Page 47 of Starfall

“No, but you do bite, and I really want to be somewhere secluded when that happens.”

She covered her mouth. “Oh, damn. They are down.”

“Oh, yeah.” He chuckled. “I hadn’t realized that I only saw a fraction of them.”

She kept her hand in front of her mouth as they walked back. “They don’t do this often.”

“Under what circumstances do they come down?”

She thought about it. Rowen changing his shirt in front of the gym window. Rowen playing with what must have been a niece in front of his gym and walking her over to the diner for ice cream. Rowen in the sauna and the tux. “Special circumstances.”

“Really. What features in those circumstances?”

She tilted her head. “Window dressing springs to mind.”

He chuckled. “I see.”

“I don’t think you do.”

He whispered, “I wasn’t advertising the gym.”

She stopped and dug her feet in. “What?”

He laughed. “Come on. We are almost out of here.”

She stayed in the circle of his arm and looked at all of the warlocks, mages, shifters, and others who were standing and waiting for the flame to relight the sun.

She kept her face turned toward Rowen to hide her fangs. The bottom ones had come out to make sure that her mate wouldn’t get away. He would be stuck until she let him go. He seemed excited about it.

Orla came over, and Rowen went to stand with the other seasons as the sunrise approached. To Emery’s astonishment, a bright glow rose from the log, and it flew to the east. It touched the horizon as the sun came up, and a white heart filled the orb as it climbed upward by inches.

Orla hugged her. “We made it through another year, but now, we are back together. It feels good to be with you again.”

“Me, too.”

“How long did you know the dragon?”

“It feels like it was all my life, but mainly the last fourteen years.”

“Do you want to meet my boss and his quad?”

Emery chuckled. “Sure.”

They walked over to a strange collection of beings. “This is my best friend and fellow star, Emery. Emery, this is Thomas, Cale, Acker, and the golden Sallen. They are known as the fairy tale quad.”

Thomas looked at her, and Sallen grinned as she said, “We know Emery. Not in this body, but we know Emery. She has the best ice cream in the city. She could open a shop with just that alone.”

Sallen looked around. “Hey, Krys, this is Emery from the diner!”

Krys left Kelnen and rushed over. “Oh, wow. You got me through two out of three trimesters. Kelnen had an account and picked up what I needed on the way home.”

Emery smiled. “I know. That is how I recognized him when I saw him.”

Krys looked sly. “So, how can I get ten pints of ice cream in a variety of flavours?”

She shrugged. “Place an order. We do that kind of thing all the time.”

Krys gasped. “He said you didn’t take orders that large. What a liar!”

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