Page 36 of A Secret Crush Valentine's

He’s one of them.

Shifting had been brilliant thinking. It was the quickest way to get away from him, although there was no telling how far she’d get before she had a dragon trailing her again.

At least in this form, I don’t have any tears.

Ofcourse,she’d been wrong about him. Ofcourse,he was a threat to her. She should never have thought otherwise. She’d seen the signs. This whole time, he’d been keeping things from her, acting suspiciously. She should have known the guy whoalmost led her to her death all those years ago would try to do the same thing again.

But hehadprotected her, hadn’t he? The thought struck her so suddenly that it nearly stopped her in her tracks. He’d fought off the other Collectors and tried to get away from them. Why would he do that if he was in cahoots with them? What if, by some impossible chance, he was telling the—?

She never got to finish that thought.

Swoop, swoop, swoop.

This time, she skidded to a halt so suddenly that she toppled over and rolled through the snow. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted several massive shapes hovering above her. Shapes with massive wings like tarpaulins… tails like whips…

As she tried to get up, a pillar of fire cut through the air, illuminating her surroundings, and she saw them clearly.

Dragons.

There had to be at least seven of them circling above. Julia considered trying to take off again before they hit the ground, but she was surrounded. A dozen or so men stood in a wide circle around her. She couldn’t imagine how they managed to sneak up on her, but they were all heavily armed. And Julia knew exactly who they were.

The Collectors raised their weapons as one, leveling them at her.

Somewhere in the distance, she heard a shout. The fur on Julia’s body stood to attention.

Damon?

A sudden movement caught her eye, and a voice said, “He can’t save you now. Not with so many of us. He will answer to the Ice Melter. And as for you, you’re his latest treasure…”

She spun just in time to see the man raise his foot. And then her world went dark.

Chapter Fifteen

Workplace Conflict

The first thing he noticed when his eyes flickered open was that he was in a cave. He lay flat with his back on cold, rocky ground, staring at a dark ceiling that was way too high for the cave he’d been camping in. That was the second thing he noticed. This wasn’t the same cave.

He sat up, wincing as the back of his head throbbed. With each throb, a memory returned: Julia staring at him in horror and revulsion, Julia taking off into the night, half a dozen men ambushing him as he tried to go after her…

He blinked, looking around. This new cave was dimly lit and huge, large enough to dwarf even the biggest dragons. But it wasn’t the size of the cave that sent a tremor down Damon’s spine. It was the sight before him. Barely 30 feet away in the darkness was a pit. And not just any pit. The pit, the one so dark and deep it seemed even to defy the light.

Oh, no.

A whimper to his right jerked him to full alertness. Next to him, sitting up against the cave wall and shivering through her clothes, was…

“Julia,” he breathed, pulling himself into a sitting position. He reached for her, his concern overshadowing his pain. “Are you okay?”

The look of terror on her face was all the answer he needed. A bolt of horror raced through him. Things had gone from bad to worse. The Collectors had caught them. Grim Jim had them now. He looked to his left, where a series of openings led to other caves he couldn’t see, caves where Grim Jim kept his treasures.

Where was the Ice Melter? He stared at his hands. He wasn’t chained, nor was Julia. He knew neither of them dared try toescape without fully understanding the stakes, but what about—?

“You’re awake,” said a familiar voice. “I was worried the others hit you too hard.”

Damon jerked his head up just as Jan Hoover stepped into view, a thin smile on his face. Behind him, Damon spotted a few other Collectors.

His stomach sank. “Jan, what have you done?”

“I figured it out,” his old friend replied. “When you told me about your traveling companion, I suspected you were lying. You’ve always traveled alone. So I decided to find out the truth for myself.”

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