Page 37 of The Dragon's Mate

She stared at a spot somewhere over hisshoulder. “I’m sorry, Bren. It’s not that I, I mean -”

“It’s fine,” he said. “You’re not requiredto explain your decision. I’ll see you Friday, all right?”

She nodded before finally looking at him. Wasthat regret in her eyes?

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

“Don’t be,” he said. “See you Friday.”

He climbed into the SUV, forcing himself tosmile and wave at Kaida as he pulled away. She was staring at him and it wasno comfort to him that she looked miserable. He’d fucked up. Seen something thatwasn’t there, obviously, and now Kaida felt bad and he looked like a fool.

She wants you.

He wanted to bang his hand on the steeringwheel in frustration. Kaida didn’t want him, she literally just told him shewasn’t interested.

“Dude,” Tyler said.

“What?”

“Sorry the hot bear shifter turned you downfor a date.”

Bren jerked and Tyler grabbed the dashboardwhen the SUV swerved on the narrow dirt road.

“Were you two eavesdropping on myconversation?” Bren said.

“No,” Corey said quickly. “We weren’t.”

“It wasn’t hard to tell you like Kaida,”Tyler said. “It’s never hard to tell when you like a girl. It’s, like,” hemotioned to his face, “written all over you.”

Bren didn’t reply and Tyler reached overand punched him lightly on the thigh. “I swear we weren’t eavesdropping. I figuredwhen you said you wanted to talk to her that you were going to ask her out. Youdid, right?”

“Yeah,” Bren turned off the dirt road andheaded toward the highway.

“And she turned you down.”

Bren didn’t reply and Tyler said, “You lookedlike you got punched in the gut, that’s how we knew she said no. You need toget better at playin’ the game with the ladies, Bren.”

“Thanks for the dating tip, kid,” Brensaid. “Hey, do me a favour?”

“What’s that?”

“Shut up.”

Tyler laughed and snagged his phone out of pocket.“I can’t help it if I’m better at dating than you are.”

* * *

Bren walked into his apartment and staredat the crow standing in the middle of the hallway. He shut the door, kickedoff his shoes, and hung his jacket on the hook. “Hello, Lilianna. You’relooking particularly evil this evening.”

The crow cawed at him before turning andstrutting down the hallway toward the kitchen. The sound of her talons tappingon the wood floor sent an involuntary shiver down Bren’s spine. He followed thebird into the kitchen, staring at Elora’s ass as she rummaged through one of thelower cupboards.

Why couldn’t he be attracted to her? She wasgood looking and smart and he should have been attracted to her. Maybe if heasked her out on a proper date there might be some sparks.

“Why are you staring at my ass?” Elorasaid.

“Trying to decide if I should ask you out,”Bren replied.

Elora laughed and wiggled her butt at him.“You ingest another one of Helen’s love potions or something?”

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