Page 18 of Primal Dragon

“You’re not,” Q spit out.

“You’re right about that.”

“You’re not a vampire though.”

Henrik sighed. “Nope. Thank the gods. Why are you wearing a vampire face? Is it a glamour or something?”

“Or something,” he said.

“Fair enough.”

“What are you?”

“Oh no, we’re not there yet.” Henrik released his wrists and stepped back. He wanted to give a little bit of trust, plus touching the human was giving him weird feelings. He didn’t understand why he was especially warm with the skin to skin contact. “Why are you dressing up like a vampire and putting yourself in a very dangerous situation? Honestly, you’re probably lucky you ended up with me.”

“Lucky? How so?”

“We’ll get to that. I need more information from you first.”

Q huffed. “My friend went missing a few days ago. The club was the last place I knew he was. He told me stuff and I listened. I used the information and got in through the door. I had no idea what was going on tonight. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

“Who is your friend?”

Q hesitated.

“Come on, we’re almost there.”

“James is my best friend. He’s not a bad vampire. He was trying to change the…”

“Yeah, the evil from the inside. I know. He and I were working together. Fuck. You’re his human friend. The one he’s super protective of and everyone is sure he’s just a little bit in love with.”

Q snarled, “Yeah, because we can’t just be friends. I’m not his mate. We’re like brother…brothers. We care about each other, but it’s never been romantic or even sexual.”

Henrik put his hands up in surrender. “I’m not judging. If you’re not his mate, fine. I don’t really give a shit. Right now, you’re stopping me from helping James and all of the females that are no doubt being kidnapped as we speak.”

Q put his hands on his hips. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m here for two reasons. I want to find James, because he’s a good guy and he put his life on the line to help me and the people Stefano and his goons are hurting. And two, I want to grab the attention of Stefano’s boss.”

“Grey,” Q muttered.

“James has educated you well. Yeah, Grey.”

“Are you a dragon shifter?”

Henrik paused. He didn’t know how much he should give away. This Q guy could be nothing but a decoy or a spy. Maybe he suspected something and planned on giving Stefano everything. His gut told him he could trust Q, but why? He had no reason to trust him. He could be lying about James.

“I am. Now can I trust you? Or do I need to throw you into the trunk?”

“Trust me for what exactly?”

“Well…we’re going to have to take a girl back to Stefano.”

5

Bending the Rules

Quinn stared at Henrik. Her heart rate hadn’t slowed down since she saw him at the club. She didn’t understand how the hell he was involved with the vampires. He knew James. He was wrapped up in all this business.