Page 29 of Lahaina Noon (Modern Legends of Dragons & Shadows #1)

Chapter 29

B ridget looked around the room at the shocked faces. She wasn’t sure where to start.

Liam did. “Your mate ?” he hissed. “When did that happen? What about the Council?”

Vaughn shook his head, “This morning, and screw the Council, they don’t own me.”

Marco shook himself. “Well, uh, congratulations Drake, none of us ever thought that would happen, sir and uh, well, congrats man.” He shook his head and mouthed the word ‘mate’ to himself.

Siobhan slowly shook her head side to side. “Wow!” she whispered, then grinned at Bridget.

After a moment of hesitation, Gabe walked over. He’d been sitting with Jorrie again, watching everything. He walked straight to Vaughn and looked him in the eye. “Mate?” he asked.

Vaughn nodded and bowed to him. Bridget eyed him warily, but Gabe surprised them by breaking into a grin and holding up his fist for a bump .

“Nice,” he said. “Can I pick the far back bedroom? The one at the end of the hall with its own bathroom?”

Bridget laughed and Vaughn winked, giving Gabe a thumbs up.

Vaughn then steered her away from the kids and sat her on the couch.

Jorrie and Jack were both sitting there, eyeing her strangely. Jack had a smug smile on his face, Jorrie looked pissed.

Bridget sighed, “Okay, look, guys, I’m really sorry I didn’t have my phone. I didn’t know you were trying to reach me. Vaughn and I were—”

“Getting mated?” Jorrie interrupted with false sweetness.

I’m really in for it now, Bridget sent Vaughn, when she gets that sugar isn’t as sweet as me tone in her voice, you might as well make funeral arrangements.

Vaughn’s nostrils flared in amusement as he tried not to laugh. He was sure it wouldn’t help the situation. “Look, Jorrie,” he began in his most reasonable voice.

She held up a finger, “Do not look Jorrie me. Now. One of you. Start talking. What the hell is mated? Is that like dragon for married? Bridget? Tell me you did not go marry this guy. Tell me you did not get married without me there.” Tears welled up in Jorrie’s eyes.

Bridget grabbed her hand. “No, no, Jorrie, you know I would never do that without you! Mating is like, a magical bond between a dragon and their partner.” She looked to Vaughn for help.

For a second, he considered sitting back and let her continue to stumble through the explanation because it was kind of cute. But he also valued breathing. He didn’t want to jeopardize that. It wasn’t overrated. He took her hands and looked into her eyes while he explained.

“A dragon bond is when a dragon and his human form, recognize their soulmate. They both love the person beyond all reason and more than anything else in the world. They put them above all others and would move heaven and earth to be with them. There’s a ritual they perform to mark them as mates, and it connects their souls in a spiritual, magical sense. Their lives are now intertwined, and if part of that connection is broken, the magical side of the other ceases to exist. Most do not survive the loss of a partner they are so closely joined.” Vaughn finished speaking and looked from Bridget to her friends. He realized the room was quiet, and everyone was staring at him.

That was beautiful, she told him.

Vaughn continued out loud for the benefit of her family. “What it means for us is that my heart recognized Bridget as the one my soul has been waiting for. I love her; I would die for her. I have waited a long time alone for her, and I will never leave her side. No one can keep us apart. She is my everything. And she loves me too. Somehow, this amazing creature loves me in return. I don’t deserve her.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him.

They leaned towards each other, about to kiss, when Gabe shouted, “Mushy shit! Ugh!”

Laughter bubbled up from everyone, and normal conversation started again .

Jorrie took Bridget’s hand, “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I love you so much, and I was afraid you were maybe being taken advantage of. I know Vaughn’s a good guy, but I didn’t want you to end up on an episode of DateLine. That’s how it always starts! I’m so happy for you guys. Oh my God. I’m gonna cry!”

Bridget hugged her friend and turned to Jack, who had been quiet the whole time. He had a hand over his face, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Jack?” she shook him gently.

He dropped his hand, and his eyes were full of tears. “What? Can’t a man cry in peace at the like most romantic damn thing he’s ever heard? Dammit, Bridge, that was seriously just like the most. I can’t even!” He waved his hands and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face.

She grinned; his response was so Jack. More importantly, she could tell he was genuinely happy for her. She had been concerned about how he would feel about her moving on from Brian, but she knew Jack wanted her to be happy. They had been good friends before her marriage to his brother, and she was grateful for his continued support.

Vaughn looked a little lost and patted Jack on the shoulder in awkward support.

Bridget bit her lip; this would be good.

Jack sobbed, throwing himself in Vaughn’s arms. “Take good care of my Bridget!” he wailed, dialing up the theatrics. “She’s my best girl ever and I’m just so happy for you both. It’s amazing how two hearts can find each other this way.” He dashed some tears on Vaughn’s shirt.

Vaughn looked helplessly at Bridget and Jorrie; they stared back with sympathetic expressions.

“I just, I just,” he continued, “Want to wish you the best and all the happiness and know if you ever break her heart,” Jack’s tone suddenly turned deadly, “I’ll kill you in your sleep.” He removed the knife from Vaughn’s throat and kissed him on the cheek. He sat back, crossed his ankles and smiled sweetly, tears gone.

Vaughn sat still, trying to figure out what just happened. How the hell had Jack just pulled a knife on him without anyone in the room sensing it or intercepting. He eyed him shrewdly, deciding to roll with it. “Message received.”

