I KNEW I wouldn’t be able to use my credit cards once on the road or Eva could track me. Her guy had found my bank accounts with just my first and last legal name, so that was out. Instead, I went to the ATM in town and withdrew a thousand bucks, which was all it would let me. I could live off a grand for a long time. Long enough to get a fake ID with a new name and transfer the money into a new account. Worst case, I could take another one of my scales and try to sell it where I was going, but that was too risky, and a last-case scenario. I settled into the drive, putting on loud music to keep myself awake, and kept a bag of chips handy for snacking.

* * *

I was six and a half hours into my drive to San Clemente, California, and had only about an hour left. But I was dozing off. It was like 4 AM and I was dead tired. Still, I kept thinking that the pack could be right behind me, assuming they could smell my trail or something crazy. Would it be so bad if they caught up to me?

I shook my head of those thoughts. Yes, it would, because I was everything they hated. No one wanted to swear their allegiance to a monster. I hit the pedal and kept driving. About five minutes passed and I started going over the bumps that were meant to wake up sleeping truckers. It was time to pull off and sleep a few hours. I was no good in this condition.

I pulled off the next exit and was pleased to see it was a well-lit and popular truck stop. As a seasoned car sleeper, I knew these places were a goldmine. They had food, hot showers, and security guards. I pulled my little SUV to the far back parking space and turned it off, slipping the keys into the cup holder. Making sure all of the doors were locked, I crawled into the back seat, where my sleeping bag and pillow were still spread out from the last time I’d slept in there. God, it felt like a lifetime ago I had been sleeping in the car. Before the fall … before … Logan…

Those green eyes seemed to look right through me. They were the last thing I thought of before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I was awoken to the bright sunshine beating on my face and I bolted upright, heart in my throat, and stared at the clock: 9 A.M. I’d gotten five hours of sleep, but Logan and the pack could also be right on top of me. There were more of them, so they could sleep in shifts. If I was being honest with myself, I felt awful for leaving them like this; no doubt they were freaking out. But once Eva told them what I was and I changed my bank account, I knew they would settle back into their old ways, forget about me. I shouldered my backpack and then got out of the car, stretching my legs and neck. Car sleeping wasn’t the best for my back but it was safe, warm, and free.

After having a quick shower and putting on fresh clothes, I stocked up on coffee and breakfast pastries. I needed to figure out a way to find a powerful sorcerer like Eva that could keep Eva and Danny from searching for me. Some kind of hidden spell. But that would require me knowing even one supernatural in San Clemente, and I didn’t.

I opened the door to leave the gas station when I got a whiff of … dog … to my left. There were two young girls, maybe eighteen years old, smoking cigarettes, leaning up against the wall. It was hard to tell with the cigarette smoke, but they smelled like shifters. Wolf shifters. Like me. Or at least what I smelled like to them. As I passed, they locked eyes on me, nostrils flaring, and gave me a respectful nod. I nodded back but stopped. Maybe these girls would have my sorcerer contact. Or they were human and would think I was crazy.

I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “Hey, girls. I’m from out of town and I need…” I paused, not able to bring myself to say it. What if my nose was wrong and they were human?

One of the girls, who had an obscene amount of glitter eye shadow and a nose ring, smiled wide. “You need a hook up? Sorcerer, shifter, or druid?”

I must have looked shocked, because the girls both smiled at each other.

“Sorcerer,” I told them. NO druids please.

The girl shrugged. “I don’t give information out for free ya know.”

I tried to suppress a growl as I pulled out twenty bucks. Little hustlers. I didn’t want to contribute to their lung cancer foundation, but there was no sense in running from the pack if Eva could find me.

The girl snatched the twenty. “There’s a bar called Moon Dust. Ask for Jeanine. She’ll hook you up with whatever you need. She’s a pureblood.”

Pureblood. That name made me sick, but I knew it meant that Jeanine was a powerful sorcerer and that’s what I needed.

