"She's also my mate."
His proclamation hushed both of his siblings. "I only recently found that out, too."
"For crying out loud, Drake."
"Hey, we all know that we don't choose our own mates. We just get lucky and find them."
"I can't argue with that, but Ma is going to flip." Colton shook his head. "So, you haven't investigated her yet, to try and figure it out?"
"Jesus, Cole. They've only been here for a couple days. I can't just interrogate her when she has no idea. Especially when I know she's the woman I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I don't want to scare her away." At least he hoped he didn't. If things went sideways, he may not have any choice to prevent her from being destroyed.
Sarah clucked her tongue. "This chick is a see'er and she wears the idol around her neck,andshe's your mate. Here I thought I had a complicated situation."
Both brothers looked at her. "What does that mean?" Drake asked.
"Complicated, how?" Colton added.
Sarah's cheeks turned pink as she realized she had spoken out loud. "I'm just saying. I thought I had problems."
"That's not what you said." Colton stared at her hard. "I think you need to explain a little better."
Drake raised his hand before the fight started. "Can we focus? We need to find out about the fire before we delve into problem number two."
"Well, and if she's leaving today, it won't matter."
"What does that mean?" Drake asked Sarah. "They're leaving?"
"They're not having the matinee. Joey doesn't even know if there ever was a matinee planned. We never saw any advertising for it, and no one has showed up."
"She thinks that Percy set the fire?"
Colton shrugged. "She was a little sketchy on that. She was waiting for you to wake up before she delved into the topic."
Drake swung his feet over the side of the bed. "I'm going to take a shower before she gets here. I can smell myself."
"Yeah, you stink," Sarah agreed. "I'll strip the bed for you and toss the sheets in the washer."
"Thanks." He stretched and winced at the same time. "Damn. I'm not used to this pain."
Colton stood. "Just be glad you're a dragon. I don't think you would have survived if you were just a human. You took the full brunt of the explosion."
"Yeah, I was just stepping away from the stall where it was stacked when it blew. It's all coming back to me."
"You healed a bunch of your wounds while you were unconscious."
Drake looked in the mirror when he got in the bathroom. He still had a couple of scuffs on his arm and shoulder, but he knew they'd go away soon. He stared at the dark smudges on his face. "You're getting old, dude. You don't bounce back as quickly as you used to."
He stood under the hot water for a long time and let the tension run out of his muscles. Despite his humor at talking to himself and making light of the situation, he still realized the grim truth of the overall scenario. Percy was up to something, and Vinia was right. They were all in danger.
What if the fire was supposed to have ended with his death?
He didn't have an answer for that any more than he had an answer for how they had created a fire that could hurt him. The bigger fear was that they knew he was a dragon. Or that the entire family were dragon shifters. It wasn't common knowledge with anyone, and if Percy had started the fire because of them, then there had to be an underlying reason.
He sighed as he propped his hands against the wall and let the water cascade over his back. And Joey was in the middle of it all, whether she knew it or not.
When the hot water started to run cold, he regretfully turned the water off. He toweled off and then wrapped the towel around his waist and headed back toward his bedroom. As he passed through the living room, he saw Colton and Vinia whispering in the kitchen, with Sarah hovering nervously beside them.
"What's up?"
