I grinned.
I had done that.
Although Mattie was a good photographer, she didn’t like to do portrait work on actual people. Taking photos of actual people would require her to have to talk to them, and she didn’t do that if she could help it.
Mattie was an introvert to the nth degree.
A person couldn’t be any more introverted than she was.
“And I appreciate you taking them for me when you couldn’t get a hold of me,” I smiled.
“Why did I have to take them for you?” she persisted. “Why have you been missing for days without a word to me or Shane?”
I grinned.
“You’re not going to believe me,” I told her. “And I did call you. I gave you the address, didn’t I?”
She gave me that look, the one that clearly said that she wasn’t amused and that she resented the fact that she had to come looking for me after I’d left her a voicemail about where I was.
“I believed you about dragons and magic,” she said. “Now tell me, or I’ll call Shane and tell him where you are.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Shane obviously wasn’t worried about me if he’s not here helping you beat down Ian’s door,” I muttered, not thinking what that name would do to her.
Mattie stiffened and her eyes went to the door in question.
“Ian?” she asked, her heart written all over her face.
Ian.
What she didn’t know was that my Ian was her Ian.
She was about to have the shock of a lifetime, especially when I heard the door open and Ian step through.
“Ian,” I confirmed.
Ian’s eyes moved from me to his sister and stayed there.
“Well, where’s this Ian of yours?” she asked, picking at invisible lint on her jeans. “I think I need a little more explanation than your man is a dragon rider and that his name is Ian. I think I would like a lot more, in fact.”
I smiled at her.
“Ian?” I called.
Ian’s head turned from Mattie to me, and then I saw him swallow visibly before taking a step in Mattie’s direction.
With her back facing the door, she had no clue what was coming at her back.
I did, though, and what I saw on Ian’s face was hauntingly beautiful.
“Mattie?” Ian’s voice cracked. All the emotion he was feeling was clearly written all over his face, as well as dripping from his voice. Remorse. Love. Hope.
Mattie stiffened, and I saw the instant she realized that this wasn’t a joke. That this was all real.
“He’s real, isn’t he?” she whispered. “You found him.”
A statement, not a question.
She knew he was standing behind her.
The trembling started in her hands, moved right up her arms and straight to her lips, which started to wobble before the first sob tore free of her chest.
Ian moved in front of her, enveloping Mattie’s hands with his before the first tear even made it to the bottom of her cheek.
“I always knew,” she whispered, tears tracking down her face at a fast clip.
“Knew what?” Ian asked, just as shaken up as Mattie.
“That she would bring you to me.”Chapter 14I have a get wussy.
-You read that wrong.
Ian
I left my house under the cover of night.
“You good?” Jean Luc asked.
I looked up, surprised to see him standing there.
“Will you do me a favor?” I asked him.
“Sure, mon ami,” he said. “What do you need?”
He looked almost surprised that I asked, and it took everything in me not to smile.
“Will you go inside, keep my woman and my sister company?” I paused. “My sister…she’s not in the right frame of mind; try to make sure she doesn’t leave.”
Jean Luc’s mouth tipped up into a grin, his blazing white teeth standing out starkly against his tanned skin.
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” he grinned. “I’ll love meeting her.”
I rolled my eyes, but the anger that would’ve come not even a few weeks ago is now gone, and in its place is contemplation.
It wouldn’t break my heart to have my sister with a man like Jean Luc.
However, what would break my heart would have my sister with someone like Farrow, the stupid motherfucker that was now walking up behind Jean Luc.
“Don’t,” I said, holding my hand up.
Jean Luc froze and turned, his movements sluggish and difficult, almost as if he were trying to move through quicksand.
“Stop it,” I said once I realized that Farrow had been stupid enough to use his power—the one that allowed him to affect others by telekinesis. “He’s going to fucking kill you when he gets himself loose.”
Farrow grinned.
“Is that right?” he asked.
My eyes narrowed.
“What is your problem?” I asked. “Do you just like being a douche to everyone who gives a shit about you?”
Farrow lifted his lip in a silent snarl.
“I’ve been instructed by the high and mighty King of dragons himself to come over here and offer my services,” he bowed slightly. “So here I am, to follow the Prince of awesomeness as he does his nightly routine.”