Hidden Dragons Read Online Free Page B

Cass asked as the doors slid shut.
    “The network supplied it. It’s a hot pink stretch with As Luck Would Have It spelled out in white glitter.”
    Cass snickered. “That sounds about their speed.”
    Pip flapped his arms and babbled, apparently having decided she needed to pay him more attention. He was covered from head to toe in pizza grease and grass stains. His little “Kiss Me!” T-shirt had ridden up his round tummy.
    “Do you want sparkles?” Cass teased, poking his belly button. To entertain him, she shot two from her fingertip. He liked that so much he squealed.
    “Oh my God,” Rhona moaned. “Look what a mess he is! I put a bib on him, I swear.”
    “He’s just what he ought to be,” Cass assured her, carefully kissing his sticky palm. Pip settled back against his mother, his big brown eyes wide and curious. Cass didn’t think she’d glamoured him. Babies were susceptible, but she was cautious. “I’ll spell a box of baby-safe detergent for you tonight. It’ll lift the stains right out. I got plenty of practice at that sort of thing when I was Outside.”
    “You could do magic there?” Rhona asked, the first of her friends to inquire about her time away directly. “You didn’t have to go cold turkey?”
    “It takes longer to recharge beyond the border, but I could do it if I focused.”
    Rhona hiked Pip higher. “Being out there must have been difficult.”
    “Sometimes.” The answer was enough of an understatement that her left temple throbbed. Too often, living Outside had been miserable, like missing a limb no one else believed existed. “I’m glad I got to see my mother happy. I didn’t know the person she truly was until I was there with her. Her whole personality opened up.”
    Rhona nodded sympathetically. Her relationship with her mother was strained sometimes. Mrs. Burke had definite opinions on her firstborn’s life choices. “I’m not sure I could leave Resurrection. I’d be afraid the mundanes would hunt me every time I changed form.”
    Due to the dominance of were genes, Rhona would have been able to shift. Shivering in reaction, she hugged her boy closer.
    “You’d learn to cope,” Cass said. “All you’d need is a strong enough reason.” She stroked Pip’s mussed hair, then touched her best friend’s cheek. Rhona’s mouth fell open. She was unused to Cass being demonstrative. Cass dropped her hand and smiled. “What did you hang back to talk to me about?”
    Rhona shook herself from her daze. “I just wanted to make sure you’ll be okay alone tonight. Your grandma’s place is big for one person. Pip and I could stay if you feel lonely.”
    “I’ll be fine,” Cass said. To her surprise, pain stabbed her sharply behind one eye. Clearly, she didn’t believe her own words. She was experiencing the standard faerie reaction to telling lies. She did her best to keep her expression impassive.
    “You sure?” Rhona asked.
    “You should go,” Cass assured her, neatly avoiding the question. “You don’t want to upset Pip’s new home routine. Poly will keep me company.”
    She pushed the elevator call button for her friend, waving farewell and smiling as they stepped in. Pip’s floppy wave back was adorable. “Bye-bye,” he piped quite intelligibly.
    “I’ll call you tomorrow,” his mom promised.
    Cass blew a kiss as the doors shut her off from them.
    Alone once more, she felt the silence of the store beneath her. It was half past nine, and shopping hours were over. Her fae senses picked out a security guard patrolling menswear two floors below—a reformed demon, if she read his energy correctly. Cass hadn’t adjusted to the sharpness of her perceptions since she’d returned. Her skin prickled with aliveness, too sensitive for comfort. Compared to this, she’d been wrapped in cotton batting for two decades.
    Poly yowled for her to come back to the apartment.
    Cass did so and locked up.
    “You and me, cat,” she said.
    She fought an urge to