Page 74 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

Opening it, he looked at Zoe.

“Inside if you wish to stay here with your sister.”

Zoe and I shared a look at the implication behind his words. I didn’t want him to throw her out. For all we knew, the other guy who had tried taking us was still out there, waiting. Yet, we had no idea what this dragon guy intended to do, either.

Swallowing hard, I forced myself to look up at him. As soon as I did, his gaze shifted from Zoe to me.

“What’s your name?”

“Vedar.”

When he said Vee-dar, I definitely heard an accent.

“Vedar, we were told never to trust any creature in Uttira. That everyone here would try to harm us in some way. You need to know that we’re under the protection of the Council and—”

He made an impatient sound.

“Yes. Yes.” His gaze shifted to Zoe. “In the room, or leave through the front door. Choose now.”

She looked at me then hurried into the room as I’d known she would. She wasn’t trying to hide from the giant outside. Instead, she was staying to share whatever fate Vedar had in store for me.

As soon as the door closed behind her, he said a word, and I heard a lock click into place. Fear and panic tightened my chest. Why lock Zoe in? What did he have planned?

Before I could debate the wisdom of asking, he turned on his heel and towed me back to the first door. It opened with a touch of his palm. I swallowed hard at the additional evidence of magical locks and the implication behind it.

How were we going to get out?

Thoughts of escape stalled as he pulled me into the biggest bedroom I’d ever seen. The ceiling rose at least two stories.

The door clicked shut behind us, and he immediately released my arm, his fingers briefly drifting over where he’d held me.

“Shoes off,” he said, walking away naked and proud.

I stared. How could I not? He was positively delicious...until he began to get taller and wider. A tail sprouted from the base of his spine, and his skin started to redden.

My heart jackhammered in my chest as I watched him turn from man to dragon again. With his tail swishing over the floors, he moved forward on four legs and disappeared around the corner.

I looked around for a moment and took it all in–the marble floors, pale chairs and sofa, the huge bed draped with sheer hangings on the other side of the room. There was a single opening on the wall to the left, right between a sitting area and the bedroom.

For the moment, I was alone. Or at least, unwatched. Quietly, I tried the door behind me, but the handle refused to turn. There was no keyhole or any other type of locking mechanism that I could see. Definitely magic, then.

Swallowing hard, I kicked off my shoes and slowly walked forward, hoping to find another exit in the opening to the left.

No such luck.

I peeked into a bathroom larger than the master bedroom in our house. There was a freestanding soaker tub in the center, a water closet, a huge vanity, and the rest of the space was shower heads. No curtains for bathing, and the only door in the place was to the water closet.

Backing out, I looked at the large bed to my left then straight ahead.

An in-ground pool large enough to fit four dragons lay beyond the bed. The water reflected the weak winter sunlight from the glass roof above. On the other side of the pool, the dragon lay curled up on a pile of gold and gems. His eyes were closed, but I wasn’t sure if that was due to the bright sunlamps shining down on him or a need to nap after kidnapping humans.

Clueless as to what to do next, I stood there for a moment. I couldn’t remember a thing about dragons from any of Ashlyn’s journals that I had read. Either she hadn’t written about them, or I hadn’t gotten that far yet.

What did it mean that he dragged me into his house? Why lock Zoe in one room and put me in another just so he could go to sleep? And what was he planning to do when he woke up?

Backtracking, I slipped my shoes back on and tried the windows in the bathroom. They didn’t budge. I glanced around the space, but I didn’t find anything to throw through them other than a towel. The toilet didn’t even have a tank, so heaving the heavy lid through the glass wasn’t an option.

Wandering back into the main room, I saw the dragon watching me through one slitted eye, which closed as I stared at him. Curious, I moved to the bed, running a hand over smooth sheets and giving the mattress an experimental push.

---