by Amelia Jade
She pulled her shoulder from his grip. “That’s not it. You don’t understand, Stoen. I was waiting at the desk when the detective came in. It was him. He was one of the guys in the pictures! Driving the cars!”
“He’s one of them,” Stoen said icily. “That’s what’s wrong. He’s a dirty cop.”
“I think so,” she said, bobbing her head up and down in tiny motions. “I just sort of ran from the station as soon as I realized. Like an idiot though, I dropped the pictures. That’s why I’m on the run. I’ve moved three times now, living under assumed names every time. Thankfully I know how to fake identification and stuff. Seen enough of it in my days as a PI. Otherwise they’d have me by now.”
“Because they know that you know now.” He growled, the sound loud enough to startle her.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “It’s just that I’m pissed that you’ve been on the run from these assholes for this long. That you’ve had to live in fear of corrupt law enforcement officers coming to get you.” He clenched a fist in front of him tightly enough knuckles popped. “Not anymore.”
“Stoen, what do we do?”
Chapter Five
Stoen
“The first thing we need to do is get you to safety. That means out of the park, for starters. Do you have anything critical you need to get from home?”
“No, I have my cell phone—it’s a burner, don’t worry—and I packed a few spare clothes in my purse, along with wallet, passport, etcetera. I can go wherever.”
“Good job,” he said proudly, impressed with her skills. He’d never seen this side of her before. It wasn’t something she’d shown him during their aborted courtship.
Just something else I probably should have found out about her first.
He smacked his hand to his forehead. “I’m so dumb. The concert. That’s why you were so uncomfortable going. Public, live broadcast, people with phones. You could have been seen.”
Rose nodded. “Yes. I was afraid that they might see me, especially when you, umm…”
“Made a scene,” he finished, not enjoying the reminder of how humiliated he’d felt that night.
“Sure.”
“Well, if that was how they spotted you, now I can make up for it,” he promised.
“Does that mean you have a plan?” she asked hopefully.
Thinking furiously, he nodded as the beginnings of one dropped into place. “I do,” he said slowly.
“But.”
“But what?”
Rose spread her hands, palm upward. “I recognize that tone of voice. You have a plan, but there’s a catch.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “There is. You, um, might not like it.”
“Well, what is it?” she pressed. “It’s not like I have a lot of choices right now.”
“Come with me.”
She sighed, sounding frustrated. “I thought that was already part of the plan?”
“No, I mean come with me. Overseas. To where I was, uh, stationed, I guess. It’s safe there. More of my kind. Ones I trust.”
“More crazy people who think they can just go poof and become dragons? Right, that’s just what I need, an entire colony of you people.”
“Colony? Colony?! We are not ants,” he said forcefully.
“No, you’re a madhouse.”
“Well then I could leave you here,” he suggested.
“Stoen…”
“You called me. I came. I have a plan. Do you have a better one?”
She looked away sharply, blonde hair flicking around violently and nearly hitting him in the chin. He caught a whiff of her shampoo, enjoying the fruity scent, though it was too brief to place exactly.
Hopefully Rose would agree to come along. The last thing Stoen wanted was to leave his mate, but he was torn because at any moment now Fort Banner could be under attack, and he didn’t wish to leave his friends. Both Kase and Hel were there now, along with his other friends, like Cowl, Garath, and Palin, a trio he’d become close with during his stay.
The last Outsider, a hideous creature not from this planet was still out there, and at some point it would be making its way back to the portal it came from. Stoen wanted to do his part to help out, to ensure it was stopped. Bringing Rose back with him could put her into harm’s way, but there was danger in staying as well, potentially more so he judged, looking around the park cautiously.
Rose sighed heavily. “You can really get me out of the country?”
“What?” He craned his neck around to look around some more. “Yes, of course. That’s the easy part.” He returned his attention to her.
“It is? What’s the hard part?”
“Getting to the airport,” he said calmly.
Rose fixed him with a stern look. “Why is that?” she asked warily.
“Because.” His eyes scanned the path between them and his car, noting the playground and pavilion positions. “We’re surrounded.”
Reaching out he gently but firmly grabbed Rose’s jaw as she tried to look around. “Don’t,” he said. “If they see panic, they’ll act.”
“What do you want me to do?” She didn’t fight him as he used his fingers to tilt her head upward.
“Make things uncomfortable for the watchers.”
“How, precisely, do you want me to do that?”
Stoen said his next words with ultimate nonchalance. “Kiss me.”
Eyelids lowered and then opened with exaggerated slowness. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
“I said kiss me,” he repeated. “That way they’ll kno—think—they’ll think that you’re my mate, and they’ll be far more reluctant to attack, knowing how fiercely I’ll defend you. They don’t have enough to stop me yet, but they might try if they just thought I was here as a friend, not as…more.”
“I thought you were here just as a friend,” Rose said, clearly irritated.
“It doesn’t matter what you think,” he hissed. “It’s about what they think and see. So kiss me.”
“No.”
He rolled his eyes. “What?”
