Page 30 of The Mating Claim
“Easy,” he murmured, placing his hand over hers as she chewed. “There’s more. Much more. It won’tvanish.”
As she swallowed, distrust filled her expression. “This isn’t a trick to get me to give you the book? You make my only real meal of the week disappear just as I’m enjoyingit.”
He wondered who in the past could have been so cruel to expose her to such things. “No Drink the moonlight juice. It will replenish your lost protein muchfaster.”
Lacey picked up the glass, regarded it as he’d seen Xavier’s daughter Sonia regard her broccoli. She took a sip and grimaced as much as Sonia had when X tried to feed it toher.
Only Lacey could not spit it out and then wave a hand, turning it to her favorite treat of hot dogs as X’s daughterhad.
“This is terrible! It tastes like your oldsocks.”
Amused, he shook his head. “I do not wear socks. Drink it all, Lacey. It is good foryou.”
Muttering something beneath her breath, shedrank.
Sensing her humiliation at watching her eat, he conjured another steak for himself, much smaller, along with a glass of the ale Lacey had selected for him at the bar. As he ate small bites, Drust stole glances at hischarge.
Hunger satisfied, she ate dainty bites, spearing the steak with her left hand and bringing it to her mouth to chew slowly as to savor each bite. Cobwebs of distant memories swept at him of someone in his quite distant past who did thesame.
He dismissed the memory. It matterednot.
“So wizard, why are you being so nice to me? I don’t likeyou.”
The question, and the admission, stung a little. “I am the guardian of dragons, and you are my charge. You need food, I provideit.”
“Yeah well.” She finished the steak, drained the juice with another grimace and pushed back from the table. “Thanks, but don’t expect me to follow your orders, wizard. Or fall in love with you because you’re an amazingkisser.”
Admiration he wanted. Respect, he required. Love? That did not matter as much, for as a wizard, his job required his subjects obey and respect him, not lovehim.
Not even if they were as fiery and lovely as Lacey McGuire, whose kiss heated his veins and filled him with desire he had not felt incenturies.
He watched her toy with her fork, content to simply observe. It was pleasant sitting here alone with her. No smells of fried food and hot sauce and spilled, sour beer from the bar. No distractions, no shouts to the bar for drink orders or rowdy shifters banging mugs on thetables.
Just the two ofthem.
“I just want to be normal. A normal dragon girl, shifting into my dragon, flying over the world for fun, and working to earn money. How did I get into this mess?” she murmured more to herself than tohim.
“You are far from other dragons,” he said quietly. Drust knew this as much. How he knew, he could notsay.
Lacey did not meet his gaze. “Why do you want the Book of Shadows? It’s just abook.”
All his contentment evaporated. “You know it is more, Lacey. It contains dangerous spells to empower mortal Others. It was never meant to fall into mortalhands.”
She frowned. “And what’s wrong with havingpower?”
“Power for its own sake, without just cause, isrisky.”
“But what of those of us who want power for a just cause? Say stopping someone from hurting another as they have in thepast?”
Instinct warned him this was no random question. Drust studied her. “Someone who hurtyou?”
Her mouth thinned. “None of yourbusiness.”
It was his business, but he could not read her life as easily as he could with his other charges. However, he could find out through othermeans.
Drust cocked his head, sorting through his mental library. He conjured a thick book on thetable.
“What’s that?” Lacey peered at the fine leather binding, the crisp parchment as he opened thebook.
