Dragon's Second Chance Romance - Riley Storm Page 0,10

the fight. To antagonize Pete.

Did she really not like Pietro so much that she wanted him to get in a fight? To any outside observer, the odds were stacked against Pietro. For all she knew, he was about to get his ass kicked.

“Was I really that annoying to you?” he asked, trying to understand.

“Don’t fucking talk to her,” Pete spat as he stepped closer. “Now get lost.”

“No,” Pietro said, not moving.

“Fine,” Pete said, turning to go. “Whatever.”

The dragon shifter saw it coming from a mile away. He nearly had time to yawn at the delay before Pete reversed course and came around swinging. Pietro swallowed his pride and let the blow connect, yanking his head backward, pretending to stumble.

As he did the short man with the knife darted in on his left. Pietro’s arm, still ‘flailing’ as he moved backward, came down and smashed against the knife-wielders forearm. Metal clattered against concrete as the blow numbed the attacker’s arm and he dropped the weapon with a curse.

Pete came on in, wincing slightly from the pain in his hand—Pietro’s skin and bones were much stronger than a normal human’s. Punching him would hurt. Which is why Pete used his left arm now, bringing it around in a wild arc. This man was no trained fighter.

Doing his best not to roll his eyes, Pietro dropped his head into the punch. Something broke in the hand, and both of them whirled away in shock.

“Ow, dammit,” Pietro growled, blinking his eyes.

The stupid thug’s fist had shattered on his orbital bone, stopping that part of his hand cold. But the other two fingers had continued on to poke him in the eye.

Something poked at his side. He whirled to see it was the short, wiry man, now holding the knife in the other hand. He was faster than Pietro had given him credit for and must have scooped up the knife immediately. Now he was looking at it in shock.

“Hit the wallet.” Pietro chuckled—a fabrication, but necessary to keep his identity concealed—and then lashed out with a fist, hitting the man in the stomach and spinning away, lest he get covered as the tiny man’s stomach rebelled against him.

Someone came up from behind Pietro and wrapped him up tight, pinning his arms to his sides. It was the tall man. He’d let Claire go and jumped into the fight to help his buddies out.

“Now you’re gonna pay,” Pete spat, holding his broken hand to his side while he drove his right hand into Pietro’s stomach.

It tickled.

Pietro grunted and doubled over in ‘pain’ as Pete laughed. Then he lifted his leg and stomped on the foot of his ‘captor’. The man yelped and pulled away, releasing Pietro, who dove forward, tackling Pete in the midsection and taking them both down. He tried to make it look as awkward as possible while still landing on his chest with his full weight.

The air was driven from Pete’s lungs in a mighty wuff. Pietro tried to get top position, but he was stopped as Tall & Thin grabbed his arm and pulled him off. Pietro rolled, kicking out lazily with one leg, which just happened to connect perfectly with the tall thug’s knee. The man went down, though Pietro hadn’t hit hard enough to do any permanent damage.

He got to his feet, trying to look hurt but still game, bringing his fists up, ready to go again, but Pete and his gang had had enough. They gathered themselves up and backed away into the night.

“This isn’t over,” Pete spat.

“Keep walking,” was his only response.

Once they got into a vehicle a block up the street and took off, Pietro turned his attention to Claire.

“Are you okay?” he asked, keeping his distance, not wanting to unnerve her any more than he likely already had by following her from the bar.

To his surprise, she wasn’t scared or nervous or uncomfortable. Not even angry. She was looking at him with pure confusion.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around to see what he’d missed.

“What the hell was that?” she asked bluntly.

Pietro licked his lips, working his jaw several times to get over his astonishment at the question. “I’m sorry. Was I supposed to just let them take you? I didn’t want to fight them, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer…”

“Right. I know it was a fight,” Claire said. “But why didn’t you just beat the crap out of them?”

“I tried,” he said. “There were three of them you know.”

“I can count,” Claire said