Page 100 of The Dragon's Mate

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“You weren’t kidding about a lot happening,”Bishop sat back in his chair.

Kaida sipped at the now lukewarm tea. “Itold you.”

“How is the hatchling doing?” Bishop asked.

Kaida smiled. “Good. His scales are startingto fall off. The naming ceremony hasn’t happened yet, but I expect it willhappen soon. He’s beautiful and healthy.”

“Well, tell Jarvis and Sika I said congratulations,”Bishop said. “Have you talked to Matthews since…”

Kaida laughed bitterly. “Since the councilvoted to burn him alive? Nope, haven’t heard a word. Shocker, huh?”

“It just happened last night,” Bishopsaid. “He’s probably busy at work.”

“Probably,” she said.

“Look, if you tell anyone I said this, I’lldeny it, but Matthews is a good guy and he wouldn’t be upset with you aboutwhat your clan decided.”

“I challenged Bones.” Kaida didn’t look upfrom her hands but she could feel Bishop stiffening in his chair.

“You challenged Bones? Do you have a deathwish?” Bishop almost shouted.

“He was going to burn Bren alive. What didyou expect me to do?”

“Kaida,” Bishop took her hand, “are you inlove with Bren?”

She refused to meet his gaze, instead studyingtheir clasped hands. “It doesn’t matter if I am. I’ll never see him again. Evenif he wasn’t angry about the clan agreeing to murder him, he can’t bring Tylerback to learn to fight. We have reporters all over our land and if the senatorsaw Tyler and Bren with us…”

“Shit would hit the fan,” Bishop said.

“Yeah. Anything I might have had with Brenis over. It ended the moment humans found out we existed.”

“It doesn’t have to be over,” he said. “Brenisn’t like his father.”

“It’s not only that,” she said. “A dragonand a human cannot be together.”

“I thought the same thing about humans andgrizzlies,” Bishop said.

She smiled a little. “My bear, it is notthe same. Even with all of your strength and power, you would never hurt Avawhen you mated with her. I cannot say the same. You know that.”

“You never set me on fire when we weretogether,” Bishop said.

She sighed. “I singed you a few times. Thehuman does not have healing powers. If I lost control…”

“So open a window and point your flame inits direction,” Bishop said.

She laughed despite her misery. “Good toknow that all males think the same way.”

They sat in silence for a moment before shesaid, “Do you have any regrets about being with a human?”

“None,” he said. “Ava is the best thing thatever happened to me. Without her, I’m nothing, Kaida.”

Bishop squeezed her hand. “The detectiveis tough. I’ll admit, I have a lot of respect for the guy. He saved my life andhe doesn’t seem to scare easily. I think you should give it a chance. It’llbe easier now that humans know of dragons’ existence. Right?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Like I said, itdoesn’t matter anyway. I’ll never see Bren Matthews again.”

“You’ll see him at the wedding on Saturday,”Bishop said.

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