Page 3 of The Mating Claim

He will crush you like a bug beneath his heel. Never forget that. Do not trust those with more power than you, Lacey. Remember the fosterhome?

She pulled free and the moment shattered, likeglass.

“Lacey…”

“Just leave me. Go.” Lacey slumped to the ground, her heart shattered, her grief threatening to pour out insobs.

Never cry in front of theenemy.

Silence for a minute in the shop, but for her heart thudding against her chest, her lungs squeezed air in and out. Nails dug into her tender palms as she squeezed herfists.

Never cry in front of theenemy.

“I will leave you alone for now. But I must return. You will give me that book,” Drust finallysaid.

Feeling the breeze in the air, she glanced up. He wasgone.

Her heart shattered as she curled into a ball, and finally released the choking grief consumingher.

Beingan immortal wizard with powers enough to level a city was little defense against a woman’stears.

Especially when he was the one who’d causedthem.

Shifting into his dragon form after he left Lacey’s shop, Drust flew high above the city, invisible to all the humans, or Skins, as Others called them. He could breathe coldfire upon their houses, destroying them before they even blinked, and no one would see thesource.

But right now he cared not for his powers nor forSkins.

Guilt and compassion warred within him. As the immortal Coldfire Wizard, it was his duty to protect his dragon shifter charges, and to pass judgement over them when they broke therules.

Possessing the Book of Shadows definitely was a rule-breaker. And yet he found that mattered not as much as the tears swimming in Lacey’s huge green eyes, tears she refused to shed beforehim.

He’d wanted to reach out, wipe away a single tear with the edge of histhumb.

He’d wanted to gather her into his arms and comfort her as shesobbed.

He’d wanted to kiss her and kiss her well, until they let their rising passions overtakethem.

He could do none of these things. What the hell was wrong with him for even thinking this way? She was a mortal dragon, hischarge.

Lacey McGuire was a striking dragon shifter, perhaps not beautiful in a classic sense, but arresting. Hard to forget with eyes green as his beloved forests of home, a take-charge attitude and her long brunette hair usually tied back in a braid swinging down her shapelybackside.

She was tall as well, only a few inches shorter than him, and albeit too thin for a female dragon. He frowned, considering. Had she been eatingproperly?

Her diet is not your concern.Focus!

Lacey McGuire was a troublemaker and rebellious. One must be stern with such dragons, for his people breathed fire and out of control, they presented a grave danger to thepopulace.

Just as her fatherhad.

And yet he couldn’t find it in his heart to bend her to his will, get the damn book and leave. He’d never been this soft-hearted.

With a low growl, he roared at the clouds, flying higher and faster to clear hishead.

When he became a wizard of the Brehon, rescued from the underworld after centuries of loneliness, he vowed to the goddess Danu he would serve herwell.

In silence, he’d made his own personal vow – never get involved with any assignment and become close to them. Because that meant erring in judgement and perhaps failing to live up to his strict personal standards of deliveringjustice.

And yet Lacey, tempting fruit, stood between everything he cherished and everything honorable. She bewitched and irritatedhim.