In a Dragon’s Dream by Riley Storm Page 0,33

of the house.

Pulling out his cell he dialed a number for the second time that night.

“Pierce here,” came the reply.

Pierce Teres. Head of the Teres Clan.

“It’s Rakell. Again.”

There was a soft snort. “You didn’t make another mess, did you?”

Rakell rolled his eyes. Pierce thought he was so funny.

“No,” he assured the clan leader. “But someone else might have. We might have a problem.”

“What do you mean?” Pierce asked, his attention now fully devoted to Rakell.

“I have reason to believe that someone among us is leaking our secret,” he said, trying to impart as much solemnity to the words as he could. Rakell wanted Pierce to know he wasn’t doing this lightly, that in fact he hated doing it, but the evidence kept mounting that someone had spilled the facts to a non-shifter.

Pierce exhaled slowly before saying anything. He had to know that whatever was said next could have large, possibly unintended, consequences. “Are you sure of this?”

“The woman, Laura, the one that was nearly taken with Blede’s mate,” he explained. “She knew about us. I came to make things right, as was asked of me. She wanted me to make it right, by showing her my dragon. She knew about the clans. Not just me, but all of us on the mountains.”

Pierce was quiet, processing this information.

“I don’t see what else it could be,” Rakell said as the silence went on, keeping his voice low so that Laura couldn’t overhear him. “If I ask her, she’ll clam up to protect whoever it is. I think she already knows she’s not supposed to know, and would protect them.”

“There are ways to make them talk,” Pierce suggested unhappily.

“No,” Rakell said, his voice blistering. “I won’t allow it.”

Another prolonged silence.

“The options for who it might be, at least the high possibility options, are very narrow,” Pierce said.

“I know,” Rakell all but moaned. He didn’t want to say it either, but they both knew who the obvious suggestion was. The obvious culprit.

“I will do some circumspect digging on this end,” Pierce said at last. “Maybe it was an accident. I don’t know. I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Okay,” Rakell said. Then he went on. “What should I do about her now? I had to all but reveal myself to deal with that Cado agent. She knows, one way or another, what the truth is now.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Rakell could have told her that he was some sort of mutant, with extra strength. That would have been the smart thing. Keeping the secret contained to himself. Instead though, he’d told her the truth, confirmed her earlier thoughts.

Why?

Because he’d wanted to. He knew it would make her happy, and he wanted to see Laura smile again. It brightened his day when she was happy, and the way she’d celebrated and reacted to hearing the truth from his lips had been exactly what he’d expected.

“You’re the one on site,” Piece said. “Whatever you feel is the best decision, I will back you up on it. If she needs to be kept here, until we can be sure she won’t leak the secret to anyone else…then do what you must.”

“And if I trust her?”

“Then use your judgment,” Pierce repeated. “This is your situation now Rakell. I trust you. Anything else?”

“No,” he said, already considering his options, trying to figure out the next steps for him and Laura.

He hung up with Pierce, dropping his cellphone into his pocket. Laura wasn’t going to like this next suggestion. Not one bit. With a sigh he returned to the back of the house, where he found her sitting on the couch—the big one now—with a glass of water. Rakell set next to her.

“You’ve got bad news,” she said immediately, looking at him.

“I need to take you up to the mountain,” he said bluntly. “It’s…safer there.”

Laura shook her head. “No. I am not going up there to be kept behind a wall. No. That means leaving the house. It means exposing myself. We stay here. Where it’s safe. You swore to protect me, so protect me. But I want to stay in my own home.”

Rakell opened his mouth to argue, but she shut it down before he could even begin.

“No, Rakell. No dragon shifter is going to push me out of my own darn house, no matter how badly they want me.”

“What if they get you?” he asked, trying to get the hoarseness out of his voice as he thought about that option. “What if I can’t protect you?”

She snorted. “You’re