
Xavier arched a dark brow. “Have you ever seen Gideon’s warrior fairies? They have fangs that drippoison.”
Tara hurried into the room with a cardboard cup filled with hot, fragrant tea. Lacey thankedher.
“We shouldn’t return.” Ciara picked up the book Lacey had read aloud and thumbed through it. “An immortal child such as Sonia, able to use magick at such a young age, presents too many hazards for the mortal plane. But she adores you, Lacey, and learns so quickly, I could not help but return after that first readingsession.”
“It wasn’t entirely her fault. Again, I would love for Sonia to return with you.” Lacey sipped more tea, the strong brew helping to clear her head and soothe her nauseated tummy. “Maybe she conjured the snake, but Willow did something to provoke it. She made this gesture and itattacked.”
Remembering the child’s slitted pupils, she added, “Willow isn’t a normal shifter child. How did she get into this readinggroup?”
“She said her mother was at your shop and you invited her. So I thought it was okay.” Tara shook her head. “All the children in this group are personally vetted by me. Even Ciara, when she first visited the shop to buy herbal tea and overheard you reading to the children, asked for permission to join and I gaveit.”
She had a bad feeling about this. “I could have seen her mother. I don’t know. A lot of witches were at my store and some of them asked about the reading group flyers I put on thecounter.”
“Willow… there was something about her I could not pinpoint.” Drust stroked his bearded chin. “A faint darkness, but so faint I dismissed it. I should have consulted with one ofyou.”
The Crystal Wizard stiffened and handed Sonia back to her mother. He put his hands on Drust’s shoulders. “Forget about blaming yourself, Drust. You don’t have enough experience yet to detect pure darkness in mortal children. Show me the memory of her. Allow me to access your memories as well, what smells were in the air, what wizard instinctstingled.”
Drust took a deep breath, nodded. Closing his eyes, he waved a hand. An image of Willow in her white shirt with the flowers and the plain jeans appeared on the wall, like a movie projector. Awestruck Lacey watched as Xavier increased the image as one would on a cell phone photo, until only Willow’s eyes appeared. Seeing nothing unusual, Lacey was stunned to see Ciaragasp.
“Shut it off.” The Crystal Wizard’s expression turned grim. Oh damn. This was notgood.
Waving his hand again, Drust made the image vanish. As his eyes opened, he went still, as if realizing something. “There’s tremendous darkness inher.”
“Exactly,” Xavier said slowly, going to his mate and child. He slid an arm around Ciara’s waist, touched Sonia’s head as if for reassurance. “Willow is a demon. The real question is, how the hell did she get here past Tara’s safeguards and what does she want? And who allowed her to comehere?”
All eyes in the room turned towardLacey.
The Crystal Wizard began to glow with power as his eyes turned white. “What threat did you bring into this store, LaceyMcGuire?”
Chapter 10
Though he’d dealtwith several recalcitrant dragons in his short tenure as a wizard ruling over them, never had Drust seen one morefrightened.
Blood drained from Lacey’s face as Xavier bristled with tension and anger, the Crystal Wizard glowing with magick like an incandescent light bulb. He understood his friend’s instinctive need to protect his mate and child. He also understood the need to point blame and remove a possiblethreat.
Yet deep down, he knew Lacey wasn’t to blame. Not directly. Perhaps she was the catalyst, but she was innocent of doingharm.
Tamping down his own protective instincts to let his powers offset X’s display of magick, Drust took a deep breath. Diffuse, distract, and delay. The three words Tristan had taught him to ease a fellow wizard’s anger at an innocent came tomind.
Drust stepped in front of Lacey, distracting Xavier’s line of sight. He spread out his hands. “Lacey did not deliberately threaten anyone, X. Remember, she is the victim of the snake that bit her. The snake summoned by yourdaughter.”
The glow surrounding Xavier faded a little, but his fellow wizard still looked infuriated. Drust turned to Ciara.Delay.
“Ciara, has Sonia ever conjured animals before? Lethalones?”
X’s mate licked her lips. “No. A few times in the nursery she summoned lizards and once a baby dragon. That’s it. The baby dragon was a real dragon baby from a cave, the one Xavier told her about in a bedtimestory.”
Finally the glow vanished from X, and his eyes returned to normal, filled with confusion. “You never told me aboutthis.”
