CHAPTER NINE
Shadow
Refusing to tell Kayla anything further about my plans, I finish sanding the door and its wooden frames.
And if I need to do it shirtless? Well, it’s a sunny summer day, and a body shouldn’t get any hotter than mine already is.
I catch my witchy beauty watching me from her office window and make sure to strike a few of the best thirst-trap poses I’ve learned from TikTok. Every one of her muffled gasps becomes another point in my favor, putting me that much closer to winning.
Back in the foyer, I hold up several samples of stain color, comparing them to the house’s existing woodwork. “Which do you like?”
“The middle one.” The photos slide. “It’s the best match.”
“The middle one it is.”
I’m about to turn away when the door to Kayla’s office bangs closed, and the pictures swirl in agitation. “Someone’s coming!”
Kayla yanks her door open. “What’s up? And can we come up with a better way to get my attention? I swear you’re taking years off my life with all these slamming doors.”
“Someone’s coming!” the pictures repeat.
I feel it now, the prickle of magic getting closer. Strong magic.
“We have a visitor.” I wave Kayla toward the front door, which swings open as she approaches.
We reach outside right as a large shape sweeps overhead, blocking out the sun.
Kayla’s mouth falls open as her head tips backward, her eyes wide and fascinated as they track the gigantic blue dragon flying over Victoria.
As I asked, Jace puts on quite a show. Huge wings pound the air, sweeping gusts of wind over my face and blowing back my hair.
He makes large loops and spirals, showing off a bit, constant blasts of his magic pulsing through the air.
Dragons are far too massive to fly without its assistance.
In one last dazzling display, he dives, changing into his weredragon form a split second before his larger dragon would have hit the house and surrounding trees.
Only now, he’s naked, a horned fae with fifteen-foot wings, a tail…
And two cocks.
“Put some clothes on!” I shout, stepping between him and Kayla. A complex mixture of possessiveness, anger, and embarrassment fills me. Me? Worried about nudity? Who even am I right now?
But the thought of Kayla seeing another male naked makes something primal wake in my chest, a beast that stirs and growls, mine.
“Why are you so angry?” Jace lands, frowning at me. “You’re the one who asked me to fly here as a dragon.”
“And I thank you for it,” I make myself grit out. I wanted to give Kayla something to inspire her writing. I have several ideas and started with this, since Jace was visiting anyway. “But clothe yourself now.”
With another confused frown, he reaches into the air in front of his stomach, his arm disappearing into his invisible pocket to pull out a set of clothes.
With a pulse of magic, the bespelled fabric opens and wraps around him, the seams sealing back together without disturbing his wings or tail.
It’s a more elaborate version of the spell I have on my clothes so my pants will accommodate my werepanther tail.
“Satisfied?” He holds out his arms to show off a light dress shirt with deep-blue pants and a matching waistcoat, covered in silver embroidery. “Are all cat sith so irrational?”
I bare my fangs, then turn it into a smirk.
“Don’t mind him.” Kayla shoves past, throwing me a side-eyed roll of her eyes. “Especially if he asked you here.”
“I’m here to see if I can find an easier way for your house to communicate,” the dragon says, tone formal.
The sound of kitchen-cupboard applause comes from Victoria.
“Oh, she’ll love that!” Kayla’s face lights up. “Come on in.”
The front door swings wide as we approach, a feeling of eagerness greeting us as we step into the entryway.
“Hello!” the pictures spell out. “I’m Victoria.”
“Jacenrevener.” He gives a courtly bow, his wings rustling on his back. “At your service.”
A sigh echoes through the house.
“May I touch you?”
“Yes!”
Jace pulls out a bright green crystal and strikes it with a claw, setting it ringing.
As Kayla and I follow, he walks toward the back of the house, his free hand running over the wall, fingers dipping between the pictures.
Without breaking contact, he grips the wooden frame of the kitchen doorway, then ventures inside to touch each of the cupboards before returning to the foyer.
“Interesting. Very, very interesting.”
“Of course I’m interesting.” Smugness fills the air.
The dragon spins to look at Kayla. “This is your magic?”
“I made Victoria sentient, but she now has magic of her own.”
He nods and presses both hands to the wall, the crystal tucked between palm and wallpaper. The blue dragon sends out pulses of magic, head cocked as if he’s listening for something not even my keen senses can hear.
Kayla sidles close to whisper out of the side of her mouth. “What’s he doing?”
When I lean over, the lavender scent of her hair makes me want to bury my nose in its purple strands and nuzzle. I satisfy myself by murmuring in her ear and enjoying her shiver of reaction. “I think he’s assessing her magic.”
After a few more bursts of power, the photos begin to swirl around his hands in constant movement instead of forming words.
“Kayla,” the dragon says, “please place your hands on the wall beside mine.”
As soon as she touches the surface, the pictures change course, looping around first her hands, then his to create an infinity symbol.
