Page 97 of The Mating Claim

Drust transformed into his dragon form, growing, growing, until he became as large as the hydra itself. Taking to air, he blew coldfire upon the hydra head. It disintegrated, only to wriggle free from the stump and growanew.

His dragon eyesight saw the hydra in muted colors of black and gray. The creature lumbered out of the Gulf onto the sands, all three heads roaring as it stomped toward the rentalhouse.

Drust flicked his tail, creating a wind to dispense the fog. Then he flew above the snarling hydra once more and blew down coldfire, not on the hydra itself, but the sand surroundingit.

Crystalized by coldfire, the sand became tiny shards. Weapons. Drust swooped down, closed his eyes, seeing the hydra in his mind’s eye. He beat his wings, sending streams of crystalized sand toward the hydra’s eyes. The creature screamed, blinded, thrashing its head about, but not before one set of jaws snapped at his vulnerable underbelly, ripping a large gash in his body. Drust winced, but held his ground, hovering above the sand, a dragon barrier between the hydra and the house holding Lacey. Blue blood dripped from the wound onto thesand.

Bastards! How dare you hurthim!

He heard Lacey in his mind, saw a beautiful green dragon flying above, raining fire down upon the hydra. Flames spilled off the creature’s scales, igniting the sand and meltingit.

Drust rose higher, scolding her in his mind.What the hell are you doing? Go back to thehouse.

Not while you’re out herealone.

She blew more fire down upon the raginghydra.

I can handle this. I’m awizard.

Right now you’re a dragon and I’m a dragon. Two dragons are better thanone.

Fine. Aim for the eyes when I say…now!

Together, hovering above the hydra they blew fire upon the creature, hers red hot flames and his the penetratingcoldfire.

But the hydra’s heads vanished, and then six moreappeared.

Drust snarled, flew down and snapped at one head, tearing itoff.

I wish this thing would just disappear! Lacey yelled in hishead.

Suddenly the hydra vanished. It simply disappeared. Flying downward toward it, unable to stop his trajectory. Drust crashed into the sand, plowing through it with gracelessforce.

He shifted back into his human form. Naked he stood, examined his wound. Already healed. Drust clothed himself in board shorts and a blue T-shirt as Lacey landed on the sand nearby, shifting back into her human form. She clothed herself in white shorts and a pink T-shirt and ran towardhim.

“Are you ok?” Her hands prodded his torso and then cupped his face. “I was soworried!”

Worried about him, an immortal and powerful wizard. He’d have been amused if he wasn’t soperplexed.

“What happened, Lacey? You wished for the hydra to be gone and itvanished.”

She ran a hand through her long hair, her brow wrinkled. “I don’tknow.”

He gently gripped her shoulders, finding himself yet again in unknown territory. “Think. What were you doing before you went to the beach to look forshells?”

Lacey closed her eyes. “Okay, I was taking a nap, but I wasn’t really sleepy and I went looking for you, and you were gone. So I read for a while and then went to the beach because there were people there, and they were searching for shells. Looked likefun.”

Suspicion filled him. “Show me what you werereading.”

Inside the house, she picked up the coffee table book and flipped it open. “Here. It looked interesting… hey! That’s the thing that cameashore!”

She pointed to a three-headed hydra, the mythological creature that had come alive and attackedhim.

“Tell me what you were thinking when you read about thehydra.”

The book tumbled from her opened hands and spilled onto the carpet. Her green eyes widened. “I wished that myths were real and not fantasy. I thought it was a cool creature and it would be interesting to see it in real life, see if I could defeat it with my dragon powers. Drust, did I do that? And that’s why it vanished when I wished itaway?”

Grimly, he nodded. “Your wishes came true. Be careful of what you wishfor.”