“No, it’s not, but there’s nothing I can do for you. I’m sorry,” Josh replied quietly.
“You can do one thing. Just one small thing. Give me your phone. Let me say goodbye to my girlfriend,” Connor urged.
“Man, if I got caught doing that…” Josh said uncertainly.
“Come on, Josh. We used to be friends. No one has to know.”
“All right. You have three minutes. Take it in the bathroom and hurry,” Josh told him, slipping his cell phone from his pocket and putting it into Connor’s hand.
“Thank you!” Connor replied, ducking into the bathroom and shutting the door. He turned on the water to mask the conversation and called Emily. When she answered, he spoke quickly. “Don’t speak. Just listen carefully.”
He could hear her crying on the other end of the line, and it broke his heart. She was frightened and he wasn’t there to comfort her. In fact, it was his actions that had caused this. It was devastating to hear her cry and not even have time to really console her, but she seemed to hear him through the tears and had managed to calm herself by the time his three minutes were nearly up.
“Come on, man, time’s up,” Josh said, knocking on the door. Connor hurriedly finished his conversation with Emily and ended the call, handing the phone back to Josh quickly as he exited the bathroom.
“You have no idea how much I appreciate that, Josh.”
“Appreciate what?” the other guard barked as he approached them.
“Letting me take a crap. It’s the small things that matter, you behemoth,” Connor said sarcastically.
“Get outside. I’m ready to be rid of you and your brother as soon as possible. I have better things to do,” the other guard growled at him.
“Hopefully brushing up on social graces,” Connor replied, causing the guard to take a swing at him. He missed by inches as Connor ducked.
“Hey, don’t do that again,” Josh said, looking angry. “We don’t hit prisoners without reason.”
“Maybe you don’t,” the other guard said, taking another step toward Connor.
“I will report you. You aren’t nearly as smart as you are big, Tom,” Josh told him, walking forward with Connor and placing him in the vehicle by Owen, who gave him a questioning look. Connor smiled at him broadly as the guards climbed into the front of the SUV and headed toward the airport.
Onlookers stared as the men were marched to a ticket counter by a group of angry looking muscle men. Humans would have no clue about how a clan such as dragon shifters operated. They would just assume he and Owen were being manhandled by the local authorities, perhaps released prisoners or in witness protection. Still, they would not be curious enough to interfere. They would keep their distance and let it be.
“We need two tickets for the next flight to New York,” Connor said. Owen cut his eyes toward him, but didn’t ask questions. They had not discussed where they were going, but he was smart enough to know Connor had his reasons for the choice.
“That flight leaves in two hours,” the woman replied.
“That is perfect. Just enough time to get through international check-in and be on our way,” Connor replied, smiling back at the surrounding guards, one of which was having a private conversation with an airport security guard just out of hearing range.
It was no surprise that once they reached the check-in point where the Dragon Guard was no longer allowed to police them, the airport security guard and a partner took over surveillance. Connor could only assume money had changed hands. Getting onto the plane, he saw the same man speaking to a distinguished-looking gentleman in a suit who then boarded the plane. Connor assumed this was probably the air marshal and that Aiden was powerful enough to ensure they were watched until they were far away from Ireland.
“Why New York?” Owen asked once they were finally on the plane and no one around them seemed concerned with their presence other than the assumed air marshal.
“Why not?” Connor replied, not wanting to tip anyone off by saying something in front of the air marshal, who had deliberately sat behind them in order to eavesdrop.
Six hours later, they were landing at JFK in New York City. After passing through customs and getting their luggage, they finally seemed to be free of any onlookers. Connor headed immediately to the nearest ticket counter.
“What are we doing?” Owen asked.
“Just a bit of hide and go seek. I didn’t want the guards reporting back on our final destination,” Connor told him as the woman at the ticket counter asked how she could help them.
“I need three tickets to Los Angeles,” he said.
“Three?” Owen said, puzzled.
“Yes, three,” came a voice from behind them. Owen turned to find a woman in a headscarf that obscured part of her face. She removed it.
“Emily!” Owen said with a big smile, hugging her tightly to him as if she were a long, lost teddy bear he had loved since his childhood.
“Wait a moment, now. I think I have first dibs on this woman,” Connor replied, turning to kiss her softly on the lips.
“Of course, but how did you get her here?”
“That guard, Josh,” Connor replied. “I talked him into letting me call her. I told her to get packed and get on the first flight to New York, but make sure she wasn’t recognized. She was on the same plane.”
“And you just left?” Owen asked. “What does your family think?”
“You guys are my family,” Emily said. “Besides, there wasn’t going to be much peace there for me with Aiden around, I’m afraid. He would have only gotten more persistent.”
Connor looked at her, examining her face. There was something about the way she said the words that made him wonder if there was more behind that comment than he was missing, but he would leave it alone for now. They could talk about it, if warranted, when they were tucked away somewhere safe.
“Well, I guess we’re all off on an adventure, then,” Owen said less than enthusiastically.
