“I bet you were. Olivia isn’t going anywhere with you,” Marvin growled, staring at the witch with icy eyes.
“You’re a party pooper. You know how to spoil a good time,” Marsden said.
She lifted up her hands, but Marvin snarled, “Don’t.”
He quickly shifted to his dragon form and heaved his chest, ready to blow flames on her. Olivia took her cue from Marvin and shifted, too.
Marsden looked at the both of them and said, “I’ll see you around, Olivia,” and then walked into the woods, seemingly disappearing into thin air.
“What was that all about?” Olivia asked, shifting back to human form.
“Marsden is an evil witch. She’s been kidnapping shifters, and we suspect that she is draining them of their blood to use in spells, according to a lone survivor,” Marvin explained.
“Thank you for saving my life,” Olivia said. “You should have roasted her.”
“The alphas and witch queen want her alive. I would need back up for that. Her magic would trump anything I could do to take her in by myself,” Marvin said. “Let me walk you back. I doubt if she went far.”
They walked in silence for a minute.
“So, what’s up with you and Jade?” Olivia asked.
He smiled. It lit up his face. “I’m in love with her, and I’m going to ask her to go through the mating ceremony with me. I know that she’s my fated mate. I’ve known it since the first time we met.”
“She definitely loves you, too.”
“As soon as this thing with Marsden is over with, I’m going to talk to Lucius about her. Dragon shifter clans are usually elusive, and they aren’t really open to letting in shifters that aren’t dragons or mundanes. I think that Lucius won’t have a problem, though. He’s pretty open minded and Jade is very well liked,” Marvin said.
“What if Lucius doesn’t okay it?” Olivia asked.
“Then, I’ll leave the clan and I’ll ask Jade to go through the mating ceremony with me, anyway. I know that Zac will be glad to have me join the pack.”
“Zac’s a great guy,” Olivia said. “So, when you guys have babies, will it be a dragon that howls at the moon or a wolf that flies and spits fire?”
Marvin laughed and said, “It could be a dragon, a wolf, or a chimera. I think that a wolf that can fly and spit fire would be awesome, though.”
“I was having a conversation with someone about fated mates yesterday. How did you know that Jade was yours?” Olivia asked.
“It was her scent. I can’t describe it because it wasn’t a perfume, although there was a hint of vanilla and lavender, but something undefinable. It was her essence. Once I sensed it, it was always present, even when we weren’t together,” Marvin said.
He paused for a minute and then asked, “Do you think that Zac is your fated mate?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Olivia said. “I’m guessing that Jade told you why I came to Angel’s Creek?”
“Yes.”
“Because of that, I always chalked it up to something I read in romance novels. But then, I compared fated mates to soul mates, and I’ve seen that with my own eyes,” Olivia said. “In answer to your question, though, there is something about Zac. I feel something for him that I’ve never felt before. I do sense his scent, his essence, especially when I’m not busy and my mind wanders,” Olivia explained.
“Sounds to me like he could be your fated mate.”
“I’m not in love with him, though. I mean, I care about him a lot, and I think that I’m getting there, but I’m not ready to skywrite anything.”
Marvin laughed and said, “I think that takes time. I wasn’t immediately in love with Jade. I just knew that eventually I would get there and someday, we would be together.”
“What would happen if you two hated each other?”
“I guess we would figure it out,” Marvin said.
They reached the tree where Olivia kept her clothes.