Page 72 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
“I’m not a fucking dog,” I spat back.
“One bitch or another, it makes no difference to me,” he said. “Move, and I’ll burn your hair off.”
I seethed impotently as he walked back inside. A moment later, there was a thunderous crash. More sounds followed as the house was trashed. They moved from side to side. I could hear glass shattered and wood splintering. All while I stood there unmoving.
Against two dragons, there wasn’t a thing I could do besides try to get the stupid link between my mind and Rhyse’s to work. Maybe he would be able to sense my distress and come back.
“Hey!” I shouted as Killian came outside with the necklace Rhyse had given me around his neck. “That’s not yours!”
Killian tilted his head back and laughed. “Your dragon boyfriend only got it because he was too much of a coward to come fight with the rest of us. By rights, this isourtreasure. Not his. He had no right to give it to you. I’m just taking it back, that’s all.”
I opened my mouth to protest more, but at that moment, Killian flicked a finger in my direction. A tiny ball of flame found the hem of the beautiful glani Rhyse had surprised me with and began to eat away at the fabric.
Killian roared with laughter as I frantically tried to put the fire out, slapping at the burning patches before dropping to theground and, for the first time in my life, using the “stop, drop, and roll” technique I’d learned in school but never had occasion to use until then.
“Last warning. Shut up, or the next one will do that to your skin,” he said, dumping his load of valuables onto a sheet Calan had spread out.
Over the next hour, I sat in place and watched them haul all sorts of pieces of gold, silver, and precious jewelry from the depths of Rhyse’s house. I hadn’t seen but a fraction of it, but apparently, Rhyse had quite the collection.
“You know he’s going to kill you for this,” I growled at Calan as he began to tie up the blankets in preparation to leave. “Rhyse will not just sit around and let you get away with this. He’s a much better man than you are, but this will test his limits.”
Killian’s laugh from the doorway turned my head.
“You know,” he said, wagging a finger at me as he walked my way. “You shouldn’t be so quick to defend him like that. Such misplaced vociferous defense.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Misplaced? You don’t think he’ll come for you?”
“Oh, I’m sure he will,” Killian said. “And if he pushes too hard, we’ll kill him. Such is the way of things. But that’s not what I was talking about.”
Killian’s eyes danced with laughter under his brow as he gloated. Something about it pricked me with fear.
“What do you mean?” I asked, growing nervous.
“Your support of him is so very unnecessary,” Killian said, reaching into a pocket and withdrawing a folded piece of sky-blue paper.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
The ominous chuckle did nothing to settle my stomach.
“It means,” he said with a wicked smile, slowly handing over the paper, “that he doesn’t feel anywhere near as strongly as you do. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
“You’re lying.”
Killian shrugged. “It’s notmyhandwriting. Go ahead. Read it.”
I glared at him. “You’re just fucking with me.”
He waggled the piece of paper. The grin on his face was too self-sure. Too confident. This was no joke.
Slowly, fingers trembling, I reached out for the paper.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Emma
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, stopping short of taking the paper from him.
“I’m just trying to be a good person,” Killian said with false modesty, clutching one hand to his chest. “You deserve to read this, to know what it says. I would be a bad friend if I didn’t tell you.”
