Page 70 of The Dragon's Mate

She laughed. “Then I guess -”

Her body froze and she cocked her head,inhaling deeply before studying the path that led into the woods. “The boysare coming.”

“Fuck,” he muttered as she jumped off ofhim. He staggered to his feet, zipping up and buttoning his jeans as she straightenedher shirt.

He could hear Tyler and Corey laughing andtalking, and he grabbed Kaida’s arm when she moved away from him. “What nightworks best for our date?”

“I won, human. There will be no date.”

He grinned at her. “It was a tie at best.What about Tuesday night? I know a great restaurant on the west side. Sayaround seven?”

She glanced at the woods, and he tried tokeep a neutral look on his face. If she said no again, he would have to ignoretheir obvious attraction and let it go. He wasn’t into hounding a woman for adate, no matter how much he was into her.

“Seven-thirty,” she said.

He wanted to do something incredibly stupidlike fist pump the air. Instead, he nodded calmly and said, “Seven thirty. I’lltext you the restaurant address.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Thanks for driving me into the city,Kaida.” Sika reached across and patted her arm. “Jarvis couldn’t get awayfrom work and I really wanted to finish picking up everything we need for thehatchling.”

“It’s no problem.” Kaida turned left andheaded for the outskirts of the city. They were actually relatively close toBren’s apartment, and a little trickle of anticipation settled in her belly.

She hadn’t told Sika about her date with Brentonight. She wanted to, but her worry that Sika would accidentally tell theothers in the clan kept her mouth shut about it.

“Hey, Kaida?”

“Hmm?” She made another left.

“Jarvis wants to join Avena’s clan.”

Kaida jerked, making the car swerve a littleon the road. “What?”

“He’s been talking about it for a while,”Sika said.

“But Avena’s clan is four hours away.”

“I know. But it’s still the closest clanto us.”

Kaida stopped at a red light and stared ather best friend. “Why?”

“They’re more progressive. Jarvis wasthere last year for a couple of weeks, remember?”

“Yes,” Kaida said.

“Well, he and Norven became pretty goodfriends, and you know that Norven is on the council. Anyway, he told Jarvis thatthey were thinking about allowing some of their clan members to start workingwith and around humans and other shifters.”

“You’re kidding me.” Kaida’s mouth droppedopen.

“I’m not. Norven talked to Jarvis lastweek and said that they were close to convincing Avena it was the right thingto do. Once Avena is on board, the rest of the clan will follow. They do whattheir high elder tells them.”

“I know, but… it’s dangerous, Sika. Ifother shifters discover that we haven’t gone extinct…”

“Wearegoing extinct,” Sika said.

The car behind them honked impatiently and Kaidawaved apologetically before driving through the green light.

“We’re dying out, Kaida. You know that aswell as I do. We need to change the old ways before it’s too late.”

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