Page 6 of Shifter's Secret Baby

Closing the file folder, I slipped around the desk and handed it off to my assistant for filing.

“See that this blood is cleaned, will you?”

“Where are you going now?” Rachel sighed. “You have other meetings today.”

I was well aware of my schedule, but I didn’t fault Rachel for reminding me. It was her job, and I had just left Barney waiting for two hours—albeit on purpose.

“I’ll be back,” I reassured her, winking coyly.

“Ash…”

“It’s fine. Call it a courtesy call.”

“I can do it.”

I didn’t respond. Curiosity had gotten the best of me on this one, and I wanted to do it myself. Usually, I would let Rachel handle it, but in this case, I wanted to see the “special” Briar Madison for myself.

It wasn’t every day I got a rabbit shifter as collateral. I couldn’t help but want to see what I had locked away for the next three weeks.

Chapter3

Briar

Although I didn’t want to give into the terms of my captors, I had little choice but to eat, my growling stomach eventually dictating my own needs, much like it had the urge to drink earlier.

To my surprise, the meal that nameless dragon guard had brought wasn’t so bad, and like the water, I detected no drugs or other herbs to knock me out. There was no meat on the plate, the kidnappers apparently sensitive to my vegetarian diet, at least. Or maybe it was just a coincidence, and they were saving the expensive stuff for their wolves and dragon employees. Whatever the reason, my plate consisted of all plant-based foods, without a hint of carnivorous ingredients.

After consuming most of the vegetables and bread on the plate, I curled onto the bed with a book from the shelf, my plans for escape put on hold for the moment, at least until I got a better understanding of my situation. The clearer my mind became, the more I realized I wasn’t in immediate danger. If I had been in harm’s way, I would have been hurt by now—or worse.

Moreover, I couldn’t physically do anything against the guard, and I had no idea where I was or who had taken me. I had nothing to use but my head—and deep prayer to all the gods that my father was out there looking for me.

He must be going crazy with worry by now. What did he think when he woke up, and I was gone?

I felt so sorry for him, imagining him rushing through our house, looking for me. Did he know I’d been taken, or did he think I’d run off?

No, he wouldn’t believe that I would leave him for a moment. I would never do such a thing in a world that was filled with so many dangers.

Emotional exhaustion had gotten the better of me, and somewhere in between the pages of one of the philosophy books I’d plucked off the shelf to read, I drifted off to sleep again. This time, I didn’t dream, but the wake-up was just as scary and rude as the last.

“Get up!” the dragon guard barked. Once more, my eyes flew open. “Stand up and show some respect!”

His tone was different—higher and more alert. Even before my lids parted, I sensed he wasn’t alone like he had been the first time. The same terror that had assaulted me the first time took me again.

No, wait. I am dreaming.

Crystalline blue eyes peered down at me from the guard’s companion, a lock of black hair sliding down the perfect olive skin of the curious, cocked head above me. I inhaled, aroused by the sweet, smoky smell of the impeccably dressed stranger, his tongue jutting out over full, sensuous lips.

Power emanated from this being—more power than I had ever felt in my twenty-five years on this planet. A demon. He was a demon shifter. I trembled, but I tried to hide my visible fear. As the male stepped closer to me, a wave of electricity passed over me, like a gust of warm wind in the desert.

I was filled with a deep, primal longing, a desire more intense than anything I’d ever experienced.

“Get up!” the guard snapped again.

“Settle down, Draven,” the black-haired stranger grumbled. “You just woke her up.”

“His people-skills suck,” I quipped, sitting up. “I keep telling him that, but he probably doesn’t listen because I call him Jeeves, not Draven.”

The demon’s eyebrows rose. “What?” he asked, confused.

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