Page 29 of Bewitching the Dragon
“How about not shift at all?” Antoinette suggested.
“Bo-ring,” Delilah said.
Antoinette shook her head. “This is a wrinkle I was not anticipating. I thought we had plenty of time before they came home,” she said to Ketu.
“Look, Delilah, there’s some colony stuff going on right now, and it’s probably best if you and Trennon stay somewhere else for a while. How about we put you up in a hotel on Bourbon Street?”
“In June? What’s the point? And anyway, if it’s colony stuff, we have a right to know what’s going on.”
“Actually, no, you don’t,” Antoinette said.
The soft sound of bare feet on the stairs caught Rahu’s attention, and he watched as Becca made her way down the back staircase into the kitchen. She had gotten dressed, but her hair was still mussed and she looked like she’d just been thoroughly made love to and hot damn, she was gorgeous.
And all his. Well, maybe not, at least, not long term.
Although, hell, why not? She wasn’t dating anyone else, and neither was he. There was no urgency to his return to Detroit. In fact, the idea of staying right here in New Orleans had definite appeal.
What if he did? For Becca? Was that so wrong?
No, his dragon said in his head,other than the fact that she doesn’t know your world exists. She doesn’t know I exist.
Okay, minor problem.
Major problem.
Fine. But it should be temporary. At some point, they had to tell her, right? She deserved to know what she was. Who she was.
His dragon didn’t respond, but it didn’t matter because Rahu knew the beast agreed with him. The problem was, no one else in this room did.
“What do we have here?” Delilah’s voice piped up from behind him, much too close for comfort. When he turned around, she was standing in front of Becca, eyeing her like she was trying to decipher what or who she was. Probably both.
Delilah lifted her hand and brushed a piece of hair out of Becca’s face. Becca’s eyes widened, but she didn’t move away.
“Fascinating,” Delilah murmured, still staring at Becca, whose gaze kept darting to Rahu.
“Um, Delilah, if you don’t mind…” Rahu started.
“Oh, but I do.”
“Excuse us,” Antoinette said, suddenly sweeping in and hooking her arm through the crook of Delilah’s arm. “We have important business to discuss. Upstairs.”
Delilah shook her off. “Latent magic,” she murmured. “Lotsof it. Oh, the things we could do together. The worlds we could conquer.”
Looking at Rahu with wide eyes, Becca said, “Um, should I be worried?”
“You are not conquering any worlds. I forbid it,” Antoinette said.
“Such a buzzkill,” Delilah replied.
“What are they talking about?” Becca asked Rahu in a whisper, but of course, every dragon in the room could hear her.
“You know what?” Rahu said. “We should probably head up—”
“We’re talking about you, of course,” Delilah said.
“Me?” Becca’s voice was a squeak.
“Yeah, let’s—” Rahu tried again, wrapping his arm around her shoulders with the intention of herding her up the stairs. That familiar sizzle soared through his body at the contact, but this time it was accompanied by a flash of light.
