Page 17 of Dragon Exposed

I could smell her fear, sense the sheer terror coursing through her body.

If I scared her that badly, if she really couldn’t understand that it was still me, still the same guy she’d kissed like no one was watching, I didn’t care if the world knew I was a dragon.

If my mate couldn’t stand the sight of me, I’d turn myself in, and hopefully I’d be able to convince the mortals that I was alone, the only dragon on the planet.

Izobelle skittered away from me as fast as she could, stumbling over herself, almost falling on those ridiculous heels that had, not so long ago, drawn my attention to her long legs.

“Don’t eat me, please. I swear, you don’t want me. Just… let me go.” Her eyes were still filled with that panicked look, that fear. “Please…”

With a snarl, I shifted in front of her, hoping that a familiar face, that knowing I was still me, would ease that look.

If anything, it made it all so much worse.

She screamed, running toward the house. It was the only building for a mile, at least, and there weren’t roads she could follow. Once she got out of this clearing, she’d be stuck in thick forest and underbrush.

Not even the woodland creatures ventured close, not with the scent of a dragon all over everything.

We were alone out here, just the two of us, and as much as I hated that she seemed terrified of me, at least here I’d have a chance to talk to her, to make her see that being a dragon’s mate could be incredible, could be everything she’s ever wanted.

At least, I hoped I could be everything she’s ever wanted.

7

The Damsel and the Dragon

IZOBELLE

Iwas abducted. By a fucking dragon.

God, was I just a magnet for monsters? First vampires, now dragons?

My teeth were still chattering, my nipples still hard enough to cut glass from the trip into the stratosphere, but I couldn’t stay still, I couldn’t risk him deciding to shift back and swallow me whole.

The only problem was, there was nowhere to go. Nowhere I could make it to, at any rate, in stilettos and a pencil skirt.

Some part of my brain kept trying to tell me that it was Levi, that it was the man who’d been so sweet to me, taking me on a horse-drawn carriage ride and feeding my caffeine addiction without judgment, but I couldn’t see past the green and purple beast that had snatched me from Times Square.

It had singled me out. Like it was laser-focused on findingme.

I really didn’t want to learn what that was all about.

The cabin was locked, and the dragon-man was closing in faster than I could’ve found a hide-a-key or broken a window. Even if I could somehow make it into the cabin, then what? He could burn the whole wooden structure to the ground, with me inside it. Did dragons prefer their maidens extra-crispy?

God, I didn’t want to find out.

“Izobelle, please, just calm down. It’s me, it’s Levi. I’m not going to hurt you.”

The fuck he wouldn’t. I couldn’t even be sure it was Levi. If it could shapeshift and get into my head, to growl commands at me, what would stop it from shifting into someone I thought I trusted?

Or…God, what if he’d planned this? What if he’d always intended on abducting me, on flying off into the sky with me in his claws? This cabin wasn’t exactly a tower, but I might as well have been trapped in one, for as much likelihood I had of escaping.

As he stepped onto the porch, I backed away from the door, pressing my back against the wall, inching further away from him, hoping some space between us, some distance would keep him from doing whatever it was that dragons did to women they kidnapped.

“I’m going to open the cabin, okay? There’s nowhere for you to run, nowhere you can get to without my help, so don’t be stupid, Izobelle. Just come inside. I’ll get clothes, and we can talk.” He held his hands out, like I was a skittish horse, and he was trying to keep me from bucking.

As if he weren’t the danger here.

The way he said my name stirred something inside me, something that almost made the fear washing over me in waves dissipate.

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