“How are you doing with your final project?” Kai asked Riley.

“Nearly done.”

He lifted his shirt, showing Kai the black band strapped under it. It was the kind assassins used to hold throwing knives. Riley had modified it to hold tiny bottles. Each one contained a different color of liquid. Kai could feel a variety of magics from them: some elemental spells, some healing magic, some debilitating magic to slow your enemy or blind his senses. It was an impressive array of magic, a stellar final project.

“That’s fantastic,” Kai told him.

Riley’s professors would be impressed. Kai was impressed too, and that didn’t come easily to him. Riley had a talent, one that Kai would love to hire for his own company. Riley would make a great addition to any of the research teams at Drachenburg Industries. Except Kai still hadn’t told Riley who he was, a member of the Magic Council and head of Drachenburg Industries. His reputation as a supreme asshole and scary dragon shifter would just get in the way of their friendship. But he had to tell Riley eventually.

Today, other things were on his mind, though, distracting him. Unknown thieves were attacking his company’s vaults. They were clearly after something. And then his cousin Finn had just gone nuts earlier in the week, controlled by some evil magic that had compelled him to try to break into the company’s Sausalito vault. Kai had hired Mayhem to bring him home. They were the best mercenary guild in San Francisco, and Kai didn’t bother with hiring anything but the best. That was just a waste of money.

He was surprised when one of the mercenaries Mayhem sent was Sera, Riley’s sister. He’d read her report. There was a poetry to her writing, so unlike most mercenaries’ choppy, to-the-point style. The way she’d described Finn’s magic and the fight with him was pure art. And then he’d seen the name: Serafina Dering. Sera Dering. He’d lifted the report to his nose, sniffing the pages, and it smelled like her magic.

He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t pry, but, smelling her magic on his report, that startling, intoxicating blend of the unknown, he couldn’t help himself. He’d never been able to resist an enigma. And this Serafina Dering was a huge enigma. He wanted to know what she was. For himself, not for the Magic Council.

“I’m sure you’ll get top marks on your project,” Kai said.

Riley shrugged, smiling. “I’d better. Sure, it was fun, but it was also a lot of late nights.”

“Have you thought about your job prospects after graduation?”

“I really should, but no, I’ve been too busy with school. And much as I can’t wait to get out on my own, I’ve been putting it off.”

“Why?” Kai asked him.

“My sisters. They’re deadly with a sword, but when it comes to everyday life…well, they’re deadly there too.”

Kai looked at him, his interest peaked. Riley didn’t talk much about his sisters, and Kai was curious. Especially about Sera.

“My slayer sisters are also slayers in the kitchen,” Riley continued. “They burn the mac ’n cheese. The pinnacle of their culinary careers is peeling up the lid of the yogurt container.”

Kai snorted.

“They’ve been taking care of me since our dad died,” said Riley. “But I’ve also been taking care of them. I’m not sure if they could survive without me. They’d order pizza every day. Speaking of pizza, do you want to join me and Sera for dinner tonight? Friday night is pizza night.”

Kai hadn’t been able to accept Riley’s previous offers. He had too much work to do. But a burning curiosity to meet Sera, to see the person whose delicious magic he’d been sensing on Riley for months, made him accept tonight. He’d just have to push the work back to this weekend—to finally take up Tony’s offer to help him with some of the administrative shit he hated anyway.

“I would love to. But Wizard House is closed tonight for a private party,” Kai told him.

Riley’s face fell. “Sera won’t like that.”

“Don’t worry. There’s a great gourmet sandwich place I know of. I’m sure we can find something she’ll love.”

* * *

Kai walked with Riley to his house. He usually drove everywhere, but tonight he felt like walking. It was nice and cool outside, a great way to clear his head of all the nonsense that had been going on lately. After lunch, he’d sat in meetings at work for hours. He needed some air—and to move, not sit.

The house Riley shared with his sisters was well-kept, but nothing fancy. It was packed close to a bunch of other identical houses in a community linked with gravely paths. It was all very unassuming, right down to the occasional pile of cat poop in the shared gardens. There was just something bizarrely charming about the place.

Riley stopped on the doorstep before entering the house. “Let me go first to break the news about the pizza,” he said.”

An amusing comment. Why would anyone be so upset about a change of plans from pizza to sandwiches?

Riley turned the knob and entered. As soon as the door opened, a gust of Sera’s magic hit Kai immediately, a powerful melody of delectable scents. It was even more amazing up close. He moved slowly forward, drawn to its power.

“Who’s ‘we’?” demanded a woman, presumably Sera. Her voice was as sweet as her magic.

“Kai and I. He’s the one who told me about the cafe,” Riley replied.

So they were fighting about the sandwiches. Sera sounded slightly annoyed, but her annoyance burst into full-out panic when Kai stepped into the house. She looked him over, a hint of female appreciation flashing in her eyes. But it was quickly swallowed under that surge of fear. Sera was clearly accustomed to fear. She was holding it in, controlling it. She was looking at him closely, her gaze less appreciative and more assessing now. She was obviously looking for his weaknesses. She was clearly a competent fighter, but he knew that already from her report on the fight with Finn.