Page 2 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
“No, of course not,” he said, pausing only long enough to send a scowl in my direction like it was my fault he’d upset his psycho girlfriend. I flipped him off. “But it’s the full moon hunt tonight. You don’t want an injury slowing you down.”
“Please. As if she could hurt me.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder again.
“I know, baby.”
“Do you? Because you don’t sound so sure of that. Maybe I should prove it.” She eyed me with cruel amusement. “After all, it’s not likesheneeds to run in the hunt tonight.”
The bimbos at her back cackled again, and I felt the last traces of egg working their way down the back of my shirt, which, if I’m honest, bothered me a whole lot more than the same tired taunts I’d been hearing for the last year. Egg was an absolute bitch to get out once it dried.
The three of them circled around me while Dean hung back, looking uncertain. Never mind that we’d been friends for almost eighteen years, he’d stand back and watch me take a kicking just to prove he had nothing to do with me anymore. And why should I be surprised? It wasn’t the first time. Probably wouldn’t be the last.
I sighed and rolled out my shoulders. I didn’t have a hope in hell of besting the three of them, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to fight back.
A loud howl resounded through the clearing, bouncing off the nearby trees and echoing back at us. All five of us froze. That was Alpha Landon’s howl. And it meant only one thing.
My asskicking was about to get postponed.
The three girls backed away from me, and turned without another word. When the alpha called, the whole pack obeyed. Without question. Without hesitation.
I hurried after them. If I was late responding to a summons, three bitches and my ex kicking my ass would be the least of my troubles.
Chapter 2
Rook
This was awaste of my time. Unrest taking hold in the cities, whispers of a rebellion in the east, and that useless excuse of a burned out snake Uther trying to drag me into the middle of it. And now I was standing here, next to the self-proclaimed leader of a pack of mangy wolf shifters like I didn’t have anything better to do. This whole barren scrubland reeked of wasted potential and lesser beings, and the sooner I could get out of here, the better.
Should have just wiped out the whole damn pack a few hundred years back. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been tempted at the time. Daring to challenge me came with a death sentence, and it was getting harder by the second to remember why I hadn’t carried it out. Watching the weathered ‘alpha’ beside me shifting back into his badly fitting human skin and scramble to reclaim his clothing before his pack arrived did nothing to improve my mood.
“They’ll be here shortly,” the alpha—I couldn’t be bothered to recall his name, I doubted I’d be seeing him again—told me. I grunted in response.
“We’re honored that you’ve visited our lands.”
“Mylands,” I growled, my eyes snapping to his.
“Yes, of course, your lands. I meant no disrespect.”
“And yet...” I blew out a breath and swept my gaze over the clearing. From my periphery I saw the wolf shifter stiffen at my dismissive attitude, and felt a cold stab of amusement.Hislands,my ass. Jumped up pup needed reminding who owned these lands and everyone who lived on them, because it sure as fuck wasn’t him. Let the damn mutts start giving themselves titles likealphaand they started thinking they were equals.
I snorted. Like they could ever be equal tome.They were only one step up from the humans, and I’d claimed this patch of the country to avoid their kind. If Uther was half the dragon he thought he was, he’d have wiped the whole lot of them from the planet instead of playing at being their king. But if that rebellion turned out to be more than whispers and so much as one of the hairless monkeys interrupted my peace, I’d take the matter out of his hands.
The last thing I needed was another fifty years of war and chaos. Fucking animals. Bad enough they’d destroyed their entire civilization without ruining my afternoon as well.
I let myself melt back into the shadows as the wolf shifters started hurrying through the trees and into the clearing. A fuckingclearing.The mutts weren’t even civilized enough to have a hall or even a fucking shack to meet in. What the hell did they do when it was raining?
Not that it was any concern of mine. I’d get this done then I wouldn’t have to set eyes on them again for another fifty years. They could have a clearing, a hall, or a damn hole in the ground for all I cared. Just as long as they didn’t disturb my peace.
The wolf shifters were fast to follow orders, I had to grudgingly give them that. Good. Maybe this wouldn’t be as painful as last time. I’d had half a mind not to bother: I didn’t need the kind of headache breaking in a new girl brought with it. I could turn and leave, come back when I was in a better mood in a decade or two. The last thing I wanted was some whiny littlemutt running around, causing trouble or watching me from the shadows. This was a shit idea. Shit timing.
But maybe some of the wolves had finally learned their place. The underlings, if not the ‘alpha’. They moved in near-silence, no rumblings of irritation or outright resentment. There were a couple of hundred of them—their numbers had grown—filtering into the clearing, and I watched each of them from the shadows. A couple of hundred could be a threat. It had been a mistake to let their numbers grow this much, it would be a bigger one to leave now without asserting my authority. Fuck.
Kill the so-called alpha, my dragon rumbled inside my head,and let us leave.
It’s a bit fucking late for that, dragon, I rumbled back, letting nothing more of my irritation than a scowl show on my face. Starting a fight with all two hundred of the mangy curs was not top of my to-do list right now. Dragon or not, I wasn’t immortal. Something it wouldn’t hurt the rest of my kind to remember. Not that it was any business of mine. If they wanted to run around playing at being demon overlords, that was their lookout. So long as they stopped trying to drag me into their petty battles. I had better things to do with my time.
Like terrorizing the local wolf pack?
Shut up. You’re a fucking dragon. Since when did you give two shits about a bunch of mangy curs?
