Breath (Scales 'n' Spells 2)

“We’d already lost so many mages. Who would dare attack one? I think that was everyone’s train of thought. At least until the Jaeggi raised their heads.”

It did make sense, from that perspective. Tori had already seen for himself how a dragon treated a mage. How carefully they were protected. How he was protected. To them, it must be anathema to even consider harming a mage. “Cassie mentioned to me that’s how you two met. That you’d gone to her rescue because a Jaeggi mage broke into her apartment.”

That brought a smile to Sasha’s face, if briefly. “She didn’t need the help, although I didn’t know it then. Cameron was near frantic, he was so worried about her. I went with Baldewin to help. When we arrived, I found this little slip of a woman standing there with a smile on her face and a baseball bat in hand. I couldn’t help but think she was the cutest thing I’d ever seen.”

“She had no magical training then, right?”

“None at all. Wasn’t even sure if she was a mage, although we were pretty sure on it. Odds were good, if her twin was. But she took on a Jaeggi mage with a baseball bat and won. By the time we got there, she had him in a sushi roll of duct tape and him bleeding on her carpet.”

Tori looked Cassie over with new respect. That was some kind of guts, to take on a mage like that. And win, no less.

“Was it love at first sight?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“No. Lust, certainly, on both ends.” Sasha’s smile was rueful and nostalgic. “I’ve a weakness for strong people who are bright and optimistic, and heaven knows she’s got all of that in spades. And the mouth on her, god. She’s constantly making me laugh. There we were, dealing with the aftermath of a mage attack, and she’s packing her bags and bantering with her grandmother, and I honestly forgot a few times that we had a dead mage in the next room.”

Having spent an evening with Cassie working magic, Tori could easily see this scene. She might be serious in her work, but she kept you laughing too.

“And I could tell she liked the look of me. She kept finding ways to put her hands on me, to snuggle into my side. By the time we boarded the plane that night, it was all I could do not to pounce on her. That’s how riled up she’d gotten me.” A laugh in her eyes, she confided, “We made out most of the way to Germany. Poor Baldewin’s not yet forgiven me for it.”

“Ouch. Well, but it sounds like you two immediately knew you’d found the right person.”

“Hmm, not that first night. It was more that we liked the look of each other and we were still on an adrenaline high. But I admit it didn’t take much time for lust to transition to love. She was my gefreogen for maybe six days? Before we properly mated.”

“I’m sorry, a what?” That single word didn’t mean anything to Tori.

“Gefreogen,” she repeated. “It is what we call the stage of serious courtship with the possibility of mating.”

“Oh. I didn’t know there was a word for that. So, one step shy of engagement?”

“Yes, exactly.”

That begged another question that Tori had always wondered. This seemed the opportune moment to ask. “How did you know? That she was right?”

“Hmm. Both you and Cameron have wondered that.” Sasha regarded him in a way that suggested she suspected why he was curious, although she didn’t voice her suspicions out loud. “I suppose from your side, it’s not as easy to tell. Part of it, of course, is that we like the person. We enjoy their company and want to spend a lifetime with them. But our certainty comes from our dragon side, I think. Our dragon instincts are quick to decide if they like a person or not. And it doesn’t take long for those instincts to tell us if we’ve found the right mage to mate with.”

“So, you just…know.”

“Basically. It’s hard to explain. And it does seem a bit rushed to our human counterparts, which is why we sometimes court for several weeks, even months, to give them time to catch up with our own feelings. I would have waited for Cassie if she’d needed that time. I’ll spend centuries with her, after all. What’s a few months? Or even a few years? But it turned out that she, too, has good instincts. She knew quickly that I was the right one for her.”

“Which is why you two didn’t hesitate. You’ve been mated for how long now?”

“Two months,” Sasha answered with a honeymoon smile. “It’s been blissful. Are you considering being a mate to one of us, Tori?”

“I…honestly don’t know how to answer that.” He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a low breath, eyes drawn back to Cassie’s slack form. “A week ago, if you’d asked me, I would have emphatically said no. Too many lies had skewed my opinion. But now, after untangling some of the major lies? Seeing how you and Cassie are together? Hell, I’d sacrifice a leg to have a relationship like yours.”