Free Dragon Hunts by Lizzie Lynn Lee

uninvited?” Declan rose from his seat. Curran did, too. Braden crushed his cigarette in an ashtray. “Eliza Vanger is mine. I want you to stay away from her and her son.”
    Lorenzo was taken aback. “Do you believe this prick?” He sought confirmation from his men. Scary Joe and his goons grinned. “I’m gonna kill you,” Lorenzo told Declan. “I’m gonna fucking kill you twice.”
    Declan exhaled a long-suffering breath. “Well, I guess there is no other way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    I blinked as blurred movements filled the monitors. Braden and Curran leapt with inhuman agility, taking down Scary Joe and his goons one by one. One second I saw Braden glide into the middle of the commotion and the next, I saw that Scary Joe was airborne, hurled across the room. Shots being fired and deafening bangs boomed from the speakers. Curran took down the others. I wouldn’t have guessed the two possessed such awesome martial arts skills. When they stopped, all eight of Lorenzo’s goons were on the floor, either unconscious or bleeding badly.
    Bleeding?
    I blinked again.
    Braden and Curran stood with outstretched arms. Their hands didn’t look right. They were elongated, with sharp talons protruding from where their fingers should have been. My jaw dropped.
    What the hell…
    It took Lorenzo long seconds to realise his men had been taken down. His expression changed. His beady eyes narrowed. He swore and aimed the gun at Declan. Before he could pull the trigger, Braden, with one smooth swoop, knocked the gun from his hand. It fell and discharged accidentally. The bullet ricocheted and hit one of Scary Joe’s goons in the knee. The man howled.
    Fear filled Lorenzo’s eyes. Something that I’d never seen before. Lorenzo’s gaze was transfixed on Declan. His mouth was fixed in a frozen scream.
    A small smile hovered at the corner of Declan’s lips. He stretched out his arms. His body slowly changed. His clothes ripped. A pair of black, leathery wings suddenly burst from his back. His arms elongated and sharp talons emerged from his fingers.
    “What the fuck are you?” Lorenzo shouted.
    “I’m your deepest, darkest, nightmare, asshat.”
    Declan leapt onto his desk and completed the transformation. His body mass grew until his head almost touched the ceilings. Spiky tail sprouted. Fangs flashed. Gleaming, onyx scales covered his entire body. He morphed into a great big serpent with wings and claws.
    He jumped on Lorenzo and hurled my ex across the room. Lorenzo’s back smashed against the bookshelf. He slumped on the floor. Declan pounced on him and swatted him again.
    I turned Bobby away so he didn’t have to see all this.
    Whimpering pleas full of pain came from the speakers.
    “It’s fun, isn’t it? Beating a helpless person like you did to Eliza?” Declan’s barely human voice reverberated in the panic room. “It made you feel like a big man, didn’t it? Did you ever pick on someone your own size?”
    I heard more crashes and swishes and horrible noises I didn’t want to guess at. I shuddered. Lorenzo screamed like a little girl, pleading with Declan to stop. When Declan finally granted him mercy, it felt like hours had passed by.
    Bobby pushed my hands away.
    “Don’t look, Bobby!”
    He looked anyway. I did, too. I couldn’t see Lorenzo anywhere. All I saw was a scene as if tornadoes had visited Declan’s study room. The desk was shredded to pieces. Chairs were upside down. Bookshelves had been ripped from the walls.
    I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Declan wasn’t human. His brothers weren’t, either. Now I understood why they hadn’t been afraid of Lorenzo. Braden and Curran left the study room, dragging the goons’ bodies with them.
    Declan vanished from the study room. He reappeared in the master bedroom, naked. He went to the closet and grabbed a pair of pants. Heavy footsteps whispered on the carpeted floor. I heard the metallic creaks of the panic room door being