Free Dragons' Bond by Berengaria Brown Page B

or more of them,” Jay said tersely.
    “Do any of them have family which would make them vulnerable?” asked Mallory.
    “I don’t know of any, but we’re all a bit behind on the latest news,” said William.
    “So why don’t we go and ask them? If they see all of you transformed, won’t they be able to transform and answer questions?” Mallory asked.
    The men all started speaking at once, and Mallory just sat back and let them. She’d twisted in her chair to watch the four other people in the room and was impressed at how relaxed Jay was for someone who’d been unable to transform for several years.
    Angus disappeared out of the room for a moment and came back with his hands in his pocket. Mallory wondered what he’d decided to take downstairs with them then remembered he’d said he had a gizmo to check if a room was bugged. “I think we should bring them all up here,” she said, speaking over several of the others.
    There were a few minutes of total silence, and then Angus nodded. “Agreed.”
    They all trooped down the stairs and into the back room. Jay picked up her husband and cuddled him to her chest. William took two oak statues and the other men one each, then all went back into the apartment, Mallory leading them into the living room.
    “Wait out there until Sinclair’s transformed,” ordered Jay, waving the other men to stay well back. Of course. I should have thought of that!
    Jay placed Sinclair in the center of the floor and whispered to him, but nothing happened. Mark took the statue Angus was holding from him, nodded to William, and said, “We’d better go back downstairs. Come and get us when it’s time.”
    Sinclair transformed much more easily than Jay had done, and like the other three men, when Mallory had first met them, he seemed to be unaware of his nakedness. Angus left the room and came back with the suitcase of clothes. “It seems I’m going to be dressing everyone today. Try this pair,” he said, handing jeans to Sinclair.
    The limestone dragon was locked in a passionate kiss with Jay, but finally they broke apart and he pulled the jeans on. They were too long, but he casually rolled up the cuffs.
    William and Angus returned, placing the oak dragons on the coffee table.
    Angus stood in front of them and spoke in his most imperious tone. “We know Teivel has some kind of hold over you. We know he was using you to block Sinclair, Jaydeline, and the three of us from transforming. Change now and help us solve this problem.”
    Nothing happened. Mallory found that once again she was holding her breath, so she released it.
    Again Angus spoke. “We know Teivel planned to put you in exhibitions and use you to steal artworks for him. The perfect crime. He’d have become even richer, you’d never get caught, and Mallory would end up in jail for thefts she had nothing to do with.”
    Daegan, the darkest colored one, transformed. He was very much a black Irishman, with thick black hair and deep blue eyes. “We would never have stolen anything, nor allowed an innocent to be convicted of another’s crimes. You wrong us in suggesting we’d ever agree to such a thing,” he said hotly.
    By the time he’d finished speaking, Penllyn, the palest one, had transformed into a gray-eyed blond. “My brother tells the truth. We couldn’t fight our bonds, but we would never have done anything wrong.”
    “What bonds? What hold has Teivel got over you?” asked Angus, for the third time.
    Graegor, a redhead, and Crevan, with brown hair and eyes, were now standing beside the first two dragons, all of them naked and uncaring of the fact. Mallory wondered if she should pull some clothing out of the suitcase, but she didn’t want to miss any nuance of what was happening in the room. She also really wanted to know why, if they were so opposed to doing anything illegal, had they become caught up in Teivel’s machinations.
    “What the fuck is going on here? And why are so many of you