Sapphire Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 2) Read Online Free

receptionist you were making eyes at.”
    “Making eyes?” he asked.
    Zach sighed. “Ogling. Eye fucking.”
    “I beg your pardon,” Luc said, disturbed.
    “You found a human you like,” Zach said, nudging him with a shoulder. “Good for you.”
    “It doesn’t matter if I like her,” Luc said. “Humans are not for mating.”
    Zach frowned. “What about me?”
    Luc straightened his cuffs. “You seem to be making the impossible work. Which is the epitome of irony, considering the fact that you hated humans as a species not long ago.”
    “The world is different now,” Zach said. “Give it a chance.”
    Luc’s eyes darted to the TV, which was covering another shooting. Always another shooting or fire or fight or war. “Doesn’t seem so different to me.”
    “And you’re different, too,” Zach commented. “Maybe not in a good way, but you’re definitely different.”
    He gave Luc a swat on the butt, and the tall man jumped back and glared at him. “What was that for?”
    “To loosen you up,” Zach said, striding out the door with his hands behind his head. “Now go get your mate.”
    Luc shook the thought from his head. He was going to stay uninvolved with humans. Sure, he could admire Hallie, enjoy her company, but that was it.
    Anything further spelled disaster.
    Still, a little uneasy part of him wondered, if she wasn’t going to be his mate, why did he feel so obsessed with seeing her again?
    He’d never felt that way about any creature. And looking at Zach, perhaps the expectation in this world was that dragons would take human mates.
    Something that never would have been considered in his day.
    He did know if he could pick one, someone like Hallie would be just his type. Hallie herself if possible.
    But aside from her outward kindness, he’d seen no sign that she returned any of the attraction he felt. She’d only given him a smile and averted her eyes.
    Too bad he wanted her to look right into him.

3
    H allie glanced at the clock on the wall above her desk. It had little cat paws on it that moved with each tick of the second hand.
    Two minutes to nine. Would he be late? Would he even show up? Would his good-looking friends convince him he really didn’t need to volunteer at a shelter when he could walk into any agency and land a modeling contract?
    She sighed and absentmindedly flipped her phone in her hand.
    “When is the new volunteer coming again?” Patty asked hurriedly. “I still can’t believe you hired him without asking any of us. We’re all supposed to sign off.” Patty was a pretty black woman with dark curls and eyes. She was heavier set, like Hallie, and had a sparkling personality when she wasn’t stressed about work.
    Which was most of the time.
    Jenna, who’d been there the longest, was off today, which was probably fine. She didn’t really like guys much—though Hallie wasn’t sure if she liked girls either—and she would only make Lucien’s day more awkward.
    Which it already would be. He had this ethereal look to him, almost like he wasn’t from this world and needed to be protected, despite his height and the sense of power radiating off of him.
    Still, Hallie knew better than most that there were more strengths than just the physical.
    The door to the shelter dinged as a man’s tall shadow blocked the bright morning light streaming through the doorway.
    “That must be him,” Patty said.
    Hallie put up a hand. The three seconds it took Luc to walk through the second set of doors and into the florescent light where she could see him were the longest of her life.
    “Holy Moses,” Patty breathed out, putting a hand through her hair and leaning back in her chair, making it creak. “What the heck is he doing here?”
    Hallie bit her lip, fighting her own reaction as a wave of attraction rippled through her. “He really likes one of the cats.”
    “Smoking hot and loves animals? My- lanta .” Patty fanned herself, and Hallie stood to walk around the