Grinning inwardly, Drake flew in close, just over the car’s roof. Toombs continued straight on, driving through red lights and blowing stop signs. Halfway furling his wings, Drake dropped to the roof of the car, his weight caving it in. Toombs nearly lost control, swerving from side to side, and Drake used his claws and spread his wings.
Lifting the vehicle for a brief few seconds, he turned it to the right, pointing it toward a row of parked cars. He wasn’t strong enough to carry it but managed to turn its trajectory. Then he dropped it. His wings wide, he sailed upward and past as Toombs drove smack into the parked cars.
The impact drove the front end of the car inward; the engine stalled. Drake circled overhead and planned to stoop on his prey the instant Toombs emerged from his crushed vehicle. However, flashing lights and sirens announced the rapid approach of the police. Shit.
Toombs, trapped in his car, fought desperately to get out. Drake heard him slamming his shoulder against the door, forcing it open with a loud creak. Limping, bleeding, he ran for the cover of the row of shops nearest him. Diving, Drake sent a thin stream of flame at Toombs.
Even injured, Toombs was fast. He ducked down a narrow alley, Drake’s fire only licking him, not engulfing his clothes. Forced up and over the building, Drake heard his shriek of pain before he banked hard right. Rising higher, he dared not let himself been seen by the local authorities.
Flying high and away from the lights and sirens, Drake took a long moment to enjoy the thrill of flying again, to breathe deeply of the night air, to relish the breeze under his wings. Chasing Toombs across the city didn’t really offer him that chance. Taking his time in flying back to Emily’s house, he soared high over the sleeping city, stooping as though onto his prey only to beat his way skyward again.
Satisfied, happy, Drake landed carefully on the roof of Emily’s house. As he expected her to still be sleeping in her room below, he hadn’t bothered to survey the area before landing. Thus, Emily’s choked off scream of terror caught him by surprise.
Drake stared down as Emily stared up, her Glock pointed straight at him.
From there, she could hardly miss.
Chapter Nine
Her finger tightened on the trigger.
The huge black creature on her roof didn’t move but gazed down at her with bright blue eyes. Its wings slowly closed over its back, and she heard the scrape of its claws on her shingles. An enormous head on a long, snake-like neck angled toward her, and its jaws opened. My God, look at its fucking teeth!
A tiny flicker of flame swept from between the long rows of massive and sharp teeth, and she almost pulled the trigger. A dragon, that’s a dragon up there, but dragons don’t exist, oh, God, how can something that doesn’t exist be perched on my roof?
The blue eyes blinked slowly. What was it about those blue eyes? Why did they seem familiar? Emily licked her dry lips, trying to come to terms with a dragon on her roof that seemed to own Drake’s blue eyes. Then, as though her thought summoned him, the creature was gone, and Drake himself stood on her rooftop.
“Don’t shoot, Emily.”
Drake!
In her terror, she almost pulled the trigger. “What the hell is this?” Emily stammered. “You—that thing—what—”
“Put the gun down, and I’ll explain everything.”
“Yeah.” Emily blinked. “Okay. Yes, explain everything.” She lowered the Glock.
“I’m going to jump, Emily,” he said. “Don’t shoot.”
“No.” Putting the safety on, Emily carefully set the gun on the grass.
When he leaped nimbly down to land beside her, she almost screamed and reached for it again. Looking into his face so close to hers, Emily took a ragged breath, then another, and felt as though she was about to faint.
“Where were you?” she began, so confused and scared she couldn’t think straight. “I looked—I couldn’t—What are you?”
Bending, Drake picked the Glock from the grass and handed it to her. “Let’s go into the house.”
“Tell me first.”
Drake stuck his hands in his pockets and gazed down the street. For the first time, she noticed he was shirtless and barefoot, and immediately suspected he had gone after Toombs. “You saw what I am,” he murmured.
“A dragon?”
Drake nodded. “A dragon shifter. All my people are, and it’s forbidden to let humans know we exist.”
As though the memories flashed into her mind at the same time, Emily recalled how he followed her, but there was no car, stolen or not. His incredible set of muscles, how he fought four gang members, his accent, his ability to heal so quickly, his strength in punching a hole through safety glass.
“You’re not human.”
Drake looked back at her; his lips quirked upward. “No. And if I let you take me to a hospital; the doctors would figure that out very fast.”
Emily shivered, glancing around the quiet neighborhood. “Let’s go inside.”
Drake followed her into the house and locked the door behind them, then set the alarm. When Emily woke and couldn’t find him, she had turned on almost all the lights. “I thought Toombs had hurt you,” she explained, setting the Glock on the coffee table. “I need some wine. You?”
“Yes.”
Her hands shaking, Emily poured into two glasses, set them down, and turned off some of the lights. Sitting in a chair, the wine glass clattered against her teeth as she drank.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Drake said softly. “I would never hurt you.”
“No,” she replied, unable to stop trembling. “If you wanted to, you could have done so at any time. Right?”
“Right. My people stay to ourselves,” he went on, looking down at his wine. “We don’t harm humans except when we have to. To defend ourselves or others.”
