Page 18 of Shifting Desire
I laugh nervously.“Waking up?Like what, my libido?”
“No, Ari.”Her voice is serious now.“Your magic.Or maybe something bigger.”
I don’t say anything.Because she’s not wrong.
Something in me has been stirring for weeks now.Subtle things.Shifts in energy.Magic moving through me in new ways.Dreams I can’t remember but wake up from breathless.The feeling of being watched.Followed.Known.
And now, every time Malichai walks into a room, it’s like the world realigns.
I shake my head.“No.That’s not...That’s not how life works.”
Celeste arches a brow.“You sure about that?”
I’m not.Not even a little.
A customer waves me over and the conversation ends but it doesn’t clear up any of the questions bouncing around in my mind.What is happening?What does Malichai have to do with it?Why is my magic changing?
When I leave work, the city is quieter, like it is waiting to see what will happen next.The sky is bruised purple with a sliver of moon hanging low.I pull my hoodie tighter around me and start walking home, trying to convince myself I’m not being followed.That the shiver at my neck is just nerves.Not ...something else.
But halfway home, I feel it again.The pull.A magnetic twist in my gut that says someone is watching me.Only this time, it isn’t threatening.It’s protective and familiar.
I turn sharply into an alley and press my back to the brick wall, reaching deep into the magic that hums under my skin.
I whisper a low chant, one I learned from my friend Akasha to reveal anything or anyone hidden close to me.And suddenly, I see him.
Not Malichai.Not exactly.But ...a dragon.
Perched on a rooftop, black and silver scales glittering under the moonlight.Wings tucked.Eyes like molten obsidian, watching me like I’m the only thing in the world that matters.
And my heart knows.
“Oh, goddess,” I whisper.
The vision fades, vanishing like smoke, and I’m left alone again in the quiet, my pulse thundering, my knees weak.He’s not just some powerful paranormal with a silver tongue and a bad habit of making me blush.
He’s something else.Something ancient.Something that could be mine.Dragons don’t take interest in women for more than a single night, a way to slake their lust.No.When a dragon becomes obsessed, there is only one reason.They have found their mate.
But that can’t be true...Or I would have felt the mate bond as well.
