AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Marli glanced at him, his face drawn. This wasn’t good. Fear rippled down her back. If Odson was worried about this, it was serious.
“Yeah, thanks for that, Old Man. You brought him right to us, made things a whole lot easier.”
“Son of a bitch!” Odson exploded.
Marli could feel his magic shimmer, “Don’t—not here!” she shouted, as Stenlen dropped into a defensive position, preparing to shift. “You’ll destroy the town.” She held her breath as Odson reined himself in.
Oh, this is bad. Very bad.
She needed to find Kymri.
Kymri and Jori watched Carson and Lirikai drive away in his jeep, leaving them alone in the back alley.
Alone.
Jori slid his fingers along her palm. Hers curled over his and he pulled her to him. It felt so good to be in his arms again. Her heart thumped as he looked at her parted lips. He kissed her with all the gentleness and longing of an absent lover. She was nearly lost, melting into him.
Her hands slid around his torso, pulling his shirt up so she could slide her hands over this skin. Her tongue swept over his, pressing her body to his so that he backed up to the wall behind him.
His hands wandered down her back to grip her bottom, pulling her against him. He was hard and ready for her. He felt amazing and she couldn’t get close enough to him.
Reluctantly freeing her lips, he sighed and rested his forehead on hers.
“Jori?” Her voice was soft as her fingers reached up to his cheek. He’d been so distant since they left the coast. Troubled and agitated.
He swallowed hard. “She’s alive—my mother. All this time.”
Kymri leaned back to see his face. “Elora’s alive? But why…?”
“They have her.”
Her heart stopped. She watched the minute expressions shift across his face as she processed the meaning of his words.
“My father—” he cleared his throat over the lump growing in it. He started again, “Dad told me she made him promise to keep her secret for my sake—my safety.”
They would have come for him, if they knew he was a dragon.
She nodded. “She’s in their lair?”
He released her and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Possibly. He didn’t know for sure.” He walked away from her a few feet and turned back. His face was twisted, “Jesus, Kymri, it nearly destroyed him to finally tell me the truth. I haven’t seen him like that since she—since she disappeared.”
“Does Odson know?”
Jori shook his head, “Mom explicitly told Dad never to let him know the truth. He’d end up dead.”
Kymri reached for Jori’s hand. The contact seemed to give him focus, and he calmed. “She was right. He would. Knowing him, he’d go after her.”
“I doubted him, Kymri. I thought my dad didn’t want me around all this time. I don’t know how he could have kept a secret like that and done nothing.”
Jori’s eyes were haunted as he looked at her, Jonathan’s truth naked in them.
“He did what he had to in order to protect you.”
“I’m not even his blood.”
“You’re his son. That was clear on the Coast Guard boat. Very clear.”
No wonder he’d been so distant since they left the coast.
