He didn’t acknowledge her. He just kept carrying her toward Alden.

“I believe in you,” she told him.

“No talking.” He set his hand over her mouth.

She kissed his hand, pouring all of her magic into that kiss. She didn’t force it. She didn’t attack. Not this time. Alden’s power was too strong to beat with brute force, even the brute force of a Dragon Born mage. But he had no defense against subtlety. She slipped her magic between the pores of the armor Alden had put around Kai’s mind. Slowly, softly, with a whispered kiss, she broke into his mind. Not through force, but through love.

Magic engulfed them in soft, silken ribbons of diffused light, whisking the pain away. When the swirl of color and magic cleared, she found herself in the middle of Golden Gate Park.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Kai's Memories

KAI WALKED DOWN the paved path. It was a sunny Saturday, and Golden Gate Park was buzzing with life. People were enjoying the weather—and the absence of monsters, thanks to the city’s mercenary guilds. Over the past few years, they’d gotten monster extermination down to an efficient process. Within minutes of a monster sighting, they had mercenaries on site. The Magic Council paid the guilds handsomely for the service, but it was worth it. It wouldn’t do to have monsters roaming freely everywhere, terrorizing the human population.

Kai spotted a group of runners standing beside the fountain of four nymphs, and he jogged toward them at an easy pace. Riley waved at him as he approached.

“Hi, Kai. Ready to run?”

“You bet,” Kai replied. “Think you can beat me today?”

They’d been friends for a few months, having met on a Saturday morning much like this one, if not a bit chillier. Kai had joined the club earlier in the year, something that had amused Tony to no end. What the hell was Kai Drachenburg—dragon shifter, first tier combat mage, dragon shifter, executive of the world’s largest magic research company, member of the Magic Council that ruled the supernatural world—doing in a running club? Half of the members were human, most of the others non-combat mages. But it felt so good, so peaceful to be doing something normal for a change, a few hours when he didn’t have at least a dozen people screaming at him that the fate of the world was in the balance.

The truth of the matter was that most of his fellow Council members didn’t realize it was the little moments in life that mattered. Life wasn’t a series of crises. It was everything in between. Enjoying the feel of warm sunshine and a cool breeze on his skin. A dinner with the family. Running with friends.

Friends like Riley. He was young, innocent in many ways, but there was a wisdom about him. He had a keen wit and a creative mind. He didn’t have combat magic, but the magic he possessed to create things from magic—potions, bombs, armor, and so much more—was a valuable gift. And yet he was never arrogant. He was a friend that didn’t spin bullshit like it was magic. Kai liked running with him.

Riley laughed. “I think today is my lucky day.”

Riley was always optimistic. He didn’t give up. Not on any task or on anyone. He was the sort of friend who would be loyal until the end.

Kai laughed too. “Oh? What makes you so confident today?”

Riley was a fast runner, one of the best in the club, but he wasn’t nearly as stubborn as Kai. That’s why Riley hadn’t yet beaten him.

“I’ve been running with my sister.”

Kai smelled her on Riley. He’d never met Sera Dering, but he’d scented her magic on Riley so many times before. Her magic was powerful. It stuck to Riley’s clothes like a perfume, an exotic scent that was still somehow familiar, but Kai couldn’t place how.

Riley also had a second sister named Alex, but Kai had never smelled her magic. She was currently away in Europe on assignment. The sisters were mercenaries, working at Mayhem. Riley had called them human, but Kai knew better. That magical perfume was undeniable. Sera was a combat mage, a powerful one. She had to be if Kai could sense her magic on Riley’s clothes.

Kai didn’t say anything, though. He didn’t judge or interfere. This running time was supposed to be free of magic, free of his responsibilities—if only for a few hours each week. He needed the break to clear his head. He was not going on the hunt for unregistered mages, especially not the sister of his friend.

* * *

“Are you really going to eat all of those hamburgers?” Riley asked.

Kai was having lunch with him at the SFUMAS campus, as they sometimes did during the week.

“Of course.” Kai looked down at the two hamburgers on his plate. He licked the sticky remnants of the one he’d just finished from his fingers, then picked up the next.

Riley laughed. “Man, it never ceases to amaze me how you’re able to eat so much.”

“Fast metabolism,” Kai replied with a shrug.

That was what happened when you were a first tier mage. Kai never did anything halfway. He was of the philosophy that if you were going to do something, you might as well do it right. When he cast elemental spells, he strung them together one after the other, never giving his opponent a chance. And the shift into a dragon burned through a few thousand calories right there. Meat was fuel, and Kai’s body needed a lot of it to keep going. Running was a drop in the bucket in terms of burning calories. So was weight lifting. But he had to take care of his body as well as his magic. Magic—even his—could fail. When his magic was sapped dry, he had only his body to rely on until it replenished.