“Thanks,” I told the girls, and headed to my car.

Now I just needed to stay out of trouble until nightfall, find this sorcerer, and then I was home free. Back to my old life where no one would get hurt.

* * *

It had been a long day. I was so paranoid of either being found by Logan and the pack, or being attacked by druids, that I barely left my car. I had gotten lunch and dinner from a drive-through restaurant, and I was already plotting how to buy a remote cabin in the woods somewhere and live out my life in solitude. As soon as this sorcerer hid my trail, I was going to head for the mountains, maybe Colorado, find a tiny town, and buy a small place for cash. For all I knew, Logan and the pack weren’t even looking for me. I had turned off my phone when I left Arizona and now I was tempted to turn it back on and see if I had any messages. Eva said she would be over to Logan’s house this morning. Maybe she told them I was half druid and they decided to cut their losses and not come looking for me. That was the best case scenario.

Parking a few blocks from Moon Dust, my hands shook as I tried to rein in my fear about walking into a supernatural bar completely alone and unprepared. Just ask for Jeanine. In and out, I told myself.

I tightened the hold on my studded clutch purse. Last month I was a human living out of my car and searching for my purpose in life, now I was some freak dragon-druid hybrid standing in line to a foreign supernatural bar so that I could get help escaping a sorcerer and a bunch of shifters. It was crazy how quickly your life could change. I was surprised I was doing so well.

I slipped into the line, and was two people from the front of the door when a thought struck me: what if they had a truth witch at the door? Eva’s did … but they were super rare, so maybe not. I was still deciding whether or not to jump out of line when the person in front of me walked into the double doors, letting a short blip of blasting music reach me before they closed again. I was looking a very large man in the eyes, and luckily they weren’t glowing. I was hoping that meant no truth witch.

He seemed to be waiting for me to speak, so I did. “I’m here to see Jeanine,” I told him as confidently as I could.

He glared at me, his already small eyes looking even smaller on his large face.

“And you are?” He looked impatient, and I wasn’t sure if there was some code or something. Dammit. I pulled forty dollars from my clutch and handed it to him.

“I’m a shifter who got into some trouble and needs help out.” There, honest but not completely a lie, in case he was in fact a truth witch.

He grabbed the forty dollars and waved me past as if I was a fly bothering him with my presence. It took a moment for the realization to register through my shock, then I ran inside before he could change his mind. He hadn’t said where to find Jeanine, so I was going to have to figure that out on my own. I was also burning through my cash a lot quicker than I had intended.

As I stepped through the doors, I let my eyes roam over the space. The most prominent thing in the bar, aside from the blaring music, were the cages hanging from the ceiling with dancing half-naked girls in them. Except these girls didn’t look fully aware and semi-bored like the ones at Eva’s. They looked … drugged, in a trance, eyes half-lidded, bodies moving as if they were on autopilot. Off to the left was a secluded lounge area with plush leather couches and black lights to set the mood. To the right was the bathroom and a set of double doors guarded by two large men; straight ahead was a long bar that took up the entire length of the back wall.

I started the herculean task of wading through the packed crowd and under the cages of half-naked dancers to get back to the bar. As I squeezed my way through, the crowd tightened and my body smooshed into the guy in front of me. I was the kind of person who liked my own space, so having my breasts pushed up against some strange dude’s back had my dragon on edge and my inner feminist ready to smash some testicles. Especially after what had happened at Eva’s club.

“Excuse me,” I piped up, because the crowd had pressed together under one of the cages, where the girl had just removed her bikini top. Fabulous. This was a freaking strip club. People were pushing in on me hard now and I was in a full-on panic, my breath coming in gasps, and I felt lightheaded. If I didn’t extract myself from this situation right away, I might faint.

I took my elbow and placed it between the shoulder blades of the guy whose back was assaulting my chest and I pushed. Hard. “MOVE!” I roared and I felt my dragon trying to come to the surface as my panic grew.

