Page 31 of Dragon's Code

“What?”

“You think he lost his fortune just out of stupidity? You think his business burned down due to bad wiring?”

I just stare at him. I had no idea. I’d heard about my father’s fall in the business world. He became completely disgraced. I hoped it was just karma paying him back for deserting me to the monsters.

“Kashton,” I say his name like a prayer. “Why would you do that?”

His green eyes seem to visibly shift back into his dragon eyes even if the rest of him remains human. I think he’s done it before, but I always thought it was a trick of light. His eyes were always a little unusual, but I never thought in a million years it was something more.

His dragon is looking back at me.

“Why? Why would I do that? You think I wouldn’t destroy anyone who has hurt you?” His expression is as fierce as his voice, with a biting edge.

Tears sting my eyes. I didn’t even realize that my entire body is rigid with tension while my brain tries to work out what I just learned. This is all more shocking than my best friend being a dragon shifter. I put my hand to my chest trying to calm down the storm raging inside of me.

I tried to leave my father in the past. After I got my emancipation, I never spoke to him again. He couldn’t touch my trust fund. My mother made sure of that. He lost everything. His properties, his money, his stocks, his cars, and every other material object he held more dear than me.

“I wanted to kill him, but I couldn’t do that to you. You may hate him, but you didn’t deserve to lose him. I made sure he lost everything, and he can sit in his filth and reminisce about the good ol’ days.”

“He reached out to me when I was in college and asked me if I would give him a loan. I told him to go to hell. He called me a fucking useless cunt and hung up on me.”

Kash growls and then I remember him growly earlier.

“Wow, that’s a real growl,” I say stupidly.

His expression softens. “Sometimes I can’t help myself. Sometimes my dragon sits closer to the surface than most humans would trust.” He bites his lower lip, like he’s nervous. “Do you hate me?”

“Hate you? Why on earth would I hate you?”

He holds my gaze, this earnest expression like he’s waiting for me to see the true monster inside or something.

I cup his face and take a step into his space. He’s still shirtless and the heat wafts off him. It doesn’t help that we’re in the desert. Even at night, it’s still hot as hell.

“Tell me. Why do you think I’d hate you?”

“I don’t know. I went crazy when I saw you laying in that bed, beaten, bruised, abused. I was able to stay calm with you, which was a miracle all on its own.” His hand covers mine that’s still cupping his face. His gaze never leaves mine. “Once you fell asleep, I couldn’t sit still. I went out into the woods and shifted and I found them while I was flying around. I didn’t even think about it or hesitate, I just killed them all.”

A sob escapes me. I didn’t even realize I was crying. I push myself onto my tiptoes and press my mouth to his. The moment our skin touches, something ignites inside of me. His body stiffens against mine. We’re now pressed together from mouth to pelvis, my breasts crushed against his hard chest.

I ease the pressure with every intention of pulling back. Then his hand is on my hip and his fingers dig into the flesh there as he pulls me hard against him. This time, he’s leaning into me, his mouth crushing against mine. His expert mouth opens mine and then his tongue is sliding against mine. My hands go to his shoulders, just trying to hold on as he shows me exactly how it should feel when you kiss someone.

I’ve never experienced a kiss like this.

In the flash, he’s pushing me away, ripping his mouth from mine. He takes several steps back. He nearly rips his shirt as he tugs it down over his body.

“We should get back inside,” he says, his voice raw and husky.

I don’t trust myself to talk. I don’t know what just happened. I’d kissed him, but I hadn’t meant anything…or maybe I did. I don’t even know right now. Anger wafts off him as he leads the way back into the hotel.

When we get back to our rooms, he slams the bathroom door, locking himself inside.

I go into my room and close the adjoining door. I check the space quickly to make sure it’s safe. I sit on the foot of my bed and stare at the floor as I try to make sense of anything that just happened.

ChapterEight

KASHTON

I’m a fucking idiot. What the hell was I thinking? The cold shower doesn’t do much to calm my dick or my emotions on what just happened. I was never going to tell her anything. She was so surprised. Somehow in my stupid adolescent brain I thought for sure she would always know it was me.

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