“Now send Victoria some of your magic, so I can feel how it interacts.”
Magic ripples from Kayla, and Jace grunts, sounding impressed. As well he should be. My wife’s amazing!
“All right, I’ve determined everything I can at this time.” He drops his hands and pockets the crystal. “Victoria has a complex mixture of magic. Kayla’s powers underpin her very existence. Yet the very fact that she’s a magically created being has allowed the house to manifest powers of her own.”
“Like magically binding marriage contracts,” Kayla says dryly, shooting the wall a mini-glare.
“Sorry. Not sorry,” the photos spell out.
Kayla turns to Jace. “Can you break the marriage contract?”
“What? No!”
The feeling of dismay drenching the foyer matches my own, and my stomach muscles tighten as if bracing for a physical blow. I haven’t known the dragon for long, but it’s long enough to know he won’t lie.
“No.”
Relief whooshes out of me, along with a held breath, as the atmosphere of the house lightens.
“I can, however, provide a way to communicate more easily.” He reaches into his invisible pocket, pulls out a piece of blank parchment, and attaches it to the wall. Magic flares outward. “Please try it, Victoria. You should be able to form words much more quickly than moving the photos around.”
Letters form on the sheet of paper. “Is it working?”
“It is!” I grin.
They disappear to be replaced by: “This is so much better! Do you have more of these? I’d like one in every room of the house.”
“I do.” Jace pulls out a small stack of parchment and hands them to Kayla. “These are all imbued with the same spell. It’s an ancient method of long-distance communication.”
“I’ve never heard of it.” I reach over to finger the parchment.
“Why would dragons tell you all their secrets, cat?”
“Too true!” I laugh and clap him on the shoulder, glad he’s finally comfortable enough to joke around with me.
“Thank you.” Kayla clutches the sheaf of papers to her chest. “This means a lot to Victoria and me.”
“And me.” I bump her shoulder with mine. “I’m the one who thought to ask him about this, after all.”
“And you.” She shoots me an amused glance, lips twitching.
“I’m more than happy to help such a unique magical being. Perhaps you’ll allow me to visit again? I’d like to bring more diagnostic crystals.”
I shoot Kayla a questioning look, and she gives a little nod, allowing me to say, “We’d like that.”
“I know I would,” Victoria writes. “Now start hanging those parchments!”
Kayla huffs with amusement and heads toward the kitchen while I walk Jace out.
“Thanks again.” I clap him on the shoulder. “I mean it.”
His eyes flicker toward the house, and a hint of worry enters his tone. “The witch wants to break your marriage contract.”
“It’s early days yet. We’re still in the opening moves of the game.” I grin wider. “I’ll bring her around.”
“See that you do, so you can educate me on what works with human witches.”
“Got your eye on one already, have you?” I lean forward. “Who? You can tell me.”
“As you say, it’s early days. I need to assess the situation more fully.”
Before I can needle him for more information, Jace leaps into the air in a pulse of magic. His dark-blue wings snap wide, and in only a couple of beats, he clears the trees, headed back toward town.
Kayla’s raised voice pulls me back inside and down the hall to the kitchen. “Oh, come on. You’re a house! How can you know more about dating than me?”
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Allowing Victoria to talk more easily comes with a downside.” Kayla jabs a finger toward the parchment hanging on the wall beside the refrigerator. “She’s demanding to create all of our dates and weddings without giving us any say on what we do or wear or flipping anything.”
“I’m the romance expert around here,” Victoria writes.
“You were the expert,” Kayla says. “A lot’s changed in the last two decades.”
Doors slam throughout the house, and Victoria replies, “Tell me, oh expert. When was the last time you went on a date?”
A hurt look crosses Kayla’s face. Then she glances at me, notices I’ve seen it, and turns bright red.
“That was mean, Victoria.” I make my tone carefully neutral to keep from escalating matters. The house might be sentient and intelligent, but it seems to have the emotional maturity of a kit, which makes sense, because she’s only been able to communicate for a handful of days. “Apologize to Kayla.”
The words form slowly, but they do form. “I’m sorry.”
Kayla gives a jerky nod.
“I think it’s time for a compromise.” I lean a hip against the kitchen island and consider how my pack would handle a situation like this.
Panthers are headstrong creatures, so clashes are inevitable.
It’s how you solve them that’s important.
“We’ve got three dates and three weddings.
Here’s what I propose. Each of us decides what we’ll do for one date and one wedding.
That way everyone gets at least one date and wedding they’ll enjoy. ”
“That’s…” Kayla’s expression clears. “That’s actually not bad.”
“Okay,” Victoria writes. “But only if I get to go first.”
Kayla nods, and I say, “All right, it’s a deal.”
“We’ll start on Wednesday.” A feeling of excitement fills the air as the cupboards open and close in soft applause. “I’m going to give you the best date ever.”