Page 160 of Change

Titus suddenly stopped struggling, though his posture remained tense, and his focus was trained entirely on the man holding me. “If you let her go now, I’ll make your death as painless as I possibly can.”

“Which wouldn’t be painless at all, judging from the look on your face. Don’t try to bargain, it’s beneath you.” My kidnapper didn’t sound perturbed. “Besides, I’m not worried about you escaping. We have more leverage than you can even imagine, and now there’sthis. It’d be one thing if she wasjustyour mate, but she’sMu. Thefourof you will have no choice but to work with us.”

“Stop touching her.” Titus narrowed his eyes.

His voice had begun to take on a tone of heady excitement, and he continued to disregard Titus’s warning. “Even completely ignoring you’d be bringing more dragons into this world, there’s also the lot of you to consider.” He didn’t seem to notice the temperature of the room dropping. “How much do you think people will pay for this kind of information… or for her? She’s priceless enough without any of you.”

“She’s not an object!” Titus roared, and with those words, the dragon jumped forward, rushing the two of us as he swung his arms in front of him, ripping the chains from the ceiling.

My captor leaped back, dropping me, and I fell to the ground as Titus swung his arms around, throwing the chain back like a lasso.

The chain swung forward, and Titus grunted, face contorted in concentration, he aimed at the man rushing for the door.

The links whipped through the air, and the redhead fell to the ground with a crash and shout, his arms trapped at his side.

Titus was in no hurry, and slowly stalked through the room toward the man, the other end of the chain dragging along the floor behind him with a loud, screeching echo.

“I warned you, Albert.” Titus was almost standing on the man now, and the scary calm of his voice shot shivers down my spine. His back was to me, so I could no longer see his face, but his tone was lazy and aloof, and his shoulders relaxed as he lifted a boot-covered foot and pressed it against the man’s shoulder, forcing him to roll onto his back.

Albert jerked with the motion, trying to squirm away. “How thehelldid you get out?”

But Titus continued with that same scary calmness, not answering the man’s question. “Now,” he said, dropping a chain and holding up his hand. His fingers seemed longer somehow, nails sharper. “I’ve made you a promise, and if there’s nothing else about me that’s true, it’s that I’m an honest man.”

Before I could even blink, or think to look away, Titus had moved. He struck downward, kneeling to the ground as he jabbed his fingers directly into Albert’s eyes.

The man screamed, blood gushing from the wound as Titus retracted his fingers. The red mingled with his hair and dyed the bright orange, crimson.

“I told you tostop touching her,” Titus continued without mercy. Albert’s arms were restrained against his thighs, and Titus reached for a hand, squeezing Albert's fingers in a white-knuckled grip. “And you just couldn’t listen,” Titus punctuated, ignoring Albert’s pleading as he crushed the man’s bones. The popping crack sounded loud through the room, followed swiftly by the man’s wail.

“And now you get to die.” Titus moved slowly, methodologically, as he wrapped the chain around the weeping man’s neck. And this time, as the dragon slowly stood, swinging the chain over his shoulder, I buried my face against the floor and covered my ears.

But even though I tried to block it out, I could still hear the muffled sounds of breaking bones.

Thankfully, though, it only lasted a second, and then there was silence.

“Bianca.” A warm hand pressed against my shoulder. The world spun as I met his eyes. The fire and fury were gone from his posture, and even though he looked like a madman with his hair free and blood coating him, his fingers were gentle.

There was a question written in Titus’s expression, and his brows furrowed as his fingers trailed down to my elbow.

“You’re shaking,” he said, the first hint of uncertainty entering his voice.

Was I? Maybe it was from the freezing floor.

He hesitated another second, then his lips thinned as a certain resolution caused his posture to shift, and he leaned forward, pulling me into his lap.

This was nice. It was so much warmer here, with my ear resting against the dragon and his arms around me. But still, I doubted anything would chase away the chill that had settled deep in my bones. Would this lightheadedness ever go away?

Calloused fingers pressed down my arm. “Are you okay?” he asked.

That was a loaded question, and one that I really should probably answer. His heart was beating so quickly—he was probably worried sick.

But my lips were numb, and I was so ready for this adventure to be over.

I just wanted a nice, hot bath, some of Miles’s snickerdoodle cookies, and a long nap.

Maybe I’d be okay after that.

Titus ran his fingers through my hair, touching the back of my head, and even the slight pressure was a sharp reminder of the continuously cresting and ebbing headache that plagued me.