Page 70 of Dragon Exposed

The sounds echoed through the tunnel, but only when I stood in front of the door, as if I wasn’t meant to hear it until I was here.

“I’m coming!” I gripped the door’s handle, pulling hard, trying to wrench it from its hinges.

The screams continued, almost enough to drive me mad, before I managed to get the door open.

I stormed into the room, ready for a fight, ready to unleash my teeth and claws, even if I didn’t have enough space to fully shift.

Only, it was empty. No shifter, no dragon, no one. Not even any screams.

And the door slammed shut behind me.

There was no handle on this side. Not even an outline of where the door was.

As I called upon my talons, ready to shred the metal door if necessary to ensure I could get back to my mate, the full weight of my being here sunk in hard.

I couldn’t shift. It was as if the spells on this chamber had severed my connection with my dragon.

I had no way out. No one to find me.

Nothing but my own stupidity, my own arrogance, to keep me company.

28

A Match in Trouble

IZOBELLE

There’s a dragon in danger under Central Park. I’m going to investigate. I love you, mate.

Levi’s voice had filled my head so completely, as if he were in the room right next to me, whispering in my ear, that I gasped out loud, drawing Nina’s attention away from the movie we were watching in her hotel room.

She didn’t seem worse for the wear. In fact, she didn’t seem to remember anything other than the fact that we were supposed to meet at the clock in Grand Central Station. When she woke up here, she thought this was a surprise I’d planned for the two of us, a girl’s night after I’d supposedly been kidnapped.

I didn’t know how to even begin to explain everything that had happened, everything that had been set into motion from the moment I’d asked her to go to Epsilon with me. It was probably better, in the long run, if I didn’t tell her, if I didn’t drag her into all the supernatural world that I was embroiled in.

“Everything okay?” Nina tilted her head at me. “You’ve been quiet all day, and now this gasp.”

I shrugged. “Nothing you have to worry about.” Biting my lip, I ventured into a half-truth, just to test the waters. “You remember that guy from Epsilon, the one who was staring at me while we danced?”

“You mean the seriously hot Viking wannabe? Uh, yeah. Tell me you hit that.”

I could feel the blush creeping into my cheeks. “You could say that.”

“Good for you, girl. It’s about damn time you got some hot lovin’, Iz. I swear, between your workaholic nature and the fact that you never let me take you out, I was beginning to think I’d have to sign you up for a nunnery or something. Tell me everything. Does he know you were kidnapped? Does he know you’re back?”

I laughed. “You could say that.” Grabbing the remote, I muted the movie we’d both seen at least a half dozen times and shifted to look over at her. “He was the one who took me. He’s… he’s a dragon shifter.”

Nina’s eyes grew wide. “No. You need to call the cops, the FBI, somebody. You can’t be with a dragon. They’re dangerous, Iz. They’re monsters who will kill us all, given the chance. They burned down half of Philadelphia, for no reason. You can’t fuck a dragon.”

“They’re not like that. He’s not like that.” I sighed, already feeling like I’d made a mistake. “Levi’s a good man. He won’t hurt me.”

“Not anymore he won’t.” Her eyes clouded over, turning completely white as she tilted her head at me. “You and Levi Wystan are so certain you’re mates. You’ve given much to him. But what do you think he’ll do when he finds out you’re nothing more than a human, a woman better suited to be drained dry by the hungriest vampire than a dragon’s mate? Haven’t you wondered why you can’t shift? Why you don’t communicate with him telepathically, like other mates do? Like he can with other dragons?”

“Nina, you’re scaring me.”

“Nina’s not here right now. She won’t remember any of this, as long as you’re a good little human and follow orders.”

“Grey.”

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