Into The Dragon's World - Brittany White Page 0,3

Now that Jasmine had mentioned it, Casey felt the sting of shallow scratches on her upper arm. Rivulets of blood trickled down to her elbow. When she thought of the damage he could have done, her stomach lurched and suddenly she felt very dizzy.

“What happened? What did that bastard do to you?”

“He cornered me in the stacks at the library. Turned into a bear. Usual stalker stuff.” Casey leaned against Jasmine and held her arm as they walked up the stairs, away from the boisterous crowd and throbbing techno music. Maybe running to a nightclub full of shifters wasn’t the best idea after being attacked, but she didn’t want to be alone. “Where are we going?”

“Boss’s office. It’s soundproof, so you won’t have all this noise driving you crazy.” At the top of the stairs, Jasmine gave Casey a tip-to-toe once-over. “Are you sure he didn’t do anything else to you?”

Casey shook her head. “I think I would have noticed.”

“Okay, then. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

The office was empty, so Jasmine searched for the first-aid kit while Casey took a seat on a seriously expensive leather couch. I bet I could sell this and pay for an entire semester of grad school, she thought as she leaned back onto the overstuffed cushions.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Jasmine muttered to herself. “Damn fool’s been getting out of hand for a long time now.”

“Am I a part of this conversation, or should I just let you keep going?” Casey managed a smile, but suddenly she was too exhausted to keep her eyes open. The adrenaline rush was over. “I just need to close my eyes for a second…”

Two seconds later, she was dead to the world.

Bags of sand were on her eyes. Casey groaned softly and fought to wake up. She really hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but it was like every ounce of energy in her body just—

“Jasmine’s friend, I assume.”

Casey rubbed at her eyes as she sat up on the couch. The man standing beside her looked like a freaking giant and he didn’t seem too pleased to see her. For a split-second, she felt like Goldilocks after the bears came home.

“Hi. Yeah.” Casey blinked a few times. “Who are you?”

“Brady Markonian. Jasmine’s boss.”

That woke her up. “Oh, crap.”

She finally woke up enough to actually look at him. Dear Lord, where did men like that come from? Her gaze took him in from top to bottom. Dark caramel-blond hair, shaggy and in need of a proper haircut. Amber eyes flecked with emerald, gorgeous but currently glaring at her. A wide mouth with plush lips that were turned down in a fierce frown. He had the build of an athlete, almost managing to disguise his muscular arms and legs in his tailored suit but not quite. And so help her, he smelled like a god: sandalwood, musk, and a hint of smoke.

In the space of a heartbeat, she had a sudden vision of him hovering over her, inside her, his mouth roving over every inch of her body as her hands tangled in his hair and skimmed the width of his shoulders, down his broad back and…

Casey blinked, just realizing that he was speaking to her. Oh, wow...what was that?

“I’m sorry,” she managed. “Excuse me?”

“I asked why a human is in a shifter club. It’s not really our policy to allow your type.” He folded his arms and leaned against his desk. “Why did Jasmine bring you here?”

It felt as if the temperature in the room was rising in response to his annoyance. Then, Casey remembered: he was a shifter. A dragon shifter, if she’d heard Jasmine right. Wonderful. I meet the most spectacular looking man in the world, and he turns out to be a dragon of all things. A lion, she could see. Maybe even one of the big cats, or a wolf. But a dragon? Something that didn’t even exist in this world? Come on.

“Jasmine brought me here because of this.” She held up her bandaged arm. A bit of blood still oozed beneath the gauze. “I was attacked by one of you guys tonight.”

“One of my guys?” He cocked an eyebrow. “You mean a shifter?”

“Yes, I mean a shifter. My English professor. Apparently, he can turn into a bear. Who knew?”

“So, why did he attack you?”

“Because he’s bat-shit crazy, maybe? You tell me.” Casey shook her head and took a deep breath. “He’s been giving me some problems for a while. Stalking me and...whatever. He