The Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lore) by Eden Ashe Read Free Book Online Page B

him. He’d lose as much as we would if war broke out again, with Seren caught in the middle. She’s carrying the first hybrid child.”
    Daniel squatted catcher-style next to his bed. After hitting a couple of strategically placed knots on the floorboard, a trap door swung open to reveal a hidden arsenal. “It doesn’t explain why Shelby was shot.” Because he could feel the fury he’d been trying to bury for the last couple of hours start to boil in his blood, he focused his energy on keeping his face neutral. He was the leader. This was his problem. He would not drag his men into this. As long as they thought he had everything under control, they wouldn’t worry.
    Any unknown in the Hunter world concerned him. A wild card, an unseen variable could mean destruction and devastation for Daniel’s people. The Hunters were a creation of the goddess Gwendolyn, meant to fight side by side with the dragons to protect the humans from the few dragons seduced by power. They were massively big, with super-human strength and senses, and dragons were the only known beings in the world capable of taking one down if it went rogue. Which was happening more and more lately, for reasons no one really understood.
    He shook his head to clear it. As much as he wanted to go after the Hunters himself, his best option at the moment was to go through Cage.
    He glanced at Luca. “How could no one have seen anything? It was a fucking movie premiere.”
    Luca studied the huge-ass arsenal in the hidden room beneath them before he spoke again. “I don’t know. The Hunter couldn’t have wiped the memories clean of everyone there and hid it from the cameras.”
    Daniel nodded once. Not even Cage, the strongest Hunter in existence, had that kind of power. “Someone saw something then. Get Broderick on it. Have him access every known video feed and camera shot he can find. I want answers.”
    “The others?” Luca asked. “What do you want them to do?”
    Daniel barked out a humorless laugh. This was why he wasn’t supposed to mate. He didn’t know how to do this. Judging by her temper earlier, she was damn close to killing him. If it was anyone else in the world, Daniel could have extracted himself from the problem. As the leader, it was his responsibility to be the first line of defense. The first one through the door, the first one to take the hit. If he showed even a second’s hesitation in doing what needed to be done where Shelby–his mate–was concerned, it would weaken him in the eyes of those who trusted him to lead.
    He was walking a fine line right now. If the others found out he’d unwittingly mated to a woman who’d sicced a Hunter on him, they would be within their rights to kill her. If they found out she was involved in the Hunter world, they would kill her, period. Their rules had been in place since the first dragon had turned evil. And there were reasons for them. It was Daniel’s job to enforce those laws, a job he had never hesitated to do before.
    For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t handing her over. Why he’d brought her here, despite knowing what she was. He couldn’t afford to make mistakes, or second guess himself.
    “Put them on lookout for right now. I want hourly updates. I want to know immediately if a single cameraman shows up.”
    Luca nodded, though he didn’t move. “What are you going to do with her?”
    “What I have to do. We can’t be sure she’s not a mole.”
    “If she’s not?” Luca asked quietly, when Daniel didn’t say anything else. “What are you going to do with her if you find out she’s just a victim of our world?”
    Daniel’s face and eyes were devoid of emotion as he reached down into the arsenal to grab the blade he was looking for. “I don’t get a mate. I’ll find a way to break the bond without killing us both.”
    “If she’s being set up, it makes her unsafe.” Luca tunneled his fingers through his hair. “Before you make any