Her fidgeting along my arm was too cute. Watching her mind work through all this new information sparked my admiration. How could fragile and resilient combine so well?
Evie sighed in what I hoped was resignation.I’ll only go if you can tell me Fallon and Maggie are okay.
I stroked her head. “The druids will take care of them. They will be safe in Bar None.”
What’s left of it,she snorted.
“What happened?” I asked, afraid to know the answer.
You happened, big guy. Angrier than a hive of Risi birds during mating season.
Dane was going to be so angry I destroyed his bar.
Evie perked up, sitting up.Alright. Well, let’s go get this relic and unsnake me.
I held her tighter, struggling to keep the anxiety of what I did off my face.
“You won’t regret it.” I wrangled my tone to even and free of the implication I would also be worth it if she gave us a chance.
She slid up my arm, back around my neck, leaving goosebumps in her wake.But that is not an invitation to stick anything in me.
How was I ever going to tell her I fell for her the moment my tongue touched her scales, when all she wanted to do was deny us and her very nature? “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I was definitely going to dream of it.
Chapter3
Evie
We wove around another lichen-covered rock and I gripped Ward tighter with my scales.Mate.I had only heard the word as a warning. Despite that, I may have fantasized about what it would be like to have easy, unconditional love that the fates decided for you. I was wholly unprepared to apply the word to an absolutely enormous yet delicious piece of man beef who defended me from slobbering, wild wolves. Alternating between fear and curiosity, I shoved the negativity down deep to get through this quest. If we didn’t succeed, we would have a Harrowlands full of shifters ready to tear us apart and I was going to have to make scales work with my limited wardrobe.
Ignoring my fear made room for curiosity to stare at my quest mate. Ward looked like no one in our tiny village - more Goddess’ champion than local blacksmith. He was brawny enough to bench press our blacksmith, with a face that screamed for a beard and only grew a stubbled shadow. The unbidden urge to see if those muscles were lickable made me flush and look away. I wasn’t that shallow. Maggie was always the shallow one. Not that tall, dark, and handsome didn't flutter my shattered heart. His tousled, wavy, chocolate hair, light brown eyes that did some serious amber glowing, the bump on his prominent nose and a wicked scar from eyebrow to hairline shrieked pirate and mad alchemist thrown together—it tingled bits I never knew I had. But those types of men never looked twice at me. Maggie got all the attention. I was just the shadow who tagged along. Or so my ex told me in a million different ways.
For a moment, I wished with all my heart I could slither toward a little privacy to sort my feelings. I wasn’t a shadow in that cave and it was terrifying. The way he looked at me made me want to follow him on this mad caper despite the light kidnapping. I still didn’t want to be a snake, but the certainty with which he proclaimed us mates after months of living in my own emotional mess was tempting.
He made it all so easy, including traveling together. We didn’t stop for supplies or a change of clothes—we got right to the questing and headed for the mountains. I rode around his thick neck and resisted the urge to spread out, so his skin touched every part of my body. I didn’t know how this shifter thing worked at all. That could be assault for all I knew.
Then I had a terrible thought.
You can’t read my mind, can you?I asked him.
He rubbed my head with his thumb and I refused to melt - on principle. “That would be convenient, little viper, but no. You can communicate with any of our kind with your mind-speak. We can communicate privately when we focus on our bond, but your thoughts are your own. Anything you wanted to share?”
Whew. No one needed to hear my mind’s loud death spiral. The only reason anyone interacted with me at all was because my inner voice existed inside. That solved, I searched for something totally normal to talk about with a giant kidnapper turned bear shifter.
Shouldn’t you be a bear right now?
Good job Evie. Question his questing ability.
“He wasn’t terrifying enough at our first meeting?” he asked. At least there wasn’t any offense in his voice.
He got the job done. We could use some terror if we’re going to encounter any shifters like the wolf guy.
“Well, my bear terrifies everyone else, too. I haven’t shifted for long periods in… almost a century. Let’s try not to escalate this situation unless we have to.”
A century was a long time to shut part of yourself away. I should know—I boxed up my collections for my ex. Truthfully, I put away entire parts of my soul for other people, without even realizing it. That wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have out loud. I searched for a different approach. Maggie made conversation appear easy.
This place is beautiful!I blurted out into his mind like someone who had never held a discussion.
