Page 20 of Dragon Exposed

I didn’t know how long I sat there, tense, waiting for Levi to return. It all blurred together, like the waiting, the anticipation of imminent death worse than actually facing down the man who would kill me. The news station didn’t seem to have anything to report but the existence of dragons, so I turned off the TV, opting to not spend my whole day reliving the kidnapping again and again.

What good would it have done? It wasn’t like there was any chance of me seeing something different, some secret I missed, something that would allow me to go back in time and outrun his talons, hide from his discerning grasp.

The only question left now was, why me? What could he possibly want with me, of all people, and when was he just going to get it over with?

8

What’s Done is Done

LEVI

Ididn’t want to leave Izobelle alone.

Something was going on, something had her scared, and the longer I was away from her, the worse it got in my head.

I couldn’t believe she’d be scared of me, or of my dragon. But if it weren’t her fear guiding her, then why would she tremble, why would she stink of fear?

There was no way I could risk another flight through the city, not when the whole world seemed to be on high alert for scaled lizards flying overhead. Any cameras that had been aimed toward documenting mundane life activities were now squarely watching the skies.

The only good thing, at this point, was that the only ones who would know it was me were the people who had already seen my dragon form, meaning it was limited mostly to family.

And they were blowing up my phone like they’d never done before.

Calls, texts, voicemails, even a few emails kept the damned device pinging again and again, but I didn’t want to hear it.

Especially not from the dragons who had done everything they could to keep their own mates safe.

There was no way I was going to just roll over and show my belly if Ash wanted to bark at me for keeping my mate out of the clutches of a fucking vampire. He’d rolled through the waves with another dragon not all that long ago at all, and if he wanted to berate me, I didn’t need the hypocrisy.

And if he didn’t want to bitch me out, if he just wanted to pump me for information about Izobelle, I wasn’t ready to share that either.

Rather than dealing with my family, I slunk through the shadows, staying off the radar, just in case someone had filmed high enough to catch my face before I shifted, in search of a vampire.

Viktor would be my preference, because I knew he had to be behind this, but I’d more than happily kill any of them.

The fucking bloodsuckers had already done too much damage to my mate’s life, to my own family, I’d kill any that were a threat without hesitation.

I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that there were no good vampires—I’d met plenty of them. But anyone who would follow the ways that Viktor did, the ones who would kill without regard, without respect for the people they drank from, deserved to die bloody. They deserved to be ripped limb from limb, and they deserved to feel the pain of a thousand deaths.

Most of them had body counts that far exceeded that number anyway.

When my phone rang again, I scowled and pulled it out, answering with a barked out, “What?”

“Brother, don’t yell at me because you’re having a shit day. What happened this morning? Why on earth would you expose yourself like that?” Declan’s tone was more playful than irritated, and I almost trusted that he wasn’t pissed.

Almost.

“You told me you’d burn down the whole damn city for your mate. Are you seriously snapping at me for doing what I needed to keep mine safe?” I scowled, stopping in at Izobelle’s favorite coffee shop. I couldn’t bring her the lattes she drank like there was no tomorrow, but I could at least bring beans for coffee, and maybe a dozen of those muffins she liked so much. “I did what I had to.”

“Ash is screaming, threatening to haul us all to New York to intervene. You should’ve talked to someone before you made this choice that affects us all.”

I laughed, a dry, brittle sound that reflected just what I thought of that idea, before dropping my voice low. “He won’t. It’s bad enough there’s one dragon exposed out here. Bringing out more would just draw attention. Not to mention, I’m not in the city anymore.” Okay, that was a full-on lie, but at least it wouldn’t be a lie by the time any of them could get up here.

“You think this is just about you? You might be the only one the networks have on film dive bombing Times Square, but there’s a hell of a lot of others you put in danger. Did you think about Gavin and Pru at all? Any of your brothers? The Carmines, who might actually be allies in this division of the council? You’ve shined a light on all of us, and if any of us so much as think about shifting, we have to consider who might be looking, who might be filming. The humans are already talking about revisiting any lore they’ve ever had where dragons are concerned, to try to find the best ways to kill the monsters who could light their cities on fire.” Declan sighed. “Did you at least get your girl to safety?”

“For all it’s worth.” I cursed under my breath, and then quickly turned away from the tables in the coffee shop, hoping no one was eavesdropping. At least it wasn’t busy, and it didn’t seem like anyone had paid me a second glance. “She’s terrified of me, Dec. I don’t understand what happened, but she’s acting like a scared rabbit, skittering around like I’ll pounce the moment she stops moving for even a second.”

“You think it’s been easy for either of our brothers to admit what they are? You think Finley or Quinn just swooned at the idea of being mated to a dragon? And they didn’t have the whole world watching.” Declan’s tone softened as he added, “Maybe give her time. She’s been through a lot, and it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. Mortals don’t see the world the way we do. They don’t know whether dragons are friends or foes.”

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