Page 11 of Draco

When it was completely out, I continued to follow her mind. Her glee at getting away and the excitement in her escape hit me like a brick in the head.

I considered for a second. All the paperwork and non-disclosure agreements had been signed by her family. They were obligated to keep our secret—even if it meant finding a way to keep her quiet. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Nobody had ever refused my help before, and I had well over thirty contracts under my belt.

But she would have to keep my secret. So I shifted and began to chase after her once more.

Within moments I’d caught up to her and ran alongside her.

She glanced at me, panic and fear filling her mind and blasting outward to hit me like a shockwave.

I shook my head, continuing to run with her. Her foot caught in a raised root, and she tumbled face-first into the dirt and pine needles right before my eyes.

7

Luna

Isprawled face-first into the dirt, my brain going a million miles a second. Was I about to die? Was that a freaking dragon? What was in the shot they gave me? I’d assumed it was just a sedative to keep me from learning where they were taking me and to keep me from fighting, but clearly I was also hallucinating.

Pain screamed through my ankle and radiated up my entire leg as I lay on the ground, hardly daring to breathe in case the beast was going to eat me.

Gathering up a bit of courage, I peeked over at the blue-scaled dragon. His reptilian head seemed like it was all angles and masculine somehow. The blue scales were about the size of my hands and went from really dark blue near the bottom and faded to a lighter blue as they went until the edges, which were nearly white.

I wanted to approach, wanted to reach out and pet the damn thing. Because clearly, I was an idiot and had a death wish. Would I approach a wild bear in the woods? Hell no! So why did I want to approach a freaking dragon? What was wrong with me?

I stared at it, looking at its long claws, powerful head, and trying to figure out what the fuck was going on right now. Was this really a dragon? Had I hit my head, maybe? Was I hallucinating? Maybe I was dead, and this was the fucked-up afterlife movie—some crazy dragon flick. I didn’t know, but I was curious to find out what the heck.

The dragon watched me with great, glittering opalescent blue eyes. Familiar eyes.

Where had I seen those eyes before? Dark around the iris, then shifting to a lighter blue ,almost white near the center? The eye color matched his scales, and I had to admit, my crazy brain had conjured up a very pretty dragon. I didn’t even like dragons in literature or movies, so I had no idea how I’d managed to make one so nice.

Because I had to be hallucinating. Maybe it was a fever dream—I’d had those once before when I’d gotten really sick as a kiddo. It was the one time dad had actually been adadto me. He’d sat by my bedside, talking, reading, chatting with me. I’d loved and cherished that memory, but my dreams back then had been almost as insane as this moment. Almost.

As it all began to click into place, the dragon shifted into the man who’d been keeping me captive all this time. He approached, and I scrambled up to my backside and scooted away from him.

“What the heck are you?” I asked, glaring at him as he halted in place and studied me.

“A dragon. I’m just supposed to protect you. I’d never harm you.” He spread his hands wide in a universal symbol ofI mean you no harm.

I straightened up. “Then stop trying to take me home. That will harm me!” This was all too crazy to be true. He couldn’t possibly be a dragon. Clearly, I’d totally lost my mind, or he’d given me something that really fucked me up. For all my attempts at rebellion, drugs had never been a thing I’d tried. I’d always been too afraid. Too scared something would go wrong, that I’d wind up an addict or dead.

“What was in that shot you gave me?” I glared up at him from my spot on the ground.

He approached slowly, cautiously, like I was a wounded wild animal that might snap at him the second he let his guard down. He was right. I wasn’t above biting him if I thought it would earn me my freedom.

“Just a mild sedative. Nothing that would make you see things. I really am a dragon.” He shifted again. Then once more, back to man form and approached me again. “Can I look at your ankle?”

If he wanted to eat me, he had plenty of chances. Plus, I had a feeling he wouldn’t get paid if he brought me back in half-chewed up pieces. I gave a tiny nod, still not sure about any of this.

“How come I’ve never heard of dragons before?” In today’s day and age with cell phone cameras and eyes everywhere, how the heck had they managed to not be spotted?

Then again, it sounded like the crazy conspiracy story that no one would believe anyway. If I ran into any city, anywhere, worldwide, and shouted about dragons capturing me in the woods, people wouldn’t just believe me. No, they’d think I was crazy. And video footage would be passed off as a hoax. Or maybe they had ways to suppress info. As the daughter of a man adept at digging out people’s secrets and exposing their lies, I knew that a lot of things could be swept under rugs and hidden so well the truth might never come out. Not because of anything he did, but because of the cases he worked, the trails he’d overseen, his time as the DA.

“We have our ways.” He unlaced my shoe and worked it off gently.

Of course, he wasn’t sharing anything real. He likely didn’t trust me any more than I trusted him.

“All that matters is that you’re safe. The guys that were out to kill you won’t have a chance now.” He pulled my sock off and ran light, gentle fingertips over my ankle before gingerly rotating it.

Pain screamed through it and washed up my leg. He stopped instantly, and I wondered how I’d given myself away. I hadn’t gasped or flinched or anything. How did he know it hurt? Weird timing, I guessed.

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