Page 43 of Draco's Defiance
“I appreciate that.” Grasping her fingers, he lifted them to his lips and kissed her skin. The scent of her filled up his senses, conjuring an image of her on the end of his cock that was distracting to say the least. “Thank you.”
“What other skills do you have?” She watched her hand as he placed it on his lap, her gaze returning slowly to his knowing eyes. If he’s telling the truth and can really hear what I’m thinking, how do I deal with that? “You mentioned that you had ‘other skills’?”
Trust Moira to have picked up on the one reference to his dragon that he’d made so far. He should have known better. She was way too intelligent not to have noticed his trail of breadcrumbs...
“I promise I’m telling the truth.” He smiled, ignoring her query as an embarrassed blush erupted on her cheeks.
“I d-didn’t mean anything by that,” she stammered. “I can’t get used to you being able to know what I’m thinking.”
“I bet.” His grin grew. “It takes some getting used to.”
“And to my question?” Edging nearer, she squeezed his thigh. “Are you guys in the marines or something?”
“The marines?” Draco couldn’t think of anything worse. Being told what to do and having some jumped-up idiot bellowing orders at him wasn’t his idea of fun.
“Yeah, I just wondered if your skills were military?”
“Oh, no.” He shook his head. “Nothing like that.”
“What then?” Is he intentionally talking in riddles?
“It’s difficult to explain.” He chuckled. “I’m starting to sound like I do need psychiatric help!”
Perhaps he did? Hadn’t Cole just reached out to a counselor for support? That was how he’d met his new woman.
“It’s okay.” Sincerity danced in her eyes. “I’m listening.” I want to understand.
“I know you do.” Once again, he responded to her unspoken sentence. “That’s the reason I’m prepared to be honest with you.”
“What could be stranger than telepathy?” Her lips stretched into a brief smile as she waited for him to clarify. “I mean, you’ve taken a huge leap of faith already.”
She was right. Another, lesser woman, would have tried to flee at his admission, or be so freaked out they weren’t prepared to discuss what came next.
“The telepathy is unusual,” he started. “But it’s not the thing that makes us Vaughns truly unique.” If she thought reading her mind was strange, wait until she hears about the crimson beast clawing inside of me.
“So, what is?”
Draco had no inclination that Moira shared his mind-reading abilities, but he swore, the knowing look in her eyes made him realize she knew something significant was coming.
“It’s our hybrid status.” His hand encased hers as he finally relented and shared the secret that was both his burden and his blessing.
“Your what?” What is he talking about?
“Hybrid status,” he repeated. “We’re part-men and part-something else.”
“Something else?” Her tone had morphed to that cynical, disbelieving tone again, although he couldn’t say he blamed her. “What exactly do you mean, Draco?”
“I think you know.” He signaled to the answering machine. “Cole already told you.”
“Dragons.” The word was scarcely a whisper as the pieces of the complicated and bizarre puzzle aligned in her mind. “Are you trying to tell me that as well as being able to read my thoughts, you’re also a dragon?” This is getting ridiculous.
“YOU REALLY ARE SMART, little girl.” He leaned closer, trying to keep up with her unraveling thoughts. “I want you to know that I intended to tell you. I just wasn’t sure when.” I certainly wasn’t planning on coming clean today. He didn’t vocalize the final line.
“You’re a dragon.”
She said it again, as though she needed the words for it to make sense, but Draco had news for her, it would never make sense. He loved his beast with all of his heart, relished skimming the mountain tops as he glided through the air, but the one thing his dragon-shifter status never was, was sensible.
“I can be,” he clarified. “When I choose to be.”