Shhh, we’re safe, I told her, and luckily the guy jumped forward two feet and I was given an opening. I shot out of the crowd panting and finally made it to the bar. I stood there a second, just letting myself calm down, not letting the fear overwhelm me. If my time with Logan and the pack had taught my anything, it was that when my dragon felt I was safe, she stayed in her cage—the cage being my human skin. The problem was I didn’t feel safe without Logan, without the pack.

Dammit, why did I always run from my problems? It was a horrible character trait of mine. If I couldn’t see a way out of something, I ran. My college boyfriend broke up with me sophomore year and I totally changed classes, and nearly majors, to avoid him and his new perfect girlfriend. Mom died and I abandoned our lease that I could no longer afford, left our house, sold all of our possessions but for a few sentimental pieces, and I ran.

I was a runner.

Maybe I should at least turn on my phone and see if by miracle of miracles Logan had texted me saying he didn’t care I was part monster and I was still “family”—and that, P.S., Dom didn’t want to behead me.

“Are you the pretty little redhead looking for me?” a powerful, gritty feminine voice called from behind me.

I spun around with wide eyes and my gaze fell on a woman who was tall enough to be a basketball player and thin enough to be a model. The combination was a bit unsettling—not so much her body type but the crooked nose and beady-eyed glare.

“I’m Jeanine.” She nodded, as if I had asked. Her hair was blond and curly, cropped short at the back of the neck. I liked to think I was a good judge of character, and this woman was giving off a major creeper vibe. Great.

“Hey. I’m S-Stacey,” I stuttered, deciding at the last minute to change my name. If I was going to start over, I might as well start now.

She raised a well-manicured eyebrow as if she didn’t buy my name bit and nodded.

“Well, Stacey, my consultation fee is two hundred, and then whatever else you need on top of that…” She held out a hand.

Damn. I tried not to gape. Two hundred just to talk with her? Reluctantly, I reached in my clutch and pulled out two one hundred-dollar bills. I had a feeling this thousand dollars cash wasn’t going to last me as long as I hoped. I noticed two large males standing just beyond Jeanine; one of them was talking into his wrist cuff like CIA agents did in the movies. Something told me Jeanine was a well-connected woman.

She pocketed the two hundred and then ticked her head at the far wall, asking me to follow. I gave a shaky breath and headed after her. While we walked, I concocted a story in my head about leaving an abusive boyfriend and pack. That I was in need of hiding and that my old pack had a powerful sorcerer, so I needed some type of cloaking spell so that no one searching for me could find me. I was making my way through the crowd that seemed to part for Jeanine and her two henchmen, when I saw a man that made panic rise up fresh within me. The druid. Steven. He was here, and he was combing the place as if looking for someone.

Oh. Shit.

In one quick maneuver, I pulled my red hair to one side and popped up the hood on my jacket. Then I twisted my hair back so that it was all covered and kept my head down. What were the freaking odds that this bastard was in California at the same club as me? My dragon was positively swirling, gliding across my skin, threatening to break free.

Maybe I should just forget this whole sorcerer spell thing and get the hell out of here? I was about two seconds from doing just that when Jeanine flicked her wrist and the heavily-guarded double doors swung open on their own, nearly knocking the two guards out of the way. Only a faint trail of yellow announced that she had used magic. This woman was powerful.

Her henchmen walked into the dimly-lit hallway and she followed, turning back for the first time to look at me. “Keep up,” she growled, and I had a decision to make. Leave this place or go through with it quickly and then get my butt to Colorado? After two seconds of internal freaking out, I ran to catch up before the doors closed behind me and my decision was made. The second they sealed shut, I realized that what I was doing was completely stupid.

Like epic levels of stupidity.

