Page 35 of Lahaina Noon

She hugged him in thanks, smiling at him.

He smiled back before his eyes wandered back to Jorrie, who had joined Jack in speaking to Killian.

Bridget smirked; he was playing with fire if he was looking in that direction. Then again, he was a dragon— who knew better how to handle flames. Speaking of, “Can you breathe fire?”

Liam looked back at her, “Well, I can only do it in full form. Vaughn can do it fully human which is really rare, and only the strongest of us can do it.”

“Full form?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “It’s when we drop the human shape altogether and go full dragon. It’s wicked cool and really fun. We don’t normallyshow humans that form, though. Usually, only for mates, wielders we work with, and family. Like, I’d show my sister but not many others.” His eyes tracked to Jorrie again.

Bridget cleared her throat.

He looked back at her, grinning. “You should ask Vaughn.”

“Ask me what?” Vaughn inquired, walking into the room, whisky decanter in one hand, glasses in the other.

Bridget looked at Liam and he nodded in encouragement. “I was wondering if you would show me your full form,” she said tentatively.

Vaughn’s hands tremored and he tightened his grip on the glasses to keep from dropping them. He could just replace them if they broke, but he didn’t want anyone to see how much her asking affected him.

He glared at Liam, who was trying to look innocent. “Oh, well, there’s not enough space in here,” he replied and set down the liquor. He opened the decanter and sniffed the heady aroma. “Yes, this will do nicely.”

She walked over and put a hand on his arm, saying nothing.

He stared at the glasses for a second, then met her gaze. She was so beautiful it was painful. He knew why Liam had pushed her to ask. Liam thought Bridget was his true mate. But it was much too soon for that discussion. He’d have to caution Liam, the little meddler, about spreading that around. If the Council got hold of that snippet of information... He shuddered.

“That wasn’t a real answer,” Bridget whispered. “But I’ll let it go for now.”

He nodded and poured. He passed drinks around, glaring at Liam when he handed him a glass. Liam only smirked in response. Vaughn shook his head.Kids.

Jorrie, watching the interchange, spoke up. “Hey, is he old enough to be drinking that?” nodding at Liam.

Vaughn and Liam both burst into laughter.

Jorrie looked back and forth at them, “What’s the joke?” she said.

Bridget smiled, “I know Liam looks like a college kid, but he’s probably older than you. Am I right, Liam?”

He nodded at Jorrie. “Yeah, I’m young for a dragon, but I was born in 1969. Moon year, baby.” He saluted her with the glass.

Jorrie stared for a second, threw back her entire glass and held it out for a refill. Liam obliged by sauntering over and pouring, giving her a sultry smile.

“If you’re done?” Vaughn rolled his eyes.

Jack snickered, and Jorrie blushed.

Liam went back to leaning on his bookcase, but not before he winked at Jorrie.

Killian snorted, startling Bridget, who had almost forgotten he was there.

Vaughn rolled his eyes again and put his hands over his face. “Back to the Shadow Claw,” he muttered.

Chapter 21

They talked late intothe night, stopping to grab some snacks and for Bridget to feed the ‘wee beasties’ as Liam had called her cats. They seemed to be settling into their room just fine and were purring up a storm when she left. She peeked in at Gabriel; he had fallen asleep on the couch in the gaming room.

Most of the others were gone. Marco was asleep in a chair. Siobhan was sitting in the other corner, reading a book. Bridget noted someone had pulled a blanket over Gabe. She caught Siobhan’s eye, nodding. She nodded back, and Bridget returned to the library. Gabe was being well looked after and protected. She appreciated that most of all.

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