They finished getting tickets and headed for Los Angeles. After a few days in a hotel room, they managed to secure a rental cabin near Big Bear Lake in the nearby San Bernardino Mountains. Owen and Connor continued in their pursuit to get fit. Neither of them were comfortable anymore with not being in top form. They might be far from Aiden, but that didn’t mean it would stay that way. He could easily decide to come after them, and they intended to be ready for him if he did.
“I hate that we have his shadow hanging over us all the time,” Emily said.
“I know, but it will get better someday,” Connor said. “I promise.”
“Why do I have the feeling that there is something you aren’t telling me?” she asked.
“I have no idea. The only thing I haven’t told you today is how much I love you.”
“I love you, too, Connor.”
“The real question here is: what is it that you aren’t telling me?” he said.
“What makes you say that?” she asked, but he could tell she was guilty as charged by the way she looked away when she said the words.
“Out with it, Emily. What is going on? Are you uncertain about having come so far away with me?” he said, thinking that might be what was behind it.
“Oh, God no, Connor. I just don’t want you to be upset about it. We’re safe, and I don’t want you doing something foolish because of it.”
“Tell me,” Connor said, sitting her down on the edge of the bed and facing her as he sat down in a chair beside it.
“After you called, I talked to my aunt. I told her what was going on. I tried to get her to come with me because I was afraid that he might do something to her if I left her behind,” she said.
“But she refused,” Connor said, thinking he understood.
“Yes. She said that he wouldn’t bother her, but she wouldn’t say why she felt that way. Only that she assured me Aiden would do her no harm.”
“What do you think that was about?” he asked.
“I wasn’t sure. I
was concerned that she was wrong and in danger, but she wouldn’t hear anything of it. So, I did all I could do. I packed my suitcase and headed toward your place with the set of spare keys you had given to me to get the car and get to the airport,” she said.
“Oh, God. Was Aiden there? He said he was going to come back for our vehicle and bring it to you. He said it as a threat, to let me know I wouldn’t be around to protect you,” he said, dreading what she might say next.
“No. No. He wasn’t there. I got in and took off without a hitch, but as I was driving, my cell rang. It was my aunt. I pulled over and answered it, because I thought maybe she changed her mind. Instead, she was asking where I was, where I was going.”
“You didn’t tell her before?”
“No. I wasn’t sure if she would come, and I thought that if Aiden did pressure her, it was best if she didn’t know where I would be.”
“Sounds like a smart move,” he said, though he couldn’t really see where the story was going.
”So, here she was on the phone and she was asking all these questions. Something seemed off about it, as I had already told her I would be in touch once we were safe and I knew she was okay, too. I don’t know why, but I lied to her. I told her that I wasn’t meeting up with you just yet, that I wasn’t sure where you and Owen were going, but I was going back to Dublin for now.”
“Okay,” Connor replied, still not understanding where it was all leading.
“She told me that was good and that she had to go, but she didn’t hang up the phone very well. I could hear her talking to someone in the background. He asked her if I seemed suspicious and she said ‘no,’ and then she told him where I had told her I was going. He thanked her and told her he would be back over later now that they didn’t have to hide their trysts anymore,” she in disgust.
“Aiden? Aiden was the voice you heard?”
“Yes. She had apparently been carrying on with him and just gave me up to him, called me to get information for him and then gave it to him. I can’t believe she would do that to me,” she said, sounding like she might break down at any moment.
“I can’t either. Are you sure she didn’t leave the phone off the hook on purpose? Perhaps it was her way of protecting you, of making sure you were aware he was after you,” Connor observed.
“Then why not tell him I was headed in a different direction? Why not mislead him so there was no chance of him finding me?” she said.
“Perhaps she was afraid that if he learned the truth, he would harm her, after all. Even if they were in some sort of secret relationship, it wouldn’t be the first time he had killed the woman in his life. I wonder if she knew about that, or if he thought no one did before we revealed it at the Council hearing.”
“I don’t know, but that’s not all. He apparently used some contacts he must have to triangulate my cell phone, because I had the Dragon Guard all over me within minutes, even though I was heading in a different direction from what I gave her. How could she even be involved with such a man?”
“Oh, my God. How did you get away from them?” he asked, more concerned for her than about her aunt’s poor choice in men.
“The only way I knew how. I tossed my cell phone out the car window out on the expressway into an open lorry I saw coming up beside me. Then I got off at the next exit and went through the back roads to the airport. It took forever, and I was afraid I would miss the flight, plus I had no way to get in touch with you. I was terrified,” she said.
“I’m so sorry, Emily. I am so sorry for all of this. You’ve already had such a rough year, and I come along and just make it that much harder for you. That was never my intention.”
“Don’t even say such a thing. You’ve brought me more happiness than one woman should be allowed to experience. You’re the love of my life, and by your side is where I belong, no matter where that is.”
“I hope you mean that, because, right now, I’m not sure where we’ll end up before all this is over,” he said quietly.
“As long as we are together, that is all that will matter,” she told him.