What the hell was I thinking, coming to a supernatural bar, in a different town, with no one to make sure I didn’t get chopped up into pieces or descaled? Ahead of me, Jeanine stopped short of a large ornate wooden door. One flick of her wrist and it flew open. I gulped. The doors opened to reveal a neat and sparse office, nothing like Eva’s cluttered mix of bottle and jars. Hers held a large wooden desk in the center, with two chairs, one behind and one in front of it. Then it had wall-to-ceiling shelves with black, closed-lidded boxes and no labels.

Jeanine gestured for me to sit, and when I did she simply leaned on the edge of her desk, towering over me rather than taking her seat.

“Alright, pretty thing. What can I do you for?” Her eyes were gleaming as I gathered my thoughts.

“I’m in some trouble. Left an abusive boyfriend in another pack. I’m afraid they will look for me so I need a spell that … makes me invisible?” I didn’t actually know if that was possible. I very well could be wasting my time and my two hundred dollars.

She leaned forward, her lips turning up to sneer. “Anything’s possible with magic, dear.”

She held out her hand and gestured for me to take it, I reluctantly did. The moment we touched, I felt my dragon clench and freeze. Jeanine’s eyes flashed yellow and her mouth popped open slightly.

“You’ve already got a complex spell on you,” she stated in an airy voice. “I know this work.” Then her voice went deadly. “Eva,” she declared with malice.

I ripped my hand back and held it to my chest. How the hell did she know Eva? Oh God. Leave it to me to pick the one place that had ties to the people I was trying to run from.

She waved a hand. “Relax, I’m not going to call her. I despise that woman and will gladly do any spell that will piss her off.” She grinned, showcasing a full set of teeth.

“Okay,” I said in a nervous squeak. Something about the feeling she gave me when she touched me made me wonder if not all sorcerers were created alike. It made me wonder if maybe this sorcerer dabbled in the dark forces … if there was such a thing.

She stood and began to rummage through some of the boxes. “Normally this type of complex spell would cost you, but I’m going to give you a discount because it will enrage my nemesis.”

Shit. I liked Eva. She’d gone out of her way to help me, and now I was unknowingly siding with her sworn enemy? Fail. Fail on so many levels. This rabbit hole was getting deeper and deeper, and now I was afraid I just had to go through with it because I couldn’t crawl out. I just needed to get to the other side.

“So … how much?” Because she hadn’t stated a price yet.

She waved her hand. “Five hundred is fine.”

My eyes bugged. Five hundred freaking dollars. That, plus the two hundred, was nearly all of my gas and food money to get me to the Colorado Mountains. But going to the mountains would be useless if I was found.

“Okay,” I muttered, and pulled out five hundred, leaving it on the edge of her desk.

She scurried around the office, grabbing a dash of this and a pinch of that. At one point I saw her throw an unused match into the jar she held. Man, sorcery was weird. I couldn’t wait to be miles from here and on my way to a secluded mountain retreat to live out eternity without any of this bizarre crap.

“Ready,” she crooned. “I just need a little drop of your blood.”

My eyes widened and a small whimper escaped my throat.

Jeanine rolled her eyes. “Yes, it’s tragic. Come on…” She waved my hand forward in frustration.

Logan said never to give a sorcerer my blood. Eva had agreed that I should never give a sorcerer my blood—other than her of course. Yet here I was, giving a sorcerer my blood.

Listening and following rules were not my best character traits.

Without really thinking it through, I extended my finger, and the gleam in her eyes reminded me of Gollum as he caressed the one ring and called it “my precious.” I was a diehard Lord of the Rings fan who was strongly considering getting a tattoo in Elvish. So, seeing this clear sign of evil on her face should have deterred me, but I just turned my head to the side as she pricked my finger quickly and squeezed it into the jar.

She released my hand and I pulled it back swiftly, bringing my finger up to my mouth to suck it clean. Jeanine’s nostrils were flaring; her eyes had rolled back into her head.

“Umm, are you oka—” I began, but her throat humming cut me off.

She was in a full-on trance and I was officially freaked the hell out. The hairs on my arms were sticking up; the curtains on the windows had started moving to an invisible wind.

