Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,33

wipe my feet.

A warm heat washed across my soles, followed by the itching of new skin forming, and I glared suspiciously at Zav. He stood a few feet away, his aura tingling all over me and probably making it even easier for magical beings to find me. His hands were still clasped behind his back.

“You’re healing me? Listen, I appreciate that you’d rather do that than incinerate me, but I really don’t want to owe you any favors.”

He cocked his head. “Why not?”

“Because you’ll try to redeem them. And tell me I need to travel with you and be your bait.”

“I do believe your reputation might have stretched even to the distant deserts. You may have attracted the djinn, thus making it easier for me to locate and capture them. Lesser magical beings tend to hide when dragons come near.”

“Shocking.”

“Your tone is not properly respectful. Do not forget that you are addressing a superior being.”

I only partially managed to muffle my scoff as I rubbed the towel across my feet. The blood had dried, and the wounds had completely disappeared. It wasn’t just that they’d turned to scars; it was as if the injuries had never occurred.

“Thank you,” I made myself say, however grudgingly. Now that I’d met a dragon that liked to kidnap children for fun, it made me realize I should be a little nicer to the one who was a law enforcer. Even if laws put forth by the Dragon Justice Court had little in common with Earth laws, Zav seemed vaguely reasonable to deal with. “Why are you here? I don’t suppose the Pardus panther-shifter brothers have committed crimes and you’ve come to capture them for rehabilitation.”

Dare I hope? If he was after them, it would make sense that he’d shown up.

“No. I do not know who they are. I brought you the gift you requested, even though your tone reminds me that you are not deserving of gifts from a dragon.”

“Uh, what?” I was positive I hadn’t requested anything from him except that vial of blood, and he’d already given me that.

“A poster of myself that you can throw hatchets at.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I am not.” Zav drew, seemingly out of an invisible poster carrier attached to his back, a rolled-up tube.

Had he actually found a print shop and had one made? I couldn’t believe it. I squinted at him as I accepted it, still expecting a joke.

“I suppose dragons aren’t known for their senses of humor,” I said when I didn’t find any sign of amusement on his face. It was a handsome face, with a strong, angular jaw and high cheekbones, everything enhanced by a perfectly trimmed beard and mustache, but it was a haughty one. It had to be hard to laugh when one’s haughtiness mask was affixed so tightly.

“Who told you this lie? Dragons have riotous senses of humor, but we only tell jokes among our own kind. Inferior species would not have the necessary mental acuity to grasp them.”

So much haughtiness.

“Oh, I bet.”

As I opened the tube and tipped the poster out, I noticed a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy with a skateboard under his arm eyeing us from across the parking lot. He was watching but pretending not to be watching. Maybe he liked Zav’s robe and wanted to know what Etsy shop he could order it from.

“I also came because Dobsaurin told me he left a message with you.” Zav’s violet eyes narrowed. “He was exceedingly coy when he spoke to me, and it was from a great distance. I know he is here in this geographical region, but I cannot pin him down.” He gazed at the walls of the buildings around us, as if he could see through them to the snow-capped Cascades to the east and the Olympics to the west. “I believe some magical artifact is assisting him in evading my senses. He taunted me with his words, as if he had some knowledge that I did not.”

“Uh, the only knowledge I have is that he wants to kill you for sanctimonious meddling, and he’s a dick.”

“I already know this.” Zav paused. “What is a… dick?”

“The thing hanging between your legs.” I unrolled the poster but almost lost my grip when Zav bent to look down. Did he think I meant his robe? “The sex organ that’s there if you gave yourself all the human parts when you shape-shifted. I guess I don’t know if you did. And,” I hurried to add, “I don’t want to