fallen in love during all of that insanity, then I would insist that he be accepted into the family. Even as I hoped for it, I knew it wouldn't happen. Before the love spell, Verin had baldly stated that despite his overwhelming attraction to me, he had no wish to share me with six other men. And who could blame him? I wouldn't share any of my men with another woman (yes, I know it isn't fair but that's how it is). Plus, Verin's father had kept a harem, one his mother had been forced into, and that had—also understandably—left him with a distaste for any polyamorous lifestyle. The odds were stacked against us; we just wouldn't work.
But there I was, wringing my hands and watching the waves—searching for movement beneath them—as I waited for Verin to appear. He had vowed that he'd give the spell three months to wear off and then he'd come for me. Whether it had worn off or not.
It had not.
I took a shaky breath and swallowed past the dryness in my throat. I'd spoken to Vivian only that morning and she said what I'd expected her to say—that magic is unpredictable. The spell would wear off, but she had no idea when. In fact, she was shocked that it hadn't done so already. A love spell goes against the will of its target and in this instance, it had two, strong-willed targets. That should have stretched the spell even thinner. Its survival wasn't just surprising, it was also baffling.
After I spoke to Vivian, I called Verin using the enchanted blue coral pendant he'd given me. I gave him a shining one contact charm that does the same thing so I wouldn't have to add yet another charm to the growing collection around my neck just in case he called. But I'd contacted him with his coral that afternoon because it seemed more appropriate. Verin had answered almost instantaneously and said only two words.
“One hour.”
“I'm in Hawaii,” I told him.
“I know where you are,” Verin growled. “I can feel you through the coral.”
That was one aspect of the coral that I hadn't been aware of. Leave it to a dragon to give me a contact charm that doubled as a tracking device. I was kinda glad I hadn't been wearing it.
Oh, yeah. Did I forget to mention that Verin is the King of an undersea dragon court? It's just another reason we'd be a bad fit. I love the ocean—my mother is a Siren which means that the sea is in my blood—but I don't want to live in it. I can't, I had too many responsibilities on land, not the least of which were my commitments to my men: a Griffin, a Gargoyle, a Blooder (AKA vampire), two shining one kings (AKA fairies), and a god (who's also a shining one king). In other words, I was already attached to some extremely powerful Beneathers (citizens of the supernatural community on Earth) and none of them wanted to live underwater.
“All right,” I had whispered to Verin.
He had grunted and hung up. It was kind of his thing—the grunting, not the hanging up.
So, there I stood, in the shallows, toes curling anxiously in the sand, my feet getting buried deeper with every wave, as I waited for a sea dragon to rise from the water like fucking Aphrodite.
Verin may not have appeared on a giant clamshell but he didn't disappoint.
Something bluer than the waters of the Pacific crested an incoming wave. A massive head lifted above the churning water, trailing vivid orange whiskers in its wake. Reptilian lips pulled back to reveal teeth as long as my forearms but substantially sharper. Water sprayed with his rough, audible exhale—the inner flaps of his nose opening to pull in air—and turquoise, dragon eyes the size of my face flashed with magic. The beast dove, crimson fins cutting the surface as its tail undulated up like a cracking whip. One snap was all it took to bring him to shore. I watched, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as the Blue Dragon shot toward me like a missile, his body condensing into another form as he came—the transformation blurred by a lens of water. By the time Verin reached me, he looked human... mostly.
King Verin rose from the sea—a glorious, naked, god-like creature too beautiful and achingly exotic to call a man. His sleek muscles, narrow waist, and broad shoulders registered with me absently. The indigo hair dripping down his sculpted chest