Page 3 of Must Love Dragons (Sable Cove #4)

Note to self: If a naked man falls out of the sky, probably don’t lead with, “Hey there, hot stuff.”

The following afternoon, as the day waned and the clouds made everything gray and drab, Kinsley found herself restless and filled with energy. Even Nysa was acting up, meowing at the back door frequently and trying to untie Kinsley’s shoelaces.

She turned to watch the remaining two cat familiars as they lounged in the back room, one on the desk and one on the custom windowsill lounges that Brody had made for them.

Briefly, she wondered when they’d get another familiar through their doors. She always felt bad for them if they lost their master, especially if it was suddenly. The problem was that familiars weren’t a dime a dozen, they were rare and precious. And could happen anywhere at any time.

A mundane cat, without any magical compulsion at all, could have a litter of kittens and one of them would be a familiar.

There was no rhyme or reason, it was just how the universe doled out magical beings.

Delaney could sense if an animal was a familiar and had a special bond with each one that came through the doors of the adoption agency.

She knew their coven was blessed that each of them had a familiar. And Hadlee was fortunate enough to have two familiars: a cat and a swan.

Nysa butted her head against Kinsley’s calf and let out a demanding merow after putting her paw very deliberately on the door.

Since it was a mild afternoon, she’d opened the top half of the Dutch door to let in the fresh air and so she could keep an eye on Galahad who had gone out for his afternoon fly, perching in a tree at the edge of the yard and watching for mice to chase.

“Want to go for a walk, kits?” she asked, bending over and scratching Nysa behind the ear.

Merow.

She grabbed her coat off the hook and opened the door, walking out with Nysa. Shutting the door behind her, she noticed the other two cats were watching her, their whiskers twitching.

A chill came over her, like a breath of frosty air and she shivered.

Putting on her coat, she turned to the yard and looked around.

She could feel the protection wards she had on the building and yard, the magic shimmering in a hazy way along the perimeter.

They always kept protection wards around their territory because it was just smart in a world where danger could pop up suddenly.

They didn’t have any enemies, but that didn’t mean things wouldn’t change at a moment’s notice.

And it was better to have protection wards and not need them, than to be at the mercy of dark magic wielders or dangerous people and wish they had them.

Taking a few steps from the building, she felt the magical protections ripple, as if something was disturbing them.

She closed her eyes and focused her magic on the protections, but they weren’t being destroyed, they were just reacting to something. She felt a strange pull toward the trees and sent a quick text to Delaney.

Something’s coming. I don’t know what, just be alert.

Are you okay? Delaney texted back.

Yes. I’ll keep you posted.

Be careful, girl.

I will.

Putting her phone in her coat pocket, she rubbed her bracelet that was imbued with a powerful protection spell for good luck and headed toward the trees with Nysa prowling next to her.

“It’s the weirdest thing,” she said in a low voice to Nysa.

“I feel magic, but not witch or warlock magic. Just… magic.” She wondered if there was such a thing as generic magic, like the sort you could get online at a discount.

But just as quickly as she had the thought, she dismissed it. Magic was magic.

Wasn’t it?

When she reached the trees at the back of the property, she heard a loud roar of distress overhead and she looked up in time to see a dragon—a literal freaking dragon—crashing toward the earth.

Toward her.

“What the actual hell?” she demanded.

The dragon was in a freefall, tumbling ass over teakettle.

There was a loud meow from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see the other two cat familiars sitting on the top of the Dutch door, watching. Galahad hooted loudly overhead, and she found him in the trees, his eyes glowing gold.

What was going on?

She picked up Nysa and backed away, wondering if she was hallucinating.

But then the dragon changed, turning from a huge, black-scaled beast to a man.

A naked man.

The trees rustled loudly as he passed through the branches still covered with turning leaves, and then he hit the ground.

