Page 14 of Dragon Exposed

“Just remember—you can’t trust dragons. They’re terrifying beasts.”

Dragons. Right.

I rolled my eyes and down the last of my coffee, heading back to the trailers we had set up to make sure the talent was ready to go.

Whoever this guy was, whatever kind of prank he thought he was playing, I still needed to make sure the show went off without a hitch. Regardless of any shenanigans.

The show started just like we started every show, bright, upbeat, like it wasn’t six a.m. Like some of us weren’t mainlining caffeine to keep ourselves on our feet.

But for whatever reason, that guy’s voice kept echoing in my head. Kept niggling at the back of my skull, like it was intent on making me live out his prank, along with the rest of the audience.

The first scream echoed around Times Square, loud and shrill, and it felt like time itself stopped as everyone, in unison, looked up.

6

To Expose or Not Expose

LEVI

We have the woman from the club. Do what we say, and she doesn’t have to die bloody.

The note had been slipped under my door when I got back to my hotel room, after Izobelle headed home. The note, and a lock of blonde hair that smelled like hers.

For almost twenty-four hours, my dragon was on edge, pacing inside me like a caged animal, feeling the pain, the truth in the note’s words.

I didn’t even know for sure who sent it, but I had a pretty good idea. Viktor was the only supernatural who’d seen me with her, the only one who could even possibly know that she would have importance to me. And the only person who knew who I was.

Or maybe they were just counting on the fact that I’d want to keep any mortal safe from dying at the fangs of a vampire.

Either way, the text that came in last night sealed it for me.

A photo of Izobelle, seemingly unharmed, alone, walking at night, as if the night wasn’t dangerous. As if she hadn’t learned her lesson about bloodsuckers.

Unknown: Come to Times Square tomorrow morning and drop in for a bit. There’s someone there who’s dying to see you. Or, more accurately, one of many who will die if I don’t. Show me those wings, dragon, and I’ll let her walk free. Keep them hidden, and I’ll save just enough of her blood to send you her blonde locks soaked in red.

Cursing, pacing my hotel room, bellowing my rage from the roof, did nothing to help the fact that a fucking vampire had eyes on Izobelle. A vampire that had already almost killed her once, before I ever had the chance to meet her.

The scars on her neck made me see red, made me want to go for blood. I couldn’t stand the idea that anyone had hurt her, let alone a fucking vampire as vicious as Viktor.

But she was alive. She was breathing, and as long as I played along with his stupid game, she’d continue to do so.

If there was any chance that he had her in Times Square, that she would be there, even if it meant revealing myself before I was ready, I had to try.

Right?

My phone rang, and I sighed as I answered. “What’s up, Declan?” My brother hardly ever called any of us, but I knew he was doing everything he could to try to hunt down the last heartstones, before they fell into the wrong hands. Before any other supernatural creatures found them.

The only one I wanted touching mine now was Izobelle, and I knew exactly how fucked that made me.

“I heard about the massacre at a club near where you are. Epsilon, I think it was called? It doesn’t sound like a normal mortal man going crazy, Levi. They can lump it in with mass shootings all they want, but I’ve been listening to the police scanners. They don’t ever talk about a weapon. No shells, no casings, nothing to indicate a gun was used.”

“You’re a little too smart for your own good, you know that right?” I chuckled. “The only weapon he used was fangs. Viktor’s here. He made me, too. I don’t know if he knows who I am, or which clan I’m from, but I’m pretty sure he knows I’m a dragon.” With a sigh, I pick up the note from my nightstand, reading over it again, looking for any clues, any information that I might’ve missed. “He knows about my mate, too.”

“Your mate? Brother, you’ve been holding out on us. Who is she? Is she dragonborn?” Declan’s voice sounded a little too excited, a little too interested, for his own good.

“If I tell you, are you just going to spend every second until we talk again trying to learn about her? Should I expect a call from Ash soon?”

“Ash and Finley are a little preoccupied. I’m not trying to dig. But if our family’s growing, especially if we’re growing in a way that the council would disapprove of, I think we all have the right to know.”

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