Page 43 of Must Love Dragons
“Where’s my cat anyway?”Kinsley asked.
As if on cue, she strutted into the room with a curious meow, hopping onto the couch.Rorik put his hand on her and she purred loudly, whiskers twitching.
She and Delaney got to work, casting a healing spell that pooled both of their powers together to make it work faster and restore Rorik to his full health.
When the spell was finished, Delaney accepted Rorik’s thanks and left the room with Brody and Venice.
Kinsley rose to her feet, feeling both exhausted and energized, and Zay joined her, pulling her close.
“So let’s hear it,” Zay said to his uncle.“Tell us everything.”
Rorik nodded.He cleared his throat and shared what had happened, from the research he’d done to locate the warlocks, to finding them at the port, then going off to hunt them down himself.
“I wish you’d let us know before you left,” Zay said.“Obviously you went off half-cocked, but you were still drowning in grief and I blame myself for that.”
“You shouldn’t,” Rorik said.“My actions were my own.”
“But I should have been more supportive.All I did was push away any talk about the warlocks or our loss, I was consumed with keeping anyone from knowing where we were.”
“But that was smart,” Ronan said.“The warlocks were dangerous and if they’d known where we were, they would have come for us just as surely as the sun is going to rise in a few hours.”
Zay’s hand tightened on Kinsley’s waist.“The important thing is that we’re all safe and together.We can just move on from everything that happened, and it’ll be a hell of a lot easier since the warlocks are dead.”
“Thank freaking goodness,” Sierra said.
Zay gave Kinsley a nudge.“Can we all catch some sleep in your house?”
“Absolutely.And we have Delaney’s and Hadlee’s homes that are empty on either side of mine, too.We’ve got room for everyone.”
They stopped to talk to Delaney, Brody, and Venice, everyone deciding to get together for dinner that night.
“Hadlee’s coming in this afternoon,” Delaney said as she walked out to Kinsley’s car, handing over the keys to her own car so they all could get to the houses.“She wanted to see you and meet your mate.Anders is coming and a few of the falcons, too.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to see her, it’s been ages.”
Kinsley gave Delaney a hug.“Thank you so much for everything.For finding me, fighting with me, being the best bestie on the planet.”
“That’s what family is for.”
Kinsley turned and saw Zay behind the wheel of her car, and she smiled.
Her sexy dragon was waiting for her.
She finally felt like everything was coming together.
* * *
That night, Kinsley sat at one of three picnic tables with Zay, Delaney, Brody, Hadlee, and her falcon shifter mate, Anders.The others sat around them at other tables, food passing between new friends and old friends, the conversation light as everyone was filled with a sense of relief and thankfulness.
She’d been so excited to see Hadlee.She was positively glowing.
“I can’t believe I missed all the fun,” Hadlee said as she carefully picked the celery from the chicken salad on her sandwich.
“Abductions and magic battles are fun?”Kinsley asked, arching her brow high.
“You know what I mean,” she said, wrinkling her nose.“The last time we were in a good versus evil battle it was that warlock who came for Flora.”
“Yeah, when I lost half my damn house,” Brody said.
