Page 47 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
An ambush?my dragon wondered.
Their mistake if it is. We kill all except the so-called alpha. He’ll break…eventually.
Anticipation heated within me, and I let it drive me the final steps. When I pushed through the trees, I found myself in a large clearing…and at its center were five men.
And no sign of our female.
Landon’s face twisted into an arrogant smirk as he saw me notice her absence. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the mighty dragon lord himself, crawling through the dirt like a common wolf. Didn’t think you’d stoop this low for a broken little null.”
He shared a smirk with the shifter on his left as he insulted Kaylee, as though this were all some joke for him. He wouldn’t be laughing for long.
“Where is she?” My voice was layered in my dominance, and three of the men shifted their weight uneasily. Lesser males. They’d die first, leaving their leaders alive to give me the answers I needed.
“What, no threats?” Landon asked. “No posturing? I’m disappointed.”
“If it’s threats you want, wolf, I’ve got plenty. You took something that belongs to me, and Iwillreclaim what’s mine.” I stalked forward. “But you know what I find works better than threats?”
One of the three dead men swallowed hard, but I kept my eyes on Landon as I spoke. “Actions.”
Landon threw his head back and laughed, exposing his throat in a way that made me want to crush it. “Nice try, dragon, but this is neutral territory. We both know you can’t kill me here without consequences.”
“You think arcane laws will protect you? You think neutral territory matters to me? You took what’s mine, and there’s no law in this world that will save you now.”
I flicked one arm and grabbed the man who’d swallowed, snapping his neck as easily as a dry twig. My eyes stayed locked onto Landon as I dropped the lifeless body to the ground.
“I’ll ask you again. Where. Is. She?”
Landon’s eyes widened, but quickly narrowed again, his face hardening. “Lay one hand on me, and you’ll never find her.”
“You hurt her,” I ground out. “That was your first mistake.Thinking you can negotiate with me? That’s your second. I suggest you don’t make a third.”
“I’m not the one making a mistake. This is bigger than you think it is, dragon.”
My patience was wearing thin. “You’re stalling. Bad choice.”
I let my eyes flick to another of Landon’s lackeys, and the man visibly paled, taking a step back. I lifted my lip in a sneer.
“Pretty soon you’re going to be standing there all alone, Landon.” I took another step towards him, dominance rolling off me in waves. “You think you’re an alpha?” My voice was a low rumble, and I shook my head once. “You’re nothing but prey.”
“Prey? Is that what you think I am? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like I’m the one holding all the cards.”
“Then you must not have very good view.”
I lunged forward—not at Landon, but at the man who had flinched back from me. My hand closed around his neck and I started to squeeze, just hard enough to cut off his air supply.
“Because from whereI’mstanding, it looks like I could kill you and your men, and there’s nothing you could do to stop me.” The shifter in my grasp flailed his hands at mine, trying to claw me from his throat, and I rattled him, squeezing more tightly. “Except tell me where she is.”
“Go ahead, kill him,” Landon said, looking at his choking enforcer impassively. “It changes nothing.”
I smelled the panic flare from the man I was killing, and his eyes flew wide. “Alpha, please…” he gasped—which was a waste of his final breaths. I ducked my head to his ear.
“You should have chosen a better leader,” I told him, and then put him out of his misery.
“Alpha Landon,” one of the two remaining men at the shifter’s side said urgently. “Maybe we should—”
“Silence!” Landon cut across him. “You vowed your life to me, or did you forget that, Jake? And so did both of them.”
“You said we just needed to stall until he gets back—”
