CHAPTER TEN
Mellie was relieved to see Urse and John making their way to the bookstore. Urse had to have known when the dragon used magic within one of her wards. Thank goodness she’d thought to bring John with her when she came to investigate. Sometimes, it was really handy to have the Alpha bear as brother-in-law.
Mellie wasn’t sure what to make of the dragon shifter. Was he a good guy or a bad one? She didn’t know what to think. It was rude in the extreme to use magic against someone in their own home—a home that had been warded by one of the strongest witches of their generation against such things.
That he’d managed to do it anyway was troubling. That he claimed to have some special arrangement with the Goddess Herself was…astounding.
Then again, he was supposedly a dragon, for goodness sake. This was something totally outside Mellie’s experience. She’d encountered several kinds of shifters and other magical folk, but dragons were a thing of legend only. She had no idea what to expect, and she doubted anyone in town—aside from Peter and his babushka—had any knowledge at all about honest-to-goodness dragon shifters.
Mellie was glad to let Peter take the lead in introducing John. Urse came directly around the counter to stand by Mellie’s side, asking with a quick look if she was okay. Mellie nodded slightly, glad of her sister’s support but really interested in what would happen next among the trio of men whose mere presence was filling the bookstore.
Bears had a big magical footprint, but the dragon was off the charts. Containing all three of them within the confines of the bookstore might be all right on the physical plane, but on the magical plane, the place was close to capacity. Of course, Urse’s wards were so good, they’d stretch to accommodate whatever two strega, two bears and one big-assed dragon presence could throw at them.
The men talked for a few minutes, establishing who they were and who they knew in common. John seemed skeptical, at first, but willing to hear the other man out, and he kept shooting glances at Urse, who stood next to Mellie.
“You okay?” Urse asked aloud once the men moved away to talk about military connections in low voices.
“Yeah. Peter was here almost immediately, but that dragon guy used a charm on me.” Her tone indicated her indignation and shock.
“Nervy,” Urse observed. “But I felt it through my wards. The minute he started using magic in here, I knew to come.”
“Glad you brought John as backup,” Mellie said quietly, their entire conversation taking place in very low tones. Mellie was pretty sure the shifters could still hear them if they wanted to listen in, but she figured they were busy enough talking about top-secret shifter stuff.
Not that there was much of that between Urse and her mate, but appearances had to be maintained. Mellie supposed there were lots of shifter things she and her sister knew nothing about, though now that Urse was mated to John, that would change, given time.
Mellie knew enough to guess that there was nothing John wouldn’t share with his mate. And vice versa. Mellie envied them their relationship and wished she could find that kind of devotion with…well, with Peter.
Since meeting him, all other men had faded from view. Peter had taken over all her fantasies of happy ever after, even before they’d made love. Now, all she could think about was him and when they could be together again. She hoped he’d be able to come over tonight, since he was off-duty, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk about their plans yet.
The men stepped back toward the counter, their top-secret confab apparently finished for now. Paul’s gaze landed on Urse as he strode forward.
“I understand you are the talented strega who cast the permanent wards I was able to examine from aloft last night. You do very nice work, indeed,” Paul said to Urse.
“Thank you.” Urse was blushing, if Mellie wasn’t mistaken.
Son of a gun. She hadn’t seen her sister blush in a very long time. Mellie stepped back to observe for a moment, wanting to be certain that Paul wasn’t using more magic on them. The stinker.
Luckily for Paul’s sake, Mellie didn’t detect any extraneous magic. It had to be just the force of his enormous presence having its natural effect. Mellie found it somewhat difficult to be confined in this small room with such big magical personalities. Nothing in her life to date had prepared her for receiving a dragon through the door of her bookshop.
“We’re going over to City Hall,” John told the sisters. “We still have a few things to discuss with our guest. A few I’s to dot and T’s to cross,” John said offhandedly, though Mellie sensed there was much more to his words than he let on.
Mellie was relieved. She needed a break from all the testosterone and intense magical presences. She would gird herself mentally for the next encounter with the dragon—if there was going to be one. She really hoped so. She still needed his help.
“I will be back,” Paul promised her, his dragon eyes catching and holding hers, making her feel almost as if she was under some sort of spell. “I will not leave without giving you my answer regarding your potion.”
