Page 26 of Mate For Hire (For Hire 3)

Patrick’s eyes gleamed. He knocked Declan’s hand away. “You’ll never know.”

Declan roared, and the ground shook. His brother flew over to help him fight, but several shifters, who were obviously on Patrick’s side, intercepted.

“Move,” Gerard told them.

“You aren’t my king,” Gerard’s opponent said.

Gerard sent the guy tumbling head over heels and several others behind him. Patrick seemed to notice Gerard entering the fight and the fact that he outclassed every shifter around him. He flew backward away from Declan, still in his human form.

“It’s too bad you can’t find your boy,” Patrick teased.

Declan lunged at Patrick, but the jerk dodged. He continued to run his mouth.

“Oh no you don’t. If you try to kill me or any of my men, you know what will happen to your son.”

Declan became a dragon and roared loud enough to shatter glass all around them. He seemed to have trouble shifting back to his human form. Perhaps it was because he was so angry. At last he achieved it and spoke through clenched teeth. “Why are you working with the humans? You’ve stayed out of my way, and I’ve stayed out of yours. I’ve let you have your way to maintain peace. This—this will not be forgiven.”

“Are you threatening to kill me? Did you forget so quickly what I just said? I’ve bided my time over the years, putting some things in place to ensure my victory.”

“Because you’re weak,” someone called out.

Patrick colored but ignored the comment. “Do you know what I wi

ll do, Declan? I will raise your son as my own. I will make sure he understands that dragons are superior to humans and that humans are only good for one thing—domination.”

Beside Lachelle, Kelly gasped.

Lachelle cut her eyes at the woman. “Did he tell you something different when he recruited you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Anyone could see Kelly was frightened, but she wasn’t ready to admit whatever part she played in Patrick’s plan.

Lachelle shook all over. This violence went far beyond anything she had to deal with during her police training or the brief experience being out on the streets as a full-fledged cop.

“I will take you somewhere safer,” Gerard said, and she knew he’d felt her fear.

“No, I’m not going anywhere.”

He would have argued, but the fighting started up again. Lachelle thought Patrick held all the cards. He was the only one who knew where the baby was. He could manipulate Declan all he wanted. However, that fact drove Declan out of his mind. Logic and reasoning went out the window. The next thing Lachelle knew, Patrick lay in a heap on the ground.

All time stopped.

“Is he dead?” someone whispered.

Lachelle had no idea who had spoken. She wondered the same thing. In the back of her mind, she’d thought the dragons were invincible, even among each other. For several moments, Patrick didn’t move. His men confirmed that he must be dead because they started flying to escape.

Declan’s men chased after every last traitor and brought them to the ground. Lachelle didn’t see a single man get away. And then panic gripped her heart.

“Gerard,” she called out, trembling.

He landed quickly before her and Kelly.

She looked tearfully up at him, feeling sick to her stomach. “I-if Patrick is dead, what about Bannon? How will we find him? He needs us.”

Gerard clenched his jaw and looked over his shoulder at his brother. Declan arrowed straight up into the air and let loose his most powerful roar yet. Anything that could be shaken shook to its foundations. Everyone fell on the ground. Kelly curled into a ball on the ground with her hands over her head.

Similarly sprawled on the ground, Lachelle peeked through her arms and watched in fear and awe as the mighty dragon spun left and right. His anger and rage seemed to change into something else. She wasn’t sure what until several shifters in human form cheered.

“What is it?” she called to Gerard.

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