“If this truly is what you think, as crazy as it seems, you need to kiss me. Besides, you’re too high up for me to kiss you. Even on tiptoes, you need to come down to my—oop!”
Her words trailed off as Stoen covered her mouth with his own. Six long months had passed since he’d last kissed his mate, but the fiery taste of her still remained. Like a burst of cinnamon his mouth burned for her, a craving that he’d not been able to satisfy. It started off hot, then spread like icy cool across his mouth and into his core, like the loving embrace of the quicksilver that flowed through his veins.
The longing to let it go on was strong, but Stoen fought it, eventually pushing back and pulling himself away. They were in public. He needed to maintain appearances and remain aware of his surroundings. Danger lurked everywhere until they could get to his car, and he had to protect his mate whether she believed or not.
“Now what?” Rose asked, trying hard to cover her sudden rapid breathing.
“Hold my hand, lean into me, and act all lovey-dovey,” he said. “Roll with it.”
Rose giggled happily and snatched up his hand, wrapping both arms around it as she slammed into his side like a cat eager to see its master again. It was perhaps a bit over-the-top, but if it worked, who cared.
“My car is the black SUV parked on the side of the street to your two-o’clock,” he said, leaning over to kiss the top of her head.
“Nice ride.”
He slipped his arm free of her hand and put it around her shoulder, guiding her toward the pavilion.
“If it’s over there,” she said, leaning in the direction with her head, pressing it into his side. “At what was my two o’clock, why are we then heading toward what was my ten o’clock?”
“Because if we make a break for it now, they’ll catch us, and I don’t want to risk that they aren’t all wolf shifters.”
“What else could they be?”
“If we’re unlucky? Bears…”
“Bear shifters. Right. What about if we’re lucky?”
“There’s at least five of them that I’ve seen,” he muttered, giving her hip a light, playful bump. “I don’t think we’re lucky.”
“And if we’re really unlucky?”
Stoen snorted, his smile genuine this time. “If we’re really unlucky, they’ll be dragons as well, in which case we are royally fucked. But I don’t think they are.”
“Why not?”
“Because dragons aren’t cowards, and if they had one he’d have shown his face and approached us already with an overabundance of confidence.”
“That does sound like you.”
Coughing, Stoen tried to maintain his composure. “Ouch.”
“Seriously? You proposed after three dates, mister. Technically the third date wasn’t even over, by the way. How does that not reek of ‘overabundance of confidence’ as you put it?”
Stoen had no counterargument ready for that. She was right; that’s exactly what it was. Thankfully by that point they’d reached the pavilion. He pointed at the women’s washrooms on the left-hand side of it.
“I’m pretending to ask if you need to use them. Nod.”
She did.
“What we’re actually going to do is duck around the back of it. Once there I’m going to pick you up, and I’m going to run for the SUV. Please try not to scream, shout, or anything else at the speed, okay? Every second matters.” He gave her the keys.
“You want me to drive?”
“Of course not,” he laughed as they neared the door. “But you need to unlock it when we’re close. Again, every second counts.”
“Right. Well I—” At that point they rounded the corner and Stoen moved.
Rose was in his arms, pinned to his chest before she could speak another word. Her hair flew around from the sudden movement and momentarily blinded him.
“Argh,” he growled, regretting it immediately as hair made its way into his mouth.
Spitting it out, he shook his head and lifted it higher, clearing his vision.
“Holy shit this is fast,” Rose said. She spoke quietly, but her voice was anything but calm.
The far end of the pavilion blurred past and they shot back out into the park, headed for the SUV.
“Uh, shrubs,” Rose observed. “Shrubs, Stoen. Shrubs!”
This time she yelped as he jumped them in an easy bound, the top of the bushes ripping at his pants. He didn’t want to go higher. A higher jump meant a bigger curve to it, which meant more time until his feet were back on the ground.
Their pursuers had noticed by now and were closing rapidly, but they would make it.
Probably.
“Unlock it anytime,” he shouted. “You’re getting in the back seat driver’s side for now; it’s faster.”
Rose just nodded. The lights on the SUV flashed as she hit the key multiple times. He saw her head crane around to look behind them.
“God they’re coming so fast,” she muttered.
“It’s like climbing,” he said. “You don’t look down.”
“Okay.” She tucked her head back into his shoulder, but they were there. He skidded to a halt, setting her down and snatching the keys from her in one move.
“Get in!” he hollered, pulling the door open and slamming his foot onto the gas, starting it up.
“Go go go!” she shouted from the back seat.
“Way ahead of you.” He dropped it into drive, gunning the engine.
The big V-8—not typical in Europe, but he preferred his power to be available when he needed it—roared throatily and the SUV shot forward.
Metal screeched as they took the fastest way out of the spot, which involved brushing against the car in front of them.
“Oh shit! GO FASTER!” Rose screamed as one of them leapt for the car.
Pedal hit floor and the SUV accelerated. Something loud shrieked, there were a bunch of clunks that shook the vehicle, and then they were free. Looking in the rearview mirror he saw one of the shifters standing in the middle of the road, most of the SUV’s rear bumper in his hands.