“Thank you,” Mellie breathed as Paul looked away, releasing her from his regard.
The three men swept from the bookshop, leaving the sisters behind. Peter sent a lingering glance over his shoulder before following behind the other two, but he didn’t say anything. Mellie wished she could’ve had just a moment to hug him, but events were moving too quickly to accommodate her fear and tender sensibilities. Still, he’d seemed concerned when he looked back at her, which was enough for now. She’d get all the hugs of reassurance she needed tonight—if she had anything to say about it.
“Whew!” Urse let out a harsh breath and sort of collapsed against the countertop as the door shut behind the trio of powerful shifters. “That was intense.”
“You can say that again,” Mellie agreed, also loosening her stance. She hadn’t realized how tense she had been holding herself until she tried to relax her shoulders. “Ouch.” Mellie’s right hand went up to her neck, rubbing out the pain caused by stiff muscles.
“Now, tell me, what the heck was that all about?” Urse asked, turning toward her sister.
“Oh, the dragon, you mean?” Mellie couldn’t be absolutely certain, but she had a feeling John either hadn’t wanted, or hadn’t had a chance, to tell Urse about Peter’s morning debrief about the arrival of an honest-to-goodness real live dragon shifter in Grizzly Cove overnight.
“Dragon?” Urse repeated, confirming Mellie’s suspicions. “What do you mean, dragon? They’re extinct.” Urse gave Mellie a disbelieving look. “Aren’t they?”
Now, it was Mellie’s turn to finally come clean about all the stuff she hadn’t told her sister over the past couple of days. She wouldn’t tell Urse everything. The relationship with Peter was too new to talk about just yet. But she could definitely use Urse’s advice and thoughts about the magical stuff relating to the potion she was trying to brew.
Starting from the last failure with the komodo dragon, Mellie filled Urse in. She glossed over Urse’s pointed looks when Mellie talked about meeting Peter’s grandmother. The fact that dragon shifters once existed, and still did, was enough to sidetrack Urse from any further questions about Peter. At least for the moment.
When Mellie talked about the series of phone calls that culminated in the dragon shifter’s appearance in Grizzly Cove, Urse seemed to be stunned. She didn’t say anything for a long moment and got the look on her face that Mellie always associated with Urse checking her magical wards. Then, Urse was back, her expression bemused, her head shaking as if she still couldn’t quite believe what Mellie had just told her.
“There was a freaking dragon shifter in our shop just now?” Urse asked, apparently still in need of clarification—or perhaps, confirmation.
Mellie nodded. “Yup. He’s a dragon. Peter said something about noting the presence of the dragon flying overhead last night, and Paul said he saw Peter watching him. He also said he’d taken an aerial tour of the town, and your wards, under cover of darkness, but he hadn’t quite figured out what kind of magical creatures were living in the cove. I think that’s when he started to put the whammy on me, using some sort of coercive charm to get me to spill my guts about every little thing. I told him about the mer. I even told him about Peter’s family—which was something I’d promised not to tell anyone.”
“Wait. What about Peter’s family?” Urse asked quickly.
“Shit. Forget I said that. It’s nothing bad, I promise. All you need to know is that his grandmother had the right contacts to connect us to this dragon guy, Paul.” Mellie made a face and shook her head. “Is it possible the coercion charm is still active in here? I haven’t been this bad at keeping secrets since I was three years old.”
“Let me check again,” Urse said, shutting her eyes this time as she ran through the magical strands of spells she had layered on the shop. “Hmm. It’s an odd sort of spell, but it’s dissipating now.” Urse opened her eyes and looked at Mellie. “That was something I’ve never seen before, but it looked very useful for eliciting information. I wonder if I could recreate it?”
“Experiment later. For now, tell me how long until the charm is completely spent,” Mellie groused.
“Well, let’s put it this way. It’s a good thing we don’t keep much from each other, but I would suggest closing the shop for the rest of the day unless you want to start hearing some things you probably wouldn’t want to know from our customers and probably telling them stuff you wouldn’t want them to know about us.”
