by Rinelle Grey
This time, his shrug was uncomfortable. “I followed her. Biggest mistake of my life. Another dragon was hunting them down, and they had a huge fight out near the old ruined house on Peterson Road.” He gave a shudder.
This time, unwillingly, Brad felt a tiny bit sorry for him. He’d had one of those dragons flying straight at him and he hadn’t acquitted himself well. Watching two fight would be, quite frankly, terrifying. “What did you do?” he asked.
“When they landed on the bonnet of the car, right in front of me, I got out of there,” the man admitted. “I’m not stupid. By the time I came back with the police, they were both gone. We managed to chase Lisa for a while, but… well, you know how that ended.”
The incident when he’d first arrived. Brad frowned in confusion for a moment, trying to figure out how the phone in his car had anything to do with this story. Then it hit him. “You were using that phone to follow her, weren’t you?”
The man grinned. “Pretty clever huh?”
Brad could think of a lot of other words he’d use to describe it, but he couldn’t be bothered. He was too busy being upset that this was a dead end. Lisa’s brother had no idea where she’d gone. He was no help at all.
“Does Lisa know anyone else in town? Is there anyone she might go to for help?” he asked.
The man shrugged. “I dunno. She hasn’t lived her for ages. She moved to the big city a few years back, and now she’s too big to talk to us…”
He kept talking, ranting about his sister, but Brad wasn’t listening anymore.
He could hear something in the distance. A sound that made his blood run cold.
A police siren.
He stared at the man in disbelief. How had he done it? Brad had been here the whole time, and he hadn’t called the police.
The man’s voice trailed off as he, too, heard the sirens. He gave Brad a sly grin. “You don’t think I’m the only one in the house, do you?”
A woman stepped out behind the man, her smile as sly as his. “You think you can just threaten anyone you like and not pay the consequences, do you? Well, the police will have something to say about that.” She glanced towards the car. Towards Lyrian. “And I bet they’ll be very interested in your girlfriend there.”
Brad’s heart pounded. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. Exactly why he shouldn’t have threatened the man. If he hadn’t thought he’d be clever, they would have been long gone.
No time for regrets, he needed to get Lyrian out of here. Now.
He ignored the betraying couple and turned back to the car.
But the man grabbed his arm. “Oh no, buddy, you’re not going anywhere.”
Brad tried to shake him off, but his grip was surprisingly strong. He glanced towards Lyrian.
“There’s not going to be time for her to save you,” the man said triumphantly. “I know dragons are tough, but I’m sure a bullet can kill them, just like any other animal. If she attacks the police, do you think they’re going to hesitate.”
Adrenaline flooded through Brad, painfully this time, his words sending a chill down his spine. He couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Lyrian or Anarian.
He turned to the man, and snarled, “You’re a coward.” Then he punched him in the face.
The man was so startled, he dropped his hold on Brad’s arm, flying up to cradle his face. “Ow. My nose.” His hands came away bloodied. He stared at Brad in disbelief.
Brad tried to ignore the intense feeling of satisfaction. He didn’t have time to gloat.
He headed back to the car, ignoring the woman’s shouted threats.
By this time, Lyrian had worked out that something was wrong. She stared at Brad, as he broke into a run. “Get in the car,” he called out.
Lyrian fumbled at the door as Brad yanked his open and jumped into the front seat, his mind frantically trying to figure out where he was going to go.
This was a small town, there were only so many places to hide. And somewhere in it was that dragon too. He needed to get back to the cave. They’d be safe there. No one would find them.
But first he had to lose the police.
The siren was closer now, the sound echoing through Brad’s head like a wail. He started the car as Lyrian fumbled with her seatbelt. “What happened?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“Bastard called the cops,” Brad snarled. “Or rather, his girlfriend did, while he argued with me.” He spun the car around and floored it, hoping against hope that he was going away from the siren. It was so hard to tell, the sound seemed to be coming from every direction.
“He didn’t even know anything. This whole thing was a waste of time.”
Lyrian was silent, and Brad slammed his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.
He’d failed her. That had to be what she was thinking. He’d found a clue where her brother had gone, but it had been a dead end. He’d gotten her hopes up for nothing.
Lyrian put a hand over his. “That’s not your fault.”
Brad’s guilt argued with him, but she had a point. He heaved a sigh. “No, but it doesn’t get us anywhere, and now the police are after us.”
That made Lyrian’s face pale. “What are we going to do?”
Brad shook his head. “I have no idea. If we can lose them, we can go back to the cave. But doing that in a small town like this isn’t going to be easy.”
He should have a strategy, a plan for how he was going to lose them. But his mind was blank.
It wasn’t like he’d ever had to figure out how to lose the police before.
Chapter 19
Lyrian’s heart pounded as she twisted around to glance over the back of her seat at Anarian, but the carseat faced backwards, and she couldn’t see the baby. She wasn’t crying, so she was probably still asleep.
She wasn’t sure how, since the car careened all over the place as Brad swung around corners, trying to evade the police car following them.
The siren was loud in her ears and the red and blue flashing lights illuminated the back seat with their colour.
Lyrian’s heart hammered in her chest. How were they going to get away?
Brad was swearing, and it was clear he had no idea. “I shouldn’t have run. Maybe we could have talked to them…” His voice trailed off, and he glanced over at Lyrian.
