Page 5 of Seducing the Dragon (Stonefire British Dragons #2)
Chapter Three
W hen Stonefire’s leader started talking on his mobile phone in the dragon language, Evie took the opportunity to count to twenty and back down again.
Trying to follow Melanie’s advice of being strong without letting her temper loose was harder than she’d imagined.
She’d have to work on that, especially since Evie couldn’t be completely honest with the dragonman. At least, not yet.
His eyes on her body at the door had boosted her confidence. Despite their argument and her temper slipping loose, there might still be a chance.
Or, so she thought until the dragonman turned around with a fierceness in his eyes that made her heart skip a beat.
The dragons didn’t teach humans their language, so she had no idea what he was barking into the phone. But his tense body and the tone of his voice told her it wasn’t good.
When Bram shut off his phone, she steeled herself for what was to come. Most humans would cower under the dragonman’s current stare, but she’d worked with dragon-shifters for seven years now. She could take any dominance bullshit they threw her way.
Still, as the seconds ticked by in silence, she started to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Rather than wait for Bram to speak, she blurted out, “Why are you glaring at me like that? If it’s about my so-called prejudices, you never gave me a chance to respond. If you would just listen?—”
“Enough.”
Despite her resolve, Evie fell silent at his tone.
He motioned for her to stand up and then crossed his arms over his chest. At first, she merely raised her chin in defiance. But as one minute ticked by, and then another, she finally gave in and stood up.
Bram moved closer, until he was less than a foot away from her. Ignoring the heat radiating off his body, she looked up into his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Well? How long are we going to stand here in silence? I’m hungry.”
Searching her eyes, he moved a hand to grab her chin.
The feel of his rough, warm skin against hers sent a rush of heat through her body, and it took every ounce of resolve she had not to draw in a breath.
Yes, she needed to get him naked and over her, but not until she knew why he was staring at her with such contempt.
She tried to break free of his grip, but his fingers tightened as he said, “Tell me now, Evie Marshall, why are you here?”
Shit. She needed to be careful here. “I told you already. I’m here to check in with Melanie and investigate Caitriona’s death.”
“And what else?”
“What makes you think there is anything else?”
He leaned down until she could feel his hot breath against her cheek. “We both know there is something else. If you cooperate, it will make things a whole hell of a lot easier for you.”
Evie’s heart thumped inside her chest. Did Bram truly know her other motive for being here or was he merely bluffing?
She was starting to think her plan to seduce Bram Moore-Llewellyn was a bad idea.
Thankfully, due to her years of drama in school, she was able to not show any outward sign of her doubts as she said, “Innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Moore-Llewellyn. Tell me why you think I have an ulterior motive.”
“Three words: Carlisle dragon hunters.”
Evie’s stomach dropped. How the hell did he know about them?
Raising an eyebrow, Bram said, “I thought so. You’re pretty good at hiding your true thoughts, but right now, I can see the fear in your eyes. Tell me why.”
Out of nowhere, Melanie’s words from earlier sprung into her mind, “Be strong, be honest, and be open-minded. That’s what it takes to soften a dragonman’s heart.”
Would the truth really work, even with the fierce man currently glaring down at her? Or would it push him away, dismissing her problem as none of his concern?
Considering she was trapped on the dragon-shifter’s land with no allies, it wasn’t like she had a choice.
If she didn’t tell him, he would probably kick her off Stonefire’s land and right into the hands of the dragon hunters.
The British government hadn’t taken her seriously before about the death threats, and most certainly wouldn’t now.
She wouldn’t have anyone to protect her.
Yet if she told Bram, then maybe, just maybe, he would help her; at least, if she were honest.
She had only one choice, really, and taking a deep breath, she tried to figure out what to say that would convince the dragonman not to instantly hand her over to the dragon hunters.
Bram could smell Evie’s fear but he wasn’t sure if it was for him or for the dragon hunters. From what he’d seen of the human so far, he’d guess the second. Yet she’d been lying to him since she’d stepped foot on his land, so who knew; she could be more afraid of him.
His dragon pushed forth in his mind. She is afraid. Not of us. Help her.
