Sword of the King by Megan Derr Read Free Book Online Page B

so hard? You say please so prettily, little brother. Fine, keep him. It's not like he's of much use outside of the pits, anyway. Check in twice a day, keep me informed. I'll drive up with Rust's fighter when he arrives."
    "Yes, Leo."
    He waited until Leo and his goons finally departed, then sank back down to his knees, hating himself for being so weak; but hating Leo more for putting him in such a position in the first place.
    All he wanted was to kill the bastard, but he couldn't do shit without hurting the dragons. Rafael relaxed as familiar, gentle fingers combed through his hair, pulled him close against a broad chest. He rested his head in the hollow of Conway's neck, breathing in the dragon's scent.
    "Okay?" Conway asked, rumbling softly, soothingly.
    "I'm okay," Rafael whispered.
    "Bad boss, hurt Raf." He growled low, threatening.
    Rafael pulled away and shook his head, looking at Conway in earnest. "Don't do anything, Conway. I can handle whatever he does, as long as it means you and the other dragons are safe. He's not worth killing, not yet."
    "Raf hurt. Bad dragon."
    "No," Rafael said firmly, and dared to place a soft, chaste kiss on Conway's mouth. "Good dragon. You're always good, Conway."
    Conway growled, pleasure at the praise warring with his anger at Leo.
    "We have to take Cam home," Rafael whispered, caressing the side of Conway's face before he finally made himself pull away and stand up. He turned to look at Cam. "You are remarkably stoic."
    Cam shrugged. "I get that a lot. I can try to freak out if it'll make you feel better."
    Rafael laughed. "No, stoic is good. It makes for a nice change. Conway, go find him some clothes." As Conway left, Rafael turned back to Cam and said, "We'll take you to my home, and then I'll explain everything to you."
    "So Conway is a dragon, huh? Like those black goons that jumped me."
    Laughing again, amused and charmed, Rafael said, "Conway is a frost dragon. His body temperature is lower than the average, and when he shifts things can get pretty chilly."
    Cam tilted his head thoughtfully, molten gold eyes like nothing Rafael had ever seen, not even in another dragon. "So you don't know what I am?"
    "Even if you weren't unusual, I wouldn't necessarily know. It's hard to peg what kind of dragon a person is before they've shifted. But, as I said, I'll explain everything to you when we're home. I bet you're very hungry and still very tired."
    "Yes," Cam said, and as though on cue, yawned. "Starving. I haven't eaten since, what, yesterday? Something like that."
    Rafael nodded, smiling because he really did love new dragons. He hated the way they were forced into it, hated that they had to stop being human and lost their old lives. But, sometimes, he thought that if the pit fights, the syndicates, were all stripped away, that the dragons would actually be happy. As he'd told Cam earlier, Cam was not the first person to say that he'd felt like something was missing until his dragon genes were activated. "Your eyes have gone gold, which means the dragon genes have activated. Your body chemistry is changing, which means you're going to require a lot of food. For dragons, that means attempting to eat thrice your weight in dead cow."
    "Strawberries?" Cam asked wistfully, and Rafael laughed at the plaintive, and utterly dragon, tone.
    The door opened, drawing their attention. Rafael smiled warmly at Conway, who smiled back, amber eyes bright with affection. "Found clothes, Raf."
    "Good." Rafael retrieved the file he'd dropped and went to wait by the door as Cam quickly dressed. "I'm sure Leo already has my car waiting, so let's move quickly. At least if we're out at the cabin, we'll be largely left alone until Rust's man arrives."
    Rafael grimaced, thinking about having to endure a devoted pit fighter for who knew how many days. Shunting the thoughts aside, he led the way out of the warehouse. The golf cart was waiting for them, and they all piled in, Cam and Conway clinging to the