Page 22 of The Dragon's Mate

“I want Kaida to teach us to fight.” Thefamiliar stubborn line had shown up between Ty’s eyebrows. “And if you hadseen her kicking Jeff’s ass yesterday, you’d want her showing us how to fight too.”

He opened the door and climbed out of thecar before Bren could say anything else. He sighed and slid out of the car,slamming the door shut, and studying the other cabins as Tyler bounded up theporch steps and knocked on Kaida’s door.

Like yesterday, there wasn’t a singleperson in the clearing surrounding the cabins. He studied the cabins, a crawlingsensation on the back of his neck. His feeling of being watched was confirmedwhen a curtain in the cabin across from Kaida’s home twitched.

He swung his gaze that way, keeping afriendly expression on his face, but the curtain had already stilled. He knew thatbear shifters could be standoffish and avoid humans, especially grizzlies, butthis was bordering on ridiculous. It was a beautiful autumn day, and therewasn’t one shifter outside raking leaves or -

“Human, come inside.”

He turned around. Tyler had alreadydisappeared into the cabin and Kaida was standing on her porch. His stomach madeanother of those funny lurches, like he was hurtling down a steep hill on a rollercoaster instead of standing on solid ground. She wore jeans and a faded pinkt-shirt that clung to her full breasts. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He’dbeen one hundred percent accurate about what kind of body that cloak had beenhiding yesterday, and the semi he was now sporting was about to turn into afull-blown erection if he didn’t look away.

He dropped his gaze to the porch steps andclimbed them slowly. He joined her on the porch and when he glanced up, Kaidawas giving him an impatient look. “Come inside, quickly.”

She glanced around the clearing and heturned to study the other cabins again. More curtains were twitching and fallingback into place and he grinned at Kaida. “Looks like your neighbours are curiousabout the humans.”

She herded him inside the cabin like awayward child. Her hand grazed his lower back and sent a zinging sensationstraight to his dick.

Tyler was already sitting on the couch nextto Corey and holding the fox shifter’s hand. An old man, his hair was pure whitewith orange streaks and hung to his waist in a neatly made braid, was sitting atthe kitchen table.

“Bren this is Cadmus, the high elder of ourclan. Cadmus, this is Bren.”

Bren walked forward and held out his hand.“It’s good to meet you.”

The old man stared at his hand andamusement drifted across his face before he shook Bren’s hand. “Hello, human.”

He dropped Bren’s hand and stood. He driftedacross the room toward the door, stopping briefly next to the couch. “You didwell with the council, young fox. Do not worry.”

Corey kept his gaze firmly on his lap asTyler stared at Cadmus with frank interest. Cadmus smiled at him. “Enjoy Kaida’steaching, human yearling.”

“Um, thank you. I will. It was nice to meetyou, um, Mr. Cadmus,” Tyler said.

Cadmus laughed, revealing straight white teeth,before moving to the door. “I will see you at dinner with the others, Kaida.”

“Yes, Cadmus.”

He left the cabin and Corey slumped againstthe couch as Tyler said, “How old is that dude?”

“Tyler,” Bren said, “don’t be rude, please.”

“Sorry. Hey, you okay?” Tyler asked Corey.

“I’m fine.” Corey glanced at Kaida. “I’mready to go home.”

“Gram will be here in a bit,” Kaida said. “Youlook much better this morning and she may agree to send you home.”

“That’s great news,” Tyler said. “I’ll getyou set up in our guest room.”

Corey grimaced. “Ty, I don’t think -”

“Holy crap! I forgot to show you whatJulie Lesner posted on Facebook.” Tyler yanked his phone out of his pocket. “Sheand Winston broke up and she went nuclear on his page. Check it out.”

As the two boys huddled together on the couchand looked at Tyler’s phone, Kaida pointed to the table. “Have a seat, human.”

Bren sat down and Kaida took two mugs fromthe cupboard. “Coffee or tea?”

“Coffee if it isn’t too much trouble.”

She popped a pod into the machine and madehim a coffee before brewing one for herself. She brought the coffee as well asmilk and sugar to the table and eased into the chair across from him.

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