Dragon Knight (The Collegium Book 3) Read Free Page B

wary of him, nervous, and trying to hide something. Was it resentment? It seemed she wanted this Deeper Path she’d mentioned but not adequately described.
    A dragon who was really an alien. It sounded improbable, but so was his personal quest. If there actually was a dragon…but he refused to believe that his power could be restored. It was gone, and he felt its absence as acutely as if he’d lost a limb. It unbalanced him. Even now, months later, he still reached for his magic only to come up against that soul-howling nothingness.
    He instinctively mistrusted anything that appeared to home in on his vulnerability—as Gina’s story did. And yet, the mix of resentment and determination in her attitude had convinced him she was genuine. Or genuine enough in her delusion for him to hear her out. He owed her uncle Asey, after all.
    And then, she’d offered him a way out of the Collegium, a way to pursue his quest unobserved.
    It was nearly a year since he’d burned out his magic in the North West Passage. A year in which he’d struggled not to voice his suspicions—because who would listen? and on his own, without magic, he couldn’t prove anything. But that ice storm hadn’t been a random weather event. It had struck with ferocity and intent.
    A weather mage. The Group of Five had hired a weather mage to challenge him, and he, arrogant idiot, had fallen for their misdirection, and fallen into the trap. Good men had lost their lives because of him. Everyone remembered the cruise ship he’d saved. No one mentioned the helicopter with five scientists onboard. They’d been out that day, undertaking research, only to be caught in the suddenly raging blizzard. The helicopter had crashed with no survivors.
    He’d been at their base camp when the news came in. He’d seen the devastation of the team members left behind.
    “Do we have a deal?” he demanded.
    Determination in Gina’s green eyes as she held his gaze. She extended her hand across the table. “We do.”
    A handshake sealed their contract.
    He braced for the tug of sexual attraction this time, and controlled the thunder in his blood.
    Not so Gina. She actually gasped, the softest puff of air that parted her lips and snagged his attention. Her head tipped back just a fraction, her whole body shifting and realigning infinitesimally; unconsciously inviting him to think of sex.
    He released her hand.
    She blinked at him in a moment’s bewilderment as if she couldn’t work out why he had let her go rather than pull her closer. Then her gaze flicked away from him and she visibly gathered her composure. “Good. Great. Morag will be pleased.”
    “When will I meet her?”
    “How about now?”

Chapter 2
     
    Gina had flung out the challenge to meet Morag immediately as a way of re-establishing her control of the situation. It was humiliating to realize that Lewis had recognized her attraction to him; recognized and not returned it. She would keep tighter control over her wayward body in future. No more swaying towards him.
    At least she hadn’t licked her lips. So clichéd. And she’d been tempted! So that told her where the cliché came from. She’d wanted to taste him on her lips.
    She could imagine how he’d taste, like cool fire.
    “Now would suit me,” Lewis said, shocking her.
    “You can leave? Now? Won’t anyone question you?”
    He stood and looked down at her. “Why would they question me leaving with my girlfriend?”
    And demons blister her butt, she blushed at the word girlfriend as if she was sixteen instead of twenty seven and a strong, independent, kick-ass woman. She didn’t blame herself completely though. Who wouldn’t blush to hear Lewis’s low voice turn to dark treacle as he spoke of his girlfriend?
    “Good point.” She stood. “How do you want to play this? Are you a tactile kind of boyfriend, a cuddler and a smoocher.” She stared, shocked and delighted, as for the first time color crept into his face.
    “I don’t do