Page 35 of Burn for the Dragon
Kohl was stepping between them. “Everly, you need to calm down.”
She turned her anger on him. “Don’t tell me how to feel, Kohl. You three are all standing here telling me you’re going to kill my only family and you expect me to be calm?”
Devon took her hand, getting her attention. “What he’s trying to say is you’re showing signs of shifting, and we can’t have you spreading your dragon wings in here. You’ll take out half the club.”
Shifting? Everly looked between Kohl and Devon, purposefully ignoring Hawke. Now that she was paying attention, the back of her neck was on fire. She reached up to rub it away. Was that a sign?
Her heart began to race. It would hurt like hell, there was no way it wouldn’t. Her chest burned like she had a severe case of heartburn, and she suddenly couldn’t catch her breath. She reached out for something to stabilize her as the room faded in and out of her vision. Her hand was grabbed and held tight, and then she was being lowered to a chair. Warm palms cupped each side of her head, and when she opened her eyes, all she saw was Hawke. She tried to concentrate on his face.
“Get out. I got this.”
She frowned, and then realized he was talking to Kohl and Devon. Kohl must’ve argued with him, for he bared his fangs without taking his eyes from her and told them again to leave, adding, “In case you’ve forgotten, this isn’t my first time dealing with a young shifter.”
So, now she was something to be dealt with?
Something rumbled in her throat. A sound she felt but couldn’t hear. But she hadn’t consciously made it. It happened all on its own. Her insides stirred unnaturally, like something was alive in there. Everly clasped her stomach and fought Hawke’s grip.
“Everly. Everly, you have to control it.” Hawke’s hands tightened a bit on her face, forcing her to still. “You can do it.”
She was having a hard time focusing on his words.
“If you don’t control it, you’re going to shift right here in the office.” He paused. “It’s very possible you’ll kill everyone here.” He paused again. “Well”—one side of his mouth twisted into a humorless grin—“maybe not Kohl.”
“You should leave.” Her throat felt too thick. She had no idea if the warning she’d tried to give him was understandable. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
“I’m not going anywhere, honey. If you want to take somebody out, it’s gonna be me.”
Chapter 17
The rapid pounding of her heartbeat was loud in Hawke’s ears. Iridescent colors rippled up and down the exposed skin of her arms and neck in waves. The bones in her face shifted slightly under her skin. And her eyes glowed with pink fire. Everly moaned, on the verge of her first shift, and he was terrified for her.
She didn’t know to go with the change. She would fight it, like Kohl had, and it would cause her more pain than was necessary. Hawke forced himself to steel his nerves. It wouldn’t do any good to freak out along with her.
The door clicked softly as Kohl removed Devon from the room. Hawke knew he was probably sending her below ground until he knew it was safe. He returned a few seconds later.
Still holding Everly’s face between his hands, Hawke shook his head just enough for him to see.
“I’ll be right outside,” Kohl told him. “Do I need to clear out the club?”
“Not yet,” Hawke told him. “Everly, I need you to focus. Focus on me and breathe. Just breathe.”
Shadows shifted behind her eyes, and someone—or some thing—else looked out at him.
This wasn’t good. She would have to shift eventually, but it would be better to do it in a controlled environment, like out in the middle of fucking nowhere. Not inside the club.
He heard the door close again and decided to try a different tactic. “You know, when Kohl shifts, the creature he becomes doesn’t recognize me. Or anyone he’s close to, really.” He thought about that for a moment. “Except Devon,” he corrected. “He recognizes Devon. He even saved her once while in his shifter form when some vampires from our coven followed them out to his property one night. He burned three of them alive—don’t look at me like that, they were assholes—then he swooped in and picked Devon up as she ran away from a fourth and flew with her to his favorite field. The dragon side of him is fond of soaking up the warmth of the morning sun.” He paused. Her eyes, burning and watery, stayed glued to his face. His distraction appeared to be working.
She frowned at him, her tongue still sounding a bit thick for her mouth as she said, “How can he sunbathe if he’s half vampire?”
“He can’t. That’s the thing. He ends up passing out, and when he wakes up back in his normal form, he has to run like hell to the closest shelter before he bursts into flames.”
Her eyes, still teary but tinged with only the slightest wisps of fire now, widened in fear for a male she barely knew. Hawke rubbed her temples with his thumbs. When he felt her begin to relax, he released her face. Immediately, her teeth began to chatter, and gooseflesh covered her arms as the heat of her almost-change subsided.
She rubbed her arms. “That would be terrifying. Can’t he tell the thing inside him not to take him there?”
Hawke smiled as her cheeks reclaimed their normal color. “It appears his dragon has a mind of its own.”
She drew back, tilting her head to the side as she pulled her sweater back on. “Will I recognize you?”
