“Okay,” I said to the door. Frick! I hated this. I had a nice body. I mean, I was so pale you could see my blue veins, but that was the Irish in me. I was thin, not exactly athletic—things jiggled when I walked—but I liked what I saw in the mirror. Still, I didn’t have much self-confidence for this sort of stuff. My best friend from college, who was currently in Europe with her parents, called me Modest Mary because I was too serious with this type of thing. I didn’t own a cleavage shirt or shorts that let my ass cheeks hang out. God, I missed Jen right about now. She would crap herself if she knew what had been going on.
Logan was right outside the door. “Sloane, we gotta get this spell done. Especially now that your dragon scent is out in the open.”
I assumed I couldn’t wear any of Eva’s clothes either, because her scent would get stuck on me. The only scent I had was that of a Chinese sweat factory. The plastic I pulled this brand-new uniform out of smelled of cheap chemical clothes.
Logan grew impatient. “Sloane…”
“Alright!” I threw the door wide and strut out into the apartment, blowing past Logan and giving him a view of my ass. “I didn’t want to touch the old clothes for fear I would smell again, so I left them on the bathroom floor.” I couldn’t bear to look at him, to see his reaction.
Logan didn’t speak. I was halfway across the loft, headed for the staircase, and didn’t hear him following me. Finally, I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw him watching me with green dragon eyes, no mistaking the desire in his gaze. When he saw me looking at him, he cleared his throat and charged after me.
“It’s fine. She’ll burn the clothes.”
I smirked, enjoying the effect I had on him. It was probably the same effect all decent-looking women had on him, but still, a girl could dream. As we made our way down the staircase, I decided a joke was in order. “You know this uniform is growing on me, and after seeing those full tip jars, I’m thinking of applying here.”
Logan’s husky voice sounded behind me. “You would bankrupt every man in this place.”
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. Logan Sharp was a charmer. I would give him that.
When we walked back into the office, it was empty of the pack. Only Eva remained and she was hunched over a table full of jars and crystals, grinding something into a mortar and pestle. I approached her slowly, unsure, and she must have sensed me, because she set down what she was doing and turned around.
She scanned up and down my body. “If you’re ever in need of a job, you can dance here.” She winked.
“Never gonna happen,” Logan’s serious voice boomed behind me.
I laughed nervously and Eva smiled. “I’m Eva, sweetheart, and I’ve taken an oath long ago to protect the skyborn. You can trust me, but only me. No one else in my club knows what Logan is. They think he’s a wolf because I have given him a wolf’s permanent scent. I’m going to do the same to you. This will allow you to go out in public without fear of hunters or druids smelling you.”
I sighed in relief. “That would have been super helpful two weeks ago.”
Eva smiled. “You’ve had a rough time, I’m sure. Keegan told me you transformed for the first time after falling off the ledge of the Grand Canyon?”
I nodded. “I was plummeting for the ground when a burning broke out on my skin. I … didn’t even think. I just … transformed. It was crazy. I’m still not sure that I’m one hundred percent sane.”
Eva frowned, stepping closer. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re sane, but I need to find out how you have lived your whole life thinking you’re human.”
I shrugged, and she stepped even closer to me. She took a deep breath in through her nose and her eyes flared copper. She took a second breath and her brow furrowed in confusion.
“The black soap should have worked,” she muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Logan called from behind me.
Eva brought her hand up to her chin. “Nothing that I can’t fix for the spell, but she smells like a supernatural mutt—Druid, dragon, sorcerer. It might be too soon after coming into contact with heavy druid magic. Was he powerful?”
Logan shrugged. “I’ve fought worse.”
Eva rolled her eyes and looked at me. “Did Nadine warn you not to fluff his ego?”
I smiled. “She did.”
Logan scoffed behind me. “That is completely unfair.”
Eva winked at me. “Alright, first I’m going to do the scent-binding spell.”
Nerves suddenly clamped down on my belly and sweat broke out on my palms. I had always been a nervous person, socially or with school projects. It was like the second the spotlight was on me, I forgot my name and my palms became wet.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Logan whispered from right behind me. I could feel the warmth of his body heat as his scent wrapped around me, causing my dragon to purr inside of me.
“Is she in heat?” Eva asked Logan, and I nearly choked on my own embarrassment.
Logan cleared his throat and I heard him step back a few feet. “She was. I put her in a sleep until she got through it. I didn’t want to call and tell you about her for fear the phones would be tapped. I was going to bring her to you tomorrow morning.”
Eva was watching me, and I had no doubt that my cheeks matched my hair color. “Hmm,” was all she said, then she switched gears as if the whole “in heat” thing didn’t exist. “Alright, honey, I need a strand of that gorgeous hair,” she said, reaching out and yanking a piece.
Ow.
She coiled the hair into the mortar and pestle, and the second it hit the powder, it puffed with a bright green light that flickered purple for a second.
“Ohh, I love the color of dragon magic,” Eva said, smiling.
I returned her smile; it was hard not to like her. She had an open and friendly personality.
“So, are you like … a lead Sorceress or something?” I asked stupidly. I didn’t know what they were called, but this woman was clearly the boss.
This time laughter spilled from her throat. “You could say that,” she answered coyly.
“Hah!” Logan barked and I looked over to see him casually leafing through a book like this was just another Friday night. “She is being modest. Which she never is, by the way.”
Eva scoffed and spit her tongue out at him.
“Ninety-nine percent of magic users are watered down with human DNA. Most don’t even know they have magic. They call themselves lucky or intuitive. They wish for things to happen and sometimes get their way. But Eva is one of the very few and very rare full-blooded magic wielders. Her Sorceress powers cannot be matched by many.” Logan informed me.
Whoa, that was comforting and nerve-racking at the same time.
Eva leaned into me. “My ego doesn’t need any boosting either. Remember that,” she joked.
I smiled. “Will do.”
Eva walked over to a jar on the wall and pulled it down. The fluid was a clear-ish yellow, and as she poured it into the bowl, I tried to convince myself it wasn’t more pee.
“What is that?” I squeaked.
She turned and made her way back over to me, swirling the bowl as she walked. Green sparks were shooting off of it. “Best not to ask those questions dear,” she answered.
Oh shit. It was totally pee. She leaned over and pulled a big jar of honey out. It was one of those bear squeeze ones from the market.
“That’s a special ingredient?” I mused aloud.
Eva squeezed a heaping spoonful in and stirred it with a spoon. “Makes it palatable, dear.”
Oh hell no. I was NOT drinking that.
“Bottoms up. This won’t change who you are one bit, but it will fool most of the magical idiots that roam this earth.” She handed me the bowl.
Ugh. I could see crap floating in it, and my hair! I couldn’t drink this! I was ninety-eight percent sure that she’d poured wolf pee into it.
I was about to object when, “I’ve done it,” Logan called from behind me, as if that would make me feel better. Well, a little I guess. But standing in a velvet purple bikini about to drink hair, pee, and God knows what else, made it hard to control my gag reflex.
“The faster you drink it, the faster I can find out who kept your dragon hidden for twenty years,” Eva mused.
My eyes widened. She could find that out? Okay, screw it. Without over-thinking it, I opened my mouth and threw the potion down the hatch. Besides, if this was some paranoid delusion, maybe this much repulsion would wake me up.