Chapter 8 The power surges
“I don’t want to be here with him,” I growled out. “I want to leave.” “Let’s cool off first.” She pointed to the claws replacing my nails. “But
I’ll move you away from him so you don’t escalate further.” “Okay.” I nodded in agreement.
“Drayce,” Ref called for her mate. I knew he was close by. He always was. “Move her please.”
“I’ll move him. If I touch her, it’ll set him off again,” Drayce told her. She nodded her agreement. He wrangled Kam to his feet as Kam snarled and spat insults, trying to fight Drayce with the meager strength he had left. It was like watching a toddler flail. It wasn’t often Kam was manhandled like that, and it amused the petty part of me that wanted that ego of his destroyed.
Once he was out of sight, I could breathe again. That waste of space motherfucker. “I think I need more of the potion.”
She frowned. “Did you up your dose again?”
“Sometimes…” I trailed off, knowing she’d understand.
“Try to not make a habit of it.” She pulled a syringe from her black dragonhide vest. “I’m concerned about your growing tolerance. I’m not sure how much longer this will work. It was only meant to be a temporary solution.” The familiar prick of the needle in my old mating mark soothed me. Relief was on the way.
“Are you working on something else?” Please. This brilliant witch was the only thing keeping me myself. I didn’t want to lose who I was to the hysterics.
“I’m researching a few things, but it’s not going well.” She rubbed the site where the potion settled unevenly under my skin. Her touch burned, but her gentle hands made it better. “First tries are for discovery. I’ll keep working on it.”
“Thank you, Ref.”
’m not scared of you,” I told the dragon.
“I will pan-fry you. Chill out.” He set me up against the half wall separating the two sides of the restaurant, letting me have some dignity
instead of tossing me to the ground like most referees would. Mal respected his mate. I could tell by how calmly she spoke to the other woman. That meant he was probably alright, for a weak lout that didn’t take care of his mate. “Sit there and don’t cause my mate any trouble.”
“You a referee too?” He didn’t act like one. Hell, last I heard beasts couldn’t be referees.
“That’s the title they gave me.” He stole a steaming plate off a waitress’s tray and started eating it.
The dragon didn’t need a bunch of talk. He sat at the bar while quietly watching our mates across the room where they were outside of my line of sight. My stomach growled as the delicious scents of meat wafted over to me. When was the last time I had a meal that was more than slop gravy on a tray? Twenty-two years, three months, and six days.
I’d counted.
He heard the sound and stole another plate off the tray to hand to me without a word. Then he sat back down, pretending he hadn’t done anything. Bastard, don’t make me like you.
“Is Mal okay?”
“She’s fine. Just drained, like you.” His eyes locked to something in the distance as he stuffed toast into his mouth.
“I hurt her.”
He paused, letting my previous question soak in, and clarified, “She is physically fine. I can’t speak for her mental state.”
“You don’t have anything to say about my bond?” As a beast, he surely had some opinions. I could only imagine the judgment I’d face when I went home. His disdain would only be the beginning.
He surprised me by shrugging. “I don’t know what made you leave your mate, but I’m sure it was a painful decision with her best interest in mind.”
He gave me more understanding than I’d given him. I watched his eyes follow what I could only assume was the moon witch around. He was here by her side, despite his degraded mark. Perhaps I’d been too harsh on him. You couldn’t say she wasn’t safe.
“I apologize for my quick—”
“Save it.” He scoffed. “I don’t give a fuck what you think. My mate is taken care of.”
I could respect that. “Fair enough.” I’d probably be saying that sentence a lot myself. The males who’d spent centuries, millennia, or billions of years waiting on their mates wouldn’t be so forgiving of me.
The moon witch came over to me and crouched down until she was eye level. “Mal’s already been released. You and I need to go over a few things.”
“You can’t arrest me for protecting my claim on my mate,” I snarled at her, earning a roar from the dragon. The first real response from him. I flinched at the dominance exuding from him like its own entity. It pressed down on me like a giant boulder that threatened to smash me to the ground and suffocate me. Kindly reminding me I was no longer the biggest motherfucker in the room.
His black eyes narrowed to draconic slits and the sclerae glowed red. The smell of sulfur filled the air. I was done this time. I had no defense against the fire breath of a dragon.
“Calm down.” The witch glared at him. He did as she commanded and his roar reduced to a constant, low growl. His eyes locked onto me, waiting for me to make one wrong move. Ref 74 was unbothered by what I safely assumed was his normal behavior. “You’re right. But if I hadn’t put the entire restaurant to sleep, I could’ve arrested you for exposure.”
She plopped down in front of me and pulled things out of her weird vest. How many pockets does one woman really need? “Reacclimating to a world with humans after spending so much time in long-term prison is going to be an adjustment.”
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“Shut up and let me talk or I’ll tape your mouth shut.” She blinked at me like I was a moron. “Since you get to leave when I say so, the sooner I run through this, the sooner you can go.”
The dragon chuckled and his deadly eyes softened as he smiled at her. Dragons liked bossy women. Megalodons loved stabby women. It wasn’t all genetics, but there was a certain pattern that history repeated over and over again. I gestured for her to continue whatever rant she was about to go on.
“These are areas that are supernatural towns or magic-protected areas.” She set a map and a sheet of paper down. “This list is for supernatural business owners.”
“What are you doing?” I asked again. The way I said it caught her attention, and she didn’t admonish me this time.