Page 8 of Magic Claimed

“She’s okay,” I said, and meant it. Kira was tougher than her brothers usually gave her credit for. “She’s worried, but you know she doesn’t care a lick about the wedding part. She just wants to fly directly to Colorado and knock some fae heads together until they stop threatening her mate.”

“Can’t say I haven’t been tempted to do the same when I meet with them tomorrow,” he confessed. “Sadly, that sort of thing is frowned upon by my council.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

He chuckled. “Think of all the problems it would solve.”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe you should ask your mom whether it actually creates more problems than it solves.”

Callum’s mother was the former dragon queen, and was notorious among Idrians for her role in ending Elayara’s reign of terror—by simply eating her. She’d been forced to step down from her throne to do it, but seemed to have no regrets.

At least, none that I knew of. I hadn’t met her yet, and was more than a little terrified of the day I would eventually have to confront her. She wasn’t likely to be happy that her son had formed a mate bond with a human waitress, let alone one accused of multiple crimes.

But I wasn’t adding those worries to Callum’s shoulders tonight, especially not now that the day of our meeting had beenput off indefinitely. Until Kira’s wedding actually took place, there would be no reason for me to encounter the rest of Callum’s giant, scary dragon family.

“I should go,” I said reluctantly. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but Callum needed sleep and I needed to confront the crisis at hand. Mitigate the water damage and figure out what we were going to do with Ethan.

“If you must.” I could hear how sleepy he sounded already. “But Raine…”

“Yes?” I was proud of myself when my voice didn’t wobble.

“Nothing has changed,” he said, each word quiet but firm. “I’m not rethinking or second-guessing. No matter how long we’re apart, no matter how hard we have to fight. You’re worth it, and I’m not giving up.”

I held onto those words like the lifeline they were. But how had he known what I needed to hear?

“Same,” I said, unable to manage more without betraying the feelings I was trying so hard to hide. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“If you ran, I’d find you.” This time, I could hear more than just his words. His emotions were no steadier than my own.

And he clearly didn’t know me well enough yet, because if I ever did run? It would betohim, not away from him.

“Stay safe,” I murmured.

“The only thing likely to kill me in this job is bureaucracy,” he grumbled. “And if I get tired of it, I can always just set the paperwork on fire.”

“Play nice,” I admonished. “And, you know… eat your vegetables. Not the fae.”

I heard the low rumble of his laugh. “Sweet dreams,” he said…

…at the exact same moment I heard myself blurt out, “Love you.”

And then the line went dead.

Kill. Me. Now.

Maybe he hadn’t heard me. Maybe he’d already hung up, or the words had been garbled. Maybe he thought I’d said, “You too.”

Or maybe I could convince Faris to just open up the earth and let it swallow me. Kes could mark my resting place with a headstone.

Deceased—Raine Kendrick.

Cause of death? Acute and soul-shriveling embarrassment.

“Raine?” That was Faris’s voice. “We need to talk.”

Well, great. Tonight just kept on getting better. Good thing sleep wassooverrated.

THREE