Ever Mine (Dragon Lore) by Eden Ashe Read Free Book Online

surprise, she went up on her toes and kissed him back. “I’m sorry for upsetting you, too.”
    “Oh, good, Nathan.” A lilting Irish voice sounded from behind him. “I see you got my gift.”
    Ignoring the old woman for the moment, he focused on Katenia. He brushed a strand of pale hair behind her pointed ear. “Listen. No matter what happens here, I will find a way to get you home, alright? I promise.”
    He’d expected relief, so the worry and fear colliding in her eyes shook him. She didn’t want to go home. And then it hit him. “In your fairy size. If you can grow, I’ll find you a way to shrink back.”
    She smiled and walked into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you, Nathan. For everything.” She lifted her face until she could see his. “No matter what happens, nothing is your fault, alright?”
    He started to tell her he wasn’t that hard on himself, but the look in her eyes worried him, and his body tensed. Yeah, there was something going on in her head he didn’t know about, and it scared him.
    Before he could figure it out, his aunt’s voice pitched to an ear-shattering level. “Nathan Malone Alexander, what have you done? ”
     

 
    Chapter 7
     
    For someone who could barely stand on her legs, Katenia turned into a wildcat. She shot around him, putting herself between him and his irate aunt.
    Then, to his absolute astonishment, she spread her arms as if to protect him, and let out a warning growl. “Do not yell at him!” she shouted, the air around them pulsing with her temper. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
    Nathan wasn’t sure who was more stunned about the vibrations in the air—him or his aunt. He hooked his arm around the fairy’s waist and leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Katen, sweetheart, it’s okay.”
    “No, it’s not.” She stomped her foot, and with it, there came the tiniest rumble through the grass and trees. Not enough to knock them off balance, but to let his aunt know she’d pissed her off. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Apologize to him. Now.”
    Mellie’s elegant brow winged up ever so slightly. She shifted her gaze from Katenia to Nathan. “I apologize, nephew, and then I ask again—what did you do? Fairies aren’t meant to be this size.”
    “I don’t know what happened. A car horn spooked her. We were hoping you could help return her to normal size, and help her get home.”
    His aunt nodded, concern flickering over her face. “I should have warned you. Fairies tend to react badly to overwhelming stimulation, though this is the first time I’ve heard of one growing.” She moved to the side. “Let’s get her in the house. It’s not safe for her to be out here.”
    Nathan nodded once. Any questions he had could wait another minute. Because he still held Katenia’s plant in one arm, he scooped her up with the other. She tilted her head to glare at him. “Why did you come between me and your aunt? She shouldn’t talk to you like that.”
    He smiled at the fury in her eyes. “I’m a big boy. I can handle myself when needed.”
    She snorted. “You’ve disrupted your entire life for me tonight. I heard you and Hope talking. You were meeting a woman tonight, weren’t you? I’m sure you’d rather be doing that then helping me. Your aunt should give you some credit.”
    “She didn’t know about Rhiannon.” The indignant outrage on her face on his behalf was enchanting. It shouldn’t have mattered that she was defending him, but damn it anyway. He fought all day long, every day of the year, and he couldn’t remember the last time someone had thought to help him in some way. It was nice.
    No. It wasn’t nice. It was wrong, in a totally screwed up way, that someone as tiny and out of place as Katenia defended him when no other would. And he fell a little bit in love with her.
    He cleared his throat of the emotion clogged in it. “I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I’m here because I want to be,