Page 58 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

Dropping my chosen attacker, I placed a foot on his chest. As I did, it grew and transformed into a giant dragon paw. One of my claws pressed down hard right above his chest, pricking the skin as a warning.

“You move, you die,” I snarled, bending low over my leg at the strange face. “Now, speak. Who are you? Who sent you?”

I was sure I knew, but I wanted to hear it from the asshole’s mouth.

A pair of thuds landed on the roof, signaling the arrival of his buddies.

Another pair followed a second later from my right.

One more landed behind me.

The odds against me had just gotten real long. Righteous fury or not, six against one was not a fight I wanted to take.

“Come any closer,” I threatened, digging my claw in deeper until blood welled up around its tip. “And I’ll carve this one’s chest open like a can.”

Silence followed.

“Someone speak. Make it good and make it quick. Then get the fuck off my property,” I snarled, surveying the unfamiliar faces.

I expected to see Reed and Lincoln among them because they seemed to be Kalann’s current favorites, but they were absent.

Local talent, perhaps, hired from nearby to intimidate me?

“Kalann wants you to know we’re watching,” the one under my claw said with cold hatred as he glared up at me. “You can’t run away, Cade. You can’t hide. Not out here. We know where you are now. No more. You owe Kalann. He expects you to work hard to pay him back. Not have picnics and fuck in the fields.”

My claw dug deeper as I pressed down, my rage building.

“Ten days,” the hired thug spat. “Ten days, and then we’ll come to collect. One way or another, Kalann will get paid. It just depends on what we take from you.”

I bared my teeth in challenge as his threat was made clear.

“Touch her, and I will rip your spine from your throat and feed it back to you up your ass, vertebrae by vertebrae,” I promised, glaring at him without blinking. “Is that understood.”

“Get off me,” the thug said. “Or my men will take her now. And I do mean take her.”

I pressed down a little harder, drawing a wince as my giant dragon claw hit bone.

Turning his head, he made eye contact with one of the others and raised a hand.

I took in the situation. I could kill him easily enough. And probably at least one more. But that would still leave four to handle. I doubted I could keep them all from getting to Sam before they killed me.

Relenting, I eased off, my paw shifting back into a booted foot as I let him up.

“You’re going to pay for threatening her,” I promised.

“Pay up,” the thug said, his own wings spreading, the deep blue a contrast to my gold. “Or else I’ll be the first to follow through with my threat. And the last. She’ll never forget me.”

I snarled, but the thugs were already leaving, following their leader into the sky as they departed.

Leaving me to contemplate how the situation had just changed. Until today, it had only been me who was threatened by not paying. I’d always assumed Samantha would be looked after somehow once I was gone.

It seemed I was wrong, and knowing I might lose her because of my actions filled me with a very new and unwelcomed sensation.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Samantha

“Cade?” I called as I came down the stairs. “Are you there?”

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