Page 51 of Serving my Dragon
“Partly. You also knew too much. Still do, given you’ve been spending all this time with a dragon, learning its secrets.”
“Secrets that do me no good. Who would I tell? No one would believe me.”
“You’re right, they wouldn’t, but shout long enough and you might cause someone to look more closely than we’re ready for. No one is stealing what we’ve worked hard to uncover.”
I clung to the rocky wall only a few feet from Blake but had no idea what to do next. I lacked the size to go against a grown male. Although, I did have sharp claws and teeth. However, he might have a gun and allies.
“You didn’t uncover anything. The volcano hatched Polly,” Kayleigh huffed.
“And who do you think caused it to erupt?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Was,” he corrected. “My boss found a way to activate dormant volcanoes and cones. Out of the three we’ve exploded so far, two dragons have emerged. Although, the boss gave up on the Misti hatchling and I’m not telling him otherwise. Let him keep thinking it’s dead, seeing as how I’ll earn a much fatter paycheck selling it to a collector.”
“How did you even know Polly survived?”
“You called it Polly?” Blake scoffed. “What the fuck? It’s a dragon, not a doll.”
“Polly doesn’t seem to mind her name, probably because it was given to her out of affection.”
Blake snorted. “I’ll have to definitely change it to something more impressive when I auction her off. Maybe something like Firestorm or DeadlyWings.”
“You haven’t yet told me how you knew Polly survived.”
“Quite by accident. My drone surveillance picked up a few conversations from your boyfriend’s family. Mostly boring stuff, except for the woman who asked if Matias took his lizard with him on his vacation with you.”
“Could have been any kind of lizard,” Kayleigh stated.
“Agreed, hence why I hacked your boyfriend’s laptop and, wouldn’t you know, he’d been searching about dragons. Wasn’t hard to figure out he found the little fucker after it escaped me. Nice hidey hole, by the way. Was beginning to think I’d never find it, and I was running out of excuses for the boss as to why I’d yet to return. Good thing the air tag I put on that old fucker’s truck gave me a ballpark location before I lost the signal.”
“You tracked Juan.” Kayleigh’s flat reply.
“Yup, and then a drone did the rest for me. Almost didn’t find this place, but then I spotted the solar panels. Since I worried your boyfriend might be armed, I ensured he had a reason to leave. And now it’s just you, Kayleigh. What happens will depend on how well you cooperate.”
“I can’t believe Sally would date someone like you. You’re despicable,” my servant spat.
“And see, it’s things like that which make me believe you do remember and are lying.”
“Why? Did I tell her you were scum and that she could do better?”
“You did,” he snarled. “You not only turned her against me, but you are the reason I lost the dragon in the first place.”
“Is that why you’ve been trying to have me killed? Because I wouldn’t let you put Polly in a cage?”
“That was only part of it. You humiliated me in front of my team. Destroyed my relationship with Sally. Would have had me arrested. Prevented me from snaring my prize. Yes, I want you dead, but I’m willing to be reasonable so long as you hand over the dragon.”
“No!”
“Annoying twat.”
Slap.
The second crack of a hand on flesh followed by Kayleigh’s cry had me brimming with rage.
So when Blake bellowed, “Where is the fucking dragon?” I clambered over the lip and stood with my chest puffed.
“Right here, mother fucker.” A term I’d learned watching Die Hard, which, according to Juan, was a Christmas movie, but Kayleigh argued was an action flick.
