Dragon Blood 1: Pliethin Read Online Free PDF Page B

in her mind and how she’d thought when she’d spoken in their mind. She gathered her energy.
“Kade! Don’t-”
    Kade was a blur of motion, not halting until he had both hands around her upper arms. “Stop.”
    “Or what? You’ll cause me to pass out again?”
    “That was an accident. We’ve never blocked a human mind before. We used too much force. I’m sorry. Just please don’t broadcast to every dragon in the area that you can hear them.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you’re not meant to know we exist.”
    “It was the blood, wasn’t it?”
    Kade stared at her for a moment before he nodded. “It’ll wear off. Two to four weeks and everything will be back to normal.”
    “No it won’t, because I’ll know you’re real.”
    “Forget about us.”
    “Us?” She thought about her dream. “Are Maira and Brann dragons too?”
    “Amber!”
    Amber’s mouth rounded as another possibility occurred to her. “Is Flinn a dragon?”
    “You’re out of questions, remember?”
    Amber’s eyes narrowed. “Show me what you look like as a dragon and I’ll stop asking questions tonight.”
    “No. And no more broadcasting either.”
    “Broadcasting?”
    “Speaking with your mind so everyone in the area can hear you.”
    “Show me what you look like as a dragon and I won’t broadcast tonight either.”
    “Don’t be stupid. There are worse creatures than dragons to notice you exist.”
    “Like what?”
    Kade shook his head. “Enough questions.”
    “Then show me what you look like as a dragon.”
    Amber barely had time to finish her sentence when the air around Kade shimmered and his body seemed to flow into that of a dragon, giving him the bulk of an elephant, but only the height of a large horse. He was a golden brown dragon with gold wing veins and tawny eyes shot through with gold. She stared at him, her mouth ajar.
    She managed to close her mouth and take a step forward. Reaching out, she tentatively placed her hand against the warm scales on his chest. She was fascinated. It was like one of the fairytales, her father had read to her as a child, suddenly come to life. Her fingers trailed across his chest. He lowered his head so his eyes could meet hers. She reached up to touch his face, the warm scales smooth under her hand, except where they overlapped the next. Kade moved forward, flowing back into a human as he did. Amber’s hand still rested against his jaw and his arms went around her.
    “As a dragon I can still feel when you touch me.”
    Amber ran her hand down his neck, continuing downwards until she stopped at his chest, palm pressed against his heartbeat. “Can you feel it as strongly when you have scales?”
    “No.” His voice was barely a whisper.
    “What does-”
    “I have to go.” When Amber opened her mouth to speak again, Kade shook his head. “You promised.” He stepped back, his arms dropping to his sides. “No broadcasting.”
    Before Amber could say anything, he walked out the door. She hurried after him, stepping onto the balcony. He was gone. Looking upwards, she found him. Wings beating strongly, rapidly taking him into the distance until she could no longer see him. And still she stood there, staring up.
    He’d said there were worse creatures than dragons. Did they have wings too? Sighing, she headed back inside, turned off her laptop and flopped onto her bed. Her hand closed and she recalled the feel of his scales. A moment of doubt surfaced. Did mental illness run in her family? No. He’d felt too real. Warm and real. She wasn’t crazy.

Chapter Five
    Amber tore herself from the nightmare, struggling to sit up. Her breath came in gasps as she reached for the bedside lamp to dispel the dark. The eyes were not so easy to get rid of. Blood red eyes had stared at her like she was the next feast. She tried to make herself believe it was a dream, even going so far as to say the words out loud. It didn’t help. She threw back the bed sheets and rose to pace the floor. She