Eva gave me a little smile. “It will wear off. It’s just extra strong for the next twenty-four hours until the spell settles. Now, as far as the supernatural community is concerned, you and Logan are immortal wolf shifters in Keegan’s pack. You’re low-ranking, you stay out of trouble, and younevershift.”
“Right.” It made sense now why Keegan was the one to get me in the door with the bouncer and Logan had stuck to the rear of the line. This entire time he had disguised himself as Keegan’s submissive packmate? Must have been hard with such a dominatingpersonality.
“What if our pack is attacked or a fight breaks out? I’m just supposed to stay human?” Because I’m pretty sure my dragon would be all overthat.
Logan strode across the room to stand before me. “Yes. You throw a punch, break a bottle over someone’s head, but you never shift. Only if your life depends on it, and a druid is about to kill you, do you reveal what youare.”
Great. Something Eva had said before was gnawing at me. “Can you really tell how I was human for so long?” Because this entire situation was beyond messed up and I wanted to know as much information as Icould.
Eva stepped closer, a serious look crossing her face. “Now that we don’t need to worry about your scent, I can touch you. But I want you to be forewarned that when I do, I will know many facets of your most personal moments. The highest highs and lowest lows. Your soul will reveal itself to me, but I require your permissionfirst.”
“Jesus.” I had to fight the urge to step back a little. My highest highs? Were there any? I guess when I got into college. Lowest lows—take your pick. But I was dying to know how I could be human my entire life and then one day, just …transform.
I swallowed hard. “You have my permission.” I extended my left hand. It was my dominant hand and I assumed she was going to read my palm or something. Instead she pushed my hand down lightly and placed a hand on each shoulder. Her eyes flared a burnt orange, hypnotizing me with their glow as she leaned forward and placed her forehead on mine. For a wild second, I thought she might kiss me, but the moment her head touched mine, a buzzing started to vibrate deep within my body. I’d been electrocuted once; it was mild but I never forgot it. This was similar to that but at only ten percent. It was tolerable, but weird. Mildly uncomfortable. I wanted to pull away, and my dragon didn’t like it either. She slithered around inside of me, assessing this feeling as athreat.
“Ohh, interesting,” Eva crooned. I was starting to feel lightheaded and my dragon was getting restless. When I was about to ask how much longer this was going to be, she abruptly let go of my shoulders. The buzzing stopped and I was grateful. Eva’s eyes were lined with unshed tears as she stroked the side of my face. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that with your mother,dear.”
Her statement caught me off guard and a lump formed in my throat. “It’s fine,” I mumbled. It wasn’t fine. It would never be fine. No one should have to bury their mother at sixteen yearsold.
Eva’s face changed then and she looked at Logan this time. “Someone very powerful bound her magic in infancy. I couldn’t see who, but it is a spell that would need to be reinforced every few years or it would start to slowly wearoff.”
I reeled back in shock. “What are yousaying?”
Eva shrugged. “Honey, your mother had to haveknown.”
“No way!” I shouted, steppingback.
“She wasn’t a dragon. She died of cancer,” Logan said in my defense, but I knew it was falling on deaf ears. The look in Eva’s face was one ofcertainty.
Eva nodded. “Iknow.”
“Dragons don’t get cancer,” I said, because I needed to hear it. My mom wouldn’t keep that fromme.
Eva nodded again. “I know. Your mother wasn’t a dragon … but she wasn’t human either. She couldn’t havebeen.”
The world stopped spinning; time stopped, my breathing stopped, everything in the moment just stopped. I stood there, willing Eva not to say another word, but at the same time I needed toknow.
“What was she?” Ibreathed.
“I don’t know,” sheconfessed.
All of the air whooshed out of me in a rush. “You don’t know. Then she could have been human.” Relief poured through me. My mother was an interesting person, with quirks like anyone else, but she would have told me if she was a freakingdragon!
Maybe shetried?
A memory came back to me then of things she said on her death bed. Crazy things. Maybe it wasn’t crazy. I pushed those memories down and hugged my arms to my chest, suddenlycold.
With one swoosh, Logan pulled off his shirt and handed it to me. “We can talk about this another time. I need to find us another house, make sure no one else knows about her. She needs to learn to control her dragon.” He spoke as if I wasn’t standing right there. He also spoke as if he thought it was all nonsense. I don’t think he thought my mother was my real mother and that scared the crap out ofme.
I pulled his shirt on, forcing myself not to moan as his scent washed over me. Clearing my throat, I said, “I have one more question for Eva, but I would like to ask it in private.” I held my head high, hoping Logan wouldn’t be offended, and trying not to check out his abs now that he wasshirtless.
Hurt crossed his face but was quickly masked. “Of course. I’ll waitoutside.”
Eva called out after Logan: “I will wire the money for the scales to your account. I can do fifty for the black and a hundred for thered.”
Logan looked impressed. “Think it will fetchdouble?”
She nodded. “For a century, there have only been black scales on the market. This will fetchtriple.”
