Page 9 of Dragon Unhinged

And how fucking painful it could be if she doesn’t return tomorrow.

I watch her leave my cell, keeping my eyes on her as long as I can before she closes the cell door again, before I slump back against the cold wall, knowing I’m just in for another night of painful, restless sleep.

It’s a few minutes before I hear the wolf, Ewan, speak, as if he was waiting to make sure the coast is clear.

“That was new.” There’s a gruff growl to his voice as always.

“And none of your business,” I snarl possessively.

“Come now, friend, surely you don’t think you can keep your little princess entirely to yourself, when we’re all trapped here. Mayhap she wants to meet a wolf next. Or a bear.”

I snarl, tempted to throw my cell door open, as we did the first few nights we arrived here, just for the chance to talk to each other easier.

The torment that followed the action was never worth doing it again, and it only took three or four mornings of punishment before we gave up on that thought all together.

The problem with arguing with him, even now, would be that there’s no point. She’s not mine, I won’t be able to keep her all to myself. Not when I can’t even leave these concrete walls.

If she wants to meet Ewan, or the elusive bear who refuses to give us a name, who told us day one he didn’t want to make friends just to have to kill us both, I know there’s no way I could stop her.

So why does the idea of her even talking to one of them, let alone touching, or comforting one of them, make my stomach churn worse than it does when the spells rip my dragon from my skin?

Chapter

Four

BRIANNA

“Earth to Brianna…” My friend, Ellie, waves her hand in front of my face. “The professor dismissed us five minutes ago.”

I blink at her for a moment, focusing in on her intensely sapphire eyes, the present snapping in around me harshly.

“Where’s your mind today?” she asks.

I shrug and start packing away my pen and blank notebook into my messenger bag. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Hoping she doesn’t ask me to elaborate, I sling my bag over my shoulder and head toward the parking lot where my chauffeur should be waiting.

He’s always waiting, no matter how many times I’ve told my father I can drive myself. Just one more bar on my prison.

“Good thing you have a light schedule today.” She smiles at me knowingly. “Too bad you can’t just hang out on campus. We could go get lattes, study in the quad and watch the Rho Omega Phi throwing their football around. Shirtless.” She waggles her eyebrows at me like that’s supposed to be some big draw to pretending to study in the quad.

I like Ellie. I really do. But I don’t know how much I can open up to her, I don’t know how much I can tell her. Not when there’s not exactly neon signs indicating who’s on my father’s payroll.

She hardly holds up to the image most of my jailors have, with her shaggy blonde pixie cut, bold dark eye makeup framing those too-blue eyes, and a mix of punk clothing and dresses that seem like something a princess in a fairy tale would wear, almost always paired with a chunky platform shoe.

I don’t think he’d hire someone like her, but he’s tricked me before.

I’ve lived my life in an ivory tower, imprisoned within the walls while my father controls every aspect of my life. It’s difficult to explain to someone, especially without sounding like I’m asking for a pity party for the princess who has almost everything…except freedom. I know that I have privileges, but only when my father sees fit. Only when he’s not trying to make my life a living hell. It’s like he’s punishing me, because he can’t punish the wife and mother who shamed him by leaving.

“I study better at home.” I smile, hoping it sounds sincere, and not like a brush off.

“You have got to get your dad to loosen the reins a little. You’re twenty-one. Not a toddler. You should be able to live a little, you know? What’s he going to do when you graduate?”

“Probably set me up with a job in one of his friends’ companies, where he can still keep an eye on me until I find a nice Jamitari boy to marry me and hopefully give me healthy sons.” I laugh, hoping she takes it as a joke, even though it’s my reality and my destiny, no matter how much I fight it.

“Fuck that. Let’s make a pact. After graduation, we’re going to find a bus, a train, anything we can, to get us out of here, and we’re going to see the world.” She grins, giving me a playful nudge with her elbow. “Life’s way too short to just go from one guy’s controlling grip to another’s.”

My mind flits to Declan, like it has all morning, and for half a second, I think I wouldn’t mind being in his grip. Or in his arms.

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