Taming the Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

only barely managed to keep her voice even.
    “The three of you worked it out.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Just you guys.”
    His shoulders hunched, as if he expected the blow she really,
really wanted to deal him.
    “Yeah.”
    “I guess you got a new singer, then.”
    He couldn’t even look her in the face. “Um, Mike thought Shayne
would be a better fit, you know. We thought switching things up a little might
give us the push we need around here.”
    “Oh,” Tess said again, fighting to keep her fingers from
curling into fists. Shayne. Mike’s talentless girlfriend. How...nice. Today was
one kick in the ass after another so far. What would be next? An invigorating
case of a flesh-eating disease?
    “If you want to switch things up, maybe try playing sober once
in a while. That would be a better place to start, but what the hell do I know?
I’m not screwing any of you, so I guess my opinion doesn’t count.”
    That wiped the kicked puppy look off of August’s face. “Don’t
be pissed. It just didn’t work out.”
    Tess wished, just in that moment, that she had a pair of fangs
like Kaden’s. She was shocked to find herself swallowing a growl. Her skin
flushed, and she was left momentarily off-balance. She was still angry, but she
felt weird.
    “Do I look pissed to you?” Tess bit out. Her voice was slightly
rough, a little deeper.
    August watched her nervously. “Well...yeah.”
    She flexed her fingers. “And why do you think that might
be?”
    He took a step back, and Tess knew he was going to bolt. For
all his shouting matches with Mike, August was a coward at heart. She was sure
he was only here because Mike had browbeaten him into it. Danny would probably
end up leaving them before too long, but he was in the same position she’d
been—he needed the extra money. Mike owned most of the equipment. He had the
contacts, too, so he always got the final say.
    He was also going to get a kick in the nuts the next time she
saw him.
    “Look, we just didn’t want you to freak out,” August muttered,
tossing his head so that the hair was briefly out of his eyes. “You know how it
is. We’re trying something different. Tough to catch a break right now.”
    “No shit,” Tess replied. “I’m sure not catching any today.”
    She felt the heat flare at her neck an instant before a deep
male voice rumbled behind her.
    “Go away, little man. My woman has no need for you.”
    August’s eyes widened as they focused on someone over her
shoulder. Tess could actually feel Kaden behind her, maybe a foot away. Dozens
of thoughts, most of them panicky, cascaded through her mind as she stood there,
completely frozen in place.
    And had he said his woman?
    “I...uh,” August stammered.
    “Go,” Kaden hissed. Smoke rolled
over Tess’s shoulder toward August, who managed a strangled sound of terror
before he half ran, half fell down the stairs.
    The scene was pleasant enough that Tess managed to set fear
aside and turn to look at the dragon—or whatever he was—looming behind her.
    “Do you really have to...?”
    She trailed off, floored all over again by the way Kaden
looked. The black pants were buttoned now, and he’d put on a plain black fitted
T-shirt that made it easy to remember how built he was. His feet were bare,
which puzzled her for a moment until she locked eyes with him. Her questions
vanished at the memory of his touch. Though Kaden’s eyes weren’t glowing nearly
as brightly right now as they had been before, they were still a noticeably
strange color. A beautiful, exotic color. And the look in them made her feel
like she was the sexiest woman on the planet.
    Tess didn’t know what it meant. All she knew was that it was
going to make it really, really hard to throw him out.
    She took a deep breath, considered, and then closed the door to
the hall. If he’d meant to hurt her, he would have done it way before now.
    “Thanks,” she said. “August deserved that.”
    Kaden’s dark and angular face