Grady (The McCade Dragon #3)(10)

 

Kenton had cut away her sleeve when he'd stitched her up. The dragons on her upper arm had startled Grady, but when he touched them with his finger, he knew that it was the torque that Caelin had told them about. And without a doubt, she was his mate. Grady had been trying to get Caelin to tell him why she wasn't just wearing them but they were a part of her. No answer. Then suddenly he spoke.

 

I've been researching it, the reason why she doesn't wear them but they have moved into her flesh. Grady told Kenton what the dragon had been doing and perhaps had an answer. They aren't a part of the original set. I can only surmise that because of that, they do not act like the other pieces of the jewelry. So as soon as she put it on her arm, it became a part of her. I did as well.

 

"A part of her how?" Caelin said that it was a sigil for her, while the others wore their jewelry. "Will I be marked like this as well?"

 

I know not, my lord. I have only guessed at this. There is nothing in my memories that say this should happen. There was, at one time, a woman who wore the piece for a spell, but she was killed not long after she put them to her skin. I can only think that as Harper is your mate, you will be marked as well. He tried to think what came with the torques. When nothing came to him, he asked. The muscles in your legs and arms will be greatly increased. Hands and feet as well, but you'll be able to notice it more in your larger muscles. I believe that your mate has used these powers to keep herself safe for you. The man who had come to kill her was pushed away by her new strength.

 

Grady looked at his hand and tried to see a difference. There wasn't any as far as he could see, but he'd not mated with her as yet, so maybe that was why. He looked over at Kenton when he asked him if he thought he could fly or not.

 

"Do you want me to shift right here and figure that out?" Kenton told him he was tired and wanted a distraction. "I'm sure that if I became a dragon right now, you'd have that and more. Besides, don't I have to have sex with her or something to make that happen?"

 

"You will not be having sex with me." He turned and looked at Harper. "Where are we going? And why the hell are you talking about sex with me?"

 

"Back home, to where my family can help you." She told him she didn't need any help. "Oh? And how have you been faring so far on your own? Caelin said that you've been hurt several times over the last few weeks. Shot at as well. That working out for you?"

 

"You're a prick, anyone ever tell you that before?" He pretended to think about it and then nodded at her. "Funny. I want you to take me back to my hotel and leave me alone. While I appreciate you fixing me up, I'm not going to bother you guys anymore. Especially since I'm sure you think I'm an easy lay because I'm knocked up."

 

"You said that, how your sister tricked you. Would you mind explaining that? I, for one would like to know how you get a surrogate that way." He was sure she wasn't going to answer him, so he decided to have a little fun with her. "Did she drug you then implant someone's seed in you?"

 

 

 

        

          

        

         

 

"Her husband's." He watched her face, and knew that even though he'd been kidding with her, he'd hit it right on the head. "She asked me to have her child for her...well, she didn't ask; Winnie never asks for anything, but demands. But she set everything up for me, including a schedule for a treadmill that she had delivered to my house. Told me that I didn't have a life to mess up by getting pregnant for her and carrying this child, so why would I turn her down for something so stupid? She isn't a nice person, in the event you didn't get that just now. Winnie even went so far as to tell me that she couldn't have children messing up her perfect body. What bullshit. Not that I fell for it, but I was still caught up in her little scheme. So a few days after I left, telling her that there wasn't any way on this earth I was going to do this, she had me hit over the head, taken to some remote place, and poked and prodded until I was ripe. Fuck, I hate her right now."

 

Grady told her he was sorry. When she waved him off, he wanted to crawl over the seat and go back and hold her. She looked so sad at the moment, and beaten. Grady wondered what sort of person did this to their own flesh and blood.

 

"They took me to this clinic for two months. Well, that's not quite right. It was a big metal building that had a blocked off section where I was watched, all the fucking time. And when I fought them, they'd shoot a dart at me from this little window and knock me out. Every day someone would come in and take my temperature and blood. They served these meals that only an insane person would want to eat, and measured my pee. Who the fuck measures pee when they don't have to? Anyway, it wasn't until the second week, when my sister came to see me, that I finally had a clue as to what they were doing."