Read Vampire Dragon for Free Online Page A

charred kitten with black paw pads leapt into Darkwyn’s arms. Stating her preference, Bronte wondered.
    Darkwyn set the kitten on the ground, stating his.
    Ms. Almond Eyes climbed Darkwyn’s cloak and perched on his shoulder.
    He removed the persistent cat, claw by claw, and handed the stubborn thing to her.
    “Thank you, I think,” she said, stupidly proud that he trusted her to care for them.
    “Congratulations,” Vivica said. “You’ve just replaced Hoover.”
    She shouldn’t do it. Pets helped root you to mother earth. The need for a hasty departure would be delayed in finding them homes, and yet . . . Bronte sighed. “The lilac point, I’ll call Lila, and the charred, almond-eyed beauty is Scorch.”
    Lila celebrated her adoption by springing for Puck the parrot, minding its own business on Darkwyn’s arm, the cat becoming something of the bird’s hunchback, Puck being thrice her size.
    “Cat,” Puck said, flying to the ground. “A soft indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong.” Puck kicked the air, and turned, kicked, and turned, until he made a full and worthless circle, but he couldn’t shake the cat.
    “Oh, no you don’t. You won’t be kicking my cats,” Bronte said, removing Lila, at which point the bird flew up to the safety of Darkwyn’s head.
    “Darkwyn,” Bronte said, fluffing her drying hair and dress. “You have a bird on your head.”
    Puck squawked and Darkwyn bowed solemnly. “Ouch. Yes. Thank you.”
    Vivica gasped. “Darkwyn, your cloak fastening looks as if someone’s holding a magnifying glass over it. It’s . . . smoking.”
    The owner of Works Like Magick barely finished her warning, Bronte noted, when hunk man’s cloak quitted his shoulders, revealing a brawny, “take me baby” physique, a fine waist, and washboard abs that made her itch to explore them. Which she might do, if it were not for the phoenix tattoo on his chest that wholly unnerved her. The symbol of her rise from danger on his chest. The bird’s favorite quote leapt to mind: What the Puck?
    The universe, Bronte feared, had been playing tricks on her since she set eyes on this gorgeous man. Deceptively gorgeous.
    And yet, what a shame, she thought, that the cloak stopped falling at the place she most wanted to see.
    “Uh,” she said. “I think your cloak is caught on something.”
    “My interest, dear Bronte. My cloak is caught on my firm interest.”

SIX
     

     
    When she understood how Darkwyn’s interest kept his cloak from falling to his feet, a wash of warmth rose up Bronte’s breasts to her face, while a smile, however foreign, hovered below the surface. Unwilling to embarrass either of them further, she firmed her lips, gratified and a little frightened to discover a case of mutual interest between them.
    Providentially, one of the two men on the Winter Island Road Bridge, separating Cat Cove from Juniper Cove, at the corner of her property, whistled.
    His companion chuckled. “Nice ass,” he shouted, viewing Darkwyn from behind and making Bronte wish she dared circle him.
    “My brothers,” Darkwyn said, “are, I believe, approaching from behind me.”
    “Literally.” Vivica bit her lip.
    “Brothers?” Bronte looked from him to them. “You look nothing alike.”
    “Except for our eyes,” Darkwyn said. “Dragonelli eyes are violet, like yours, minus the clarity of a diamond.”
    A compliment. She had no idea what to do with that. So Bronte fluffed her hair and smoothed her skirt, both dryer than her corset and squishy boots.
    “Let me guess,” Darkwyn said. “Jaydun whistled, and Bastian complimented my backside, right, Vivica?”
    “Correct you are.” Vivica removed her black on white, polka-dot lady cloak to place on the shoulders of “Mr. Do Me and Do Me Again.” He doesn’t look ridiculous enough in cloak and bird , Bronte thought. Now he stands in drag and bird, his damp man cloak finally landing on his big bare feet.
    Darkwyn