Into The Dragon's World - Brittany White Page 0,11

Brady chuckled. “It’s a nightmare.”

Casey gazed at him with those beautiful blue eyes, and Brady suddenly felt like he would tell her anything she wanted to know, just as long as she kept looking at him that way.

“What about your family? What are they like?”

Brady shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know...they’re just my family. My father is the ruler of our part of the world. I guess he’s like a king in this dimension.”

“Fancy,” Casey said as she waggled her eyebrows. Brady grinned.

“Mother is, well…”

“She expects you to give her grandchildren and nags you about it at every opportunity?”

“Exactly.” Brady chuckled. “And my younger sister is a spoiled brat, but I love her dearly. I’m trying to talk Father into letting her take my place as heir, but he’s not too happy with the idea. His beliefs are still a little antiquated.”

Casey said nothing for a few moments, just gazing at him. Brady felt equal parts disconcerted and aroused. Having her full attention focused on him was almost dizzying.

“Are you happy?” she asked quietly.

The question caught him off guard. “Happy?”

“Do you like your life here in this world?”

Brady hesitated a moment before answering. “Well...I don’t not like it.”

“Brilliant answer,” Casey said with a sardonic smile. “I just mean...New York is great and all, but don’t you miss your own world? Your family?”

“I guess...I do,” Brady said, slowly nodding. “But I was sent here to do a job, so it doesn’t matter if I miss them or not.”

“You were sent here to manage a nightclub? That’s why you came here?”

“No, it’s not that simple.” Brady sighed and leaned forward, crossing his arms over the table. He hesitated before speaking. He could trust Casey with this, couldn’t he? Not many humans knew about the sub-cellar at Paradigm. They would try to overrun his world, conquer it, enslave it.

“It’s that serious, huh?”

He met her gaze straight on. For a human, she seemed to understand him more than anyone else he’d ever known. He saw sympathy in her eyes, a compassion that made him want to tell her everything she wanted to know.

“I guard the Arch,” he said quietly. “It’s the gateway between my world and yours.”

Casey’s eyes widened. “There’s a gateway?”

Brady nodded. “It’s in the sub-cellar of the club. It was discovered...I don’t know how long ago it was. I just know that because it’s on my family’s land, we were given the responsibility of guarding it.”

“You mean, keeping people out?”

“Yes. Shifters can come and go freely from there. They feel safe inside the club. If we didn’t watch over the Arch, our world would likely end.”

Casey reached out and touched his hand. Brady felt a jolt of electricity zip through his body. Her skin was as soft as silk, as warm as the smile in her eyes.

“So, you’ve given up the life you could have had,” she said quietly, “to protect your family and your world.”

“It was never a choice,” he said with a slight smile. “What else could be done?”

Casey fell silent again. Brady wondered if she felt it, too...the sense of being pulled into someone else’s soul. When he was younger, his mother had told him of this, the feeling that you’ve found a piece of yourself that you never knew you were missing. He’d laughed it off as overly romantic foolishness. He’d never believed her.

But now he did.

“You’re a good man, Brady.” Casey smiled. “Or dragon. Or whatever.”

Brady laughed. “Either works.”

They gazed at each other for a few moments, neither one of them feeling the need to say anything. The fierceness of his sudden need for her shook Brady to the core. He fought the urge to kiss her right then and there, to let his actions say what he had such trouble speaking aloud. Brady sensed that she might feel that way, too.

“Thank you for lunch,” she said, giving his hand a quick squeeze. “I’ll get the check next time.”

“If you say so.” Brady couldn’t look away from her. She looked almost like a different woman without the oversized clothes and restrained hair. He liked the new look, but he realized he also liked the way she looked before. She didn’t need to do anything to make herself more beautiful to him.

“This is the part where you’re supposed to argue and say no.” She smiled at him, guileless and honest. “I’ll give you a pass this time...m’lord.”

Brady laughed and felt that missing piece click into place.

8

Casey

“Watch your step. These stairs are a little treacherous.”

Casey almost laughed. That was