Page 43 of Dragon Unhinged

Chapter

Eighteen

BRIANNA

Declan’s touch heats my body immediately, like his kiss cues my body to get ready for him. Like I’ve been conditioned to grow wet just being this close to him. As much as I want to give in, to just let go of everything that’s happened, everything I’ve just learned, I don’t know that I can. Not yet, at least. Too much is cluttering my mind.

“Declan, wait.” I hardly stop kissing him, letting his taste linger on my lips, even as I shift back, just enough that we’re not touching from waist to mouth anymore.

He pulls back too. Slowly, like he’s struggling to do as I ask, as if he, or his dragon, doesn’t have the control to wait.

“What is it?” His eyes are swirling with color, a sign that his dragon’s close to the surface, even if he can’t shift, and his chest seems to be rising and falling in quick breaths, like he’s just run a marathon. His tone, though, is all concern.

I cup his cheek, skimming my thumb over his lower lip once. “I want this. I really do. But I know once we start, we’re not likely to stop until we’re both completely exhausted.” I smile as his hand grips my ass, his fingers digging in. “I just feel like we need to talk about some stuff first.” My mind is still reeling withthe idea that one of the Lees, or maybe all of them, could be vampires.

Declan shifts, gently moving me with him so that we’re laying down, his arm under my head like a pillow. The concrete slab is hardly comfortable, but it’s hard to care when he’s here.

“What do you want to talk about?”

I chew on my inner cheek lightly, not sure where to start. I feel like I want to know everything. Everything about him. Everything about supernatural creatures. Everything about what it means to be his mate.

“Let’s pick one topic at a time, princess.” He kisses the tip of my nose as his fingers trace over my spine. “We’re going to have centuries together. We don’t have to cover everything tonight.”

I could be mad at him for hearing my thoughts, for knowing what I’m thinking, what I’m struggling with, but it’s hard to be mad at him for anything. Not when he’s everything I didn’t even know I wanted in a partner. Not when I can feel how much he cares about me, how much he treasures me.

“When we were talking about one of the Lees being a vampire, you said that they’re probably working with Grey. Who is Grey?”

There’s something about the name Grey that is niggling at the back of my mind, like it’s important, but I can’t seem to pull up the reference or why I would even know anything about Grey. To my knowledge, this is the first time I’ve heard that name.

“Grey is a vampire on a power trip. He’s a lot like your father in some ways, but he despises humans and shifters alike. He doesn’t like anyone who isn’t a vampire. He wants humans to be slaves and food. He wants shifters to be wiped off the earth. I’m not sure how he feels about the fae or witches, but they’re not currently being hunted as far as we can tell.”

“Why?”

“If there is a ‘why’, we don’t know what it is. We’re working hard enough just trying to figure out a way to stop him. He’s been planning this for a very long time. He’s involved witches and other magical creatures just to get as far as he has. Not to mention, he’s using dead dragons to fuel some of the control he’s managed to gain. He’s powerful and has powerful friends or powerful people he’s managed to put under his control. He’s the reason why my brother exposed himself as a dragon on television.”

“That was your brother?”

“Levi. The guy is never going to live it down, and we live a long time. Grey put his mate in danger. He had to show himself or she’d be killed. Most of us get it and don’t really blame him. The Elders are pissed.”

“Elders?”

“Our hierarchy is run by the Elders at the top. They’re the kings of the clans for the most part. Currently, my clan, doesn’t have a representative with the Elders because our parents were murdered a few years ago. We’re pretty sure at this point, Grey probably has a foothold with the Elders, but we’re not sure how or who.”

“Why do you think that Grey would be working with the Lees?” I ask, trying to get to the heart of my issue.

I want to know everything, but hearing the little bit of politics, I can tell I’m going to need a full semester class to understand everything that’s going on in the dragon world.

“Because Grey has been two steps ahead of us every time we turn around. There are a lot of good vampires out there, but we’ve already been betrayed numerous times. I find it suspicious that weeks after you and I found each other, a vampire is showing up for dinner. I would be stupid to not be at least suspicious.” He cups my face and meets my eyes. “Please, pleasebe careful around the Lees. If Grey has sent him here, it’s not for anything good.”

I nod and give him an encouraging smile. “I will. I promise.”

He kisses the tip of my nose again. “Thank you, my mate.”

“Let’s talk about that. You keep saying I’m your mate, and that fate chose you for me, but I don’t know what that means for me. I feel it—this connection between us—but is that all it is?”

He hesitates. The strong emotions wafting off him one moment, fade and draw out of me, and even his eyes betray the way he’s shutting down, shielding something from me.

“Declan.” I keep my voice tender but stern.

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