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“Hello!” I called as I made my way toward them, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
The bride to be waved at me and started forward.
The moment she stepped in my direction, though, the man behind her grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
He held up his phone, and then gave her an apologetic look before he answered it and walked off.
I waited for her to make her way to me, and then smiled at her.
She grimaced back.
“I sure do hope he remembers we’re getting married in a week. He better not get himself tangled up in work.”
I laughed.
“I’m sure that’s not on the top of his list of priorities at this point,” I replied. “Are you ready?”
At least I hoped not.
“Do you want to go ahead and start with the kids?” she asked. “My kids, and Leyland’s, are over there. We can just do us at first, and work him in once he gets past whatever it is that’s making him yell.”
I agreed, but surreptitiously tossed a look over my shoulder to where Ian had stopped next to a tree to watch.
He was fine, and he smiled, despite knowing I was checking up on him.
But I couldn’t help it.
The man was mine, and that’s what good girlfriends did, right?
I’m okay.
I bit my lip.
You better be, Mister. You also have a lot of explainin’ to do.
His lips quirked up into a small smile before I turned around and got back to work.
I started taking pictures, and it wasn’t until about forty-five minutes into the session that Leyland finally joined in the shoot.
I didn’t comment when he stiffly joined in, and it wasn’t until I said something funny that he finally cracked a smile.
Things after that were about as smooth as they could be with Ian watching my every move, and I would’ve said they were even enjoyable.
“All right,” I told the bride, Candace. “These will be done by next weekend, tops. If I get them done earlier, I’ll upload the finals to my website and you can download them from the site directly to your computer. Is there a certain shot you want me to work on first?”
She shook her head.
“No,” she stopped when her groom butted in. “One with the kids,” he said. “All of us together.”
I nodded my head, a small smile overtaking my face.
“I can do that. I’ll tag you on Facebook with it, and likely another closer to the end of the week. Sound good?” I asked the two of them.
One of their kids, the smaller ones that looked to be about four, screamed shrilly.
“Mommy, a dragon!” he cried out.
I looked up and nearly grinned when I saw Mace, obviously enjoying the hell out of the attention he was garnering from all the patrons in the Dallas Memorial Park, flying low for all to see.
“What is that about?” I muttered to Ian, who’d come up behind me.
“He’s a showoff sometimes,” he said. “And he could shield himself, but dragons are popular among this park since it’s close to The Heart. They’re spotted around here often.”
“Ahh,” I murmured, just as much enthralled with him flying around as the rest of the patrons were. “He looks like he’s flying kind of low. Does he normally do that?”
Ian was about to reply when Mace suddenly banked hard right, causing everyone to gasp.
That’s when we saw the first hook attached to a rope come flying out of the air from behind a large boulder.
Then another, and another.
Ian went from completely relaxed to wired in a little over ten seconds.Chapter 16Wink’s moods don’t just ‘swing.’ They pivot, twirl, thrash, and swivel.
-Ian’s secret thoughts
Ian
Shield!
One second Mace was flying in the air for all to see, and the next he wasn’t.
I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was cut short when something came sailing toward me next.
Using my own ability to shield through Mace, I cursed and dropped to the ground, taking Wink with me.
“Don’t. Move,” I ordered softly. “The shield works best when you don’t move or talk.”
She stared at me like I was crazy, almost as if to say ‘then why are you talking?’
Grinning, I chanced a look up and saw a man walking toward us.
“That’s him,” I whispered. “That’s the guy. The one that can hide his aura.”
“What guy?” she asked just barely loud enough so I could hear it, looking around as she tried to figure out who I was talking to.
“She doesn’t see me,” the man said. “Only you can.”
I stiffened and moved until Wink could move.
“Who are you?” I asked stiffly, trying to put Wink behind me at the same time as I was trying to stand and project my voice away from where I was actually standing.
The man watched me move, as if he could see through the veil.
I knew he couldn’t see me. He was talking to me, but his eyes were watching to the right of me.
