Page 37 of The Heart of the Dragon

A hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped. "You really should give him some space. He's not exactly reasonable when he's like this."

"Reasonable?!" I turned to face her. "Are you freaking kidding me right now? Reasonable," I wheezed, unable to take a full breath. "That arsehole has torn my house into pieces." I turned back towards the dragon, anger completely obliterating any fear I probably should have felt. "Look what you did to my work! You’ve ruined everything!"

The dragon blinked, staring at me blankly for a few heartbeats before his eyes narrowed and a rumbling growl filled the air around me.

I slapped my hands on my hips and glared back. "Don't you dare growl at me, you overgrown, overhyped lizard. Look at this place. It took me years to establish all of this, and it took you seconds to destroy all of it. What did I do to you to deserve this?" I wasn't sure if I was on the verge of a meltdown or a breakdown, but the destruction of my greenhouse was too much. All I could see was green and black, but it might as well have been the dark red of my rage.

Another growl, this one louder. But I was on a roll and the devastation surrounding me was all I could see. I didn't know what gave this arsehole the right to do— Then it hit me. This was some sort of retaliation? Mother fucker. "How many times do I have to tell you that what I did to you was an accident? Or that I'm sorry I hurt you? I wasn’t trying to kill you. I thought we were past this? You certainly weren't complaining or whining like a baby last night when you were inside me."

A gasp from the woman brought me up short. I'd momentarily forgotten that we had an audience.

The man, however, looked more concerned than shocked. He stepped between me and the dragon and held up his hands. "Magnus. Please. I have no idea what the hell is going on, but whatever you're thinking, don't do it. If you hurt her, you can't come back from that. Especially if she's your mate."

"Oh shit." My head swung around to see the shocked look on the woman's face as the stranger’s words began to sink in.

"Hurt me?" I whirled back around and stepped around the man. I did not need his help or interference. I'd had enough. "Is that your intention? Well fine, go ahead then. Take your best shot. You want me dead over this? Then do it. It can't be any worse than what you've already done. The work I've done here meant everything to me. Everything! And look at it," I waved my arms around the room like a lunatic. "You've ruined everything."

"Can you please stop talking?" the man hissed under his breath. "His dragon is not known for his reasonable thought processes or sound mind. You're going to get yourself or him killed."

I turned and narrowed my eyes. "And who are you? What business of yours is it what he does? Are you his keeper? Because if so, you are doing a terrible job."

The woman behind me snorted, barely smothering her laugh. We both turned and glared at her.

"What? It was funny." She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Isaac. You have to admit that you do go a little overboard when it comes to Magnus. Maybe if you gave him some space…."

The man called Isaac shook his head, taking a deep, slow breath that he exhaled hard. "I thought we were on the same side on this."

"We are. But why does there have to be sides? He's your brother, not an enemy combatant. One way or another, you both have to work through this."

"I don't have time for this." Isaac pinched the bridge of his nose as if it was he who was inconvenienced. "Please take her outside. Preferably as far from this house as you can get, until I get this under control."

"Don't you dare touch her." The gravelly voice startled all of us, forcing our attention back to the?—

Dragon.

Only he was gone now, and in his place stood the man I'd gotten to know on a carnal level the night before. And he was as naked as he'd been when I last saw him, albeit with a little greener, scalier skin than I remembered.

Isaac lifted his hands and took a step back. "Shit. I'm not going to touch her. Why do you think I asked Kitra to go with her?"

"Get away from her." The demand from Magnus was so guttural and angry it forced me to take a step back as well.

Some of the pieces were coming together but none of them were making sense. Isaac was obviously Magnus's brother, and the woman was Kitra. But what were they doing here? My thoughts were swirling faster than I could process them as they continued their conversation with me tuning out most of it because it was proving too much.

"Can you just take him and go? This has all been a huge mistake." I was angry now, but I knew well enough that it wouldn’t be long before I broke down in tears. It really was too much, and I didn’t need to embarrass myself any further.

All three of them turned and stared at me, but it was the unnerving way Magnus looked over me that made me want to crumble.

There'd been a flash of emotions, I didn't want to guess what they'd meant for fear of reading into something that didn't exist. Hunger, longing, maybe even disappointment. My brain couldn't help but think them despite my knowing better.

"I'm not going anywhere," Magnus declared.

My eyes widened, but it was his brother Isaac who really got my attention.

"If she's your mate, then we'll deal with it. But not until we find a way to get you and your dragon back into sync. This is only going to make things worse."

"Isaac, honey, take a breath. Maybe Magnus could find some clothes, and we could all sit down and talk about this like adults."

Isaac hooked his thumb towards his brother. “I think that ship has sailed.”

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