“Like Toombs?”
Drake suddenly smiled. “I almost had him tonight. I made him crash his car, but the police were coming, and I missed setting him on fire.”
“You really breathe fire?”
“Yeah. It’s what dragons do. Well, that and fly. I love flying.”
“My God.”
Drinking more wine, Emily felt her shakes quiet a little, feeling some normalcy return as they talked. I trusted him before; why shouldn’t I trust him now? “Is that why you say that if you killed him, there’d be no trace of him left?”
“Exactly. Dragon fire can melt the strongest steel.” He smiled. “Human teeth don’t stand a chance.”
“Now that’s a scary thought.” Emily watched him as she drank, seeing the same Drake she had come to trust, the warmth and kind nature in his eyes. “I suppose if dragons wanted to take over the world, you could do it easily.”
Drake shook his head. “There aren’t enough of us, even if we wanted to. And human weapons, they’d wipe us out in no time at all. We are also people of peace; we aren’t aggressive, don’t want to claim territory, have no wish to harm humans.”
“Not even to have cable TV?”
Emily smiled at her own mild joke and received a small one in return. “From what I understand about how that works,” he answered, “you couldn’t get service that far north.”
“So why did you leave your people?”
Leaning back against the sofa, Drake dragged his hand through his hair. “I was exiled along with four others. My friends. We were ordered to live in the south among humans.”
He chuckled. “I wonder what they’re doing right now. Probably have jobs and apartments already, adapting to human ways faster than I am.”
“Why were you exiled?”
“We broke the laws,” Drake replied, then took a drink from his glass. “We enjoyed flying too much, risked humans seeing us, then realizing dragons do indeed exist.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Our dumb fault. We agreed to meet again in one year to see how we are all faring. I bet they kept the secret better than I did.”
“I heard noises,” Emily explai
ned, “and came out to tell you. I couldn’t find you, and I almost called the cops. I was frantic with worry that Toombs had somehow hurt you, and, well, you know what I saw.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry I pointed my gun at you.”
“It’s all right. If I found a dragon on my roof, I’d have shot it.”
“I’m glad I didn’t. But now that Toombs knows I’m guarded by a dragon, maybe he will run to Mexico.”
“Let’s hope so,” Drake said slowly. “It depends on how deep his obsession runs. And whether or not his brains can overcome his lack of normal fear.”
“Shit,” Emily complained. “He can’t really be that stupid to keep coming around here. Not if he knows what you are and capable of.”
“The knowledge may also drive him to risk it all,” Drake commented. “To defeat me, and harm you, might be his ultimate end game.”
“Fuck a duck,” Emily snapped, swiping her hair back from her shoulders. “I see what you’re saying, and I’m scared shitless you are right.”
“A normal human would think first of his skin and of keeping it whole,” Drake went on. “You know better than me the way Toombs thinks. He will see me as a challenge, won’t he?”
“I’m sure he will. And it will not just make him more careful; it’ll make him sneakier. He’ll strike from hiding, won’t let us see him.”
“I’m a predator, Emily,” Drake said softly, his eyes gleaming strangely. “I’m a hunter with senses and instincts he can’t compete with. He can try to be sneaky, but when it comes to staying hidden, he’s got nothing on me.”
With the revelation that Drake was a dragon, neither Emily nor he got any sleep for the rest of the night. Once she lost her fear of the strangeness that Drake could change himself into a dragon at will, she grew too curious for sleep. They talked and drank wine until well past dawn, and she never felt the lack of sleep.
“I will this afternoon,” she commented as she headed for the shower after the sun arrived. “But I have to get this project finished.”
“Take a nap if you have to,” Drake suggested, turning on the TV and lying on the sofa to await his turn at the shower.
No sooner had Emily sat in front of the computer, Clem arrived. She heard Drake’s voice inviting him in and hoped that his coming meant news that Toombs had been arrested. Leaving her office, she saw Clem in her living room and that he was most definitely not happy.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately fearing the worst.
“It seems our buddy Toombs crashed his car early this morning,” Clem replied. “In a very weird accident.”
Emily forced herself to not look at Drake. He can’t possibly know anything about Drake, or what he really is. “Did you catch him?”
“I wish. He was seen driving erratically and at a high rate of speed with officers in pursuit. Then he wrecked.”
“So why is that weird?” Emily did glance at Drake and observed his curious expression, no doubt totally faked. “High-speed chases can end in wrecks; I see it on TV all the time.”
“Yeah, except our officers weren’t even close,” Clem replied. “They were blocks away. Toombs’ car looked like an accordion, and its roof was caved in.”
“I still don’t see the issue,” Emily said, impatient. “I guess if you didn’t catch him, he ran from the scene. I can only hope he was hurt and might crawl away and die.”
“The officers did find blood in the car,” Clem agreed. “Not enough to think he’d bleed to death. Emily, I simply find the whole thing odd. Did he happen to sit outside your house last night?”
“I was asleep.” Emily glanced at Drake. “Did you get up and look?”
Drake shrugged, entirely convincingly. “Yeah. But he wasn’t out there.”
