Page 86 of The Dragon's Mate

“No,” Bones said. “You need to return, Kaida.”

Her dragon growled at him and smoke driftedfrom her nostrils.

Enough!she saidto her dragon.You can’t challenge him.

I can and I will, her dragon growled.

Holy fuck. Her dragon really had gonemad. She’d never defeat Bones in a challenge. His dragon was too large and toopowerful.

Bones was staring at her, waiting patientlyto see if she would dare to challenge him. She pushed down her dragon andcleared her throat, tasting smoke in her mouth.

“Ready?” Bones asked.

She made herself smile at Bren. “I’ll seeyou later, all right?”

“All right.”

Ignoring her urge to kiss Bren, she followedBones out of the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

“Bones,” she said, “the council -”

“They will vote to kill the human,” Bonessaid. “You know they will.”

“He helped us,” she said as they walkeddown the stairs. “Surely they will show him mercy.”

Bones shook his head. “He is the son of apowerful man who hates shifters.”

“Bren is nothing like his father.”

“The council will not see it that way.”

“Cadmus will overrule it if they vote to burnhim,” she said.

Bones grabbed her arm before she could openthe lobby door. “Kaida, listen to me. Do not believe that Cadmus’s affectionfor you will save the human. This is bad, do you hear me? Really bad. Theywill kill him, and they will do it tonight.”

Her dragon pushed forward and growled, “Iwill destroy them if they try.”

Bones grunted in surprise, his own dragonmaking a low growl. “You can’t stop them.”

“I will.” Her dragon was so angry that hervoice was barely understandable to her own ears, but Bones made another surprisedgrunt.

“Are you in love with the human?”

“No, of course not,” she said. “But I won’tstand by and watch a good man lose his life. Not after he helped us. Sika andher hatchling would have been discovered by a lot more humans if it had notbeen for Bren.”

“I know, but the council will not see itthat way.”

“I won’t let them kill him,” she repeated.

“You can’t stop them, I don’t care how pissedyour dragon is,” Bones said. “But there may be another way.”

“What do you mean?”

He opened the door to the lobby and usheredher out into the cool air. “We will speak with Javee when we return to theclan.”

* * *

“Hey, Matthews!”

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