Page 36 of Dragon Stepbrother's Secret Baby

The creature towered over me as big as the mountain itself. One blow and it could crush me. At least I would die quickly.

In that moment when I lay flat on my back, I spotted another ten dragons circling in the sky high over the Badlands. Did that last blow make me lose my mind? Was I just seeing things? These new dragons flashed golden, red, and even purple in the afternoon sun.

The dragon raised its claw to flatten me when, without warning, another dragon plummeted right on top of the thing. This new dragon shone brilliant, stunning, glistening, emerald green and it smashed into the blue dragon with such force that the whole mountain shook.

The green dragon attacked the blue dragon in deadly rage, wrapped its body around the blue dragon, and slashed it with teeth, tail, and claws.

The two dragons tumbled sideways with every part of themselves whipping, cracking, slashing, and snapping in all directions. They sliced each other with their teeth, smacked each other with their tails, and raked each other with their claws.

Without warning, dozens more dragons dropped out of the sky and they all crowded the platform fighting, scrapping, and tussling. I couldn’t keep track of them all as they struggled to kill each other right in front of me.

I scuttled backward to get out of the way when Lacey grabbed me. “Come on, Riley! Get inside!”

She dragged me away, but I couldn’t stop staring at the blue dragon and the green dragon going at each other in deadly fury.

The green dragon got the upper hand, reared high off the platform, and pinned the blue dragon under its claw. The green dragon raised its other foot, flexed its talons, and slashed its enemy down the side.

Its stricken adversary screeched to raise the dead and the green dragon arched its spiked head high to deliver the death blow. In that split second, I caught a single glimpse of the victor’s brilliant green eyes. Those eyes definitely looked familiar.

All of a sudden, a gigantic black dragon hurtled out of nowhere and crashed full tilt into the green dragon. The impact knocked the green dragon over just long enough for the blue dragon to break free.

The black dragon and the green dragon rocketed into the air with another spine-chilling shriek. More dragons from all over the platform broke away from their conflicts and took off into the broad sky. In a few seconds, they dwindled to specks against the clouds and disappeared.

The green dragon sprang back onto its feet and cocked its head in all directions searching for any threat. Its spiked head bobbed on the end of its neck just like the blue dragon’s did. Those emerald green eyes snapped every which way and then locked on me.

“Come on, Riley!” Lacey murmured in my ear. “Come inside. There’s nothing you can do out here. Let’s go find Connor and make sure he’s okay.”

I barely heard her. I wasn’t going anywhere, not until I found out the secret sign behind those eyes staring at me. I knew those eyes only too well.

I wasn’t even surprised when the dragon imploded on itself and shrank to a fraction of its size. Its neck and tail retracted inside its body and its scales vanished. It straightened up and its wings vanished inside its body as it turned back into a man. It was Kingston, of course. He had the same unstoppable green eyes. I could never forget those eyes.

17

KINGSTON

Barrett cameover to me and handed me a towel. “You’re bleeding. You should go down to the infirmary and get that stitched up.”

I pressed the towel to the gash on the side of my face. “Where’s Connor?”

“Wilcox took him back to the kids’ playroom.”

“I need to find him….and then I need to talk to Riley.”

“Not until you post some guards,” Karim countered. “If the Danes attacked us here, we have to take defensive measures. They’ve never dared to pull a stunt like this. We aren’t even safe in our own territory anymore.”

I winced in pain when I put pressure on the cut and then growled in fury. “You’re right. Get our battalions in the air and make sure none of the Danes are still hanging around anywhere in South Dakota. Drive them back to Montana if you have to.”

“You should have killed that son of a bitch Cason when you had the chance,” Barrett muttered.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying. Besides, they weren’t going after me.”

Barrett and Karim both glanced toward the corridor entrance leading back inside the stronghold. “What do you want to do about this?”

“What I should have done a long time ago,” I countered. “I’m going to track down Cason Dane and kill the fucker if it’s the last thing I ever do. I know now that he can’t beat me in a one-on-one fight. I need to find him and catch him when he doesn’t have his goons around to protect him. Then I’ll cut the fucker to pieces the same way he cut up my dad. It’s that simple.”

I threw the towel away and stalked off back to the stronghold. The pain in my face was making me mad. I had too much important shit to do to stand around talking about doing it.

I went back inside and back to my apartment to change my clothes. The pants and shirt I put on this morning hung in rags all over me. I might as well be walking around naked.

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