“Brianne is my girlfriend and Valerie had no fucking right to sell her to you,” Callin said, feeling his temper rising. His dragon was close to ignoring his commands and bursting forth and frying Riley.
“She’s your… shit, Callin, I didn’t know. You have to believe me,” Riley said.
Callin felt himself relax a tiny bit. He nodded his head.
“I do believe you,” he said.
There was no way Riley was lying. Callin would be able to see it a mile away if he was. Besides, Riley was older and more powerful than him. If he had known who Brianne was, he would just admit it. It wasn’t like he was scared of Callin.
“Where is she?” Callin asked again.
“It doesn’t matter where she is,” Riley said. “You can’t just take her. I’m sorry, Callin, but I’m a businessman and I’m not in the habit of making exceptions for that. For anyone.”
Callin was well aware of this.
“I’m not asking you to make an exception,” Callin said. “Name your price.”
“She’s already sold,” Riley said.
“I don’t care. What’s he paying you? I’ll double it,” Callin said.
“Callin,” Riley said in the sort of tone people used to try to reason with children. “It’s not just about the money. It’s about my reputation. If my buyer gets here and his mate is gone, what do you think that will do for my business?”
“I couldn’t give a fuck about your business,” Callin said. “And as for your reputation, you sell women for a living. Do you really think your reputation could get any worse than the truth? You have until the count of ten to tell me where she is, or I’m going to tear this place apart.”
“Calm down,” Riley said, raising his hands in mock surrender. Callin stayed on his guard. He knew Riley could go for him at any moment. “Let me make a call. I’ll explain to my client that something has come up and offer him a discount off a future mate, and…”
“I don’t think so,” a voice said from behind them. Callin and Riley both turned to face the newcomer. “I have already paid the deposit on the mate you promised me and she will be mine. I can’t believe you were trying to stab me in the back, Riley.”
“Michael, good to see you,” Riley said, unfazed by the threat. “Now, don’t be so melodramatic. No one was stabbing you in the back. There’s been a mistake. The girl you originally bid on is actually with Callin. Valerie brought her to me for some reason I haven’t fathomed yet and she neglected to mention that part.”
“That’s not my problem,” the newcomer said.
“It is now,” Callin said.
He wasn’t going to wait any longer. It was him against the two of them and he needed the element of surprise to pull this off. As he spoke, he began to turn, and within seconds, he was gone, replaced by a large, red dragon. He roared, unleashing the beast from within him, and fire flew from his nostrils. The newcomer jumped to one side, narrowly avoiding being fried, and within seconds, he, too, turned and Callin found himself facing off with a huge, black bear.
The bear growled low in his throat and ran at Callin. Callin took in a breath, ready to unleash more flames, but the bear was fast and the space was too small for Callin to move as freely as he would have liked to. The bear managed to raise a paw and he raked his claws down Callin’s chest. Callin roared again as pain exploded through him. The bear kept moving, ducking behind Callin.
Callin managed to turn part of the way around in the tiny gap as claws raked over his rump. He was ready this time, and partway through his turn, he swiveled only his head and unleashed another blast of fire. The fire flooded over the bear and the bear went down, his fur on fire. An unearthly scream echoed from the bear.
Callin turned clumsily again, looking for Riley. He spotted him, but Riley was still in his human form. His dragon didn’t care—he wanted to fry Riley for what he had done—but Callin chose to listen to his head. He turned back into human form himself, although he was primed to revert straight back to his dragon if this turned out to be a trick.
“You’re not man enough to fight me?” Callin demanded, his dragon’s anger still influencing him.
“I am,” Riley said. “But I’m also man enough to honor the deal instead. Michael is out of action and you did say you were willing to pay double for the girl. I’m a man of honor and I won’t charge you double, just what Michael was going to pay. Are you still open to that deal?”
Callin thought about it. His dragon instincts wanted him to take Riley down so that this couldn’t happen to anyone else. But Riley was older than him and therefore likely much more powerful than he was. And Callin knew there was a better than average chance he would get himself killed if he got into a fight with Riley. He could make his peace with that if it saved Brianne, but he knew it wouldn’t. Riley would simply sell her to the second-place bidder in his auction. He could choose instead to be the bigger man. To pay the fee and save Brianne. And he could deal with Riley later when he could return with some back-up.
“I’m open to it,” Callin said.
“It’s a million dollars,” Riley said. He reached into his pocket and Callin instantly tensed up, thinking Riley was about to pull out some sort of a weapon. Instead, Riley pulled out a small sheet of paper which he held out to Callin. “That’s my account details. Transfer the money into that account and
