She owed him anapology. Big time.
Kat held herhand in front of her, feeling a sudden urge to try somethingout.
Inside herhead, she called on her dragon.
Fascinated, shewatched her skin colour change to pale blue. Iridescent scalescaught the sunlight as she turned her hand. Her fingers elongated,her nails became curved talons. Holy shit!
She commandedthe mutation to stop. It did. Her hand returned to normal. Or wasit? Maybe it would feel more normal to be in her dragon form,succumb to the power that simmered inside, waiting to bereleased.
Yes, she neededto see Nix more than ever now. He would have the answers shesought—if he could forgive her.
A shower first,and a coffee.
She laid thecoat on the bed and then went into her bathroom for a quick shower.After slipping into a pair of loose-fitting trousers and a blouse,she met Selene in the kitchen, the welcoming aroma of good, strongcoffee wafting up her nose.
Kat satopposite Selene at the kitchen table and sipped her coffee.
“Somethingmagical, you say?” her friend prompted.
“Yes, somethingamazing happened tonight, but it wasn’t with Egan. I met someoneelse.”
“Who?”
“Egan didn’tshow up, but he sent his friend to apologise on his behalf.Nicholas, he said his name was.”
“So you spentthe evening with him instead?”
“Yeah. Icouldn’t explain it at first, but… there was magic in the air. Wehad the best evening ever, and when he asked me back to his home, Isaid yes.” She grinned. “We had sex, Selene, the most amazing,mind-blowing sex—”
Selenechuckled. “This Nicholas guy must be special; you usually waituntil at least the second date.”
“Yeah, I know,I’m a slut.”
“You’re not. Ifsomething feels right, you should go for it. I’m so happy for you,Kat.”
“Thanks.” Shedrank her coffee. “Something else happened too, and I’m going toburst if I don’t tell you.” She paused for dramatic effect.“Nicholas is not his real name. It’s Phoenix.”
Her friend’smouth dropped. “Phoenix? Are you certain? Why would he tellyou it was Nicholas?”
“He hadto.”
“I’m not sure Iunderstand,” she said slowly.
“No, I didn’tat first, but then I found out what I am.”
“You what?” Herfriend gripped her coffee cup so tightly her knuckles turnedwhite.
“I think Imight be a dragon. I read about it in this book, how an evilsorceress cursed the last two dragons—”
“That’sridiculous,” Selene interrupted, her tone abrupt and disbelieving.“You can’t possibly be a dragon.”
She frowned.“Why not?”
“Full-blooddragons died out centuries ago.”
“You’ve heardof them then?”
“Yes, I’veheard the stories, but that’s all they are, stories; a romanticisedmyth written in a book that no one can prove is true.”
Her frowndeepened. Why the sudden hostility from her friend? Selene said shewas happy for her. “But…”
“But nothing,Kat.” Selene scraped her chair across the kitchen floor and stood.She marched over to the sink and poured her coffee down theplughole. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop thisnonsense right now.”
Something aboutSelene’s manner put her on edge. Maybe her newfound dragon senseshad picked up on something, but whatever it was, something was notright with her. “No, I won’t. It’s not nonsense. I might not haveall my memories back yet, but I know this.” Kat lifted her arm,purposely changing the skin on her hand to her dragon’s scales,complete with talons instead of fingernails.
Selene grabbedat the worktop for support.
Heck, shehadn’t meant to scare her. She returned her hand to flesh andfingers. “Sorry, but I don’t understand why you won’t believe me. Ithought you’d be pleased I found out what I am.”
“Why the fuckwould I be pleased?” she spat out. “You’ve ruined everything.”
Selene’s eyes,once chocolate brown, darkened to black, the whites too, like demoneyes. Where there was once kindness in the woman Kat considered afriend, there was now a soulless void. Her expression twisted andseethed with a fury that shot a chilling shiver into her verysoul.
“What… what’swrong with you, Selene?” Kat shook her head, trying to rememberwhat Selene looked like before because the woman standing in frontof her was not someone she recognised. “We’re friends.”
“We were nevermeant to be friends, Katarina.”
“But… youhelped me. You found me that day I had the car crash. You offeredme a place to stay and told me about the supernatural world.”
She emitted abitter laugh. “Who do you think ran you off the road?”
Kat’s stomachhollowed. She’d never recalled how she ended up with her carwrapped around an oak tree, but it all came back to her now, theflashback playing in her head like a horror movie.
She’d beendriving along a quiet country lane, a clear blue sky overhead, whenshe’d noticed another car come up behind her. She’d thought nothingof it until the car rammed her rear bumper. Kat swerved but managedto control her car. Fuming at having nearly been run off the road,she’d glanced in her rear-view mirror and had seen a woman behindthe wheel, the determination on her face leaving her in no doubtshe wanted to run her off the road. With fear coursing through herveins, she’d accelerated, speeding along the narrow lanes,desperate to get away from the psycho.
The other carpursued her relentlessly, and the second time the woman rammed hercar, Kat hadn’t been so lucky. She’d blacked out, and when shewoke, she’d been reincarnated again, her memories of her previouslife erased.
Kat hadn’trecognised her then, but she did now.
That woman wasSelene.
Her bloodturned cold. “You…? But why?”
“Because I knowwho and what you are, ice dragon.” Selene’s words dripped withdisdain.
Her head spun.Selene had known her true identity, and she’d never told her.
For two years,they’d been friends—was it all a lie? Kat had been so gratefulSelene had found her, and when she’d learned her friend was awitch, she’d hoped she might have been able to help her. Selene hadcomforted her, helped her learn to live with not knowing who shewas, but it was all a lie, some plan she’d been oblivious to andstill was.
Nauseathreatened. “You knew?”
Selene rotatedher wrists like she was about to do her magic.
But instead ofthe sickly-sweet scent of good magic, something different filledthe air. Something evil.
A herbal,fennel sweetness, like liquorice, swirled around her.
Aniseed. Thestench of dark magic.
An energy ballappeared in Selene’s palm, the greenish-black flames flickeringwith something malicious.
Kat
