Read city of dragons 02 - fire storm for Free Online

go.”
    “We could just talk about the case.”
    He shook his head. “No, we couldn’t, and you know that.” He started for the door.
    “Wait,” I said.
    He paused.
    “Maybe it’s not so bad that you want my blood. I mean, maybe I don’t mind. If you don’t take too much—”
    “I mind,” he growled without looking at me. “I don’t like wanting it.” He threw open the door and left.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    I stood there, stunned, unsure of what had just happened, for several seconds before I decided this was stupid, and that I was just going to go after him. He had some weird guilt thing about the blood drinking, and he was being stupid about it, because I was fine.
    And besides, I thought about it sometimes. About what it had been like when he’d had his teeth in me. And I thought about trying it again. So, maybe he just needed to understand that. And anyway, I thought it was highly unlikely that he could cause serious damage to me just by doing that. I mean, maybe it was theoretically possible that I could lose too much blood and die, but as long as I could get to some water to shift, then I’d be fine. Dragons couldn’t shift unless we were submerged in water when we did it. Otherwise, the trauma of the process would destroy our human form, and we’d be stuck in dragon form forever.
    I found him at the bottom of the steps, talking to Connor.
    He looked up at me as I descended the steps. “Hey.”
    That was it? Hey?
    “Connor got into the computer.” Lachlan held up the laptop.
    “Oh,” I said. “Really? That’s great, Connor.”
    Connor grinned at me. “I do what I can.
    “I was telling him how much I appreciate that,” said Lachlan.
    “Sure thing, Detective,” said Connor. “Anything you need, just ask.”
    Lachlan grinned at him. “You don’t give up, do you?”
    “I’m not hitting on you.” Connor’s nostrils flared. He threw up his hands and stalked off.
    “He really does have an enthusiastic tone most of the time,” I said.
    “I know.” Lachlan grinned at me. “I shouldn’t tease him, huh?”
    I shook my head.
    Lachlan gestured with the computer. “Guess I’ll go through this tonight.”
    “Without me?”
    He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. “I’ll call you if I find anything.”
    “Lachlan, I feel like you’re being way too worried about this whole blood drinking thing, and I want you to know that I—”
    “Hey,” he said. “Before you go off on whatever you’re going to go off on, let me say that it’s not just about being out of control or feeling like some kind of insatiable animal or any of that. It’s just…” His shoulders sagged. “I used to be a dad , Penny. I used to be a protector. But I failed.” His voice broke. “I didn’t protect her. And when I woke up, I was this thing that… eats people.”
    “You don’t eat people,” I said. That was more of a drake thing, really.
    “Eats, drinks, whatever,” he said. “It feels wrong to me. It’s like some beast thing crawled into my skin when I was sleeping, like Mr. Hyde took up residence in me, only I’m not being punished like Dr. Jekyll was—or if I am, I don’t know for what. Because I don’t know what I did wrong.”
    “You didn’t,” I said. “It was an accident. Just an accident.”
    “I don’t like being reminded of it,” he said. “You. This? Us? It makes it all too much.” He shook his head. “I really have to go now.”
    I didn’t stop him.
    * * *
    He did call later to say that he’d found something interesting in Fletcher’s email account. Apparently, he and a friend were going to some club called The Dungeon, where they were doing stuff they didn’t want anyone to know about. They were cryptic in the emails, but it sounded like it might have involved some kind of drug use.
    It sounded suspicious to both of us, so I agreed that I’d go with him tomorrow to interrogate the friend about what had happened.
    After I lay down to