Page 34 of Magic Forsaken

He was holding up most of his own weight on his forearms, but I was still feeling like a Raine pancake, right up until theshaking stopped, silence fell, and he pulled back enough for his gaze to land on me.

I instantly felt like prey. Pinned and paralyzed. But no sooner had a jolt of terror lanced through my core than those eyes softened and scanned my face.

“Are you hurt?” His voice was deep and harsh, as if it were coming from a much larger chest than the human one currently looming over me.

“All good,” I wheezed, and tried to sit up, while also trying to pretend that my heart wasn’t pounding and my face wasn’t suddenly flushed with some combination of embarrassment and… Nope, wasn’t going to finish that thought.

As if realizing what he’d done, the shifter king abruptly rolled aside and came to his feet.

“Stay here,” he ordered curtly. “I’m going after whoever thinks they can attack my territory and my people and live.”

So I was supposed to hang out in his penthouse apartment and wait to see if the floors beneath me collapsed? No thanks.

“Oh, so one minute you want me to be your bodyguard and the next you want me to stay here and wait for you like some delicate pampered princess?” I retorted. “Not happening.”

His gaze snapped to mine, fierce and commanding. “Are you saying you’ll take the job?”

“Maybe,” I hedged, still not ready to make that big of a decision. “I don’t know yet. But I’m definitely not going to just sit here and wait for the next attack. Now, are we doing this or not?”

He paused. Searched my face intently. He must have been satisfied with what he found because the pressure of his regard suddenly lifted, and he headed towards the door.

We were out of the apartment and halfway down the hall before I realized Callum still wasn’t wearing any shoes. It took only a few seconds more for it to dawn on me that we weren’t taking the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

He yanked open the narrow door at the far end of the hall, and I saw a second set of stairs—headingup.

There was no time to wonder what was up there, no time to do anything but follow as he took them three at a time, bursting through the door at the top and onto a flat roof overlooking Bricktown.

I raced to the edge and peered over. Lights, cars, pedestrians… All of it seemed so normal. The construction vehicles were gone. Several groups of people were strolling down Sheridan Avenue, but no one was reacting. No one even seemed to have noticed the earthquake, let alone the shattered glass or the explosions that had shaken our entire building.

“I don’t understand.” I turned around to see what Callum would make of the bizarre lack of attention and…

Okay, I’m not proud of it, but I screamed. A little. Very quietly.

Because Callum wasn’t there anymore.

Three feet from my face, a pair of enormous amber eyes burned with fury, while a mouthful of fangs hovered just beneath. Two curving horns stretched back over the looming mountain of black scales behind them, while dark wings flared in readiness.

It was a dragon.

I was facing anactual dragon.

Adrenaline surged, my heart hammered in my chest, and my limbs went weak with the instinctive terror of a prey animal confronting its own inevitable doom.

This was the reality of the man who’d asked me to work for him—an impossibly powerful creature of legend, who may or may not value my life or the lives of those I cared about.

A word escaped my lips that I’d told the kids never to use as the gargantuan beast reared up and reached out with one wickedly clawed forefoot.

I panicked and stumbled backward. Tripped over my own feet and fell, twisting to catch myself on my hands. But I’d been too close to the edge. The roof ended, and my hands grasped at nothing as the sidewalk loomed below…

My descent came to an abrupt halt as a terrified cry ripped from my throat. Something was fastened around my waist—a steady pressure that tightened gradually and pulled me upward. Lifting me into the air, holding me securely.

I turned, scrabbling for a grip on something solid, and found myself staring right into the dragon’s face. I could smell smoke and brimstone, could feel the heat of its breath, and as it brought me closer, I shut my eyes and held my hands out in front of me in a ridiculous and pointless attempt to fend off my approaching doom…

My palms came to rest on something warm and smooth. My feet hit the rooftop, and the grip on my waist disappeared.

I opened my eyes. I was mere inches from those appalling teeth, but the dragon’s mouth was closed, his entire body gone still as I… held his face between my hands.

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