Page 43 of Liar For Hire (For Hire 1)

“Similarly, but it’s not that our scales match the color of the sky. We bend light to appear to be invisible.”

“Ah.” She didn’t really get it, but she believed him. “I’m human, and I can see them. You’re not about to tell me I’m not human because I’ve been around you guys too long, are you?”

He smirked and gazed down at her. She could have sworn that the light in his eyes was love. Her heart beat faster at seeing that than it did watching the dragon shifters.

Declan stroked her cheek and ran a thumb across her lips. She thought he would kiss her, but she was destined to be disappointed. He turned back toward the sky to watch his fellow shifters take off.

One of the bigger dragons—a show off if you asked her—flapped his broad wings and stirred up a powerful wind. Declan stepped in front of her to shield her from most of it.

When the too-full-of-himself dragon was gone, Declan answered her question. “No, you’re not a shifter, and dragon shifting isn’t some type of contagion. You have to be born this way. We certainly don’t bite people to ‘turn them’ like werewolves.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Remember I said we appear to be invisible? We’re not actually invisible. I don’t know all the science—or magic—behind it, but I think it’s a combination of knowing what to look for and expecting to see it. Plus it’s possible that we put out something that tricks the human mind into not seeing us.”

He flushed a bit, and she wondered if he felt embarrassed that he couldn’t explain better. Perhaps if he had been around his people all the way into adulthood, they might have taught him the technical stuff about being a dragon.

She recalled the first time they met Patrick and how it had seemed that there was something in the sky before they went into the restaurant that day. She couldn’t make it out clearly, but she definitely saw it.

Declan explained after she talked to him about it. “He wanted to intimidate us both, and he knew it would rattle me more to know you were frightened at seeing something you couldn’t explain.”

“Too bad for him I might need a pair of glasses some time soon.”

Declan chuckled, and a few steps away from them Patrick turned around to glare. He’d obviously heard their conversation and wasn’t pleased at her lack of appropriate response.

After everyone that was flying had left, Patrick approached them. “This way. We’re riding in the car out of consideration for our injured friend.”

“You don’t care about him at all,” Janessa ground out, “or you wouldn’t have made him watch while everyone flew away.”

“Nessa.” Declan touched her arm. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. I’m sick to death of him rubbing your condition in your face. Maybe you don’t think about it, pal, but Declan is one of your people. You claim to care about them, but you don’t give a flip about him. Or is it that you just want to be in charge?”

Carl stepped in front of her. “Be quiet before I make you.”

He found himself thrown to the edge of the clearing, and he rolled a few times before thumping his back against a tree. Janessa gasped and spun to face Declan. She’d hardly registered what happened. Declan moved so fast and with such force, she couldn’t believe he was the one who tossed the man.

She expected all the remaining men to attack Declan, but no one moved. Patrick’s jaw worked like he was frustrated. She didn’t understand why no one tried to punish Declan until Carl came running back toward them. His dark expression said he was ready to rumble.

“Stop, you fool,” Patrick bit out. “You don’t threaten to hurt a man’s woman in front of him without considering the consequences. Go. I don’t need you on this road trip.”

“But boss—”

“Go. That’s an order.”

Carl took to the skies.

“What exactly do you mean ‘his woman’? I’m Declan’s mate!”

Everyone spun around in the direction of the shrill voice. Roxie had found them. Janessa’s heart sank at seeing her again. She’d hoped they would be far out of town before she showed up. She should have known better, especially after all she had learned about the shifters.

“I don’t have time to modify my plans,” Patrick said. “Take her.”

Two men charged Roxie. Her clothes seemed to melt away, but her naked body wasn’t exposed. She went from human to dragon in a blink. As the men grew, scales shimmered in rows along their bodies. The three took to the sky, beating the air with their wings.

With all the twists and turns, the roars of aggression, and the snaps of powerful jaws, at first Janessa lost track of which one of the dragons was Roxie. Two against one seemed unfair.

Janessa bumped Declan. “Shouldn’t someone do something? They’ll kill her.”

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