Page 71 of Marked Dragon

The eleven of us remained quiet, and soon we heard the faint noises of limbs cracking, indicating Theron was in his dragon form. In animal form, he’d be able to sense us, even that far away.

My dragon grumbled, and the urge to shift damn near overtook me. It’d been almost a week since I’d shifted, and she was growing restless.Do you think the two of us could go flying tonight?

Thorn grimaced, and guilt squeezed our bond.Of course. I should’ve thought of that before now.

My shoulders sagged. I hadn’t meant to make him feel guilty.It’s not your fault. We’ve been on the run. But yes, my dragon is urging me to shift.

We’ll take care of that,he promised. He placed a hand on the small of my back just as Vlad slid the key into the lock and opened the door.

“Oh, thank gods.” Saphira marched inside. “It’s not actually a barn.”

We entered a large open area that reminded me of Peter’s basement back in Asheville where his home office was located. The floor was concrete, and although there wasn’t a large desk inside, there were four plastic benches that each seated four. To the left was an island bar that had a few bottles of wine and whiskey, and there was even a black telescope in the corner. A loft overlooked the room, and I wondered where the stairs were to reach it.

On the far side of the room, two white walls divided up more living areas. Each wall had a door midway down.

Saphira hurried to the left side and flung open a door, revealing a hallway. She wandered in as Tyson and Eva hurried over.

Let’s check out the other side,Thorn linked as he led me to the right side.

We walked through that door. Inside was a long hallway with the same concrete floor. The first door to the left opened to a bedroom with a queen mattress and cream walls. The mattress lay on the floor, but there were gray sheets and a comforter on top. There was no furniture, paintings, or anything personal, but this was a safe house.

On the far side of the bed, a sliding glass door led out back to a fire pit. On the other side of the room, I spotted sliding closet doors and a bathroom. I wandered over and peered in. The tub was standard size with a marbled shower wall. A toilet sat between the shower and the sink, and the cabinet under the sink was small. The bathroom wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t roomy, either.

We headed back out and found a half bath at the end of the hall and, to the right, a den with a big flat-screen TV and an L-shaped, brown couch. Walking through the den, we located a small laundry room to the left and a sizable white kitchen to the right. The stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher were silver, and all the cabinets were white with a gray laminate countertop. On the right side of the room was a round, white, wooden table that seated eight.

Peter, Elliott, Vlad, and Cassidy strolled into the kitchen behind us with Saphira and the others only steps behind.

We fanned out, and Saphira, Eva, Elliott, and Peter sat at the table.

“This place is large enough for us.” Cassidy sighed as she brushed past us toward the stove. “I was worried for a second.”

“There’s only one bedroom over here.” Thorn pulled me against the wall beside the dishwasher.

“Yeah, but there’re three bedrooms on the other side, as well as three full bathrooms. The one bedroom with a black couch and bunk beds also has the stairway to the loft, which has another bunk bed and a full-size mattress. So technically, there are five bedrooms in total.” Saphira ran a hand over the cream wall and wrinkled her nose. “They could have chosen a better color. It’s so bright.”

That was the least of my worries. “Are there enough beds for all of us?”

“The second bedroom has two double beds, and the last one is a bigger room with a queen, like on this side.” Brenton gestured to where we’d come from. “With two fated-mate couples, that works out perfectly.”

I didn’t know how we’d gotten so lucky, but after all the shit luck we’d had, I was more than willing to take it.

Cassidy opened the refrigerator, and Theron hadn’t been lying. The entire fridge was full with no space to spare. He’d made sure we wouldn’t need to leave for anything, but with our metabolisms as dragon shifters, I was certain the food wouldn’t last long. There were steaks, vegetables, milk, cheeses, hamburger meat, chicken—pretty much anything we could want. We owed this man so much money.

My stomach grumbled. I’d gone way too long without food. We’d run out of the house this morning without eating.

Tyson laughed. “I’m glad that was someone else and not me.”

My face burned, and I turned into Thorn’s chest. When I tilted my head up, Thorn beamed at me with adoration in his eyes. He kissed my forehead and said, “Let me go make my baby something to eat.”

“Nope, I can handle that,” Cassidy said, shooing him away. “Besides, Vlad has other plans for the rest of you.”

Thorn narrowed his eyes. “Like what?”

“Training.” Vlad rubbed his hands together. “Errol, Saphira, Brenton, and Tyson have led sheltered lives. They need to be able to hold their own when the warriors inevitably find us, and Everly is a brand-new dragon.”

“It’s a waste of time,” Thorn said, his hand tensing. “We won’t be here for long. We’ll leave the country. If we go somewhere remote, we should be able to hide. There’s no need to learn how to fight if there’s no battle.”

“Uh, I have a family business.” Peter scowled, but he kept his tone from its usual cruel cadence. “I can’t just leave.”

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