Free Jorden: The McCade Dragon –Erotic Paranormal Romance by Kathi S. Barton Page A

does it have to do with me?” Vance told her everything. “Can you just stop talking to me like we’re on some game show and simply tell me what you’re trying hard not to say? In the event that you didn’t notice, these men hurt me and mine. I want them gone from my life as much as you guys do.”
    He laughed, but she wasn’t sure that it made her feel any better. “The men that are looking for the other pieces, they have been instructed to do whatever is necessary to get them. Even if the owner, as you are with the earrings, happens to be wearing them. When they find what he wants they’re to cut the pieces from the woman, using any and all means possible, then kill her if she’s not already dead. Should they find you, they won’t bother with your ears, as I have said…they’ll simply cut your head off, ship it to him, and he’ll store it away, head and all, until all the pieces come to him.” She asked him how he knew this. He just handed her the picture again. This time she saw the fingerprint. It was small and barely noticeable until he pointed it out to her. The one that seemed to be smeared in blood. “The person that owned the picture was the grandfather to the man who now comes for you. He will kill, indiscriminately, until he gets what he wants. But what he doesn’t know, and he’ll find out, is that I won’t hesitate to keep you and the other women that come here safe. We will all do whatever is necessary to do so. But you must promise me that when I tell you to do something, whatever it might be, you must do it. It will save your life.”
    “Will they hurt Gavin?” He only looked at her. “Then I have to ask you to make me a promise. I will do whatever you need, whenever you need it, but you have to keep him safe. No matter what, Gavin is all I have in this world, and I won’t be able to do anything if I don’t know that he’s safe.”
    “If I promise you that he is safe, will you trust me?” Trust. A word that she wasn’t sure about. “None of us will never lie to you. Never harm you, and I will protect you both, and my entire family, with my life. If I promise you that he is taken care of, will you trust me that I’m not telling you a falsehood?”
    “Yes.” It was a huge step for her, to trust this stranger. When he stood up, she felt like she needed to hug him, to tell him that whatever happened to him—because she knew something had—it would be all right. But she’d not lie to him either. “Jorden thinks he’s my mate. He said that when I leave here, he will die with the dragon.”
    “If you leave here before this is finished, I cannot protect you. And in this fight, I’m your only hope.” That scared her to death. “Stay or leave, it’s up to you, but should you do so, then know that you both will die, and it won’t be an easy one for either of you.” With that, Vance walked off the deck and back into the woods, with the wolves behind him.
    Jasmine was still sitting on the deck, everything around her faded in the back of her mind, when Jorden said her name. She wasn’t sure that being stuck here was the right word, but she couldn’t leave. Because for every scenario she thought of that they could do to her and Gavin, she was sure there were a hundred more things she didn’t let her mind dwell on. They were here until things were taken care of. Whatever that meant.
    “Maxwell said that Vance came to see you.” She nodded. “Are you all right? I know that he won’t hurt you, but he’s a little intense and can be a little abrupt. Few know that he’s still working for the government, and that they can and do call for him when things are bad. But he’s a wonderful man and would do anything for anyone. But as I said, he can be a little scary, even to us.”
    “He said he’d protect us, but the only way that he could do that is if we stayed here.” Jorden said nothing but watched her. “I was married once. I know that you are aware of that and the