Page 63 of The Mating Claim

“Just kidding about the age. But the shirt especially, you look much more relaxed. Almost like a normal dragon shifter.” Lacey frowned. “Exceptthat…”

She tugged at the shirt’s open neck, exposing his birthmark. “It’s glowing. Does it alwaysglow?”

Glancing down, he recoiled. “Never.”

Acting on intuition, he pulled her shirt collar down to see her dragon birthmark. It glowed aswell.

Lacey bit her lip. “What does thismean?”

“I do not know. But as long as it does not hurt you, I’m certain it’sfine.”

Fine for her. Not for him. Never had his birthmark glowed. Drust suspected it had to do with the energy he’d transferred to her. Yet, in times past when he had done the same with other dragons, he feltnothing.

All he could deduce was that he felt a powerful sexual desire for this dragon. Lacey was off limits. Surrendering to his base male needs meant breaking honored vows to never compromise his integrity and treat female dragons with anything other thanimpartiality.

Power was his tocontrol.

Power to aid, and power todestroy.

Easy for him to take advantage of a vulnerable dragon who looked to him for either mercy or succor. Equally dangerous was to fall for a clever, manipulative dragon who wanted to take advantage of him and trade sexual favors and companionship to evade truejustice.

I don’t want to fall in love. Love makes one weak and I cannot afford to be weak. If I fail in my duties, Danu could return me to the ShadowLands.

The mere thought of spending eternity in that barren wasteland, alone with his thoughts and broken dreams, sent nausea spiraling throughhim.

Lost in thought, Drust leaned away from Lacey. She swung her legs over the side of the boatramp.

“What am I going to do about the book? Can’t I just give it toyou?”

“No,” he said absently, watching an alligator swim lazily through the canal. “It’s much more complicated. But I shall find asolution.”

“I’m great at creating problems, but lately, not at solving them.” She sighed and pushed a hand through the long fall of her hair. “I’m hungry. Wish I had stopped to grab a bite, but all I could think about was escaping. Not that it ever providedanswers.”

Food was one easy problem to solve. “Then lunch itis.”

Drust waved a hand and a red and white checked tablecloth appeared on the ground next to them, along with a wicker picnic basket. Her eyeswidened.

“Wow, you’re better than a drive-through, wizard.” Lacey peeked in the basket. “Oh yummy, ham and cheese sandwiches, salad, watermelon and grapes, sweet tea, even cups and napkins and lemon cake for dessert. A realpicnic!”

Her head tilted. “How did you conjure all this? Did you just pull it out of some wizardmanual?”

Warmth seeped up from his neck into his face. “No, I like to watch cooking shows in what little spare time Ihave.”

For a moment she stared at him, but instead of bursting into laughter at his confession, she pinked as well. “I do, too. That’s pretty cool. A member of Brehon who watches the FoodNetwork.”

“Much more eclectic than Tristan, who watches Animal Planet, But he is a wolf shifter.” Drust winked and shelaughed.

It gave him great pleasure to watch her dig into the basket with abandon. Lacey bit into a sandwich and sighed with pleasure. “Definitely don’t stop watching those cooking shows. This is great. Brie instead of cheddar makes a ham sandwich. But aren’t you eating? I hate to eatalone.”

He selected a few grapes, eating them by tossing them into the air and catching them in hismouth.

Lacey laughed. “You always did eat those like that, and I figured one day you’d miss, but you neverdid.”

A frown wrinkled her forehead. “That’s odd. Why did I saythat?”

Silence draped the air between them. She looked to him for answers he could not give. Instead, he broke the tension by taking a sandwich and biting into it. Fresh sweet ham and Brie. The taste lingered on hismouth.

I wonder what she tasteslike?