Page 24 of Dragon Exposed

“I want to go home.”

Levi shook his head and plated up what looked to be a veggie scramble with cheese. “Not until I know that you’re safe from vampires. Safe from their thrall. Not until we’ve killed Viktor, and any others who had any delusions about tasting you.” His eyes flicked toward the door I’d watched him disappear through earlier, and his eyes almost glowed as he snarled. “No one else is ever going to bite you again.”

Something about the way he said it, the way his mouth lingered on the word “else” made me wonder if he meant anyone other than Viktor all those years ago. Or if it was just one more secret, one more thing I didn’t understand about my captor.

Shaking his head, he carried two plates over to the small table in the corner and set them down before returning to the counter for silverware and a cup of coffee of his own. “Come eat with me?”

I bit my lip, tempted to fill my mug again, grab the plate, and run back upstairs as fast as I could without sloshing hot liquid all over myself.

Levi sighed and sunk down in a chair, looking up at me with those eyes that were just a little too green. “Izobelle, I’m not going to hurt you. If you want to eat upstairs, I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t do anything to you.”

There was the migraine again. Like he was somehow splitting my head in two by not being everything my fear told me he should be.

With a frown, I sat across from him, eyeing him carefully. “Why me?”

“Besides the fact that you’re tempting as hell, and if you keep wearing skirts that pull across your ass, I’m never going to get over being hard around you?” he chuckled softly. “You’ve been through enough with vampires. Even if I didn’t have a connection with you, even if we hadn’t met, I would’ve had a hard time letting that bloodsucker get his hands on you.” He shook his head a little, like that wasn’t really what he wanted to say, but he didn’t add anything else.

Was it really just about the vampires? Or was there something else about me, something he saw as special, worthy of keeping alive?

The longer I sat down here with him, the more confused I got, and the worse the throbbing in my head got too. “Do you have any painkillers here?”

Immediately, Levi was on his feet, looking me up and down like he could tell where I was hurt just on sight.

“It’s my head. Ever since you dropped into the square, it just seems to be getting worse.” I closed my eyes a second, trying to ignore the ache in between my thighs at how intensely he was looking me over.

“Izobelle, did you drink anything, or eat anything before I jumped? Did anyone say anything that sounded strange? Did anyone stare deeply into your eyes while talking to you?”

My brow furrowed. “I had a cup of coffee. But no, no one got all intense like you are right now.” I bit back the urge to squirm under his gaze.

Levi cursed under his breath. “As much as I want to keep you all to myself, I might need to call in my clan’s witch.”

“Your what’s what, now?” It was bad enough that vampires and dragons existed. Now there were witches too? What else was out there? The boogieman?

“Syrena. She’s had some luck fighting thrall and dragon’s fire. If you were dosed, you probably wouldn’t even remember being commanded.” He scowled. “But I definitely can’t let you anywhere near the fang in the cellar, if it’s still in your system, if you’re still susceptible to that level of suggestion.”

I groaned as a new wave of pain ricocheted through my brain. “Painkillers? Please? And then maybe I should just go eat upstairs.” I didn’t like it, but I was pretty sure just being close to him, not being sure if I should run screaming or if I should trust him, was making my head worse. “Wait, did you say you have a vampire in the basement?”

He nodded. “I thought we could bleed him for information. Find out what the bloodsuckers want, why they’d risk exposing all supernatural creatures to make me jump and find out what he knows about Viktor. Or other vampires who might lead us to him.” Levi tentatively reached out and took my hand in his. “I want to make sure Viktor dies for what he did to you. I want to give you that closure.”

How was I supposed to be scared of him when he said shit like that?

“You brought a vampire here…to torture? For me?”

Levi smirked slightly as he nodded again. “This one’s not a good one, Izobelle. He feeds like he learned from the most grotesque, the most vicious. From Viktor, maybe, even. He has no regard for human life, and if I hadn’t brought him here, he would’ve just continued his killing spree until he was so gorged on blood, he could barely move.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. On one hand, I felt like I should be repulsed, concerned that he’d kill so easily for me. What made him any better than the vampires, if he could take life without a thought? But on the other… he wanted me to have closure. He wanted me to never have to look over my shoulder again, wondering if today would be the day that the vampire who had already almost killed me got his fangs in me again.

“I’ve got a tray around here somewhere, something my sister insisted I needed. I’ll load up your food, get you a fresh cup of coffee, and a muffin, and bring it up to you? I’ll see if I’ve got any painkillers too, and if not, I can fly over to the nearest town and get you some.”

There was that wave of pain again, as fear washed over me at the mere mention of flying.

Instead of answering verbally, I just gave a sharp nod before pulling the knife out of my pocket and laying it on the table.

Even though I couldn’t seem to shake the fear of him being a dragon, I wasn’t afraid of Levi the man, and as long as he stayed that way, I didn’t think I needed to be armed. And if he shifted into a dragon, I pretty much figured the knife would be as obnoxious to him as a splinter was to me.

He smirked at the blade as he picked up my plate. “You’re a hell of a fighter, Izobelle, even if you’re a little demure in your weapon choices.”

Demure? The word should’ve felt like an insult, but there was something in his gaze that made me think he meant it as a compliment. Almost like the fact that I’d dared to arm myself was something he was impressed by. “I haven’t exactly had the chance to research how to kill a dragon, so I had to make do with what I could find while you were gone.” I pursed my lips, looking over him more. “Where did you go, anyway?”

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