Oh shit. What had I done? I was just figuring out whether I should cut my losses and run when the match inside of the cup burst into flame of its own accord, causing me to jump backward with a startled shriek.

Jeanine’s eyes focused again; she stopped her humming chant as the curtains went dead still. She approached me, the flame burning in the cup illuminating her eyes in a ghastly glow. “Blow it out and breathe in the smoke,” she ordered.

“What?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Do it!” she roared, and I could see the match was going to blow out soon if I didn’t. It was all or nothing. I was all in on this running away thing. I took in one deep breath, and in that moment I was reminded of when my dragon was in heat and Logan had put me in the deep sleep. The way his breath felt on my neck, the way he smelled…

I pushed the past down and blew; a puff of bright yellow smoke wafted up to my face. Against every instinct I had, against my dragon’s cries from within me, I inhaled the smoke. The second it hit my lungs, I broke into a fit of coughing as it burned my throat with its acrid scent. With a grin, Jeanine pulled her cup back and I felt a tingling working down my arms.

Jeanine walked over to the phone on her desk and picked it up. “I’m ready for my next client.” Her eyes stayed on me the entire time she spoke.

I finally got my coughing under control and asked her in a raspy voice if it was done.

She nodded and scooped up the five hundred bucks. “Yes. You may go now.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I wanted to get in my car and get the hell out of here. I nodded to her and grabbed my purse, walking briskly to the door. As I was reaching out, with my hand on the knob, her voice came from behind me.

“Oh, Stacey?” she called out. I froze, not bothering to look back, everything within me telling me to run.

“Hmm?” I replied.

Her response made terror flush through my system faster than a bullet train. “I know what you are,” she crooned.

My legs went weak with adrenaline and I spun the knob, ready to run my out-of-shape ass out of there. But the second I threw the door wide, I came face to face with Steven, the powerful druid who had chucked Keegan across the room. Gone were his minions; it was just him and his greedy gaze staring down at me.

I shrieked as he reached for me. I threw my right arm out, pushing with everything I had, pushing my magic, my dragon, my sense of self preservation. I just pushed. It felt like electricity had ignited along my spine, and then a blinding purple fire shot out of my palm and threw Steven back into the wall. The druid crashed halfway through the drywall, getting stuck inside. Holy shit. I heard Jeanine gasp behind me and then I ran. Instinct pushed me to run left, away from the club entrance and the guards.

“Get her!” the druid roared to Jeanine from his place in the wall.

Oh hell no. I ran a few more feet and was then relieved when I looked up and saw an emergency exit sign hanging over a dark metal door. I risked a glance behind me and saw Jeanine running rather slowly after me, yellow magic crackling in her hands.

Bitch, I want my money back.

I reached the door in record time and with one kick it burst open. I jumped through and took a quick scan of my surroundings. I was in a side alley; there was a heavy metal dumpster to my right. With all the adrenaline running through me, and the fact that I was in fact part dragon, and part druid for that matter, I decided to try and move the trash can over the door, trapping these assholes inside.

“Ahhhhh!” I screamed as I used every ounce of strength I had. The moment it slid over the door, I heard a loud thwack as Jeanine flew against it.

“Quick thinking,” the Irish druid’s voice came from behind me.

I paled and probably peed myself a little as I turned around and faced Steven.

“How did you…?” I was in shock, and he was blocking the damn street opening, so I was against a brick wall. Trapped. My dragon was smashing against my restraints and I let my guard down. Screw it. Let her come. Maybe I could fight him and fly my way out of here.

I felt the familiar tingle and saw a few scales push up on my skin, but then they went flat. What the...?

The druid smiled, rolling out his neck. “Can’t have you flying off now, can we?”

My dragon fell like a stone in my stomach as dread came over me. That sorcerer … she did something to my dragon.

Oh, Sloane, of all the stupid things you’ve done, this tops it.

