Filed to story: A Claim of Fortune Book PDF Free by Jaymin Eve
Locked in his gaze, I regretted my decision to meet his stare. It was terrifying being this close to the dark aura he exuded, and the unhinged edge to his actions sent trickles of fear down my spine.
Fear I decided to cover with bright, inane conversation. “I can’t keep calling you dragon or asshole in my head.” Ah, whoops.
Staying alive, Emme,
I reminded myself.
Your goal is to stay alive.
Thankfully his only response was a low rumble, and I hurried on airily. “What do you think about Jason as a possible name?”
Another rumble, and this one held a note of menace. “Okay, okay. Not Jason. What about Richard?” And I’d silently call him dick for funsies. Last name head.
The dragon’s fists clenched at his sides, and it took absolutely every ounce of my inner fortitude not to step away. “Yeah, you don’t really look like a Richard. Okay…” I tapped my chin, as if this was one of life’s great questions requiring all my focus. “Samuel?”
The growl was slower this time, as if he didn’t hate that name, which told me I was on the right track. “Shaun? Michael? Dominic? Talon?”
As the name for a dragon’s claw spilled from my lips, his gaze intensified, and if I’d been a regular shifter, I’d have been swooning or blushing. Alas, this shifter hated his guts for stealing a piece of my soul from me. But I hadn’t missed his reaction to that last name.
“Talon,” I repeated slowly, letting it roll off my tongue. “You like that name?”
When he nodded, I almost passed out from shock. “Okay, Talon it is.”
He rubbed a hand across his face, and I almost lost my resolve to hate him when I saw the confusion tugging at his features. I’d surprised him… and for a brief moment in time, he wore an air of vulnerability.
When he stepped back from where he’d holed me up in the bathroom doorway, I sidled into the room and took a seat on the bed. With the return of silence between us, I found my pulse racing and my hands clammy. “What happens now?’ I babbled, desperate to break the quiet intensity. “You’ve brought me here for a reason… or at least your evil master has. What’s the reason?”
Talon kept me locked in his unblinking gaze. “We must complete our bond.”
As terrifying as that statement was, I appreciated his honesty. Maybe it wouldn’t be as hard as I thought to get all the information I needed from him. “Complete the bond? As in… we’re supposed to have sex?” I shook my head. “I will never let you touch me like that. Not ever. Our souls and beasts are bonded from the bite. Why do you need more?”
Talon’s growl was deep enough to shatter windows-if there’d been any in this room of course. “I don’t want to have to take your omega powers… I want you to give them to me.”
My breath hitched, and while I’d known stealing my powers was the end goal for this forced bonding, it still took me by surprise. “He wants me to boost your powers and turn your beast into an even greater weapon.” As I voiced the horror out loud, I wondered if Talon understood the full ramifications of what they planned to do. Did he know I could lose my wolf?
Talon didn’t confirm it, but he also didn’t deny it.
I shook my head. “I will never give you one iota of my power. You’ll have to kill me first.” I hadn’t even realized I’d leapt to my feet on the bed until I was meeting his hostile stare. “I won’t comply with you raping my energy. You’ve already taken too much from me.”
Like my quintet, and my free will, and my sense of safety.
All of which was unforgiveable.
“You have no choice.”
He was probably right, but I sure as shit wasn’t about to make it easy for him.
“When will Hunter’s father return?”
Talon took a step towards me, and I shuffled back on the bed, keeping him in my line of sight. “Alpha Fletcher Davenport will return via helicopter in two days. He expects the task to be completed. If we fail, there’ll be consequences.”
A matter-of-fact statement, and now I had the name of the asshole haunting my existence: Fletcher Davenport. I’d been expecting something more along the lines of
Evil Motherfucker, but I supposed Fletcher would do.
“Why do you comply with him?” I asked, genuinely curious. “He treats you like an object, a weapon he owns and can do whatever he wants with. You didn’t even have a name, Talon. He doesn’t give a single shit about you.”
When he tilted his head to the side, observing me animalistically, it reminded me so much of Slade that I almost lost my composure.
“He is my family,” he said in a low, strangely soft voice.
Which was wrong on so many levels. “Family don’t call you it. I promise. You deserve better than that poor excuse of an alpha. Just kill him and find your freedom.”
I had no idea what would happen to me if Talon found his freedom, but at least Fletcher would no longer have this extremely powerful weapon under his control. We could save a lot of lives just by removing this one player from his board.
Now all I needed was the dragon to be in on the plan.
HUNTER
Aweek. An endless, agonizing week had passed in our search for Emme.
“How can there be no trace of her?” Kellan snarled, his phone pressed to his ear as I floored the Range Rover, on another endless chase which would probably lead nowhere. Once again.