Clem shook his head. “His change in behavior bugs the shit out of me. Why would he tear through the city like his ass was on fire and crash?”
“Maybe his ass was on fire,” Drake replied, his tone bland.
Emily almost laughed and dared not.
“We can only hope.” Clem glanced at her as though suspecting she fought against her humor. “I have hospitals and emergency care clinics on alert watching for him, as well as every cop on the lookout for him. He hasn’t called and made any threats?”
“Not since he left the neighbor’s dog on my stoop.”
“I know it’s too much to hope that he’s given up,” Clem stated. “Just be careful and call in if you see him.”
“We will,” Emily said but knew Drake had other plans if Toombs dared to show his face. She walked Clem to the door. “Thanks for coming by and telling us about what happened. But you could have called.”
“I was in the area anyway,” Clem replied. “And I wanted to check on you.”
“We’re fine. I’m even back to writing again.”
“Good for you. Keep your life as normal as possible. Drake, thanks for looking after her.”
“That’s a pleasure, not a chore.”
After he had left, Emily stood in the center of the living room, watching Drake lock the door and set the alarm. “You’re planning on killing Toombs.”
“Yes.”
She knew she should be the law-abiding citizen, insist Toombs should be arrested and jailed, not killed in cold blood, but she could not find it within her to argue with him. She herself wanted to kill him, to see him dead at her feet and know that he would never harm another person ever again. “I can’t stop you,” she said slowly. “I won’t stop you. But have you thought that he might kill you first?”
“No.”
“He might.”
“He will not. Toombs can be fearless, he can be clever, but he can’t kill me.”
“I wish I could believe that.”
Drake cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. “Believe it. I’m a dragon.”
Chapter Ten
“I can’t believe my life is returning to normal,” Emily commented with a broad, happy grin.
Two days and nights passed with no sign of Jonas Toombs. He didn’t call, nor did he sit outside the house, watching. Clem called both days and reported Toombs still had not been arrested, and that he was trying to track down a current address.
“The guy has to live somewhere,” Clem complained to Emily. “If he doesn’t have a job, where is he getting his money?”
Drake strongly suspected that, between the wreck and Drake’s flames, Toombs was hiding somewhere while he healed from his injuries. Drake remembered the limp, the screech of pain when Drake’s flames licked his ass and back. “He’s hurt,” he reminded Emily. “He’s not going to come up against me unless he’s strong.”
“He doesn’t need to be pain-free to use a rifle,” Emily said stiffly. “And you certainly are not bulletproof.”
“True enough,” Drake replied. “I am still hard to kill.”
“Not that hard.”
The third day without Toombs drew to a close, but Drake refused to drop his guard even if Emily had begun to think that the stalker decided facing a dragon wasn’t worth it.
“He’s gone, amigo,” Emily told him late that afternoon. “We need to go out and celebrate.”
“When he’s been gone three months rather than three days, then I’ll believe it.”
“Come on,” Emily pleaded. “I’m sick of being in this house. I want to go out.”
As Drake himself felt the distinct need to do something besides watch television and inspect the house and the grounds, he agreed. “Just dinner, then we come back.”
Emily threw her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. “Yay.”
Then, apparently realizing what she had just done, her smile faltered, and she started to pull from him. “Uh, I guess—”
His hands on her waist, Drake pulled her to him and lowered his face to hers. He kissed her slowly, drawing it out, feeling the sensations pour into him. He felt her surprise, then her willing participation. Emily opened her mouth under his tongue, her breasts hard
against his chest.
Feeling the stirrings of passion in his lower belly, his shaft throbbed with a pleasurable ache. Her tongue tangled with his, explored his mouth, her body under his hands quivering with what he hoped was her own rising need. Emily pulled slowly away; her pupils enlarged as she gazed into his eyes.
“Wow,” she murmured. “You know how to play tonsil hockey.”
While he didn’t quite know what she meant, Drake could guess. His hands on her cheeks, he kissed her again, but a sweet, tender, and brief kiss that held all the emotions he’d held back from her. The words, I’m falling in love with you rose to his mouth, but he dared not say them. If Emily didn’t feel the same—
“We should get to the restaurant,” Emily murmured, her hands sliding down his chest. “Before the crowds get there and pack the place.”
“Sure.”
I’m a dragon; she’s a human. How can she fall in love with me? I need to solve this Toombs problem, repay my debt, and get out of her life.
Emily’s habit of watching the cars behind her hadn’t changed, and even Drake kept an eye on their rear. “I don’t see anything back there,” he commented.
“Neither do I,” Emily replied. “But Toombs is a chameleon. He can blend in very well.”
“What’s a chameleon?”
“A lizard that can change its color according to its environment.”
“Then I suppose I should watch for a big lizard that looks like a brick wall.”
Emily laughed. “Something like that.”
The steak house Emily drove them to had not yet filled up, and the hostess took them to a table right away. Sitting in a booth opposite her, Drake glanced around the restaurant, expecting Toombs to be sitting at a table watching them. He didn’t see Toombs observing them, but the heads of several women turned in their direction.
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