Blackwing Dragon (Harper's Mountains 5) by T. S. Joyce Page A

Kane didn’t flinch away from her heat like she’d expected. Instead, pulled her up out of the booth like her weight was no bother at all. Gracefully, he brushed his hand against her hip and moved her to his other side, placing himself between her and the drunk assholes as they passed.
    Rowan saw it coming. She saw the man’s foot slide out into the aisle right as Kane stepped down on his bad leg.
    “No!” she said, reaching for Kane as he lost his balance. But he didn’t need her help. He caught himself on the back of the man’s seat and immediately pulled himself toward the jerk. Kane wrapped one hand wrapped around the punk’s neck, and he lifted the other in a closed fist into the air, ready to hit him.
    When Kane bent his knee and rested his bad leg on the bench to pummel the guy, something metal and shiny gleamed from the hem of Kane’s jeans where his ankle should’ve been.
    Kane was an amputee.
    He was also now beating the ever-lovin’ shit out of the buttface who had tripped him. She was tempted to let him go, but she heard the distinct crack of a broken nose, and Kane wasn’t slowing down, even with the guy’s friends hitting and pulling at him. Shit.
    “Kane!” She pulled his arm, but the damn thing was made of steel. He shrugged her off like her grip was made of paper. What the hell? She’d never had a problem overpowering anyone before. “Kane, stop!” She encircled his waist, ignoring the men glancing blows off her, trying to drag her off, yelling at the tops of their lungs. It was chaos, but she had to get Kane out of here. She had to save the drunken idiot from Kane’s wrath. She had to save Kane from himself.
    “Kane, you’ll kill him!” Rowan gritted her teeth and jerked on his waist as hard as she could.
    Kane stumbled backward, and Rowan shoved herself between him and the others. Kane’s sunglasses lay shattered on the table, his face twisted into a snarl as though he was some wild animal. His hair hung in front of his face, and his lip was bleeding profusely, made worse by his grimace when he jerked his gaze away from the men at the table. Away from her.
    He muttered, “I’m sorry.”
    For what? She wanted to pummel the shit out of them, too. Kane shook off her hold and strode from the diner with no limp at all.
    “That guy is one of those shifters.” Asshole then pointed at her. “So is she. Look at her eyes.”
    Crap. Rowan scanned the room quickly, panting under the stares of the others. Marny touched her shoulder, and Rowan jumped. “Best be on your way. The police will be here soon.”
    “They should be arrested!” the guy yelled. Both of his eyes were swelling shut.
    “You started it, Brenton!” Marny yelled. “You’ve been starting shit in my diner for two straight months now. About damn time you got your ass beat.” Marny gripped Rowan’s elbow and led her to the door. “Go on now before you have a mob after you.”
    “Th-thanks, Marny.”
    “Sure thing, hon.”
    But when Rowan looked into her eyes, Marny wasn’t smiling anymore. She looked scared. Rowan’s dragon eyes did that to people. About now they would be glowing and churning gold like the sun, and her pupils would be elongated.
    The walk back over to the motel parking lot seemed to take an hour. She could hear police sirens in the distance. They didn’t make her hurry. She had time—time which she needed to think. Kane had an artificial leg, and it was something he was obviously really uncomfortable with. Why else had he evaded the hell out of her questions about it earlier? But that wasn’t the only thing that had her concerned.
    That man in there was right. Kane couldn’t be human. She’d felt his strength with her own hands. His power had rivaled hers, but he didn’t feel like a shifter. She had sensed nothing supernatural about him. He didn’t have a smell or waves of dominance like a bear would have. And he had to be a grizzly shifter—nothing else made sense. He’d shaken her off like