Page 3 of Hex and Scales

“I look forward to it,” she managed, proud that her voice barely squeaked at all.

Something that might have been a smile touched his lips before he turned to leave. Sabine couldn’t help tracking the impressive width of his shoulders as he strode out, her tigress whining in protest at his departure.

The door had barely closed before chaos erupted.

“Sweet mother of magic!” Ylan practically squealed. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, and all you did was look at each other!”

“The chemistry!” Clover bounced on her toes. “I thought the air might catch fire!”

“Forget fire.” Romi fanned herself dramatically. “I’m surprised the whole shop didn’t explode. And did you see how he looked at you? Like you were a feast and he was starving.”

“He did not!” But Sabine’s cheeks flamed at the memory of that intense golden gaze.

“Oh honey, he absolutely did.” Ylan grinned. “And you weren’t much better. I thought you might spontaneously shift just to pounce on him.”

“I have more control than that!” Sabine protested, though her tigress grumbled in disagreement.

“Do you want to know more about him?” Clover’s eyes sparkled with gossip. “Because that council meeting was intense. He radiated so much power the whole room practically vibrated. And when he passed judgment on Justus, even the other elders looked terrified.”

“The founder of Mystic Hollow,” Romi mused. “Talk about moving up in the world, Sabine. Your dream guy is literally the most powerful supernatural being in town.”

“He is not my dream guy!” But even as she said it, those golden eyes flashed through her memory. “And he’s here about magical disturbances, that’s all.”

“Oh, there’s definitely some disturbance.” Clover waggled her eyebrows. “In your pants.”

“Clover!”

“What? We all saw how you looked at him. Like you wanted to?—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” Sabine grabbed a stack of invoices. “Don’t we have work to do?”

Her friends exchanged knowing looks but allowed the subject change. As they launched into their morning routine, Sabine touched her locket, still warm from Ren’s presence. Her earlier wish at the fountain whispered through her memory.

Had she somehow called him here? And why did her tigress recognize him as a mate when they’d never met before?

The questions would have to wait. But as she threw herself into the day’s tasks, she couldn’t shake the feeling that everything in her life was about to change.

“Hey, Sabine?” Ylan called from behind a shelf.

“Hmm?”

“Just so you know... I’m totally Team Ren.”

“Team Ren all the way,” Romi chimed in.

“The founder and the shop owner.” Clover sighed dreamily. “It’s like a fairy tale.”

Sabine groaned, but she couldn’t quite suppress her own smile. Maybe her friends were right. Maybe the fountain had granted her wish after all.

She just hoped she was ready for whatever came next—assuming she could keep her inner tigress from tackling the admittedly gorgeous founder of Mystic Hollow first.

THREE

The pre-dawn silence shattered like glass.

Ren Athran stood at the edge of his mountain cliff, watching the first hints of sunrise paint Mystic Hollow’s misty streets far below. A magical wind slammed into him—not physical, but soul-deep. His dragon, dormant for centuries, roared to life inside his mind:

Our mate calls us.

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