Page 58 of The Dragon's Mate

Bishop kissed Lila’s cheek. “Yep.”

“When is that kid not hungry?” Willowasked as Bishop handed Lila over to Ava.

“Her dad’s a grizzly, Will. She likes to eat,”Bishop said.

“She certainly does,” Ava said as she startedto feed Lila. “How are party preparations going down there?”

“Good,” Bishop said. “Mal and I got thebarbeques going and Mara texted. She and Roland are almost here with the food.”

“Awesome,” Ava said. “Thanks, honey.”

“My in-laws are the best,” Willow said.

“Yes, they are,” Ava replied.

“Kaida texted me,” Bishop said.

“Did she have to cancel?” Ava asked.

He shook his head. “No, but she will be alittle late.”

“It’s good that she’s still coming,” Avasaid.

“Yeah…” Bishop said. “You can’t set her upwith Bren.”

“She’s not interested?” Ava said.

Bishop hesitated and Ava grinned at Willow.“Told you.”

“They need to be kept apart,” Bishop said.“Kaida’s dragon is attracted to the human and if we push them together, it willend in a really bad way. Bren can’t ever know she’s a dragon, honey.”

He stared pleadingly at Ava who said, “I know.I’ll introduce Bren to a few other single friends at the party.”

“Thank you,” Bishop said.

“I won’t deliberately set them up,” Ava strokedLila’s soft red hair, “but if there’s an attraction between them, they may notstay away from one another.”

“I know Kaida,” Bishop said. “She won’tput herself or her clan in danger by dating a human.”

* * *

“Bren, it’s so good to see you.”

“Nice to see you as well, Kat.” Bren kissedthe jaguar shifter’s smooth cheek. “How are you?”

“Good.” Kat smiled at him as her mate, Ronin,joined them. If either of them looked surprised to see him at Bishop’s birthdayparty, they hid it well.

“Detective.” Ronin held out his hand and Brenshook it.

“Here, let me take that and add it to thetable.” Kat took the gift bag from Bren. “Ava told people not to bring giftsbut…” she pointed to the small table that had presents on it.

“It’s just a bottle of scotch,” Bren said.

Kat laughed. “Bishop will be happy withthat.”

She headed across the small backyard,weaving around the shifters who were talking in small groups of two and three.Ronin stared blatantly at her ass before turning back to Bren.

“How’s it going, Detective?”

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