Jazzlyn glanced down at the mirror, half-hopeful and half-afraid, and not completely convinced the magic Aislinn apparently believed in was real. Alexandria would love this. “Nothing seems to be happening.”
Almost as soon as the words were out, Jazzlyn thought she saw a flash of silver streak through the stones. Aislinn’s quick smile made her ask, “Did you see that?”
“Yes.”
Jazzlyn worried her bottom lip as her courage started to desert her. Asking Aislinn to find Caro was one thing, even police departments sometimes used psychics, but holding a magic mirror and believing in heartmate stones…
She took a deep breath to steady herself. “How does this thing work?”
“I’m not sure,” Aislinn admitted. “If the mirror is the same one I found referenced in an old book, the original gems set in the frame were sorcerer stones.”
It was too much of a journey into the surreal. Jazzlyn lost her nerve and started to put the mirror down on the counter. Aislinn’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“Please, hold onto it for a minute longer. It’s safe, that I can promise you. If it’ll help, we can talk about what brought you here. Before my client burst in you started to say you wanted my help with something. What can I do for you?”
Jazzlyn looked at the mirror she continued to hold and felt a confusion of emotions, all of them making her uncomfortable. How could she accept one possibility—that Aislinn could help her—without accepting another, that this could be real too? How could she accept that Alex’s fetishes became something more than just carved stone, and completely discount this?
Maybe because this was a lot riskier to her heart.
Jazzlyn took another deep, centering breath. She’d come this far, she’d think less of herself if she didn’t follow through. But that didn’t mean she intended to ignore the conversational lifeline Aislinn had tossed out.
“Sophie told me once that you have a gift and can sometimes help find people who’ve gone missing. My cousin Carolyn didn’t show up at our great grandmother’s birthday party. I’ve looked and I’ve asked around, but no one has seen Caro or knows where she is. I’m afraid something’s happened to her.”
“Have you talked to the police?”
“No. I’m the only one worried about her. Her mother and mine both say she’ll show up eventually. But I can’t shake the feeling she’s in trouble. No one in my family will back me up if I ask the police to look for her and I don’t have the cash to pay a private detective, not without selling some of the gems I need for my jewelry. You know how that is. Unless it’s the right buyer, I’d take a loss on them. If you can help, I thought maybe you could look through my collection—”
“If I can help, you don’t owe me anything.” Behind them the chimes announced another visitor to the shop. “Or better yet, consider the debt paid in full by your humoring me and holding onto the mirror so I can determine if using heartmate stones instead of sorcerer stones achieves the outcome I hoped for.”
Before Jazzlyn could think of a response the stones flared, becoming liquid silver spiked with dark blue. The change was so obvious Jazzlyn couldn’t deny seeing it.
For a split second, just as a man’s face was captured in the mirror, she would have sworn he was outlined in the image of a silver dragon with a blue neck crest. A blink and he was only a man, the stones clear again but still warm to the touch.
He can’t be real, she thought, her stomach doing a somersault and her throat going so tight she doubted she could get a word out with a crowbar.
There was gorgeous, and then there was raw, primal beauty. He could have been conjured right out of one of her most decadent fantasies. The kind where a dominant male—one who deserved her trust—took possession of her and never let her go.
Dark blue eyes bored into hers intently, causing her channel to spasm and drench her panties in arousal. Embarrassment flooded into her with the realization he could probably see her expression in the mirror and read her thoughts.
She hastily set the mirror on the counter and turned as Aislinn did. Her breath caught at the full impact of the stranger who’d entered the store, the very one whose image in the mirror had sent desire racing through her, and who—if what was claimed about heartstones was true—was supposed to be her perfect mate.
Black hair cascaded to his shoulders in waves she wanted to touch. A broad chest and muscular arms begged to be caressed. And his lips…
Pleasure. They were made for it—both giving and receiving it.
Jazzlyn shivered as she realized her perusal of him was chaste compared to the one he gave her. He stripped her with his eyes. Bent her over the counter and fucked her where she stood.
The heat in her cheeks deepened. Escaping the shop was impossible.
She couldn’t move. Couldn’t utter a single word.
She was drowning in lust and confusion. She was totally out of her depth.
“I am Kirill.”
His name rumbled through her saying something more. You are mine.
