Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge

lock me away in a protection circle and never let me out.
    “Tasked by the treasure keeper to aid, not hinder, the warrior’s daughter,” Warner added. Then he inclined his head toward Gran.  
    She nodded in return but didn’t smile.
    Well, that was tense.
    Gran finally turned to me. “Wisteria Fairchild is in Seattle …” — her eyes flicked to Warner and then back to me again — “… on Convocation business.”
    “Ah. There isn’t a portal into Seattle,” I said as I turned to look at Warner as well. Still swathed head to toe in black leather, he looked completely out of place in my bakery kitchen. He hadn’t returned to eating.
    “Then you will have to wait a few days until she can come here,” Gran said.
    “We could drive if we borrow Gran’s car. It’s spell protected,” I said, though I wasn’t jazzed about it. “There’s no way we can fly, not with a dragon.” Not with a dragon powerful enough to rip through the reinforced door of my safe and my wards like they were made of marshmallows, at any rate. Warner’s magic would disable the security scanners way before he got anywhere near enough to mess with an airplane’s electronics.
    “Yeah, I’m not getting on a plane with him,” Kandy said as she slathered a package of plum sauce on a spring roll. “Hell, I’m not going into Seattle with him dressed like that.”
    “We will make a request of the treasure keeper,” Warner said. “And how should I be clothed?”
    “I can’t just ask Pulou to open doors on a whim,” I said.
    Kandy sucked plum sauce off her fingers, then reached for her iPad.
    “You indicated that this witch in Seattle …” — the city name was unfamiliar to Warner — “… could read the map.”
    “I said I thought she might be able to.”
    “We’ll buy you something like this,” Kandy said. She was holding her iPad up for Warner to look at.
    “The treasure keeper will oblige,” Warner said as he reached for the tablet.
    “Don’t touch …” Too late.
    Warner frowned at the iPad for a moment, then handed it back to Kandy, who was grinning rather manically. Oddly, the iPad seemed unscathed, though it had flicked to sleep mode before I could see what Kandy had shown the sentinel.  
    I sighed. “Kandy …”
    The green-haired werewolf turned the smile on me. “Captain America on his day off.”
    What? Oh, no.
    Dragon magic — spicy, dark chocolate with a smooth, creamy, sweet cherry finish — rose to tickle me along my left cheek, shoulder, and ribcage. Oh. My. God. Chocolate cake, whipped cream, and cherries … Warner’s magic tasted exactly like the black-forest-cake ice cream they served at Mario’s Gelati, which I had yet to replicate to my satisfaction in a cupcake. I hadn’t realized how much he’d been dampening his power until now.
    My stomach fluttered in anticipation and my heart rate picked up a few beats. I slowly turned to look at Warner as his dragon magic settled around him.
    He was wearing a dark gray T-shirt, cut low enough at the neck that I could see a patch of chest hair and the edge of a tattoo across his collarbone that had been hidden by the leather vest. My mouth ran dry, and I inhaled deeply instead of giving into the appreciative moan I could feel aching at the back of my throat. The tight T-shirt stretched over a muscled physique that I would have sworn had been Photoshopped had I seen it on Facebook, then tapered down into low-slung dark blue jeans. A distressed leather jacket hung off Warner’s broad shoulders like it was tailored to him … and I guess it was.
    Oh. My. God. Times two.
    Kandy whistled. “That’s a useful talent.”
    Warner shrugged, perfectly mimicking the green-haired werewolf. Then he flashed me a movie-star grin that turned my knees to goo. Thankfully, I was leaning back against the counter.
    I checked my chin for drool, then crossed my arms and tried to look unimpressed. “Fancy, but what else can you do?”
    Warner’s grin widened