Page 47 of Centaur Bolt

“Then what are you afraid of?”

He snorted a laugh. “Nothing.”

“Take us out of here. We need a Watcher.”

He arched a brow. “We’d have to find one first. Isobel’s lowlifes would nab us before we’d get to the next town. Crystals will shield the collars, but my Dragon is kinda noticeable. Not worth the risk.”

I ground my teeth at the finality of the tone. “You really want to be shut up here with me for weeks? Or longer?”

His eyes flared. A frisson of ice traveled up my spine as I got a glimpse of what lay within.

Hellfire, Iskar choked.

“Take us out,” I insisted. “We have a chance to stop that bitch. That’s worth any risk.”

“Not to me.” His lips pulled straight, and his brow furrowed.

I changed tactics. “It is if it sets you free.”

Havoc’s taloned fingers curled into a fist, but I saw his eyes brighten before he growled, and said, “All right. But only because anything is better than sitting here listening to you.”

16

Havoc

My Dragon lay on the rock shelf and glared down at Marcus.

Damned bastard was going to get us killed. I was pretty fucking sure of it. But he wasn’t exactly wrong, either. We couldn’t stay here forever. Or rather, we could. But I had little doubt that I would end up slicing and dicing him if we tried.

I’d come very close when I’d returned to find him pawing Ace’s rocks.

There weren’t many things I cared about. I couldn’t care less, for instance, about ending Isobel’s bloody slaughter. Particularly if it risked my scaly hide. But if selling her location to the Watchers meant she and Brock died…

That would make putting up with Marcus worth it. Almost.

Although the guy knew his stuff when it came to eel. The steamed meat had been damn good.

Didn’t mean I wanted to spend my life with him. Or even the next few weeks.

I’d taken my last piece, embraced my larger scaly self, and retreated to the upper regions of the cave. Left him down there huddled around the cooling stones—stupid fucking idiot couldn’t even grow proper scales.

There were many mysteries surrounding the guy. Who knows what the Isobitch had really done to him? Another thing I didn’t care about. Unless his monster tried to bury its fangs in me.

We had all day to hang around until it was safe to make a run for it. And I wasn’t about to spend it with him. So I was up here instead.

As I curled up on the ledge, Fang tickled at me from her hiding spot beneath my scales. I’d already fed her some of the juicy worms that resided in this place, so it wasn’t hunger. I decided to ignore her, because I was pretty sure it had something to do with our guest.

She liked him.

I had no idea why. But her tickling legs had already enticed me into this ridiculous charade that would likely end up with me being dead.

Not for the first time, I regretted that I hadn’t left the Webspinner well enough alone when I’d first seen her. Still wasn’t sure why I’d decided to save her.

No, that was a lie. I knew why. It was all because of Ace…

We’d been holed up in an old building, waiting for Xumi’s head pinion to call us into action. We were taking a lucrative crystal mine from a rival underlord, but getting the entire mission into place was taking longer than it should. Not a good sign, and it made me fucking antsy.

Ace and I had been slated to come in from behind and wipe the rival pinions off the face of the earth. Primed for blood and lust—sort of in that order—I was pacing in the small room. While Ace, predictably, was meditating.

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