Chapter 10
Blaze
Chuckling, I lay back on the bed and though about Sammy’s face as she told me she hoped my dick rotted off. I’d gotten to her and she couldn’t deny it.
That woman was full of fire, more than me and I was a fire-breathing dragon! Well, technically, I breathed water, though I could do fire in moments of extreme duress.
Some dragons breathed water, some fire. There were even a few who could do wind. It made sense that I might be Knox. Any dragon born in a clan automatically took on that clan’s magic and, for the most part, their element. If I was Knox, and born here, I’d be a water-breathing dragon.
Anthony had pulled me aside when I arrived.
He was itching nearly as badly as I was to find out the truth about my past. But he promised he’d let me take the lead and that when I was ready, he’d share what he knew with me.
Until then, he made it very clear that I was welcome in Bluewater, whether it was as Blaze or Knox.
I wanted answers, but I had to talk to Sammy first. The answers had to wait until I apologized to her. But we’d never gotten that far. We’d just argued, but it was the best argument I’d ever had. My heart soared through it and hadn’t really settled, even though she’d been gone a couple of hours.
Smiling, I thought about how I’d like to shut Sammy up once and for all. With my mouth… and other things. She’d probably hex my tongue if I brought it anywhere near her, though.
For now. She was already showing signs of wearing down.
She wanted this mating as much as I did, but she hadn’t admitted it yet.
Probably not even to herself. I’d been worried about getting through to her after the things I’d said when I was so upset, but maybe I’d be able to salvage this relationship after all.
Rolling over on the bed, I pulled out my phone and hit the button to call Gage. “I’m here,” I said. “Been here a couple hours.”
“Sammy was here,” he said as reply. “She just appeared in the middle of the hall, demanding to see you. She seemed really worried about you.”
Warmth spread through me. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t care about me at least a little bit.
My hope rose. “Well, nothing to tell yet,” I said. “I got here and got settled. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, my friend. Be safe.”
Skye and the kids had gone somewhere before I’d arrived, and I had no idea where Anthony had gone. But I was starving and didn’t feel comfortable raiding Skye’s kitchen. Instead, I hopped in the rental truck and headed for town.
I didn’t feel like sitting in a restaurant, so I pulled into the convenience store. Nothing like a gas station cake. My sweet tooth was pretty extreme and not too discriminatory.
After grabbing a big bottle of tea, I stood in front of the snack cakes and decided which to get. It was a good thing I was a dragon. Otherwise, I’d have to worry about gaining too much weight.
“I like the cream-filled ones.” A sultry voice drew my attention to a tall, curvy woman with bottle-blonde hair. She licked her lips and popped her hip once I looked at her.
It was an effort not to roll my eyes.
The woman’s face tightened, then she straightened up and clutched her stomach. “Oh,” she whispered.
And then a long, loud, particularly disgusting fart noise filled the air as the woman’s face reddened. And then Sammy appeared beside me, as if from thin air.
Laughter bubbled up my throat. I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t like making fun of someone or using their bad situation to fuel my humor, but not laughing at this passing of gas wasn’t something I was capable of doing.
“Maybe you should lay off the cream filling,” Sammy said disdainfully. “It doesn’t seem to agree with your digestive system.”
The woman took off, and from the sound of it, by the time she made it to the front door, she was sobbing. “That was mean.”
“She was being obvious.” Sammy glanced at the snack cakes. “By coincidence, I like the cream-filled ones, too, but not because of the obvious crude double entendre.”
My laughter burst out of my mouth again. I grabbed a pack of the chocolate with cream filling and handed it to Sammy. “Your jealousy is cute.”
“Oh, bite your tongue.” But she took the cake.
This time, I pretended not to notice the blush creeping up her neck toward her cheeks since she’d gotten so offended when I called her out on it earlier. “So, are you following me?” I asked.
She held out the little basket. “No. I’m shopping.”
“At a gas station?” I raised my eyebrows. “Not the grocery store?”
