I can’t tear my eyes away, completely riveted. Even when they fly from view, continuing on down the highway out of sight, I stand mesmerized, watching the spot where Luke disappeared.
No. I’ll call him Lukendevener when he’s like this. I see now why dragons have such long names—they’re too big for short ones.
“Hey.” Hannah’s hands tighten on mine, and she shuffles around until she stands in front of me. “You okay?”
“Yes? No? Maybe?” I shake my head, trying to restart my brain. “Did you know he was actually”—my hand flaps toward where Lukendevener disappeared—“that?”
“Kind of? I saw dragons in their natural form when I went to Faerie for Naomi’s wedding, but they were teenagers. Luke’s easily three times their size.” She grins and leans close, even though there’s no one near to hear us. “I wonder howbighe is and if he has two in this form.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Stop!” I clap my hands to my blazing cheeks. “I can’t right now.”
“Oh, come on.” She laughs and points at my face. “You know you were thinking it.”
“I wasn’t, but I sure the fudge am now. And I need to not be, because when he gets back, I’m going to have to fly in his arms the whole way back to the castle.” I fling a hand wide. “In hisarms, Hannah! Do you know how hard that is under normal circumstances? I won’t survive it if I’m thinking about his two dicks.”
“I don’t know. Doing it while flying can be a lot of fun.”
“Argh! You’re not helping!” I root around in first one pocket, then the next, finally pulling out a pack of cinnamon heart candies. Hannah waves away my offer, so I pop a few into my mouth, hoping a little blood sugar will help me get myself together. The spicy sweetness rolls across my tongue, comforting and familiar.
But it also reminds me of Luke, of the way he now carries the little red candies, offering them to me as we work side by side in the library, the way our fingers meet and linger when we reach for those bits of spice at the same time, the way hissmoky sandalwood scent now carries a touch of cinnamon as if we’re already a couple.
A moving dot appears on the horizon, rapidly growing in size as Lukendevener soars back into range. He makes one lazy loop overhead before spiraling toward the ground.
Hannah and I tip our heads back to watch as his massive body glides overhead, so large he blocks out the sun.
“Damn. No dragon dicks hanging out for us to see,” Hannah mutters, squinting extra hard. “What’s up with that?”
“Probably a cock-pocket situation,” I whisper-hiss. “Or a hemipeen inversion.”
She whistles and gives me a surprised look of approval, which makes me shrug. “I read alot.” And let’s just say that several of my recent smutty reads have featured dragons.
The wind of his wings blows over us as he lands, followed immediately by another powerful blast of magic. Luke stands in his weredragon form, stark naked.
And any doubts I had about whether he actually has two peens disappear like ice hit by dragon fire.
“Whoa,” Hannah says. “Naomi was right.”
I stand frozen, my mouth opening and closing in shock. I squint, wishing my eyes were better, wishing he were closer, wanting to trap this sight of him and hold it in my memory forever. Two. He really hastwo.
Then a curtain of shadows drops between us, and Severin lands on the ground and growls, “Clothe yourself in front of my wife, dragon.”
A grunt comes from behind the wall of shadows, and Luke walks through them, already dressed.
I bite back a sigh of disappointment. Seems I’m not going to get that closer look after all.
When Severin releases the glamour around the school bus, Hannah goes to tell the kids the good news. They’re still cheering as the bus edges past us, smiling little faces pressed tight to the windows so they can wave with all the amazing bubbly joy small children have.
Luke’s face goes soft as he watches them until they roll out of sight, that little curl lifting the left corner of his mouth. There’s a wistfulness in his expression that makes my heart pinch.
My heart skips with an idea. Fae hearing is way too good, so I whip out my phone and text Hannah.
She looks up from her screen to give me a nod.
I grin at her and barely stop myself from bouncing on my toes as I shoot another text to Naomi. Happiness warms my chest at the thought of doing something special for Luke. A million ideas race through my mind for how to make it the best surprise ever, and I wear my own little secret smile the entire way back to the castle.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Skye
