Before his dragon could reply, a knock sounded on his front door. As he always did with strangers, he put on his stern, brick-wall expression before he opened the door.
He’d expected Dacian, but instead, he was greeted with the sight of Evie in a tight yellow dress, her straight red hair billowing over her shoulders. His inner dragon growled in appreciation at the way the stretchy dress hugged the female’s body. From her small chest, to her round stomach, to her wide hips, the dress left little to the imagination. Then his eyes fell to her short hem, which highlighted the smooth, creamy skin of her legs.
Find out the truth. Help her. Maybe she’ll reward us and let us fuck her.
Only because of years of experience did Bram keep his expression neutral at his dragon’s words. Shut it.
The beast fell silent and went to the back of his mind. Not even his dragon was going to challenge his dominance right now.
Finding his voice, Bram said, “Ms. Marshall.” He then eyed Dacian behind her. “Dacian, you’re dismissed. I will take over Ms. Marshall’s guard duty for the rest of the evening.”
His young guard nodded and walked away, leaving him alone with the inspector. He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter. In return, she gave a sexy smile that shot straight to his cock.
His dragon hovered at the edge of his mind, but Bram decided he needed to get Evie talking before the beast started with his sex fantasies. Once Bram had dealt with Evie, he would find a female to ease his dragon’s lust before their next meeting. “Come in. I don’t know what Skyhunter ever made you do, but we’re informal here. I usually eat in jeans and a t-shirt.”
Her eyes roamed his chest before settling on his crotch. It took every bit of restraint he had to keep his cock from going rock hard.
Looking back up, Evie shrugged. “I never dressed like this for Marcus, only for you.”
His dragon was pleased at the way she said it so matter-of-factly, but his human-half grew suspicious.
He decided to put an end to the female’s silly antics. He wanted to pass the inspection, end of story. “You’re a DDA inspector. Stop flirting and do your job.”
Fire flashed in her eyes, but it was gone before he could blink. Much like before, he guessed she was trying to tame her temper.
Her tone was surprisingly even when she said, “I am doing my job, thank you very much. Have you ever thought that maybe I’m just trying to test you? The other inspectors have talked about you, and I’m trying to find out the truth.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Right, go on, then. Tell me what they said about me so I can call bollocks.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw her hand clench and felt a small rush of satisfaction. Getting an opponent angry usually led to them saying more than they normally would.
Evie studied him a second before she walked past him to the couch on the far side of the room. Once she sat down, she crossed a leg over her knee and said, “No.”
His expression faltered. “What?”
She placed her hands on her knee and straightened her shoulders. “No. You ordered me to come here for dinner and to ask me about what I found today, so that’s what I’ll do. There is absolutely no reason I have to tell you anything else.”
Shutting the front door, he strode across the room to stand a few feet in front of her. He gave her his best piercing stare as he said, “You’re on Stonefire’s lands, lass, and I’m the law here. You’d best remember that.”
She raised an eyebrow in nonchalance. “Empty threat and you know it. My report determines the future of your clan, so you might want to start being nice to me.”
“Are you really going to challenge a clan leader? One word of you hopping into a dragon-shifter’s bed will get you sacked.”
“Is that what you do, then? You toss the human females to the beasts and let them go at it?”
Bram knew her words were meant to provoke, but she’d touched on his honor and he wasn’t having it. He spat out, “If that’s what you think, then you’d best leave right now and send another inspector. I want a fair chance, and I won’t get it with your prejudices.”
“My prejudices? You’re the one who inferred you would lie about me having sex with a dragon-shifter to get me fired. Maybe I should remind you that one mention of you threatening me, and that’s it, no more sacrifices.”
“Yet you can insinuate that I allow my dragonmen to force themselves on the human females, and think that’s okay? I don’t know what Marcus does down south, but up north, we have pride and respect for those who are helping our clan to repopulate.”
She opened her mouth just as his mobile phone rang. Thank fuck. He needed time to cool his head or he might say something that could really hurt his clan.
Without a word, he turned his back on the infuriating female, and took the phone out of his pocket. Glancing at the screen, he pressed receive. “What’s up, Kai?”
Kai, one of the clan’s Protectors, answered, “There’s been another breach on our border. The dragon hunters attempted an ambush on the east side.”
Walking to the far side of the room, he switched to Mersae, the dragon-shifter language and said, “Was anyone injured?”