Page 33 of Dragon Exposed

She was already skittish enough.

“Dec, this is Izobelle.” I didn’t give her any more descriptors, and it felt like the absence hung in the air between the three of us, like a cloud of doubt settling in around us.

“It’s nice to meet you.” She strode across the living room with her shoulders back, her head held high, but even without trying, I could hear how hard her heart was pounding in her chest. “I’m sorry that my meeting Levi has put all of you in danger.”

Declan raised an eyebrow as he reached forward and shook her hand. “She’s smarter than you are, brother. Maybe we should trade up, kick you out of the clan and keep this one instead.” He grinned, that easygoing, relaxed face that could always disarm our mother, even when we’d done something that went far beyond the rules that were set for us. “You don’t have to worry about us though. We’ve got friends who aren’t too bad with computers. Even with that list out there, most of the world will still believe that it’s all a hoax. Humans don’t like things that threaten their status quo.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but the way her eyebrows shot up, I knew we weren’t nearly done here.

“The list? What list? Levi, you didn’t tell me about any list.”

I looked down trying to look sheepish, even though I was a much bigger fan of what we did instead of talking about the danger shifters were in. “It doesn’t matter. Not right now. We have bigger issues we need to deal with, and whether it’s one dragon outed to society, or all of them, it’s pretty fucking obvious that the vampires are behind it.” I lifted my gaze back to hers. “Does knowing that there are more shifters’ lives on the line going to change how you feel about Viktor? About all the bloodsuckers who would use your kind as nothing more than cattle to breed for slaughter?”

She frowned. “It does. How could it not? He needs to die, painfully. But if you can revert all of this exposure, get people to forget about dragons, about whatever else they might’ve exposed thanks to your swan dive, maybe we need to be smart about it. Maybe we need Viktor.” Her tone went darker as she added. “At least until we don’t anymore.”

Izobelle kept surprising me.

When I realized that she knew about vampires, that they didn’t scare her and she didn’t think they were some romantic notion, I had hope that she would eventually accept what I was too, that she wouldn’t run screaming.

But I never suspected that she’d consider giving up her vendetta against Viktor to save me.

“We don’t need Viktor. There are plenty of other vampires, plenty of others who are ancient enough, evil enough to be willing to cast their shadow of thrall over people.” I reached for her, wrapping her into my arms, needing her pressed against me, even if it was just for a moment.

“I’ve been thinking. Maybe exposure isn’t the end of the world. I’ve spent enough time studying human media to know that shifters, vampires, fae, aren’t always painted as the monsters that centuries past would’ve seen us. Maybe all we need to do is find someone worth their salt in public relations. Someone to spin this to our advantage.”

“And what, Dec? Give dragon rides at renaissance fairs? Turn us all into freaks of nature, a sideshow attraction?” I scowled, doubting there was any hope of this ending positively. “That is, if we don’t just end up as lab rats for the humans to run tests on.”

Izobelle tensed up in my arms, and I immediately wanted to take back snapping at my brother.

The last thing I needed was for her fear to come back.

“Why don’t we table this for a while, and you can get to know my guest a little?”

“Or we could go torture the vampire you have in the basement and find out what he knows.” Izobelle shifted in my arms, looking up at me expectantly. “It doesn’t do us any good to just let him stew down there, and if we can find out what their plans are, if we can decide how deep this is going to run, then maybe we can figure out the best way to stop it.” She sighed. “I might not love the idea of dragons right now, and I definitely wouldn’t be the person to put a positive spin on them, but I like you a hell of a lot better than Viktor. If we can use the vampire down there to get to the rest of them, to save your reputation and take down the man who almost killed me at the same time, I’d rather use our time doing that.”

Declan raised an eyebrow at me again and smirked. “Like I said, smarter than you.”

Izobelle bit her lip. “I need to help. I have to know where their weaknesses are, and how you make them suffer.”

Pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, I turned to my brother. “Feel like making a fang sing?”

“I don’t think you need me for back-up, if you’ve got that spitfire down there with you. I’ll run into town, get some supplies. If I’m going to stick around for a while, I have a feeling I’m going to need noise cancelling headphones.”

I could feel the heat radiating off of Izobelle, even before I saw the blush creeping over her skin. “Get food and clothing too. Maybe some plastic sheeting for body disposal?”

“You got it. You still keep the keys in the cars?” He winked at me, as if he could tell that Izobelle just tensed in my arms.

With a sigh, I nodded and explained for her benefit, “I had the cabin outfitted with an underground garage and a tunnel leading away from the property. Declan got the idea from some comic book series with bats.”

She sniggered under her breath as she said with a smirk, “Batman? You have a fucking bat cave?”

“I guess.” I shrugged, not really knowing the reference. “I’ll show you later, if you want.”

After I had the chance to convince her not to run as far and as fast as she could.

“Our brother, Henrik’s got a real hard-on for classic cars. Levi went for more utilitarianism. They get the job done, but none of them make you purr, you know?”

Izobelle shrugged. “Before I moved to New York, I drove a late nineties sedan. I’m not exactly the expert on what makes a good car, or one worth drooling over.” She covered my hand with hers, squeezing lightly. “But maybe I’ll learn, just to make sure your bat cave is appropriately equipped with a Batmobile or two.”

I still didn’t understand the reference, and it irritated me more than I felt like it should have that my mate would have an inside joke with my brother. Especially an unmated brother.

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