The Dragon's Gem Read Free Page A

and his hand began to tremble against mine.
    “ Uh, Draco, we were just showing Aurora around,” Ryan said nervously beside me.
    Draco dropped his hand suddenly and my world turned black again, leaving me shaken and confused, unable to speak.
    “It’s kind of early for you , isn’t it?” Belynda asked nervously.
    “So?” Draco sneered , his tone arrogant and off-putting.
    “Y ou’re usually more the run-into-the-room-by-the-late-bell kind of guy,” Belynda said to Draco, her voice dripping with sarcasm, obviously angered by his tone with her.
    “My father wanted to be at work early today since the new head of research is going to be there and my little accident has left me without a car, so I am at his mercy.”
    His voice was laced with an anger I didn’t understand, but his words rang a bell in my head and I realized whom it was that I was meeting. “You’re Max’s son?” I asked, astonished that the person before me was the offspring of my father’s new boss. I had talked with Max many times on his visits while he tried to convince my father to come and work for him. He always spoke fondly of his son, but from Draco’s domineering personality and the hostility I felt coming towards me, I didn’t feel like I was meeting the same person that his father had bragged about.
    “Uh , guys, we had better get moving or we are going to be late to class.” Ryan said nervously, taking my hand and pulling me along with him.
    “ What the hell was that about?” I heard Belynda ask Draco behind us.
    “I don’t know,” he hissed as we turned a corner and entered a loud classroom, which prevented me from hearing the rest of their conversation.

Chapter Two
    *** Draco ***
     
    I had not been sure what to expect when I met Aurora. I had seen pictures of her but they did not do justice to the chestnut-haired beauty who immediately captured my attention when I entered the building. Unfortunately, I also noticed her wounded expression as she listened to the nasty comments some jerk made about her and I lost it. It had only taken me seconds to move across the hall, grab him by the throat, and slam him into a locker. He was lucky all I did was force him to apologize, when in reality I wanted to beat the hell out of him for hurting her.
    I had not planned to talk to her afterward or acknowledge her in any way; wanting retribution for having her forced on me, but it seemed that my instincts to protect her were stronger than my resolve. She had held her hand out, looked up at me with her wide emerald green eyes and smiled so sweetly I couldn’t bring myself to ignore her. It was instinct, an inner sense as old as time that would not be denied. Once I took her hand in my own, though, I was unprepared for the emotions that flooded me. I easily read her nervousness about being at a new school, the fear that she wouldn’t be accepted, and her desire to make a girlfriend to talk and spend time with. It had been foolish of me to touch her. I knew what she was to me, knew the risk that I had been taking, but I hadn’t been able help myself. I was compelled to know what her skin felt like, what she smelled like, and how it felt to hold her tiny hand in my own. Now I realized how foolish I had been. I had never expected such a connection and it had jarred me to think that some stranger, a girl I had never before met, could so easily enthrall me when I wanted nothing to do with her. It was not good and it angered me to no end that she was now living in our small town, where I would see her constantly and be reminded that I had no control over my own future.
    T hanks to my brother’s unexpected death just few years before, I had been left my father’s sole heir. As such, it had fallen to me to ensure the future of my family line. Through DNA her father had supplied while searching for a cure for her blindness, we had found Aurora. It had only taken seconds once I had seen her picture to realize that she was indeed the one meant