He wanted to ask how the bloody hell his dragon knew she was in trouble, but while he trusted his dragon with his life, his beast didn’t like giving details.
Still, even if she were afraid of the dragon hunters, she needed to tell him the truth or he’d boot her off his land and ask for another inspector.
His dragon growled. Don’t do that.
Before he could tell his other half to shut up yet again, Evie took a deep breath and he focused on her words as she said, “I requested to be transferred here from London so I could ask for your help.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would you do that instead of asking your human government for help?”
“I already tried, but they won’t help me without more proof. Rather than risk getting myself killed while I did that, seducing you seemed like the better option.”
Bram frowned. “Seduce me? Lass, you’d better start at the beginning and get to the point. I have a dragon hunter to question.”
Her eyes widened. “One of them is here?”
He grabbed her arms and instantly regretted it as her soft, smooth skin sent a thrill through his body.
This close, Evie’s scent was a mixture of woman and something wild, and he’d been trying to ignore it for the last five minutes.
But with the combination of her skin under his hands, his cock was very much standing at attention.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Evie continued to stare into his eyes as the scent of her arousal reached his nose.
His inner beast went crazy, and said, See. She is not afraid of us. She wants us. Help her and then fuck her.
Bloody hell, what was wrong with him? He hadn’t been this randy since he’d been a lad of twenty. She was just a woman, for fuck’s sake, and he could have his pick.
Growling again, his inner beast hissed out, Don’t push her away. She is different.
Okay, he had no fucking idea what that was supposed to mean.
He pushed both his dragon and his lust aside to focus back on protecting his clan. “Start talking, Evie. Now.”
“Let me go first.”
Rather than argue and waste more time, he released her and crossed his arms over his chest again. “Now talk.”
A defiant glint flashed in her eyes, but thankfully, the female had some sense and she started talking. “Over the last few months, the dragon hunters have been targeting DDA employees. And anyone who doesn’t listen to their ‘warning’, which is more a death threat and being shot at, ends up dead.”
This was the first he’d heard of this. From here on out, he would have his people monitor the human news channels more closely.
“Wait, why? The dragon hunters want us and our blood; humans have nothing to offer them.” She raised an eyebrow, as if to call him out on his claim, but he didn’t back down.
“Your blood can’t heal diseases and be sold on the black market. ”
“You’re supposed to be clever, Bram. We have value, more than you think. What do you think would happen if more DDA inspectors were killed and people stopped volunteering for the job?”
It was the first time she’d said his name, and the way her London accent rolled over his name pleased him.
Focus, oh, great leader, focus. He could just demand the answer from her, but for some odd reason, he wanted her to see he had a brain.
Then it hit him why the inspectors could be targets. “Without you and your coworkers, the human sacrifice system would cease to be. Without human females, our numbers would dwindle again.”
She nodded in approval. “Right, which means with fewer dragons, the hunters can ask higher prices on the black market whenever they harvest a captured dragon.”
“You say ‘harvest’ and I say ‘torture’.”
Shaking her head, she said, “Don’t turn this into me not caring about your kind. I’ve pretty much given up my life to help the dragon-shifters, and what did I get in return? An endless parade of humiliation and irritation. Sometimes I wonder why any of us stay with the department.”
His inner beast growled at the thought of anyone humiliating this strong woman. Bram agreed with his dragon.
His curiosity piqued, he said, “I’m not Marcus.
You’ll face no humiliation here as long as you tell me the truth.
” She looked unconvinced, so he continued, “You spoke with Melanie earlier today. Was she afraid of me? Did she have an endless line of complaints about me? Or anything else that contradicts my claim?”
She paused a second, before answering, “No. She’s extremely loyal to you.”
“Exactly. I treated her fairly from the moment she set foot on this land, just like I do with all the sacrifices. Hell, I was even helping Cait with her fear of dragon-shifters up until she died.”
Both man and dragon took a second of silence to remember the woman who’d suffered so much and had tried to come back, only to die in childbirth.
To this day, he blamed himself for assigning Neil as her dragon-shifter.
The bastard never should’ve been allowed a human female.
In Bram’s opinion, banishing the arsehole had been too easy a sentence, but the only one that had legally been open to him.