Steven pulled a red glowing blade from behind his back and I knew this was it. I couldn’t fly or fight my way out of this. The last thing I had in my arsenal was talking my way out.

“Do you know what I am? Really know? I’m half druid. I’m part you. I can join your side.”

I was lying about joining his side obviously but desperate times called for desperate lies.

I was expecting him to be surprised or to show some consideration of my terms. Instead he just tipped his head back and laughed. “You’re pollution on the bloodline of my people, and I will wipe you out and take your power as an offering to the great Ardan.”

Well, if I was going down, I might as well do so with gusto. “That douchebag? I heard he was too lazy to kill dragons himself. Makes all of his bitches do the dirty work.”

That’s right, bud. I just called you a bitch. I grinned for effect. Screw these racist jerks.

In one blinding move he jumped forward, face contorted in rage, arm raised high. And that’s when I heard the cry of a falcon overheard. I covered my face and looked to the ground to protect my neck, preparing for the slice of a knife on my skin. But the pain never came.

I saw the druid’s feet lift up in the air and I dropped my arms, craning my neck to see that he was airborne, flying across the alley, before slamming into a wall.

My heart pinched at the sight of Logan, one fist clenched at his side, the other holding a Glock to the druid’s head. But his eyes, those green eyes, were pinned on me, swimming with … relief. Sophie was in her human form, holding her beloved harpoon gun, while the rest of the pack was in their animal forms. I wanted to cry seeing Nadine’s black wolf at the end of the alley, sitting next to Coop’s red fox. And my breath caught in my throat seeing two large brown bears and lion, but…

They came for me.

Keegan’s large grey wolf crouched in front of the druid and launched himself right at Steven’s neck just as Logan pulled the trigger. But it was no use. One loud crack and the druid was gone—there against the brick wall one second and gone the next. Like magic. Crazy, freaky, unheard-of magic.

At the end of the alley, I noticed another human form, Eva, doing some wild spell work; a yellowish gauze was creeping up the two walls, closing us in from the open street like a spider web. Closing us off from whom? I wondered. Probably Jeanine. Danny stood at her side, adding his own magic to strengthen hers.

I stood there stupidly, unsure of what to say or do, fighting the tears that wanted to spill down my cheeks. I nearly got killed—nearly got them killed. I was an idiot and I never should have left, but … If they knew…

“Sloane Murphy!” Logan roared from his place halfway down the alley.

I paled, clenching my arms to my sides. Here it came. He knew. He knew I was a monster, I could feel it. All of them peered at me then. Aside from the anger and hurt on Logan’s face, it was Nadine’s wide, painful wolf eyes that killed me the most. Betrayal. I had betrayed them all and the feeling sank in my stomach like a stone. I stepped forward, ready for whatever they threw at me.

Logan was stalking forward with all of the grace and speed of a large cat and I was trying not to be terrified. What would he do? What would he say?

“Don’t. You. Ever. Leave me again,” Logan said through gritted teeth. His eyes were flaring green and my dragon was roaring inside of me. Again, it was as if she was trying to tell me something but couldn’t speak.

I sighed, trying to keep the tears at bay. “You don’t understand!” I yelled at all of them, making sure that even Eva could hear me. “I’m one of him, okay?” I gestured to the space in the wall where the Irish asshat had teleported or whatever. “I’m half druid. Part monster.”

It was Sophie who answered first. Logan was almost to me and didn’t seem to be able to find his words. He was just a raging ball of anger coming at me full force.

“No shit. Eva told us. We don’t care,” Sophie said in her exceptionally bitchy tone.

Confusion and relief poured through me, and the tears I had been holding leaked from my eyes. “But you talk about all the ways you want to kill druids. Beheading them is your favorite, right, Logan?” My voice was soft now, only meant for him. Logan had reached me and without hesitation his hands came out and cupped the bottom of my face, forcing me to look up at him.

