Page 15 of Hexual Healing
“Dragons are possessive,” he said, moving to the box of scales with predatory grace.“Territorial.She sees you as hers, even after all this time.The curse is her claim on you.”
“Tell me something I don't know.”
“She doesn't expect you to have moved on.”
I blinked.“I haven't moved on.”
“She doesn't know that.The curse will sell it,” he said as he bent over to pick up the leather gloves.He slipped them back on to pull out more scales, arranging them in a pattern I didn't recognize.“As far as she knows, you ran here.To another shifter’s territory.Into another male's den.”
Oh.
Oh no.
“You want her to think we're…”
“Together.”He said it so calmly, like he wasn't suggesting we pretend to be lovers in front of my batshit-crazy ex.“Dragons respect mating bonds.She can't kill me without consequences if she thinks I'm your mate.”
“But you're not my mate.”The words came out too fast, too desperate.
Something flickered across his face.Gone before I could identify it.
“She doesn't know that,” he repeated.Then, quieter: “The curse will sell it.Look how it reacts when I touch you.”
As if to prove his point, he reached out and brushed his fingers against the exposed skin of my neck.Even through the gloves, his touch caused the curse to explode with heat and light, magic crackling between us like lightning looking to ground.
“That's not— It's just because…” My voice trailed off.
“Because the curse recognizes a threat to her claim,” he finished.“It wouldn't react this strongly if there wasn't something for it to react to.”
My mouth went dry.“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying we use what we have.”He turned back to the scales, but I caught the tension in his shoulders.“Unless you have a better idea?”
Another rumble.This time, the walls groaned.
“She's getting impatient,” Gary observed.“Tansy, darling, as much as I hate to agree with the…man, he has a point.Dragons are monumentally stupid when they're jealous.It might buy us time.”
“Time for what?”
“To figure out how not to die,” Baz said.He pulled something else from the box.A leather cord with a bear tooth hanging from it.“Wear this.”
“What is it?”
“A mate mark.”He held it out, careful not to touch me.“Temporary.Reversible.But it'll smell like me.Like my claim.”
I stared at the tooth.It was carved with tiny runes that seemed to shift in the light.“You just happened to have this lying around?”
“I told you.I've dealt with dragons before.”His voice was carefully neutral.“Will you wear it or not?”
The house shook again.Harder this time.A window cracked.
“Shit.”I grabbed the cord and pulled it over my head.The second it touched my skin, the curse went nuclear.Pain lanced through my chest as if someone had poured acid directly onto my heart.I doubled over, gasping.
Baz caught me before I hit the ground.“I'm sorry.The curse is fighting it.”
“You think?”I wheezed.
“It'll settle.Just breathe through it.”