Page 6 of The Dragon's Mate

She focused on a spot on the wall just overhis left shoulder. Staring directly at the human was making her dragon weird.“You’re welcome.”

“It was amazing, Bren,” Tyler said. “Kaidakicked the shit out of all four of them. They didn’t stand a chance.”

Bren took another look at her, his gaze lingeringon her eyes. This time her dragon made what was definitely a mating call and shebriefly considered running from the cabin and hiding in the woods for a fewhours. What the hell was going on with her dragon?

“Corey needs to go to the hospital.” Brenwas still looking at her and her dragon practically rolled over and showed hergoddamn belly to the human.

Stop it, you idiot!

Her dragon hissed grumpily at her and shetasted smoke in the back of her throat. Jesus, the last thing she needed to dowas start spewing smoke out of her mouth and nose in front of two humans. Sheinhaled the smoke that lingered in her mouth and throat.

She moved to the couch – she needed to dosomething to distract her dragon - and knelt next to the fox shifter. “Notwhen he’s in his shifter form.” She stroked the fox’s fur. “Until he wakes upand shifts to his human form, there’s no point in taking him to the hospital.”

“He could have a concussion or internalinjuries,” Bren argued. “We can’t -”

The fox made a soft whining noise andtwitched under Kaida’s hand. Tyler dropped the poultice on the table andhurried over to join them.

“Corey?” he said anxiously. “Can you hearme?”

The fox twitched again before his eyesopened. He stared unblinkingly at Tyler before abruptly shifting. Kaidagrabbed the blanket draped over the back of the couch and covered Corey’s nakedbody.

“Corey!” Tyler sat beside him and touchedthe boy’s forehead. “How do you feel?”

“My head hurts,” Corey rasped as Grampushed past Tyler and laid her worn hand on his shoulder.

“Stay still, boy. Let me have a look atyou, all right?”

She patted Tyler’s shoulder. “Why don’tyou wait outside with your brother and Kaida?”

“I want to stay here with him,” Tyler said.

“I know, dearie, but it’ll only be a few minutes.Go on now. Be a sweet boy and listen to Gram.” Her grandmother’s voice wasfirm.

Tyler hesitated and then squeezed Corey’shand. “I’ll be outside, Corey.”

Bren took Tyler’s arm and guided him outside.Kaida shut the door behind them and sat down on one of the wicker chairs asBren paced back and forth.

“I’m going to the school first thing onMonday and talking to the principal.” He raked his hand through his hair.“This is going beyond bullying. You and Corey could have been killed.”

“No, Bren. Don’t do that,” Tyler pleaded.“It’ll make it worse.”

Bren stared at him in disbelief. “Tyler,do you understand what I said? You could have died. This asshole kid needs tobe expelled and his parents need to know what he’s done.”

“If he’s expelled, he’ll go after Corey andme again,” Tyler argued. “You know that, Bren.”

“I can’t sweep this under the rug, Tyler.Hell, I should arrest this kid for assault.”

“Bren, no!” Tyler nearly shouted. Hisentire body was trembling lightly, and Kaida could smell the tangy scent of hisfear. “That will make it worse. Don’t you get it? He knows I’m gay now. Thebest thing we can do is lay low, hope that he doesn’t -”

“Doesn’t what? That homophobic assholewon’t leave you alone. What would you have me do? You need to be protected,and I can’t follow you around. I have to work and -”

“You could teach him to fight.” She mentallyberated herself for interrupting. This wasn’t any of her business.

“Stay out of this,” Bren said.

Anger rippled through her even though thehuman was right. Still, just because it wasn’t her business, didn’t mean shewasn’t making a good point. “If he knew how to fight, he could protect himself.”

“Listen, I appreciate what you did to savemy brother, but -”

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