Danburn: The English Dragon ― Erotic Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance by Kathi S. Barton

stayed where she could still see what was going on. The man who seemed to be in charge was yelling at some guy that was tied to a tree, and telling him how disappointed he was in him.
    “All this time, here you were stealing from me.” The man said that he hadn’t been. He didn’t know where the drugs had come from. “They came from my stash. That’s where you got them from. Right, August? And now look at what I have to do. I have to take time out of my busy day, making all these workers come here and watch you hang yourself because you can’t live with the fact that you bit the hand that feeds you. This will be a lesson for them too. Not to steal from me no matter what.”
    “I didn’t do it, Mr. Bullock. I swear it.” The rope around the man’s neck was thick. But the stool under him was nice and sturdy, so she thought he was safe from falling. Louisa had no idea what the man in the suit was talking about. August didn’t look to her like he wanted to kill himself at all. When he spoke again, she wanted to tell Mr. Bullock to listen to the man, that he might need some help. “Please, Mr. Bullock, I swear to you I never stole from anyone in my life.”
    As she watched with the rest of the men who looked to her like they’d rather be anywhere but there, Mr. Bullock kicked the stool out from under August. As he hung there, his face getting darker and darker, she wanted to go and save him, but nearly wet her panties when a man was suddenly in front of her. One of the men with a gun.
    “Hello, Louisa.”
    The small scream startled them both. Louisa left behind her nightmares and looked at her sister, frightened. Reaching out to pull Kendrick to her for a much needed hug, Louisa started telling her what had happened to have gotten her shot, babbling much too fast for Kendrick to understand her. She asked her to slow down and think as she told her. Kendrick was here now and she’d be safe.
    “You were shot, the doctors said. When did that happen? Was it the man you were talking about, this Bullock person?” Louisa wasn’t sure she cared for the big man with Kendrick. He was bossy and seemed to think that everyone was his underling. “Then you ended up in my lake.”
    “Your lake? No one owns a lake, silly.” He said nothing but looked at her. “I went there to look at the castle. I suppose you’re going to tell me that it belongs to you too.”
    “It does, as a matter of fact. My mother and I live there, and now so does Kendrick. But you didn’t answer me about who shot you. Was it Bullock or one of his men?” Louisa looked at her sister, wanting her to deny it, but she was looking at the man. That was when she noticed how her sister was dressed.
    “You win the lotto? I mean, wow, those are pretty clothes. I got mine all wet, so I’m going to need some more. Do you have any extra money I can have?” Kendrick said she’d talk to her about it later. “I want to be pretty like you, Kendrick. I’m betting you have a little extra. There is this new shop on Twelfth that has some pretty things like you have on. I’d like those to wear. Nice things like you have on.”
    “I don’t have anything, Louisa. In the event you’ve forgotten, you took all my money when you broke into my home again. What about this man, this Mr. Bullock? You said that he killed August. What happened after that?” Louisa wanted to talk about the clothing, but her sister was right. The more information she had, the quicker she could make it so she could get some pretty things. “When were you shot the first time?”
    “I was running. He tried to shoot me when he came up on me, but his gun was jammed up or something. So I ran at him, then took off toward where I’d seen the castle. It’s really nice too. You should see it…well, I guess you did see it if you’re living there. Can I go and stay there too? It’ll be really cool to tell my friends I live in a castle now.” Kendrick cleared her throat. “Oh yeah, the man. He