Nix laughed.Yes, he recalled the sex, mind-blowing sex, but making love toKatarina had been so much more than physical gratification; theirsouls were joined. Like yin and yang, they fitted together. Dragonsof fire and ice—when they got together, everything sizzled. “I’m afire dragon, Egan, not a monk; think what it’s like for me. It’snot as if I’ve been celibate for centuries. There have been otherwomen; one-night stands mostly, no strings attached, but none ofthem were like my Katarina.”
Egan’s phonetinged in his pocket. “Lucky her.” He grinned. “So, are we going tofind her, or what?”
Nix steppedoutside and sniffed the night air, ready to retrace his steps backto where he’d seen her. “You’d better believe it. Thanks fortalking some sense into me.”
“Anytime.” Hisbrother ignored his phone and walked into the woods.
“Wait, let metry something first.” Despite there being little chance of beingseen in the dark, he still hadn’t fully completed the shift tohuman form. He wasn’t sure how much whiskey he’d downed, but it wasenough to dull the pain in his shoulder. Hopefully, the swellinghad gone down enough by now that his wing would respond to hiscommand. He concentrated the best he could with his alcohol-infusedbrain and forced it to retract. It worked; he was back to his humanform. “That’s better.” He overtook Egan. “It’s this way. Comeon.”
Nix weavedthrough the darkened forest, the moon offering barely enough light,but he called on his dragon vision to help him.
Egan, with onlythe wings of a dragon and the odd attempt to add fire to hisbreath, wasn’t so blessed. He fished his mobile phone from hispocket and switched on a light.
“They come witha torch, too?” he asked.
“Yes, they comewith a torch—among other useful things. You need to move with thetimes, Nix. I can set you up with a mobile if you want?”
“No thanks.Confounding things, if you ask me. All everyone seems to do thesedays is have their heads buried in their phones, playingmind-numbing games or taking pictures of what they had for dinnerand putting them on those awful social media website things.”
Egan’s phonetinged again.
“See what Imean?” He reached the place where he’d met Katarina. “Why does itkeep bleeping?”
“There’s nohope for you, you old relic.” Egan chuckled. “It bleeps to let meknow I have a message, a notification, or an email.”
Nix had neverunderstood emails either. What was wrong with writing a letter?“Shouldn’t you answer it then?” He dropped to his haunches andexamined the ground, searching for Katarina’s footprints, or evenher dog’s pawprints, in the mud.
Nothing.
“It can wait.Have you picked up her tracks?”
His shoulderssank. “No. The rain’s washed away the trail. I know she went thatway, towards the road, but without her tracks, I can’t even pick upher scent.”
“Maybe we couldsearch again in the morning?” Egan suggested amidst anotherannoying ting of his phone.
The flicker ofhope snuffed out. “It won’t make any difference. I should havefollowed her sooner.”
“Hey, don’tgive up yet.”
His brother wasonly trying to help, but Nix’s heart ached with the truth. Hisstupidity might have lost him his one chance at finding her. Hestood, then stormed along the pathway back to his cottage. “Leaveit, Egan. It’s a waste of time.” There was always her nextreincarnated life. “And stop the damn bleeping on that thing.”
Egan followedat a snail’s pace, fiddling with his phone.
Nix didn’t waitfor him, trying to focus on anything other than how he’d let herslip through his fingers. Flames flicked at the back of his throat.His dragon beckoned, urging him to shift and take to the skies oncemore. It took everything he had not to give in to the beast, butwith his weakened wing, he couldn’t risk it.
More alcohol,that’s what he needed.
Halfway backhome, his brother caught up with him. “Phoenix, wait!”
“Leave mealone, Egan. I don’t need a babysitter; I’m fine.”
“You’re clearlynot fine if the scorched trail in your wake is anything to goby.”
So what if he’dvented his frustration on a few twigs and tree trunks? It’s notlike he burnt the whole forest down. “I said, leave me alone. I’mnot in the mood for company tonight.”
“You might bewhen I show you this.” Egan thrust his phone in Nix’s face.
There on thetiny screen was a picture of his Katarina holding her Westie; Toby,she called him. She smiled back at him. The beautiful smile he hadetched in his memories. “What the hell…? Why do you have a pictureof Katarina on that thing?”
“I don’t. It’son a website. I just zoomed in on the image. I wasn’t certain atfirst, but it’s definitely her.”
Phoenixsnatched the phone off his brother. The screen went black.
“You idiot,you’ve turned it off.” He grabbed it back.
“Explain, Egan,before I set your hair alight.”
“I was going toif you’d given me a chance.” His brother pressed something on hisphone, and the picture of Katarina appeared again. “It looks likethe love of your life has joined Love Bites.”
“What the hellis Love Bites?”
“It’s an onlinedating agency.”
“Am I supposedto know what that means?”
“LikeTinder, but specifically for us supernaturals.”
He glanced atEgan’s phone screen again, but her image was gone. “Sorry, you’velost me.”
Egan raised hiseyes to the night sky. “May the stars and moon give me strength.It’s the twenty-first century, and my brother is living in the DarkAges.” He returned his gaze to Nix. “Okay, I’ll try to explain,” hesaid in a tone like an ever-patient teacher. “Any magical being cansign up to the website if they’re looking for a date.”
“What’s wrongwith meeting someone in a pub?”
“Nothing, butthis website makes it easier to find those who know about thesupernatural world. ‘Find the magic in love,’ it says in theirslogan.”
“That’s quitepossibly the corniest thing I’ve heard in centuries. And you’vejoined this website, presumably?”
“Yeah, what’swrong with that?”
“What’s rightwith it?” His head throbbed. “Forget it, I don’t care. All I wantto know is why Katarina is on there.”
“I’ll tell youif you promise not to burn my hair.”
“Don’t tell me,and it won’t be just your hair I’ll set alight.” He wouldn’t, ofcourse.
“Greatoptions.” Egan offered a half-smile. “She messaged me and wants togo on a date.”
Anger sizzledin his belly. “She what? Why on earth would she want to dateyou?”
“Thanks verymuch. I’m a good-looking guy; I have plenty of women
