Page 10 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
“Well, this is a surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I grunted in irritation, and he laughed. “Not that I’m not happy to hear from you! What’s up?”
“I have a woman in my cabin who’s been turned into a raven by a spell passed down through her matriarchal line. The spell’s meant to help, not harm, but I can’t see the magic. I need someone who can. Can you come down and take a look? I’ll cover travel expenses.”
He chuckled. “No need. This is what friends do, Ry. I’ll book a ticket today. Can you have someone meet me at the airport and have a snowmobile waiting in Port Noble?”
“Of course.” I expected that. Getting out here wasn’t easy—especially in the winter. Thankfully, wewere fully in spring now, and the weather was easing up a little.
Shay paused. “Are you okay? This is... a lot.”
I collapsed onto my bed, threading my fingers through my hair. I hadn’t even needed to tell him Everly’s connection to me—he’d clearly already guessed I’d never let a random female shifter stay in my home unless she was my mate. “Yeah. I’m... doing okay.”
“That wasn’t convincing.”
My laugh came out rough. “Didn’t expect it to be.”
“I’ll be there soon. Hang in there.”
He hung up and I stared at the floor, my thoughts still spinning.
My mate.
I couldn’t believe she was here!
I pressed trembling hands to my face, took a few more calming breaths, and then stood, ready to head outside to finish chopping wood for the fire.
I had a mate to keep warm.
Chapter 4
Everly
Iwoke up to two men staring at me.
Normally, this would freak me out, and I’d go into full-blown ninja mode. Luckily, I remembered just in time that I was a bird, that ninja mode was just me flailing a lot, and that the bigger man was the one I’d been trying to find for the last several days. He kept glaring at the smaller man, then yanked him back by the collar when he got too close to me.
“Give her space.”
“Stop growling at me. I have to be close to see the magic wrapped around her.”
“If you don’t give her space, I’m going to toss you into a frozen lake.”
The other man sighed and sat on the coffee table across from me, while the bigger man folded his arms and sat in the recliner, glaring at him with suspicion.
I fluffed my feathers unconsciously as I studied them. I hadn’t yet learned which human colors matched which raven colors, but I could tell there was some variation in these men’s skin tones, and their hair colors were vastly different. How any of it correlated to human eyesight and the colors I was familiar with? No idea.
I closed my eyes. The way ravens saw color made me dizzy. There were just… so many. It was overwhelming. I missed looking at things and understanding what I was seeing. I opened my eyes again and sighed. I’d get used to it. I had to.
“Hmm.” The smaller one tilted his head. “That’s some powerful magic wrapped around you.”
I wished I could ask their names. It was maddening not being able to communicate.
As if he’d read my mind, the bigger man said, “My name’s Alaric. This guy is my friend Shay. He’s a warlock—a pretty good one.”
Shay snorted. “That’s like saying you’re sort of large.”
“Don’t brag,” Alaric said, giving him a look.
