Tempting the Dragon by Karen Whiddon Read Free Book Online Page B

never seen one—not Nessie in Scotland or any of the others reported to have been sighted—didn’t mean they didn’t exist.
    Hell, he could shape-shift into another creature entirely. Judging by Jade’s aura, so could she, as well as the rest of her entire family. Pack, he figured. Most of the other shape-shifters he met were wolves. Even though he wasn’t, not by a long shot, the aura revealed nothing about what kind of beast they changed into.
    He eyed the lake and wondered. A flash just below the surface of a wave caught his eye. As he peered hard at whatever it had been, something big—something huge actually—leaped out of the water as if trying to fly. Or maybe like a whale breaching. Except this was fresh water, not the ocean. Moving fast, its large body arced in a flash of glinting silver scales before it dove back under.
    It looked like... No. It couldn’t be.
    Stunned, he didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. While he wasn’t entirely sure what he’d just witnessed, he felt a sense of awe that he’d been privileged to have seen such a sight. And of course, he hadn’t been holding his camera.

Chapter 4
    “D id you...?” Turning to the silent woman next to him, one glance at her ashen face told him she had also seen. “So there is a Forestwood monster.”
    “Which never, ever shows itself to strangers,” she mused, her voice breaking.
    “I guess there’s a first time for everything.” He glanced from her to the lake and back. “Why do you think that is?”
    “Since we’ve already discussed the fact that we’re both shifters, what kind are you?” she asked, staying true to her apparent penchant for avoiding answering questions by asking one of her own. Still, her question surprised him, since an unwritten rule existed forbidding discussing this sort of thing. While everyone recognized one another from their auras, they were specifically forbidden from discussing intimate details unless you were a mated pair.
    Which he and Jade definitely were not.
    Since he wasn’t sure how exactly to answer, he settled on simply staring at her.
    Deciding to see where she meant to take this, he waited. When she didn’t speak, he finally had to. “You know better than to ask me that.”
    “Yes. I do. And since you apparently do as well, you’re clearly aware of the law,” she continued. “We are not to reveal ourselves to humans.”
    “True.” Intrigued, he watched her, waiting to hear what she’d say next.
    “So you can’t write an article about Libby,” she said.
    Momentarily confused, he frowned. “Libby? Who’s Libby?”
    She clamped her lips together tightly before lifting her slender arm and pointing toward the lake. “Her. The so-called lake monster. Except she hates being called a monster. Use the word creature instead.”
    “Libby?” Flabbergasted, he stared at her for so long her face turned pink. “Y’all named it?”
    “Her, not it. And yes. She’s lived in that lake for centuries. My ancestors’ ancestors took care of her, just as I do today.”
    He lifted his camera, pushing the video option and getting ready to record. Before he did, he was about to ask her if she minded, but the way she froze at the sight of it told him she did.
    “I’ve said enough,” she told him, her voice sharp. “If you’d like to see more of the lake, we can continue. Otherwise, I’d appreciate it if you’d take me back home.”
    He lowered the camera and headed back toward the car. “I’d like to see more.”
    Her deliberate movements telegraphing her reluctance, she climbed in the passenger seat and secured her seat belt.
    “And while we’re driving,” he continued, “you can tell me why the people in town consider you to be a witch.”
    * * *
    A witch. If she hadn’t been so upset, Jade would have laughed. For as long as she could remember, people in town claimed to know that the Burnett who took care of the lake monster had magical powers. Jade has always laughed it off. Until she’d