Chapter 1
Stone
“Stupid Dragon.” I drop my toolbox at my feet.
“What now?” Magnus, a rather grumpy dwarf with a bulbous nose and glasses, who is more interested in his blueprints and his measurements than real life, asks with attitude.
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” I stop speaking for a moment. And then the words spill out in falsetto. “Dumbass is too busy to grab a drink. Has too much going on to hang out or go to a hockey game.”
“Ahh, he’s spending too much time getting busy with that hot wife of his,” my boss, Erik the Draugr, chimes in. “Mmm. Can’t blame him. I can think of at least a dozen things I’d rather do withherthan go to a hockey game withyou. Have her sit on my face. Sit on her face—”
“Don’t you think you’re a little too old for her?” I snap at Erik, not at all comfortable that he’s thinking of my best friend’s wife like that. A heavy pounding and tightness form in my chest. “Never mind a little too dead?”
“Never too dead to explore the live parts of a sexy woman.” He licks his darkened lips and chuckles. “What do you say, Magnus? Wouldn’t you like to bed her? Or is sex banned for elves?”
Magnus growls in annoyance. I’m not surprised. I don’t think the dwarf could get it up for anything unless a ruler sprouted a pair of jugs and a place to stick his love rod.
“I don’t blameDrake, exactly.” I feel the need to explain. “It’sher. She doesn’t let him out of her sight. I don’t understand how he’s okay giving up his freedom for a woman he just met.”
“How many times have we heard this?” Magnus says, with a sigh. “Get over it, or you may risk losing your chance at finding love and wind up perched, unmoving, on this building for a decade or two. And you know damn well,” he turns to Erik, “that I’m a dwarf, not an elf.”
“Same thing,” Erik continues to annoy Magnus. “And, yes, we’ve heard his complaints many times. Too many times.”
“I see whose side you’re on,” I grumble.
“Side? There are no sides here. But if there were, it would be clear that we are on yours.” Magnus adds sarcastically, with a roll of his eyes. “I’ll say anything to make him shut up,” he directs to my boss.
Frustrated, I throw my hands up. “Why are you guys shitting on me?”
They share a look.
“It appears to me that the shit is spilling out of you,” Erik explains.
“Whatever.” Put off by their behavior, I shake my head. “He should’ve learned from what happened with Cayden and Raven. Sandy’s gonna suck the life out of him. Extinguish his fire. Wait and see.”
“Sure thing. But while we wait, do us a favor, after work, go get lost between a beautiful woman’s thighs. When you’re deep in her heat and soaked in her desire, you’ll forget that Drake dumped you for Sandy,” Erik says with a chuckle as he pulls his goggles over his eyes. “Or, maybe, you’ll understand why.”
“It’s not like he doesn’t try,” Magnus sniggers. “He’s just upset that, like the rest of the women in this town, the dragon’s wife had no use for him. Turned him down flat.”
“This has nothing to do withme.” I snap. The more they go on antagonizing me, the more my insides rumble. “I’m looking out for my friend. At least trying to, but he’s shackled to her day and night. It’s not normal. There is something off about that chick. Way off.”
“True.” Magnus continues to needle me, tempting me to give him a swift kick off the roof. It’s a good thing I have impulse control. “She passed up a stocky, gray rock for the likes of a muscle-clad dragon. She’s not right in the head for sure.”
“Go ahead, make fun of me.” I shake my head, frustrated. His words nag at me, repeating on a silent loop as I pound nails into a two-by-four. I’ll never admit that it still smarts that Sandy dismissed me with barely a glance. Not that I ever thought she was my fated mate, but what would it have hurt for her to have taken a real look at me before casting me aside? “Can I lose a few pounds?” I bring my hands to my round middle. “Sure, but who can’t? I’m in great shape, with solid muscle everywhere. In fact, I’m technically more chiseled than Drake since I’m actually made of rock, but who’s comparing?”
“You, obviously,” Erik says, picking the electric saw up and turning it on.
“I’m not.” I slide my goggles over my eyes, then set a large piece of wood on the sawhorses.
“Make sure you slice it exactly on the angle I etched,” Magnus says to Erik. “The pieces need to be precise.” Eric nods, and the dwarf turns back to me. “We could argue over who’s in better shape all you want, but I deal in facts. You’re slower, duller in complexion, and heavier than Drake any day, every day. In human form, half-form, or in your full supernatural form,” he says without looking up from the blueprint, making me wonderif he’s more interested in the males of our town than the females. “And let’s not forget the most important thing, you only have one love wand, and he has two.”
“After listening to you, I might as well walk off the roof and kill myself. End my misery.”
Magnus shrugs. “At least then I wouldn’t have to listen to you go on incessantly about the dragon and his wife.”
The saw stops. Holding it upright at shoulder level, Erik skulks toward us with a severe look on his face. My heart rattles heavily against my chest. I take a quick peek at Magnus, then turn back to the draugr, on high alert, wondering if our constant bickering finally pushed him over the edge.
On a good day, Erik is a scary-looking dude. But in this moment, I think I’m done for. He’s inches away from me; my wings flair, and I stretch my talon fingers. Without any warning, he throws his head back and laughs.