“Was I shocked? Yes,” he stated, letting his thumbs stroke my cheek in a way that made my dragon melt. “Does it change the way I feel about you? No way.”

The way he felt about me? Suddenly I was an insecure little girl. “But…” I didn’t know what to say, what to do. I’d messed up. I never should have left, never should have doubted them.

“But nothing. Sloane Murphy, you’re stuck with me. For life.” Logan’s eyes flared green.

For life. My dragon purred at those words, but I huffed. “Because I’m half dragon?” Was that the only reason he was so hell-bent on protecting me? On sticking together? Just to live out his mission or whatever? A large part of me hoped not, because I felt something for him too, and I wasn’t sure I could run from that anymore.

He ate up the distance between our bodies, pressing his hips into mine and causing me to inhale sharply. “Because you’re my mate.” His lips crashed onto mine then as pleasure and pure shock exploded inside of me. My dragon burst to life as magic thrummed through my veins and fireworks of warmth and desire erupted in my belly. Mate … yes. Logan was my mate and I should have known it all along. My dragon did. I realized that now, what she had been trying to tell me. Logan was my mate. Just as Nadine said, there was a knowing, a magical explosion, a rightness in my soul that he was mine and I was his. I wasn’t in some perpetual heat, I had been denying myself my mate. Logan’s tongue reached out softly, caressed mine, and I moaned. My fingers reached out and ran down the length of his torso, stroking the hard muscles there.

“Alright, get a room,” Sophie called from the end of the alley, and I grinned as Logan pulled away from my lips and met my eyes once more, this time with a huge smirk. Being like this with Logan, kissing him, it felt so right I wished I hadn’t waited so long.

I was about to speak when a glow below me caught my eye. Looking down, I sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of my purple magic and Logan’s teal magic intertwined and dancing between our two bodies. It’s as if my body was a light bulb and my magic was hovering twelve inches off my body, reaching out for Logan.

The light display attracted our friends. They walked over, all gaping at what was happening. The magic swirled in arcs, flaring out bigger and bigger, tingling my abdomen as it moved.

“What is it?” Logan asked breathlessly to no one in particular.

Eva responded, stepping closer, eyes open in awe: “You’re mates … a magical bond stronger than any other, closer than even a mother and child. Your life force is now dependent on each other.”

The colors were dying down now and both Logan and I looked at each other with wide eyes. “What does that mean?” I asked Eva, craning my head to see the sorcerer.

Eva peered at me from behind her top hat and frowned. Then she looked at the ground as if she couldn’t meet our eyes. “If one of you dies, then the other goes with you.”

Keegan had shifted to his human form, wearing a pair of low-slung sweats and no t-shirt. At Eva’s words, he let a curse word fly. I let what Eva said sink in as pure shock saturated my being. Now it was back to being like they had only one dragon, because if one of us died we took all of humanity with us.

‘It will be okay.’ Logan stroked my cheek but I jumped back with a yelp, because his lips hadn’t moved and yet I’d heard him clear as day in my head.

‘What the hell!’ I thought back.

Logan’s brow furrowed, at first in confusion, and then surprise, which turned to delight and he grinned.

“What now?” Sophie groaned, watching our loved-up display.

Logan was grinning ear to ear. “We can speak into each other’s minds.”

Sophie made a gagging noise and Nadine reached out and smacked her arm hard, shutting her up.

“And this is funny how?” I asked him, because it was totally freaking me out. Talk about a privacy violation. Mate or not, I wanted to be able to control who was in my head!

He shrugged. “Because now I can bug you no matter how far away you are.”

I stepped in closer to him, all thoughts of freaky mate mind melding gone. “I won’t leave like that again,” I said it to him, but then I looked at everyone. My pack. I looked each one of them in the eyes, whether human or animal. “I’m sorry. I won’t ever do that again,” I told them all.

When my eyes finally rested on Keegan, he nodded and that was that. I was forgiven.