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“But I already have plenty of clothes,” I protest.
Natalia ignores me as she goes to get in the driver’s seat.
Dove pats me on the back. “When Natalia gets something in her head, it’s best to let her have free rein. Besides, she’s right. Stellan will not mind.”
The horn of the SUV blares. Dove chuckles, heading to get in the passenger side. I get in the backseat behind her. Natalia just keeps smiling as she heads off toward whatever restaurant she has in mind. And I have a feeling that it’s going to be alongday.
I look out the window as we head down streets that are unfamiliar to me. I try to memorize everything I can, but I wonder if I need to. Was Stellan being serious when he said I was free to do as I want? Can I really come into town? Certainly I must be able to—Dove is queen and she’s with us.
I glance behind us, seeing an SUV a short distance back. Guards came with us, of course. It was the only way we could come, especially after what happened on the beach. But having guards is a small price to pay. I’ve hardly even noticed them. They stood outside the shop we were at and they’ll probably do the same at the restaurant.
Dove and Natalia talk as we drive—Natalia is informing her mother about some new milestone for Jason. I listen passively, mostly watching our surroundings. It hits me that this isnormalfor them—they’re not freaking out about being outside their castle… or mansion? I’m still not sure what the dragons call it. But it’s easy to imagine this as my future—going shopping with the in-laws and exploring the island. I try to picture going to visit other places, but I can’t get the image in my head. Maybe because the only other place I know is inside stone walls.
When Natalia pulls in front of a restaurant, I’m surprised to see it’s not the fancy place she boasted of wanting to go. Instead, it’s a local diner. I follow the two dragon shifters inside, where a plump young human woman escorts us to a booth.
Once we’re seated, I take a quick glance around the diner, noting that about half the restaurant is dragon shifters, but the other half is human.
Come to think of it, there have been a significant amount of humans on this island. It surprises me, given that most of the dragon shifter population lives here. I assumed they’d have their own island, apart from humans.
I glance at my mother and sister-in-law over my menu. “How do dragons stay hidden on an island with humans?”
Natalia is typing something on her phone, not paying attention to me at all. After knowing her for a short amount of time, I imagine she’s either checking up on Evander and Jason or texting her mate.
“Magic,” Dove answers, giving me a wide grin. “We have water elementals put magic into the local water supply which makes them look past anything supernatural that they see.”
I lift an eyebrow. “But what if the locals don’t drink the tap water?”
“Even if they don’t drink it, they still shower and wash their clothes in it,” she answers.
Wow. They’ve gone through a lot of trouble to make this work. “What about visitors?”
“There aren’t a lot of visitors,” Dove says. “There is only one hotel—for supernaturals only—and no resorts on the island, and only one small plane comes in a week. The airport has its own magic—it goes through the air conditioner.”
“You guys have thought of everything.” I put my menu down, having already decided what I want.
“We did consider making this a dragon-only island, but we need humans. Without them, there wouldn’t be many shops or restaurants. And even I am not ashamed to admit I’m addicted to those expensive coffee drinks.” Dove puts down her own menu, looking at me. “I do hope you like the island.”
I nod enthusiastically. “It’s beautiful.”
Her posture relaxes. “Good. I was worried you’d hate it.”
Natalia looks up from her phone as the waitress approaches our table. She takes our order, not batting an eye when Dove and Natalia order enough food to feed a large family and leaves.
Huh… their magical showers must really work.
“That’s all you’re going to eat?” Natalia wrinkles her nose at me. “Will a single plate of pasta really fill you up?”
Is she worried for my health or just worried I’ll try to steal some of her food? Knowing Natalia, it’s probably a little of both.
“Fae have much smaller appetites,” I remind her. “Since we don’t shift, we don’t burn nearly as many calories.”
Still, she cocks her head to the side as she looks at me.Her not quite blue, not quite green eyes make my chest tighten.
Do ImissStellan?
“You and Stellan have the same eye color,” I comment.
She grins. “We do, though most people don’t notice. They always comment how I look nothing like my brother.”