She scoffed. “This one is closer to my house and all I needed was some snacks.” She turned her little nose up in the air.
Furrowing my brow, I glanced at the chips in her basket. “Why do you grocery shop when you can just magic yourself some food?”
“Shopping keeps me human,” she explained as she moved down the aisle that held all the candy bars. “But honestly, I do conjure a lot of my food. The problem today is that I’m craving something, and I don’t know what it is, so I came to browse.”
I walked with her in silence for a moment as she looked at the junk food in the aisles.
It was a large convenience store, but it was the only gas station in Bluewater, so it made sense.
I wanted to ask more about her, but the words seemed awkward.
“What else do you do to stay human?” I tried to keep it open-ended, so she’d say more than yes or no.
She sighed and stared at bags of chips. I didn’t think she was going to answer me at all, but finally she did. “I like to garden.”
I had not expected that. She just didn’t seem like the gardening type.
“Fix your face,” Sammy said. “It’s not that shocking.”
Chuckling, I ducked my head. “Sorry. I just didn’t take you for an outdoorsy person.”
“Everything isn’t always how it seems. Besides, didn’t you know that witches tend to commune with nature a lot?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know that, actually.” Watching her surreptitiously as I pretended to browse the wine selection, I chanced a bolder statement. “I’d love to see you in your garden someday.”
She stopped and stared me down, as if deciding if I were serious or not. “I might let you. Some day.” She grabbed a bottle of wine and added it to her basket. “I also like to cook. Partly why I garden. Fresh veggies taste so much better than store-bought or canned.”
“Do witches even have to eat?” I asked. It might’ve been a stupid question, but I hadn’t been around a witch before.
She laughed and shifted her basket into her other arm.
“My body ages slowly, but I have to take care of it like any other living being does. Just like a shifter’s magic keeps them from getting sick and they heal easily, it’s the magic in you, in them, that makes you supernatural.
But you’re still technically human. As am I.
It’s the same for me and my magic. Mine’s just stronger. ”
She spoke under her breath. A regular human probably wouldn’t have heard her, but I was fine with my dragon ears.
The convenience store was pretty empty, anyway.
We checked out and walked outside. I held the door open and looked toward the rental truck but turned back when Sammy didn’t walk toward the parking lot. “You coming?” I asked.
She nodded and walked with me. “I guess.”
“Where’s your car?” I asked.
“That’s one human necessity I never took part in. I can just poof wherever I want to.”
Whoa. That was insane. “Wait. You can’t drive?”
Sammy shook her head as we neared my rental. “Why would I need to?” she asked in a sassy voice.
“I could teach you.” I grinned at her, excited at the prospect of teaching the little witch something.
She narrowed her eyes and seemed to contemplate it. But then she shook her head. “I don’t need it.”
I decided to push it a little. “So, you’re going to poof everywhere once we’re mated and have babies?” Maybe more than a little.
Sammy narrowed her eyes at me. “Bite your tongue. There will be no babies.” She turned away and mumbled something she probably intended me not to hear. “Knock wood.”
“Good night!” I yelled, knowing she was about to poof out.
She flipped me off as she walked toward the back of the convenience store.
If I wasn’t too turned around, the big park that I’d seen my initials in ran behind the convenience store.
She’d probably hit a trail back there, get out of sight, and poof home.
By the time I got back to Anthony’s with my junk food, the smile on my face hadn’t faded.
My interaction with Sammy just made me wonder if it was time to find my own place.
Staying in Anthony’s guest room was a great idea when I’d thought I’d only be here for a few days, but after all that had happened, I intended to stick around for a lot longer than days.
I was going to be needing my own place.
Making babies with Sammy wouldn’t get out of my mind. Or at least practicing making babies. And I couldn’t very well do that under Anthony’s roof.
My dick twitched, but even the thought of jacking off in someone else’s house made me uncomfortable.
I was definitely going to have to find new living arrangements.