The man tapped the phone in his pocket. “It’s too late to try that tactic. Dillon already gave himself away. That man is head over heels for you. I’d say congratulations, but Dillon won’t fare much better than Gavin once everyone is brought home.”
She shot to her feet and marched toward the dragon man. “If you think you can sacrifice them to save your own skin, you’re wrong. A man like that is always going to be looking for threats. Good luck lying low, because eventually he’ll empty the room and it will be just you and him and you won’t be able to escape him anymore.”
The man glared at her for a moment too long. She saw the twitch in the corner of his eye and how his clenched jaw loosened as if he might refute her but was at a loss. He looked away and refused to meet her gaze.
Isabella didn’t back down. Not while he stepped around her. Not while he flung the door open and slammed it behind himself. Through the door, she could hear him telling the staff to keep an eye out for her as he wove a story about her damaged memory and how she would need to be redirected back to her room no matter what.
She stuck her tongue out at the closed door but was grateful that he’d left. The man would likely cause trouble for her clan of dragon men, but his absence was her opportunity.
She ran for the window and threw open the curtains. The ground below seemed to shrink. She should have known there wouldn’t be a fire escape outside her window. The dizzying height was too much to dare jumping. Maybe if she had a witch around, then she could do something.
Isabella let out a laugh and spun around, heading for the phone on the side table. She refused to call the dragon men, but her girlfriends could help. When she lifted the phone to her ear, she expected it to be dead, but the dragon man hadn’t thought of everything.
Instead of calling a cell phone, Nellie called the tattoo shop’s landline. That way, the unfamiliar number wouldn’t appear and confuse her friends. Isabella knew they all had a bad habit of ignoring numbers they didn’t know. But, when the phone rang and rang, Isabella began to worry.
She questioned if the shop was even open. Maybe Dillon had alerted the others, making Casey and Evangeline close shop for the day. Of course, Casey would want to protect his mate, too. The unfamiliar dragon man might go after Evangeline next.
Isabella cursed just as someone picked up the phone.
“The Grumpy Sailor Tattoo Parlor,” Nellie droned, clearly exhausted.
Isabella heaved a sigh of relief and immediately launched into an explanation and a breakdown of her plan before the line could get disconnected. She was lucky the dragon man hadn’t thought to tell the hotel staff that she couldn’t be trusted with a phone either.
“I can’t believe these dragons,” Nellie said. “I’ll be over in five minutes to clean up their mess.”
Isabella spent the five minutes fiddling with the window, trying to get the glass panel to move aside so she could push the screen out of the way. Yet, Nellie didn’t show up outside the window. She knocked on the door.
Nellie quickly stepped inside when Isabella opened the door. She passed Isabella an iced chai latte, explaining that she needed to stop at the coffee shop for caffeine and sugar anyway. Isabella was stunned that Nellie had pulled it off in less than five minutes.
“I’ve been holding a cloaking spell for weeks now,” Nellie said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Isabella noticed that a white streak that hadn’t been there a week ago now decorated the front of Nellie’s brown hair. While Isabella thought that perhaps Nellie had stopped dying her grey hair, Isabella also couldn’t remember a time when she’d seen any greys on Nellie to begin with. Besides, had it happened naturally, a streak like that would have appeared slowly, over time.
Nellie’s continual use of magic had drained her. Isabella felt a twinge of guilt for calling on her friend when she was already overtaxed. Still, Nellie took her hand and explained that as long as they were holding each other, no one would notice Isabella as they walked out.
So much for Isabella’s plan to jump out the window. She really had jumped to the most extreme option instead of calling Nellie and simply asking for help. Isabella marveled at the woman she’d become. Had this happened a month ago, Isabella would have fallen into a panic.
She wouldn’t have realized she could call for help. Instead, she would have waited for someone to rescue her, which would have caused more problems.
Each face they passed in the hall made Isabella’s heart thump. No one spared her a glance. Nellie even had to tug Isabella out of the way of a few maids because Isabella was too distracted by the evidence of magic. She knew about it, but she’d never seen Nellie use it for anything other than salves, which were so passive.
They stepped out onto the street together, both sipping iced drinks as if nothing was wrong with the world. Isabella scanned the streets, waiting for the unfamiliar dragon man to leap out and drag her back to her hotel room. They made it back to the tattoo parlor before anything could happen.
“That seemed way too easy,” Isabella said.
Nellie wrinkled her nose. She leaned into the window and peered up and down the street. “You’re right. I feel like something needs to go wrong.”
Isabella didn’t give fate a chance to screw them. She went to the phone and prepared to call Dillon. He needed to know that she was safe now and that he didn’t need to protect her. She’d seen how he could be when he thought she was in danger. That day Erik lashed out and Dillon had nearly pummeled him on the sidewalk was still on her mind.
She cradled the receiver between her ear and shoulder only to listen to the hollow tone of a deadline. Her stomach flipped. She slowly lowered the receiver.
“I love that you all brought yourselves right to me,” the man said.
Isabella and Nellie spun toward the voice and found the dragon man stepping out of the back room. He had a clawed hand on the collar of Evangeline’s shirt. She shot daggers at him with her eyes.
“When I change,” she growled, “I’m kicking your ass first.”
He shook his head. “Don’t let them change you. This shit show is about to go sideways. When Zander kills your mate, you’ll be stuck in the same position as me. Now, how about the three of you sit down and chill while I call your boyfriends and tell them to hand themselves over?”
Nellie started to raise her hand, but Isabella grabbed it and held tight. They shared a look. Isabella knew that Nellie wanted to use her magic, but it was draining her.
The man shook his head at Isabella. “You really should have taken advantage of the room service. We could have put it on Zander’s card.”
He whipped his phone from his pocket and quick dialed a number. When he turned his back on them, Isabella let go of Nellie’s hand.
“Gavin, man! I haven’t heard from you in ages. How’s it going?” The man’s voice was far too jovial for the situation. “Oh, just so you know, I have all your mates. These three are going to sit here with me while you head home to daddy. Okay?”
“Three?” Gavin asked cautiously.
The man glanced over his shoulder. “I’ve got a girl with green hair and daddy issues, a blonde who looks like she might piss herself if I say boo, and a chunky brunette that could lay off the iced coffees.”