Page 5 of The Dragon's Mate

“Yeah, but it’s making my hand feel better,”Tyler said.

The man glanced at Gram who was sittingnext to Tyler.

“Hi, I’m Gram. What’s your name?”

“Bren Matthews.” He held out his hand andshe shook it, a smile creeping onto her face.

“Bren?” Gram glanced at Kaida. “Germandescent, is that right?”

Bren nodded and Gram’s smile widened.“Meaning flame?”

“I guess. I don’t really know,” he saidabsently.

“Pretty sure that’s what it means,” Gramreplied cheerily. “You’re a good-lookin’ devil then, aren’t you?”

Bren blinked at her. “Uh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Tyler, are you sure you’re okay?” Brenlooked his brother over anxiously.

“Yeah, I told you on the phone I was okay.”

Bren touched the top of Tyler’s hand, frowningwhen the teenager hissed out a breath and pulled his hand away. “This might bebroken.”

“His hand isn’t broken, just bruised,” Gramsaid.

“Are you a doctor?” Bren asked.

“Nope. But I’ve seen my fair share ofinjuries over the years.” Gram smiled at him again.

“You’re going to the hospital for anX-ray,” Bren said to Tyler.

“I don’t need one,” Tyler protested. “It’salready feeling better. I swear, Bren.”

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Bren said.

“Corey and I rode our bikes out to the edgeof the woods after school. We were going to go hang out by the river for a while.I guess Jeff and the others followed us. They caught us kissing and -”

Tyler’s voice clogged in his throat and hisface turned pale. Kaida watched as Bren squeezed his shoulder gently. “It’sokay, Tyler.”

“Jeff called us faggots and said that wewere going to find out what happened to faggots like us,” Tyler whispered. “Ipunched Jeff in the face and yelled at Corey to run but the other boys startedhurting him. They were kicking and punching him and -”

He stopped, blinking back tears as Brensqueezed his shoulder again. “They wouldn’t stop hitting him, Bren, and Jeffhad me in a chokehold and I – I couldn’t get free. I tried to stop them. Iswear.”

“I know,” Bren said reassuringly. “Itwasn’t a fair fight, Tyler. Where’s Corey?”

“On the couch.”

Bren stood and glanced over the top of thecouch. His mouth dropped open and he turned to stare at Tyler again.

“I didn’t know he was a shifter,” Tylerwhispered. “He never told me. One of them kicked him in the face and heshifted before he lost consciousness.”

“How did you get away?” Bren asked.

“She saved us.” Tyler looked over Bren’sshoulder at her. Bren followed his gaze and a shiver went down her back whenhe studied her eyes. Her dragon made an odd sound – something between a growland a mating call - and she twitched in surprise.

“Thank you,” Bren said.

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