“Enough said.” Mellie went right over to the door and turned the sign. No way was she spilling any more secrets than she already had. Then, she turned back to Urse. “Does it extend to upstairs?” Then, she had a scary thought. “Is it cast on the place or is it on me, personally?” Mellie held her breath until her sister replied.
“It’s on the shop, not on you. I think he wanted to generalize the effect so that anyone he talked to in here would be compelled to speak of things they normally wouldn’t. Very, very clever,” Urse mused, with an almost admiring light in her eyes.
“I think we’d better go upstairs. Not that I have all that many secrets from you, sis, but the guys might come back. I don’t want them subject to that spell down here.” Another thought occurred. “Will you notice if he does it again? What about down at John’s office? Could he be using magic on them right now?”
“I’d know,” Urse told her sister. “I have so many wards on this town right now that I know whenever out-of-the-ordinary magic is used.”
“Really?” If what Urse was saying was true, that represented a huge step up from what she’d been doing before she mated with John.
Maybe the sisters were keeping more from each other than ever before. Mellie felt hurt for a moment until she realized this was inevitable. They were growing apart as they found lives of their own with their chosen partners. Urse was doing stuff with John now and not consulting Mellie on every little thing. When Mellie mated—hopefully with Peter, if he would only agree—the same would likely hold true for her.
She tried not to be sad about it. It was a natural progression. It was part of growing up. They were still closer than most siblings. They would share their triumphs and tragedies. There would just be more people around them. More members of their family. More love to go around. So, it really was a positive thing, right?
“After I cast the permanent wards, John started asking me about less intensive uses of ward magic. We’ve been experimenting. In particular, I started to spell cast on his office and his work place almost right away. I don’t want anything to happen to that man. Especially not something I can help prevent. If magic starts flying, I want to know about it.”
“I can see that,” Mellie allowed, not altogether surprised by the vehemence of her sister’s words. When Urse loved, she loved fiercely, and she loved John as deeply as a woman could love a man. They were the real thing.
The sisters adjourned to the upper level apartment and worked side by side in the kitchen for a few minutes, making coffee and setting up snacks. Grizzly Cove men were always up for a snack, and when the guys returned, they would be ready.
“So… You and Peter?” Urse asked, carefully broaching the subject, even though she probably knew from Mellie’s previous reaction that she didn’t really want to talk about it.
“Yeah,” Mellie admitted on a sigh. “But can we leave it at that for now? Please? It’s still very new.”
“I hear you,” Urse said, cradling her hot mug of coffee in both hands and sitting back in her chair at the kitchen table. “Just… You know where I am if you ever want to talk about it. Loving a bear is kind of different than what we were raised to expect out of a relationship.”
“I’m sure,” Mellie rolled her eyes, knowing her sister would understand the gesture as a comment on the men, not on Urse’s words. They both laughed.
Only a few minutes later, they both heard heavy feet clomping up the stairs to the apartment. John had a key to the shop, and he knew to make noise so as not to sneak up on the sisters. Could they be returning so soon? Mellie looked at Urse, and she was smiling. She knew exactly who had passed through her wards.
“It’s John, Peter and the new guy,” Urse said. “They’re back.”
Mellie stood to get mugs down from the cabinet as Urse went to unlock the door and let them in. Mellie poured coffee, feeling rather than seeing Peter come up behind her.
“You all right?” he asked in a low tone, for her ears only.
“I’m good. What about you?” she asked, turning to him.
The fire in his eyes made her breath catch. He was standing much closer than she had expected. She handed him a mug of coffee, to both give herself an excuse to touch him and to keep him at arm’s length. She didn’t feel like this was the appropriate time to go public with their relationship.
He growled deep in his throat. He didn’t like being kept away, but he allowed it. For now. At least, that’s the impression she got from the possessive look in his eyes. A little tingle flared through her. She couldn’t wait until they were alone.
When they were all seated around the kitchen table with steaming mugs of coffee, Mellie looked at John. He was nibbling on the snacks they’d put out, but his manner was easy. If the Alpha bear was relaxed, things were going well.
Peter sat at Mellie’s side, having moved the chair slightly closer to hers than it should be, but she didn’t mind too much. She began to sense his bear’s need to stake some sort of claim. And judging by the way Paul was looking at her, she was glad of Peter’s move.
