He looked up and gave me his sexy bedroom eyes. “You know, Keegan and Danny are thinking of having their wedding inHawaii.”
“Oh?” I walkedcloser.
He nodded. “He’s asked me to be his best man, so I guess I can bring you along as mydate.”
Laughter pealed out of me. “You guess, huh?” I playedcoy.
He reached out and pulled me on top of him quickly, making my dragon pulse heat to my core. “But only because I want to see you in a bikini again,” he said, sucking my bottom lip into hismouth.
Again?Oh right, that purple monstrosity from Eva’s bar. I was about to respond when there was a knock at thedoor.
“The staff is ready,” Keegan’s deep voice called through thedoor.
Oh my God. It was ready? What did thatmean?
I leapt off of Logan and swung the door open. Keegan took one look at Logan shirtless on the bed and my messy hair and justlaughed.
“Does it work? I mean, is it whole?” I asked thealpha.
He shrugged. “Isaac just said it was ‘ready.’” He did airquotes.
I tore down the hall walking as quickly as I could without looking too eager, all the time praying it worked, that it was better. Then I could have the best of both worlds, wear the necklaces to help shelter the skyborn like my mom did, but have the staff to draw my druid power into the earth and save my mate bond with mydragon.
Please. Please.Please!
The golden double doors to Rufus’ office were open; he and Isaac were talking. They’d reached some weird friendship like Sophie and Ihad.
The second I entered, my eyes fell to thedesk.
“Holy mother,” Ibreathed.
Rufus grinned and ran his fingers over the length of my staff. It was whole again but it had changed. The lower two thirds of the wood were solid gold and ended in a razor-sharp point. The top half still resembled its original form but the crystal, that was once a deep purple, now had a goldish hue toit.
“Does it work?” I asked, as I stared at my resurrectedstaff.
Rufus wrapped his fingers around the wood and handed it to me. “You tellme.”
I looked at Isaac, who nodded. “Outside.” He tipped his head behindhim.
When I spun, I saw that the pack was awake and dressed, standing in the open doorway. They parted ways for Isaac and I, while we walked through the house to the outside. I hadn’t ventured into the back yard last night, but when we stepped out onto the large deck I took it all in. It was just as I expected it to be—a vast manicured lawn with pristine landscape, including perfectly-shaped bushes and trees. To the left sat a large swimming pool, surrounded by travertine tiles, and a small waterfall at theend.
Being rich wasawesome.
My mentor pointed to a circular bush. “Give it a go,” heencouraged.
I winced. “I don’t want to ruin his backyard.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been meaning to redo the landscape anyway. Add a pool house, that sort of thing,” the alchemist said, from somewhere behindme.
Okay … right. This guy had turned an old dusty book into a solid gold brick. Why should I care about ruining any of his material possessions? On the other hand, it did feel shitty to burn the poor bush in the process of testing my staff, and if it worked, who knew how many others I would destroy until I learned to master it. I sighed, resigned. I saw a lot of tree planting in myfuture.
I rolled the staff in my hands. It felt different, and yet something about it was still familiar, but I couldn’t describe what. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I took a deep breath and focused on the weapon, calling to my druid power. I stepped off the porch so that my bare feet could sink into the cold grass, and immediately felt the power shoot up my legs and into the staff. It buzzed along my arm to my collarbone and into the necklace, back to the golden-wooden pole and out my feet. I thrust the staff out, pointing the crystal end at the bush. It was like I’d triggered a flamethrower. The fire shot out blindly, with a concentrated burst, fast and straight, hitting its mark twenty feet away. The bush was reduced to a greenish black burntmass.
“Holy shit,” Rufus said, from behindme.
Holy shit indeed. My aim was better, the fire somehow seemed hotter and quicker, and I didn’t feel my dragon shrink away in protest when I’d called up the druid energy. That familiarity ... it hit me what it was. Logan. His scale in my staff was perfect. I pivoted around and faced thealchemist.
“I owe you one. I know you don’t need money, but I would give you whatever youwanted.”
