Page 5 of Hex and Scales

She was not his mate. Could not be his mate. The very idea defied logic and betrayed his vow to Shiara. Yet his treacherous body responded to her as if they were made for each other, hyper-aware of her every breath and movement.

FOUR

Awhisper of motion caught Ren’s attention. Three women huddled near the back of the shop, watching their interaction with poorly concealed glee. One of them—the silver-haired assistant he’d noticed earlier—actually rubbed her hands together in apparent delight.

He needed to leave. Now. Before he did something insane like cross the space between them, crowd her against that counter, and discover if she tasted as sweet as she smelled. Before he forgot eight hundred years of carefully maintained distance from anything resembling emotional attachment.

Shiara, he reminded himself forcefully.Remember your vow.

“You’ll be seeing more of me,” he heard himself say. “Any sign of trouble, I’ll be here.”

The words carried more weight than he’d intended. Her eyes darkened in response, pupils dilating. The air between them practically crackled with unspoken possibility.

He turned and strode out before he could act on any of the images suddenly flooding his mind. His dragon snarled in protest at the retreat.

Hours later, Ren paced his newly acquired cottage in town. The walls closed in, too small to contain his restless energy. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face. Sabine Katz. Even her name sparked something primal in his blood.

The town’s magical disturbances should have been his focus. Three more protective wards had shown signs of strain since sunrise. Something dark probed at Mystic Hollow’s defenses with increasing boldness. He should be tracking the shadow magic’s source, not obsessing over one beautiful tigress.

“This is madness,” he told his reflection. Gold still flickered in his eyes, betraying his dragon’s agitation. “She’s not our mate. She can’t be. We swore?—”

“Oh really?” Eiji’s amused voice drifted through the doorway. “Because that’s not what it looked like from where I was standing.”

Ren spun to find his cousin lounging against the doorframe, grinning like he’d won some cosmic lottery. “How long were you watching?”

“Long enough to see you nearly spontaneously combust from sexual tension.” Eiji pushed off the frame and sauntered in. “I wasn’t the only one who noticed either. Did you see those other ladies in the shop? I thought they might start taking bets on how long before you two jumped each other.”

“There will be no jumping of any kind.” Ren’s hands clenched. “I’m here about the magical disturbances. Nothing else.”

“Uh-huh.” Eiji’s eyes danced with unholy glee. “Nothing to do with a certain gorgeous tigress who practically purred every time you looked at her? Come on, cousin. I haven’t seen chemistry like that since that time Felix accidentally mixed explosive potions in his forge.”

“The wards are failing,” Ren growled, desperate to change the subject. “Shadow magic left traces near the Crystal Caverns.Someone tests our defenses, and you waste time on ridiculous gossip.”

“The wards can wait five minutes while we discuss how you nearly melted that poor woman with your eyes.” Eiji hopped onto a nearby table, swinging his legs like a child. “She’s quite something, you know. Smart, successful, and respected in the community. And that tigress grace...” He waggled his eyebrows. “The big bad dragon could do worse. Much worse.”

“I said enough!” Ren’s eyes flashed full gold. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

“Fine, fine.” Eiji raised his hands in mock surrender, but his smile never wavered. “Just saying what everyone else in that shop was thinking. You two practically set the place on fire just by looking at each other. Even her assistant—Ylan, right?—whispered that she’d never seen such instant attraction.”

After Eiji left, Ren resumed his restless pacing. He couldn’t deny the physical attraction—it would be like denying gravity. But attraction wasn’t a mate bond. His dragon had simply mistaken intense chemistry for something deeper.

And none of it mattered. He’d made a vow to Shiara, sealed in blood and grief. Eight centuries of faithfulness to her memory couldn’t be undone by one morning’s madness.

You know better, his beast grumbled.

“I know she’s not our mate,” Ren muttered. “No matter how beautiful she is.”

Then why are we still thinking about her instead of the shadow magic?

A fair question. One he didn’t want to answer.

Dusk painted Mystic Hollow’s streets in purple shadows as Ren stood at his window. He had a clear view of Katz ‘n Things from here. Just to monitor the supposed magical disturbances, he told himself. Nothing to do with the woman inside, or the way his body still hummed with awareness of her presence.

The shop’s magical signature showed no signs of tampering or weakness. Unlike the ward stone he’d checked near the eastern border, which bore minuscule cracks in its protective matrix. Or the unexplained cold spots appearing in the Crystal Caverns with increasing frequency.

She needs our protection, his beast insisted.

“She needs nothing from us.” But even as he said it, an odd protective urge surged through him. The magical disturbances in town weren’t imaginary—something dark stirred beneath Mystic Hollow’s peaceful surface. And Sabine...

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