Page 44 of Dragon His Heels
Chapter 13
Follow him.
Damn, Talia’s dragon was bossy.No thank you. Gabe was furious, and every bit of that anger was directed at her. Because she’d lied to him.
He doesn’t know the half of it,her dragon said.
“Thanks for the reminder,” she muttered. “And by the way, I’m pissed at him too.”
He’s scared.
She snorted.
It isn’t you he’s avoiding. He’s avoiding the concept. He’s scared.
“Nope. Not going to feel sorry for him. You’re right. I wasn’t entirely honest, either. But my reasons are altruistic. He just wanted the nookie without the commitment. Which is stupid because, hell, I don’t even know if I want the commitment either. All he had to do was frigging talk to me!”
“Er, you okay, Talia?”
She yelped, spinning around so quickly she had vertigo for a few seconds, until her mind cleared and she saw Julian standing in the kitchen doorway, head canted, watching her.
“Fine. I’m fine. Did you need something?”
He lifted the bucket hanging from his hand. “Kitchen is next on my list.”
“Right. Sorry. I’ll just…” She flapped her hand and scurried from the room. As she passed a window overlooking the backyard, she paused, searching the darkened sky.
Had he gone off to fly again? That was a scary proposition, in this weather. It was hard to see when the rain was coming down like this, not to mention the potential for lightning strikes.
Follow him.
“He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself,” she muttered to her dragon. And maybe to herself.
Lightning flashed again, followed by thunder—no, that was knocking. Urgent, like someone was beating on the front door. Talia hurried down the hall toward the foyer.
When she pulled open the door, Petra stood on the front porch, soaking wet, tears streaming down her face, a bloodied and beaten woman in her arms.
“Jasmine? My gods!” she exclaimed, ushering them inside. “What happened?” She pointed at the entertainment room, and Petra laid Jasmine on the couch in there.
Ignoring the water streaming from her hair into her face, Petra dashed tears from her cheeks and said, “It’s my fault.”
“What is? What happened to Jasmine?”
“She—him—I did it!”
“You beat up my sister?”
Petra shook her head, water droplets spraying the room. Her blouse had become transparent with the wetness. Talia could see the purple stitching in her bra. “I told him that Jasmine and her daughter were here.”
“What are you talking about?” And then Talia’s stomach dropped like she was riding the tallest roller coaster at the amusement park. “Who did you tell?”
“Darius Redd. The Rojo dragon.”
Talia whipped her head around to her unmoving sister, water and blood soaking into Gabe’s suede couch. “No! Wait—how did you know to contact the Rojo dragons?”
“You told me that’s where she went.” Petra sniffled and swiped at her nose. “When we had drinks last week.”
Talia stared at her.
