Page 25 of Dragon's Temptation

Rory shook her head. “Just a friend. My brother is his beta, but I hang around because I want to.” She laughed when she saw my face. “I know it doesn’t always make sense, but you’ll get to know Colter.”

I wasn’t so sure I would like what I found. Why did Rory like him so much?

“When I’m not here, I work at the clinic.”

“What?”

“I’m a doctor of sorts. I studied enchanted medicine, and when Colter bought the clinic to take care of this business with the lab, I sort of took over.”

With Colter’s shiny, luxurious life, it seemed strange that one of his own would work in a clinic.

“I like helping,” Rory said, as if she knew what I was thinking. “I like giving back. The longer your life gets, the more you look for something meaningful to use it for.”

“How long is your life?” I asked. I didn’t really know exactly what she was, but she’d used the word enchanted, again, so I assumed she wasn’t a human.

Rory chuckled. “A couple of centuries, usually, unless something goes wrong. Shifters live long, but they don’t live forever like vampires, who are actually already dead.”

Okay, so she was a shifter. It was too much to take in. My whole world had been turned on its head, and I didn’t know which way was up anymore.

“So, you’re a big deal if Colter’s hosting you,” Rory said, turning the attention back to me.

I snorted. “Not how I would describe it.”

“Did he offer you a spare bedroom?”

I nodded.

“He’s hosting you, trust me. If he wanted to treat you like shit, he would. Colter has nothing to prove to anyone.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing.

“What did they see in your blood?” Rory asked.

“I don’t know. Colter won’t tell me. All I know is that one of the lab partners attacked me. It turns out he’s…” I let my voice trail off.

Saying the wordvampirefelt wrong. It sounded crazy. But Rory had already talked about betas, shifters, and vampires. She wouldn’t think I was crazy. But maybe I was crazy.

“A vampire,” Rory said simply, which halted my internal dialogue. “Yeah, Colter mentioned that. Fucking bloodsuckers. I can’t stand them. Colter is set on making them a part of the hierarchy, but I don’t see how that’s ever going to work. Those bastards look for more shit than their tush can cash.”

“What?” I asked, confused. It was hard to follow what Rory was talking about because itsoundedlike vampires were a normal thing… and that just didn’t seem right.

“Colter said all this is new to you,” Rory said. “Who are your parents?”

I stiffened. “I don’t have any parents.”

Rory’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I waved her off. “I grew up in a foster home and left as soon as I could.”

“So what was your childhood like? Was it… I don’t know… normal?”

“Anything is normal if you don’t know anything else, right?” I asked.

“I guess that’s true. What do you know about magic?”

“Magic?”

Rory nodded as if I’d given her an answer and turned to the coffee machine. My cup was ready, and she brought it to me where I’d taken a seat in the smooth breakfast nook. She set it in front of me.

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