Page 7 of Dragon Unhinged

He takes an aggressive step towards me. “Get out.” His teeth are bared and his voice is a rumbling, gruff growl probably meant to intimidate me.

I take a step closer, tilting my head in curiosity, ignoring his attempt to scare me. “Why do you stay, if the door’s unlocked?” Somehow, I doubt my father would let them be free if they were a danger. I’m guessing the runes and magic here do more than keep them prisoners.

He snarls. “You think a door could keep me here? It’s spelled. Only humans can pass through.” He holds up his wrists. “And even if I could leave, how do you think I’d get back to my clan witch to get these damned cuffs off?” He turns around abruptly. “How do you think I’d get her to remove the branded runes decorating my back?”

I gasp at the sight of the etchings burned into his skin. Brands, like a farmer brands his cattle. But I suspect these do more than just mark him as “owned”.

I shake my head, struggling to believe that my father and brother could be this cruel. I’m not naive enough to believe they aren’t cruel at all, but this is beyond the pale. To leave a mark on someone’s body like that, to burn it or carve it into them like they’re nothing but cattle. And I don’t even like that they do it to cattle, frankly.

Tears sting my eyes, and I find myself reaching toward him.

He turns out of my reach until he’s glaring down at me with such hate. “Have you seen enough yet, little princess? Or should I show you more of what your kind has done to me?”

Chapter

Three

DECLAN

This woman, this Brianna, who’s walked into my cell as if I’m not something to fear, is everything my nightmares terrorize me with any time I’m able to sleep.

Instead of answering my question, rising to the threat and the anger in my tone, she wanders into my space further, curiosity filling her eyes. Nothing about her seems concerned that I’m a killer, a monster to fear, and that scares me most of all about this innocent young woman.

She reminds me of my sister. I shake the thought as quickly as it comes. I can’t think of Krystana, I can’t imagine her in a place like this, or I might not survive another night.

“What are you doing?” I snarl.

She looks up at me, her dark brown eyes meeting mine, and she sighs. “This is how you live? How long have you been here?”

Her question seems sincere, and while her gaze tries to hold mine, I look away, but not far enough. From her eyes I drift down over the soft features of her face. The smooth ridge of her petite nose, the elegant pout to her full lips, to the roundness in her cheeks. The slope of her neck looks inviting in a way I’ve never looked at a female, especially a human female. Whilemy brothers all seem content to break our dragon laws, I have no interest in a human, especially after all they’ve done to me and others like me. Her breasts aren’t huge like her size would insinuate, but she’s got a good handful, and her hips are made for big hands gripping them. The juncture between her legs is filled with deliciously thick thighs, as though she doesn’t have any interest at all in adhering to the skin-and-bones ideal humans have put on their women.

She’s not all soft though. I can see the strength in her body and her mind. My hand twitches with the urge to pull the tie from her hair to see how long it is and how it would feel running through my fingers.

I growl at myself and my dragon who is far, far too interested in this female…this woman. She’s probably bait. A trap that her father sent down, though the family resemblance only shows in the cool, tawny rose tint of her skin and the high cheekbones. Her eyes don’t have the cruel edge of emptiness like her father’s.

I gesture vaguely at the concrete wall across from the door. “I was keeping count, but I stopped a while ago.”

She moves to where tally marks fill the wall and starts counting.

Fuck me, she starts counting.

“I don’t know who this clan witch is, or how to find her, but we have to get you out of here.” She hasn’t turned back to me yet, and I’m glad for it. I couldn’t bear to see pity in her eyes right now.

“You can’t. Even if I could make it through the magic guarding the door, they’d never let me further than a few hundred yards before these cuffs would do worse than keeping me trapped in this form.”

I know I should shut up, stop spilling my secrets to this girl, but there’s something about her that makes me want to tell her more.

“Then we’ll get the cuffs off.” She says it simply, matter-of-factly, and I want to believe her.

“Unless you’re a skilled witch or you have the key, there’s no removing them.” I sigh, moving to the concrete slab that serves as my bed, and I sink onto it, pulling my knees up close to my chest.

The fresh wounds from tonight’s battle still burn, even though they’ve sized down to match my human form, and I don’t want her noticing them.

I don’t want her to see more of the horrors I’ve been through, no matter what I claimed moments ago.

Surprisingly, she crawls up onto the slab next to me, more curiosity in her eyes as she takes one of my hands in hers, turning it this way and that, as if she’s looking for a way to remove the cuff.

“There’s no keyhole.” She frowns, her brow getting adorably furrowed. “How does the key work, if there’s no keyhole?”

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