A Shade of Dragon by Bella Forrest Read Free Book Online Page B

cruel, lonesome landscape beneath the clouded moon. At the southern tip of the beach, I could see the silhouette of the dark beach house crowded against the greater shape of the mountain.
    I pursed my lips.
    Dad was right… and that was why I was so mad. That was why I was so scared.

Chapter 11: Nell
    I wiggled from within my dirtied clothing—dry and unwrinkled, but dusted in sand—and climbed into my shower for a quick, hot one. I needed to feel clean. Although they didn’t hurt, I could see the bruises developing all over my body as I undressed. They splotched my ankle, both knees, my chest, the backs of my arms, and the backside of my hips. I remembered, as I examined these wounds, that these had been the recipients of Theon’s massage.
    I frowned and stepped into the shower, depositing a dollop of green apple shampoo into my palm and rubbing it into my salty, sandy, tangled hair. How had Theon known where to touch me? The marks had been covered by clothes. At the same time, I was reveling in the steam as it buffeted my body, and couldn’t be terribly bothered to launch a full-scale investigation. He’d saved my life. He’d been weird. I scrubbed my bar of Dove soap against my loofah and began scrubbing my arms and chest. The ordeal with Theon was over now, and it didn’t matter; I was lucky to have experienced it.
    Just then, the loofah skated over my chest and snagged on the crystal pendant.
    Yelping, I unchained the necklace and flung it onto the sink.
    I’d totally forgotten about that thing… and I wondered if my actions revealed a deep-seated belief in Theon’s wild claim that the necklace could show him to me, and me to him, in our times of need.
    I breathed out, long and low.
    No way.
    It was just an automatic reaction, created by sleepiness and heightened emotions from the fight a few minutes ago. Average, beach house-dwelling Americans—or even whatever Theon was—did not have access to technology with zero interface. That would equate telepathy! It just didn’t make sense. As gorgeous and kind as Theon was, “crazy” definitely ranked in the top ten adjective list, too.
    I climbed out of the shower and toweled off, eyeballing the pendant on the sink warily but refusing to cover it and admit to myself that Theon might have been able to see me through the chunk of glass. I wiped the mirror down with my towel. My face looked decent—except small scratches on the cusp of my jaw. You had to struggle to see them. All in all… you were lucky, girl.
    I collected my favorite set of nightclothes, picked up a pair of matching thermals etched in warm fall colors, and snatched up the necklace from the ledge of the sink. I looped it around my neck once more. Even if I didn’t believe in it, it was still a funky necklace from a gorgeous hero. Besides, there was something oddly empowering about wearing the jewelry of another man after I’d just been kind of dumped by a lesser one. Or stood up? I didn’t know what Andrew and I were, but I could tell you what I was: thankful that the sea had swallowed up Andrew and Michelle’s connection to me, and my connection to the outside world.
    I settled onto the window box and peered out; the moon was unveiled and shining down, turning the sands white, the waters black, and the houses an asphalt gray. I wondered if Theon was home. Had he gone to sleep? Or was he awake? Might he have even been standing at his own window, peering toward mine?
    I pulled the pendant off and stared at it hard. I guessed I was giving Theon the chance to be honest and sane. I tilted the stone back and forth in the moonlight. It was sharp. Almost too sharp for a retailer to sell it. It could just as easily have been a weapon.
    “Theon?” I whispered. It wasn’t a joke. I really, really wanted to give him a chance.
    Silver glinted off the shard’s surface again… before it returned to being a normal rock. I sighed.
    I frowned at the necklace, leaning deeper toward it. Was there an