Page 47 of Sprite Wedding
“I think I know why,” Sebastian said. “You need to kiss his lips.”
Gianna gave him a look likeoh-now-you-think-there’s-magic-in-the -kiss.
“Okay.” Zoe rose to her tiptoes, but it wasn’t enough. “I’m too short.”
“I’ll lift you,” Sebastian volunteered. He stepped behind Zoe and picked her up.
My dragon growled at another man holding my mate.He’s helping, I explained, although a possessive streak rose in me as well.
When Zoe’s lips met my stone ones, warm heat rose inside me. As if stone could melt.
But it didn’t. My form remained hard and unyielding.
Damn! It didn’t work.
That realization was etched on all my friend’s faces as well.
“I have another idea,” Nova said. “It might sound kind of weird.”
“Weirder than Lucas suddenly becoming a statue in his garden?” Zoe asked with raised brows.
“True.” Nova gestured at Zoe. “You can try giving him some of your blood.”
I’m not a bloody vampire!I called out, though my lips remained silent. Everyone but Diego gave Nova an odd look.
Zoe blanched but then shrugged. “I’ll do anything to help him. “
“Um, I better go inside for this part.” Diego excused himself.
He better not salivate at the scent of my mate’s blood.Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way in.
Zoe waited for Diego to enter the house and then pulled a small knife out of her tool belt beneath her clothing. A glimpse of her belly and her hidden supernatural weapons turned me on. I loved removing that tool belt from my badass mate when I undressed her.
Now wasn’t the time to fantasize about that, not when she was slicing into her flesh for my benefit. The sudden flow of blood from where she cut made me wince. I didn’t have a blood fetish like my vampire roommate.
Then again, if spilling some blood would help me return to human form, and I could hold my mate again, I’d stab myself.
Zoe pressed her fingers into the cut and then over my stone covered heart. My heart thumped faster. I yearned to burst from the stone and fly free.
She stepped back and watched me. All of them stared at me, a damn parade of eyes, watching and waiting. I tried to focus on connecting with Zoe, tapping into my energy within, the way Nova had directed.
Nothing happened. Again.
Despair rose, darting inside like panicking dragonflies. I could be trapped like this forever. How would that be? I’d age day in and out as I endured the elements? I wasn’t cut out for this. I was a dragon, not a gargoyle!
We had to undo this. Life without my mate would be too unbearable to endure.
After several more minutes of my anxiety-induced speculation, Pandora and Cassandra arrived, and Diego returned outside. They all gave the witches a recap of what had happened and what they’d tried, interrupting each other more than sponsorship messages during my favorite podcasts.
“We have no idea who or what did this to Lucas?” Pandora asked.
They all replied with negative responses.
She exhaled. “That’s unfortunate. It would be easier to figure out a countermeasure if we knew the source.” She stepped forward and hovered her hand before me. “It’s hard to even get a read of what’s going on.” She turned to Cassandra. “Want to give it a try?”
Cassandra stepped to the other side. She closed her eyes as she waved her hand in slow movements along my side. She reopened her eyes. “Nothing.”
Damn stone.