A cloud of purple mist exploded outward when he hit the ground and as it reached her, she stumbled, nearly falling on her butt with the impact. Nysa jumped safely from her arms with a distressed yowl, as if she was worried. The weird mist felt like magic, but some kind of strange, old magic.

Breathing hard, she gingerly approached the man who was now in a man-sized crater. She was very certain a fall like that would be a death sentence. Even for a dragon shifter.

Hell, she didn’t even know dragon shifters were around anymore. She’d only read about them when she was in witch school. They were magical in their own right, but not the sort of magic that could cast spells.

As she approached him, her magic flared, and Nysa let out a loud yowl. Kinsley hurried to the man. His chest was rising and falling.

He was alive?

His eyes opened as she dropped to her knees next to him and they were bright gold with elongated pupils like a reptile.

He inhaled deeply, then bared sharp teeth with a low hiss in his throat.

“Back away, witch.”

Excuse me?

“Okay, calm down, dragon boy,” she said. “You fell from the sky onto the property of my business. And you’re badly injured. Holy shit, how are you even breathing?”

One side of his body was marred with deep bruises and what could only be described as scorch marks. He had a satchel across his body, and he was… oh yeah, naked as a jaybird.

Wait, were jaybirds naked?

Focus!

Taking off her jacket, she laid it over his hips to cover his holy crap on a cracker and reached a tentative hand toward him. He growled and batted her hand away.

She sucked in a sharp breath as their hands connected for the briefest moment.

He was her truemate.

Nysa sniffed at him, her whiskers twitching, then gave Kinsley a long, quiet look.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered. She wanted to touch him, to make sure that what she’d felt was real, but he was giving her all kinds of glares, and even though he was possibly the sexiest guy she’d ever seen in her life, she didn’t want to hurt him when he was already stressed and clearly disoriented.

He tried to push himself up, gritting his teeth but gasped as his wounds seemed to get worse.

“Hey, careful,” she said. “You’re really hurt. And I don’t know how you’re conscious.”

“What did you do to me, witch?”

“Excuse me? I just met you. You fell out of the sky. I didn’t do anything but come here to see if you were alive or not.”

What the hell was his problem?

“You did this. You’re in league with the ones who took my uncle.”

“I didn’t do a damn thing to you.” She rose to her feet and stared down at him, annoyed that his jaw was chiseled in that movie star kind of way and that he had the most kissable lips of any guy she’d ever seen.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. I’m just making sure you don’t go skipping off into the eternal sunset. ”

His skin shone with scales that rippled and disappeared, and she realized he was trying to shift. He groaned and fell back.

“Look, I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re too injured to shift and heal yourself, which means you need my help.

Whether you like it or not, you don’t have many options right now.

I could leave you here to rot or I could help you.

” She gave him a glare of her own. Why didn’t he like her? What did he have against magic users?

She put her hands on her hips and looked around, tilting her head up to look through the canopy of trees he’d crashed through. Her gaze caught Galahad, and he stretched his wings wide and hooted loudly before taking off and flying back into the building.

“Babe?” Delaney called from inside the building.

“I need a hand,” Kinsley shouted. “And a blanket.”

“Brody can’t come out yet, the sun hasn’t set. Is it okay if it’s just me?”

“It has to be,” she said. She could feel something bad coming. The strange restless feeling she’d had earlier was gone, and she wondered if it was because of this male. But that feeling had changed into something else.

A foreboding.

There was magic on him, and his wounds seemed to be getting worse.

That meant dark magic.

No wonder he was skeptical.

As she heard her bestie approach, she turned to look down at him.

He was still glaring at her, but there was something else in his gaze.

Longing.

Reluctant longing, but longing all the same.

“What’s it going to be, dragon boy? Are you going to cooperate or am I dragging your butt across the yard so I can heal you?”

He seemed to consider her words for far longer than he should.

“Oh shit, it’s a guy!” Delaney said.

“A dragon,” Kinsley said. “And my truemate.”