Paul looked interested. Way too interested. Couldn’t he see she was into Peter? Or was the dragon considering some sort of maneuver around the obstacle that was Peter? That couldn’t be allowed. She didn’t want the scary dragon. She wanted her Russian teddy bear. Hands down. No contest.
Mellie saw the way Paul looked from her to Peter and back again speculatively, as if he was considering something. Mellie reached over and took possession of Peter’s hand, making a clear statement to everyone in the room. No way was she going to let this dragon lothario mess up the best thing that had ever happened to her.
So much for keeping it to herself, but it couldn’t be helped. Paul’s eyebrow rose impossibly high for a moment, but eventually, he seemed to relax, then nodded and sipped his coffee. Good.
Meanwhile, Peter’s bear was rumbling happily at her side. She could feel the vibrations through their joined hands. She didn’t dare look at Urse or John. She had a feeling the teasing would begin soon enough, once they were alone.
“I have decided to accept the Alpha’s invitation to stay in Grizzly Cove for another day,” Paul announced, his accent thick but his English excellent. “I wish to examine the problem you face more closely. I also wish to know more details about the potion you intend to brew and my potential part in it. I would very much like to see the book.”
Mellie shot Urse a look, but the grimoire was Mellie’s to protect and use for now. “It’s not usually done, you understand. This book is ancient and powerful, and it has been entrusted to me for this one specific purpose. I have vowed to protect it, and its many secrets, until my task is complete and then return it to its rightful caretaker.”
“You can put a binding on me, if you wish, but I need to see the book before I can make my decision.” Paul’s voice was firm, and Mellie sensed this was a sticking point for him.
“All right,” Mellie conceded, standing. “Give me a moment. I have a binding potion we can use.”
Normally, Mellie probably would have asked her sister to take care of it, but this was her task. Her responsibility. And it would be good to show Paul the kind of power she could wield. It would also be a good test for her, as well. Would the dragon be bound by her potion? There was only one way to find out.
Mellie located the small glass bottle she wanted and closed the cabinet door, unsurprised to find that Peter had followed her down the hall and into the room she used to make her potions. She looked at him and put the glass bottle down carefully on the table before moving into his arms.
He hugged her close, rocking her back and forth. His mouth was near her ear, and he kissed her there, gently, before asking. “You okay with all this?”
She sensed he was talking about more than just the presence of the dragon shifter. She had just made a claim on him—albeit a small one, but still a claim—in front of her sister and the Alpha bear. That was something big, and they both knew it.
“I’m okay with you, Peter,” she told him honestly, moving back a bit to look into his eyes. “Paul is handsome and incredibly powerful,” she admitted, even though Peter’s gaze narrowed in annoyance. “But I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. I wanted him to know I’m your girl. At least… I want to be your girl, if that’s okay.” She was laying it on the line, hoping Peter wouldn’t let her down.
“Are you kidding?” A smile came over his face that lit her world. “Of course you’re my girl. Zvyozdochka… I know this is probably the worst time ever to be saying this to you, but I’m really hoping you’ll agree to be my mate.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Really?” she whispered, overcome with joy and relief. “Oh, Peter!” She reached up and kissed him, happy tears mixing in with the sweetest kiss she had ever known.
When it ended, he kept her close. “Is that a yes?” he asked, and she could see the swirl of magic—the bear spirit—in his eyes. If she accepted him, she would be accepting both of them. The bear and the man. Forevermore.
“It’s an emphatic yes,” she told him, giving him another kiss, this time, not mixed with tears, but pulsing with a passion they did not have the time to explore at the moment.
Heavy footsteps were coming down the hall. Dammit. John was coming to check on them. She pulled back from the kiss, spotting her brother-in-law through the open doorway. He was grinning.
“Hey, you two. Did you forget you’re entertaining a freaking dragon in the kitchen? We’re all waiting on you. Hop to it.” John’s voice was filled with mischievous humor. “There’ll be time for that later.”
“Go away, John,” Peter groused, but he let Mellie go and turned toward the door to usher his Alpha down the hallway. Mellie chuckled as she pulled herself together and followed them.