Page 76 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

I backed up a step and kicked him in the nose. His eyes flew open, and his pupils narrowed to slits. I had a heartbeat to think,oh, shit, before he leapt up. I fell back, hitting my head on marble, and stared up at his shrinking underbelly. An instant later, he was a crouched man, glaring down at me.

“You will not try to hurt me again.”

Swallowing hard, I nodded and carefully eased myself into a sitting position.

We stared at each other. As I watched, some of the anger left his gaze. He exhaled softly, releasing the tension from his shoulders.

Then he leaned in to rub his cheek against mine, making that same faint clicking noise like he had in the yard and when I’d touched his nose.

I twitched as I began to suspect why he’d taken me. He lifted his head, his golden gaze sweeping over my face.

“Why am I here?”

“Because the hydra gave you to me.”

“I wasn’t his to give.”

Vedar gracefully rose, giving me an eyeful of his shockingly endowed equipment, and started growing as he prepared to return to his treasure pile.

“Vedar, let me and my sister go.”

“No.”

Once again a dragon, he settled down under his lamps and closed his eyes.

I wanted to kick him in the nose a second time.

CHAPTERSEVEN

Head poundingfrom the bang on the floor, I made my way to the bathroom for a cold washcloth. Other than standing up so quick that I’d stumbled back, he hadn’t done a thing to hurt me, and it had looked like he’d been angry enough to. At least, I had a partial answer to my question. It seemed that Zoe and I were safer here than in our house. Well, I was. I wasn’t sure about Zoe since I had no way of checking on her.

With a longing look at the locked door, I lay down on the bed and wished I’d grabbed the phone from the nightstand. Had Zoe? I hoped so. If she had, someone would soon be knocking on the dragon’s door to demand our return. If not, I wasn’t sure how we’d escape. And we needed to. While we were safe enough in here with the dragon, I knew Chloe was far from safe with Joey. How much more time did she have?

Turning the washcloth to the cooler side, I once again pressed it against the lump on the back of my head and closed my eyes. The dull throb did its best to defeat my lingering hopeful thought that someone would notice that Zoe and I were missing.

Warmth enveloped me in an uncomfortable,stifling way. I groaned as I moved my stiff neck. And hit my forehead on something. My head throbbed in response.

Opening my eyes, I found dragon scales. Above me. Around me. It took Vedar lifting his head for me to realize I was cradled between his forelegs on top of his treasure pile. The pain in my neck was from the bumpy glass bottle I’d been using as a pillow.

With more room once his head was out of the way, I sat up and rubbed out some of the ache. When I could move, I carefully climbed over his arms.

He watched me, not saying anything.

“Just in case you’re wondering, that wasn’t comfortable. I’m pretty sure I’ll have bruises on my back from all that stuff digging into my skin.”

I winced slightly as my head started to throb again.

“I don’t suppose you have an aspirin or anything for a headache?”

He blinked at me, and I sighed, lifting a hand to rub my forehead. A weight shifted on my wrist, and I looked at the bracelet I’d picked up earlier. The same one I’d dropped when he’d jumped at me.

The dragon was an enigma. He sure didn’t like to be kicked, but he hadn’t done anything negative in retaliation. Instead, he’d given me a bracelet and cuddled me. My stomach dipped at the idea of what he likely wanted from me, and I tugged the bracelet off, tossing it back to the pile.

“We can’t stay here. We need to go home.” I scrambled for a reason that he might actually care about. “There’s medicine there and food I can eat.”

The growl that my stomach gave just then couldn’t have been more perfectly timed.

Vedar blinked at me then got to his feet, his form shrinking quickly.

---