Jack nodded gracefully and flicked the knife through his fingers with ease.

Marco and the others exchanged glances and wisely stayed silent.

Did you know about that? Vaughn sent Bridget.

She smirked at him. Yup. He uses that flamboyant routine to catch people off guard. Works every time. He’s not going to admit it, but Jack is quite the badass.

Vaughn eyed the man he considered his future brother-in-law with a new appreciation. He leaned over and kissed Jack firmly on the mouth. “Welcome to the family.”

Another round of laughter filled the room and once everyone was reassured, Vaughn took Bridget and Gabe to a few nearby stores to get some essentials. He insisted on replacing Gabe’s computer and school supplies immediately even though there were only two weeks of school left. Bridget tried to protest, but he was resolute on this, and she gave in quietly to make sure Gabe was taken care of.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a quiet blur of phone calls with the police, her homeowner’s insurance, and various friends reassuring them that she was okay. Brian’s parents were glad to hear they were unharmed, but not necessarily thrilled that she was going to be living with her new boyfriend. She wasn’t terribly worried about them, they’d not been very accepting of Jack when he’d come out in their college years, and she hadn’t forgiven them the hurt they’d caused him.

That evening, as they lay in each other’s arms, Bridget asked Vaughn to start training her on how to use her magic appropriately. “Yesterday the Shadow’s attacked and I almost fried my brain. Today they tried to kill me once more. I need to be able to defend myself, without doing their job for them.”

Vaughn hated that she needed to learn defense, but promised he’d have Siobhan over the next day to start teaching her as well.

Bridget found out the hard way that Siobhan was quite an unsympathetic task master. She drilled Bridget over and over again in simple spells, controlling her draw on magic, and holding a flame steady. Although Bridget could perform basic glamour type magic that all Wielders could do, she was unable to control any of the usual elements that other Wielders managed.

“I don’t get it. What kind of Wielder are you? You’re not any usual color and you aren’t black like Vaughn. If you were, your powers would just be controlling raw power. You have something specific, but I can’t figure it out. Hang on.” The prickly woman pulled out her phone and her fingers flew across the screen as she tapped out a message. “Okay, Killian is going to join us. He might be able to figure this out. Now, back to training!”

“Yes ma’am!” Bridget replied wearily. The magic itself wasn’t difficult to perform, but channeling power from the Earth and from Vaughn were two completely different skill sets and much harder than she could have imagined .

After another half hour, the quiet silver-haired man slipped into the gym where they were practicing and leaned against the wall. He’d been there for at least ten minutes before either of the women noticed him.

“Dammit Killian, I hate it when you do that!” Siobhan complained. “Why can’t you just walk into a room and announce yourself like a normal person?” Her tone indicated she didn’t expect an answer, and he didn’t give one.

Bridget studied him as he studied her, circling her like an appraiser evaluating a fine piece of art. “Well?” she arched her eyebrow at him.

He nodded, and pushed his hair back behind his ear so she could see his whole face. “Light,” he said simply, as if that explained the entire mystery.

She noticed he had very full soft lips with a cute little ring piercing the lower one. “Light what?” She was distracted by the way the light winked from the small ring and twinkled in his warm hazel eyes. He had an Irish lilt to his voice. Vaughn had told her that Killian had been born and raised in Ireland but had moved to the United States decades before to work with him. He was Vaughn’s oldest friend. He’d always been quiet, but when he did speak, he was blunt and to the point.

He sighed now. “Light magic. It’s what you have. You’re a Light Wielder. You have energy and light powers. You keep getting shocked because your power is responding to the Shadows around you. You can push or draw energy. From what Vaughn said about your outburst the other day, you pushed out a massive wave of energy after you pulled it from him. Like an EMP wave. Pretty impressive actually.” He was grinning .

Bridget rolled her eyes. “So, I can shock myself and knock out car batteries. How is that going to help?”

“That’s what we have to figure out isn’t it. Shock me,” he said matter-of-fact in his quiet voice.

“How?”

He shrugged. “Think of the Shadows and what they did to your house. Then when you feel it building, let it loose instead of holding it in.”

Bridget concentrated on how it had felt when the shadows surrounded the car and when she learned about her house. She felt anger building, and her skin started to tingle. The hairs on her arms and back of her neck rose, and the air around her became charged. She lifted her hands and watched the small blue arcs dancing from finger to finger, fascinated that it simply tickled.

She was about to touch Killian’s arm when Liam walked into the gym, making her jump. The arcs flew from her fingers and lanced through the air towards the green dragon.

He didn’t react in time and the jolt smacked him square in the chest. He fell backwards, landing on his bottom, a stunned expression on his face. “Um, ow,” he managed to squeak out.

Siobhan was laughing so hard she almost fell onto the floor with her brother. Tears were falling from her eyes as Liam glowered at her while he rubbed his chest.

“Oh my god Liam, I’m so sorry!” Bridget ran to him and held out her hands as if to assist him.

He scooted rapidly backwards to the wall, holding out his own hands to ward her off. “I’m good! I’m fine. Please don’t help me. ”

A warm, rich chuckle that turned into a full laugh filled the room as they all turned to Killian in surprise.

Bridget started to laugh with him and soon they were all on the floor wiping tears away.

Vaughn walked into the room a few minutes later and shook his head slowly at the group there. As he turned to walk out, Bridget sent another spark across the room, striking him right on the butt. His shocked facial expression when he whirled around had them all dissolving into giggles again.