“We will be, my love. You can be quite certain of that.”
CHAPTER 14
As the weeks unfolded, the trio found that life in the mountains of California wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t home, but it was beautiful country, and they were fairly secluded where they were. As relocating went, it was a smooth transition, despite the circumstances under which it had taken place initially.
Their only concern had been that they were not exactly free to explore as they had been in the Mournes, though they had their limitations there as well. Here, though, they were far outnumbered by the human population and had to be careful not to be seen in their shifted forms. The last thing they needed was to find themselves at the center of some sort of science experiment that sounded like something the conspiracy theorists made up to get more hits on social media.
At first, they played it on the safe side. They restricted their flights in dragon form to a very limited area, but gradually, they grew bolder with flights through the darkness closer into Los Angeles. Any sightings of them by local humans were chalked up to some sort of UFO syndrome and dismissed, so they felt safe. Overall, they could have chosen a worse place to settle into.
The days went by fairly quickly as both Connor and Owen worked hard to build up their strength. Even here, thousands of miles and plenty of water between them and Aiden, the threat of him still loomed large in their minds. It was never certain if he would come for them, determined to be rid of them, but they would be ready if he did and, though they didn’t discuss it in front of Emily, Owen was still of the mindset to return and finish what he had intended to do before they had been exiled.
“I don’t understand the point anymore,” Connor would say to him.
“The point is that nothing has changed but our location. Aiden still killed our father. He is still a threat to the people in our clan, and he has taken from us the one thing we had left: our home. Plus, don’t forget that our mother will be returning home at some point, and then she will be in harm’s way.”
“Yes, I suppose you are right. She is still unhappy with us for not telling us what was going on.”
“Having to hear it from someone else in the village first didn’t help,” Owen replied, shaking his head, no doubt at the memory of the tongue lashing they had gotten when they had finally called her.
“Ouch. I think my ears might still be ringing from all the yelling she did,” Connor laughed.
“Mine too,” Owen said with a meek smile.
“At what point do you think men get old enough that their mothers finally stop yelling at them?” Connor joked.
“I don’t know, but with Irish mothers, I’m going to guess never. I’m pretty sure I could be dead in my grave and hear her standing over me, yelling down at me,” Owen chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Emily asked, coming up behind them.
“We were just talking about our Mom’s expression of love for us through increased decibel levels,” Connor quipped as he stood to give her a kiss on the cheek.
“Why? Did she call to yell at you boys again?” Emily asked knowingly, garnering another loud laugh from each of them as they joined her to walk down to the lake where there was a small diner Connor had promised them both dinner at. The rest of the night was filled with a lightheartedness that was rarely found in Owen. Connor had to say that it was a pleasant change of pace.
After a large, but healthy meal of lean steaks and salad, topped off with several glasses of red wine that weren’t necessarily on their training diet, they made their way back up the mountain in the old truck Owen had bought to get around in. Emily was the only one who had not been drinking, and she grumbled loudly as the gears made grinding noises and it backfired, sounding like a cannon echoing through the surrounding landscape.
“Seriously, Owen? Could you have found a bigger heap of crap to drive?” she groaned with a bemused, yet frustrated loo
k in his direction.
“Maybe, if I had just put a bit more effort and a little less money into it,” he shot back.
“Was that a joke? Did you just make a joke?” she replied in a shocked tone.
“I do that sometimes. Speaking of which, did I ever tell you about the caretaker at the cemetery, the one that took care of Beethoven’s grave?” he said, in all seriousness.
“He’s decomposing!” both Emily and Connor said almost simultaneously before everyone burst into a fit of mad laughter.
“I guess I did then,” Owen finally added, still chuckling to himself as he looked out the window, watching the rocks and trees pass by as they made their way upward to the cabin once more.
Connor looked at his brother affectionately. He might be a bit odd, but he truly was a treasure to him. If and when the time came that he needed him, he knew he would be by his side, no matter the personal cost to himself. His own laughter subsided, replaced by a familiar melancholy that flowed over him like a river whenever he pictured his life without Owen or Emily, though he knew one day that might be a choice he had to make in some form.
Back at the cabin, he curled up beside Emily in the bed and breathed in her plumeria scented hair, enjoying whatever time remained with her on this Earth. Whether it was six months or a half dozen decades, his love for her would endure for all eternity. Soon, he found himself once again sleeping peacefully in her arms.
Before they all knew it, they had been there for four months and grown accustomed to their new lives. Emily and Connor had only grown closer during countless walks and flights together. It was a beautiful, starlit night when they flew up to a mountain peak and stood looking out over the breathtaking landscape beyond them. Shifting back into their human forms, they embraced in the moonlight, kissing one another passionately.
“Emily, I am so glad you loved me enough to come here with me,” he told her.
“I wouldn’t have known how to be without you,” she replied.
“I wouldn’t know how to be without you, either. As a matter of fact, I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”
Betrayed by a Dragon: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Exiled Dragons Book 1) Page 11