dragons breath 02 - dancing with flames Read Online Free Page A

muscles.
    Seeing them like that, I slowed my steps and dropped the stick. My rage ebbed away like the tide going out to the sea. I recognized Aidan, the leaner and lither of the two men. He had been the one who carried me here and organized my training. The other one was Donar. He was a big oaf and Aidan’s cousin. They were my two shape-shifter allies that I’d failed to recognize in their dragon forms—at least on a conscious level—and wanted to kill. God, I hated how little control I had over myself when my slayer instincts took over. It was like I became a different person.
    I started to apologize, but then I remembered what led me to this place. Aidan had dragged me here against my will. I narrowed my gaze on him. Just because I didn’t feel the need to kill him anymore didn’t mean I wasn’t still angry about what he had just done.
    “Are you out of your mind? First, you stop me from killing that dragon, and then you carry me back here, knowing what it would do to me.” What if I had tried to kill him mid-air? Sure, he had been smart enough to leave my sword with Conrad, but he had no guarantee I wouldn’t have fought him anyway.
    His lips set in a grim line. “I apologize for that, but it was necessary.”
    His voice rolled over me, the accent so foreign, and yet, a little on the sexy side. When I’d first met him, I’d been a little too intimidated to think much of it, but after months of getting used to him, I’d grown to love his deep timber. It could distract me if I wasn’t careful.
    “No, it wasn’t necessary.” I crossed my arms. “You should have let me stay there and protect those people.”
    He lifted a brow. “If I had done as you suggest, those dragons would have attacked the humans as well. Would you truly prefer to have their deaths on your hands?”
    I closed the distance between us and poked him in the chest. “Not if we fought them. You and I against three aren’t the worst odds.”
    “It would be if they called for more help,” Aidan said, glaring at my finger until I dropped it. “Matrika sent an open summons that any dragon could hear. I had no way of knowing if she spoke privately with any others in her toriq. If more of her kinsmen had come, you would have had no choice except to fight them until you were dead. I could not risk that.” A hint of strong emotion came over his eyes and he shuddered.
    And there it was—the sign he cared more deeply about me than he wanted to admit.
    “Fine, we had to get away, but you should have let me kill Matrika first. She’s been taking human children and harassing that neighborhood every night trying to get more kids. That was the whole reason I was there—to protect those people from her.”
    He shut his eyes and expelled a breath. “I’m sorry to hear that, but even if I’d known, I would not change what I did.”
    “Can we discuss this inside?” Donar asked, casting a wary glance at the darkening sky. “If I heard Matrika’s call for help from farther away than Aidan, it is likely others in our clan did as well. It is not a good idea to be out in the open should they fly over this place.”
    That was one of the reasons why Aidan and I only met to train in the afternoons. His clan members usually didn’t stray far from the fortress until evening—dragons did the bulk of their hunting at night—so the risk of being noticed was lower when the sun was high.
    “Yeah, let’s go in,” I agreed, heading across the field toward the two-story house.
    It had white siding, a red brick fireplace jutting from the side, and a covered porch running the full width of the front. My best guess was that the place had probably been built in the 1920s or 1930s. Someone had kept it in good condition before Aidan took it for his private lair. There were no obvious signs of disrepair, and the siding appeared to have been replaced within the last few years. We had no idea what happened to the owners, but they hadn’t shown up since I started