Page 49 of Surge of Heat

After Evander manages to get on his back and bite his throat, the green dragon spins away and takes off into the sky. We follow him for several miles. I can go faster, I can catch up to him, but we’re not trying to have a fight to the death, we’re just trying to scare him off.

And we do.

We make it back to the city and shift back before heading into the gaming establishment. There’s Granger at the door, and his expression of worry instantly melts away when he sees me and pulls me into a hug.

“You’re okay.” His words are a rush of air.

“It was much different with the three of us,” I admit, feeling proud and happy.

“Hell yeah,” Aydan says. “That asshole didn’t know what was coming for him.”

Sirens fill the air as firefighters and police cars arrive on the road.

“We should go,” Evander says.

We slip out, then walk for a few blocks before Evander calls the car again and we get picked up.

Granger chimes in from the backseat. “Dinner?”

Aydan and I look at each other. “Dinner.”

“Any good pizza places?” Granger asks, an impossible amount of hope in his voice.

Evander sighs. “I know a place on the other side of town, so hopefully, it’ll still be open… not all the businesses can stop for an angry dragon. Right?”

EIGHTEEN

Samantha

I level my pool stick,knowing this is the final shot, the difference between winning and losing, and Ineedto win against Evander. He’s too damn cocky for his own good. My phone buzzes with another text from Dr. Duncan. The skies are clear from dragons. We’re safe, at least for now.

Evander comes up behind me and places his hands on my hips while laughing. If I wasn’t so drunk, I’d slap him away, but instead I grind my ass against him. His laughing turns into a choking sound. I grin… and shoot.

The ball goes in the pocket and I stand up, throwing my hands in the air and cheering. He spins me around, and picks me up so I’m sitting on the edge of the pool table. Leaning over me, he kisses me, getting me hot and horny.

But Aydan is going to rip him to pieces if I keep this up, so I shove him away and climb down. Granger and Aydan are watching from the little table beside us, Aydan looking just as pissed as I thought he would. I skip over to the table and plant a kiss on his lips too, and he softens, before I pull back.

Scooting onto my barstool, I grab the pitcher of beer and fill up my glass again before snagging another piece of pepperoni pizza. Evander climbs onto his barstool and slams the rest of the beer in his glass, looking just a little drunk and happy, just like all of us.

“This is seriously the best fucking pizza I’ve ever had,” Granger says, lifting his slice in the air.

Evander grins. “I stumbled upon this place purely by luck one evening when I was driving around with nothing to do.”

“You were just driving around?” I ask, followed by a drunk giggle.

He shrugs. “What do you do when you inherit a billion dollar company after losing grandparents you never met?”

I frown, sobering up a little. “Didn’t you have people to talk to?”

He fills up his glass, looking uncomfortable. “I moved around a lot as a kid even before foster care. I never really made a lot of close friends.”

Granger offers his glass, which Evander fills up too. “I can’t imagine living like that. The three of us grew up in the same neighborhood, and lived there all our lives.”

Evander hesitates, then asks, “What was that like?”

“Blue Springs?” Granger says, snagging his glass. “It was honestly amazing. It wasn’t so small of a town that we had nothing to do, but it was small enough that we knew everyone and everyone knew us. We were never lonely, but that might have been because our moms had us playing together from the time we were in diapers.”

Aydan takes a drink of his fifth beer… no, wait, I think it’s his seventh. Maybe eighth? “That’s why no one will come between us. We’re family. Our bond is unbreakable.”

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