Lovestruck, a Dragon Story by Bonnie Vanak Page A

not as skinny as when she’d last seen him, before becoming Xavier’s apprentice. Michael was twenty-three now, and a man.
    A very fine-looking man.
    “You look more…muscular and healthy. Has the Crystal Wizard treated you well?” she asked, covering his other hand with hers.
    He looked down at their joined hands. “Very well. Xavier has taught me much about botany and magick plants. He works me hard, but gives me enough vacation time as well. I’ve grown in power.”
    Michael’s gaze hardened. “Power enough to fight even your father.”
    Anna’s delight turned to worry again. Barlow had gone with her mother and two younger siblings to find char-grilled barbecue. She glanced at the darkening skies. They had perhaps two hours at most.
    “Forget my father. This time is about us.”
    His long, leanly muscled body was tall, filled with enormous strength, and his face had a hard edge about it, contrasting with a mouth almost too sensual for a man. His sunny smile and boyish charm masked his quiet strength and fierce loyalty to Xavier, his master.
    “Why did you apprentice yourself to Xavier? Tristan is our guardian and our judge.”
    “He requested me.” Michael looked thoughtful. “Xavier he had need of a dragon to work in his lab and said he would teach me all I needed to learn in my chosen field of study. And I have.”
    She shivered with awareness of him as he leaned closer. “Anna, I have a gift for you.”
    Michael opened his palm. A magick wand appeared in his hand. “It belongs to Xavier. I borrowed it from him especially for you, Anna.”
    Perhaps not so loyal after all. Delighted, she took the wand. “Won’t you get into trouble?”
    “He has several. He won’t miss one. Test it out. Wave it and see how much magick it holds.”
    “How does it work?”
    “Think of something you’d like to see. Hold that image in your mind and wave the wand.”
    Mischief filled her.
    She waved the wand and suddenly Michael was clad in khaki shorts and a white T-shirt. He grinned as she stared at the sleek muscles of his calves, the light dusting of dark hair upon his athletic legs.
    “You’re very tan,” she said, her desire rising in a volcanic rush.
    “Xavier has me working in the gardens of Tir Na-nog. He’s searching for a special ingredient to experiment with.”
    “Remember when we played dress-up as kids? And you borrowed my father’s hat and then threw up in it after we had too many sweets?” She giggled.
    A hank of dark hair fell into his face. Michael pushed it back with an impatient hand. “I believe that is why your father hates me.”
    They both fell silent. When he was ten, Michael had lived with her clan for three years as part of an exchange program set up by Tristan, the Silver Wizard. The program was an attempt to get the children of the rival clans to become friends in order to stop the constant feuding by the clans. It worked for a while. But when the children all returned to their individual clans, the bickering started all over again.
    When his magick manifested upon his first shift at age twenty-one, the wizards of the Brehon were impressed with Michael’s potential and called him to serve, while she had remained a young fledging dragon, still without power. Michael might even be strong enough to defeat an older dragon like her father.
    But her father had plenty of power, for the old man knew how to throw dragonfire while in Skin, a talent only a few dragons possessed.
    She stopped smiling, her father’s intense dislike of Michael was no joke. Anna looked at the magick wand, wishing she could wave it and dispose of the hatred between their rival clans.
    “He hates you because he’s afraid. For too long, our clan has feared losing their treasure, their territory, to your clan. It’s why the battles keep flaring up and the violence will not end. Your clan has no territory,” she said, her voice growing small.
    Craning his neck, Michael stared upward at the stars twinkling in the