“That was fucking close,” Rose gasped from the back seat.
“A little too close,” he agreed.
Suddenly her head was next to his shoulder. “What the—”
“You don’t think I’m going to sit in the back the entire time do you? This isn’t some cab,” she explained, wiggling her way through the seats, hitting him in the shoulder and head multiple times.
Stoen barely got his head out of the way as her feet finally came through the opening as well, smacking off the dash.
“Careful!” he urged.
Rose glared. “Dude, the entire rear bumper is gone, and you’re worried about a few footprints? Relax.”
For the second time in the span of ten minutes he had no response.
Chapter Six
Rose
“Faster!” she shouted as they whipped around the corner of a hangar.
“We’ll be all right. The plane is already warming up.”
“I’m not sure you realize how close they are,” she said, craning her neck. “Remember, objects in mirror are closer than they appear!”
Behind them three cars came around the same corner, clouds of rubber burning across the asphalt as they drifted through the turn and accelerated out of it.
“Get ready to get out,” Stoen warned.
She looked ahead to see that they were nearing the plane. “Uh, Stoen, why is it moving? And wait…what are you doing?”
He zipped past the plane onto the tarmac and brought the SUV to an abrupt halt that threw her against the seatbelt. “Everybody out, you have arrived at your destination, thank you for using Stoen-lines limousines. Now move it!”
By that point Rose was already out and running toward the approaching plane. It made sense now why the plane was moving as it came toward them, already picking up speed, the stairs still down. Pausing at the bottom to grab her balance, she yelped as Stoen snatched her up and half-carried, half-threw her into the plane.
“GO!” he shouted, hauling the stairs up behind them and pulling it shut.
“They’re going to catch us,” a voice said from inside the cockpit.
She looked at Stoen, fearful.
“Go take a seat. I’ll handle this,” he said calmly, reaching up for the hatch.
“Don’t you dare leave me!” she shouted.
“Take a seat!” he bellowed, his eyes—normally a light gray to begin with—now a bright silver.
Rose jumped toward the seats, choosing one on the far side. She didn’t want to watch. Whatever Stoen was going to do, she didn’t want to see. He’d never spoken to her like that before. Nor had she ever seen such fear for her in his eyes as when the trio of pursuit cars had finally made their presence known halfway to the airport.
Whatever he was about to do, it was to protect her, and that’s what she feared the most. Rose didn’t want him to do something stupid, like sacrifice himself, just for her. There would be another way, had to be another way.
He undid the hatch, one arm bulging as he held it mostly closed, and stuck the other out. Rose frowned. She swore she’d seen flashes of silver on his arm. Outside there was a loud squeal, audible even over the jet engines, then the entire plane jumped.
Unable to completely contain her screams she did clamp down on them quickly. What the hell was happening? The jet was small, a private one for business executives and the like. It couldn’t take much punishment she was sure.
“Shut the door!” the pilot howled as the engines came fully to life and the plane shot down the runway.
Stoen grabbed with both hands and hauled back on it, his mighty muscles straining against the drag as they rumbled down the runway, quickly reaching takeoff velocity. The change in angle seemed to help and the door closed. Stoen spu
n the handle to lock it properly, and then fell back, breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” she asked, dashing to his side.
Pushing away her hands, he tapped her shoulder and pointed upward.
“What is it?” she asked, looking behind her, trying to figure out what he was trying to say.
“When the seatbelt sign is on,” he gasped, “you need to stay in your seat. No moving about the cabin.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Welcome to Stoen Airlines,” he said with a smile.
“Unbelievable.” But she got up anyway and reclaimed her seat. There was nobody else in the plane besides them and whoever was in the cockpit. It could seat maybe twenty if all the seats were crammed. Very lavishly outfitted, it was far nicer than any air travel she’d experienced before.
For the first time in a long time as she sat down, Rose realized she felt safe. Not just out of sight and behind a locked door, but truly, honestly, completely secure. Like there was nothing that could threaten her.
Stoen flopped down in the chair next to her.
Rose slowly and animatedly made a show of looking around the rest of the cabin, her gaze lingering on every other seat, all of which were empty.
There was no reaction from Stoen. If he did notice then, he just didn’t care. Maybe she owed him this much for getting her to safety.
He is a good kisser.
Her body remembered the sensation of his mouth, the playful swish of his tongue along hers, and it reacted accordingly. Down, girls. Down. Not here. Steeling herself, she pushed the inappropriate thoughts away. Hot as he may be, Rose was not going to let herself go down that path. She knew where it led with him. Proposals and claims of being able to magically shapeshift. Riiiighhttt.
Oddly enough, the sense of security didn’t diminish with Stoen sitting next to her. They weren’t speaking, both of them just relaxing into the seat as the pilot flew the plane, and, unless she missed her guess, apologized profusely to ground control for taking off so abruptly like that.
Stoen really had gone out of his way to see to her safety, breaking all sorts of rules in the process she was sure.