She knew what he was thinking. “It wasn’t worth the risk,” she told him. “If they figured out I’m not human…” She gave a shudder, not even wanting to think about that.
She had no idea what would happen if the humans did figure it out, but since Rian clan had fled England to escape the humans there, she didn’t want to stay around and find out.
Brad’s frown tightened as he swung around yet another corner.
The police car followed close on their tail.
There was no way they were going to be able to get away from the other car. It was faster than they were. And knew the area better.
They needed to do something else.
Lyrian knew what she had to do, but still she hesitated.
It had been different when she’d been trying to stop the Trima dragon. She hadn’t been giving away anything the other dragon didn’t know. But once she threw magic at a human, well, it would be hard to turn back.
But it would be even harder to turn back if the police pulled them over. Then she would need to use far more obvious magic.
She needed to do it now. Before they were caught. While there was still time.
She twisted around in her seat, but she couldn’t turn far enough because of the human seatbelt, so she reached down and undid it.
“What are you doing? You need to leave that on.” Brad’s voice held a note of panic.
Lyrian ignored him. Now she could see the police car clearly.
It was close. Too close.
She took a deep breath, and summoned up a wind, directing it closely, buffeting the police car.
They were close enough that she could see the expression of panic
on the faces of the two occupants of the car.
The man driving looked surprised, his eyes wide and he weaved across the road.
The woman next to him worried Lyrian more. She didn’t look surprised. Her eyes were narrow and her face suspicious.
Lyrian hit them with another gust, stronger this time. Her experience with the Trima dragon following them at least meant she had an idea of the amount of force needed.
The car swerved wildly into the other lane.
Brad had stopped objecting now. He was glancing in the rear view mirror. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if they realise you’re a dragon?”
“We don’t have much choice. If they catch us, that’s going to be the least of our problems,” Lyrian said, her voice tight.
This time she focused her wind even more, focusing her magic on the front of the car.
It swerved, driving into a ditch on the side of the road and stopping, its blue and red lights still flashing, their colour a little forlorn now.
Brad didn’t pause. He swung around a corner ahead of them and the police car disappeared out of sight.
Only then did Lyrian sink back into her seat, her arms and legs trembling.
“Put your seatbelt back on,” Brad said, glancing over.
Lyrian didn’t argue. She fumbled with the seatbelt, then slumped into her seat. Hopefully Brad could get them out of here now, because that was the limit of her magic.
Brad kept glancing in his rear view mirror, then over at her, then back at the road. He swung around another corner and Lyrian wasn’t even sure which direction they were heading anymore.
Hopefully Brad knew.
He didn’t look over, just focused on the road. He seemed to know where he was going.
Lyrian was just relieved that the siren was fading into the distance. Or someone had turned it off. Either way, it was a relief.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to freak out about how close a call it had been.
And it had all been for nothing too. Their one lead had been a dead end. They hadn’t found Verrian, or any clues as to where he’d gone.
She didn’t know what to do next, or where to go.
Verrian was out there, but if she couldn’t find him, then he might as well not be.
The thought of not being able to find Verrian, or any of the rest of her clan, brought some of the panicked feeling back.
She couldn’t do this alone.
But she wasn’t alone. As Brad had said earlier, he was here.
That thought comforted her more than it should have. She should be focused on finding Verrian, or figuring out how to wake Calrian. Whatever it took to put her clan back together.
Not wondering if she could hide in a corner with Brad until someone found her.
Maybe she could excuse it, if she were an ordinary dragon. But it wasn’t acceptable for a princess at all.
She should be ashamed of herself.
“Are you okay?” Brad glanced over at her for a second as he drove, his expression concerned.
How was she supposed to answer that?
Lyrian opened her eyes and forced a smile. “I’m fine,” she managed. “At least we’ve escaped from the police.”
Brad glanced over again, his expression still worried. “We’ll find your brother.”
“How?”
Lyrian didn’t mean her voice to sound hopeless. But she couldn’t help it.
Brad was silent. He didn’t know either.
That didn’t make Lyrian feel any better.
Brad drove them back out to the cave. Lyrian manged to summon up some energy to hide their tracks again, as they crossed the dry, baked dirt.
She found the motivation to feed Anarian, and even to play with her, though it was a rather lacking effort. Anarian didn’t mind though. That was one good thing about babies, they didn’t require imaginative entertainment.
When the baby was finally asleep again though, the last of her energy seeped away. She sat down on a rock and stared off into space, not even able to try to figure out what they could do next.
“Look, it’s not as bad as it seems,” Brad said encouragingly. “We might not have found Verrian, but we do know that he was there. That means some of your clan are still around.”
It was sweet of him, really, to try to cheer her up. But it wasn’t going to work.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re out there if I can’t find them,” Lyrian said tiredly. “And the trouble is, if I keep looking, I’m putting Anarian at risk.”
That was her real concern.
If the police had caught up with them, she could probably have fought her way out, but not with a baby.
And if the humans got hold of Anarian…
She gave a shudder at the thought.
Maybe hiding in a corner waiting for her clan to find her wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Brad came and knelt next to her, and took her hands in his. “You can’t give up. We know your brother is out there. It’s just a matter of finding him. And I know we can do it.”
Lyrian’s heart melted a little at his words.
He was determined to do this because it was what she needed. She loved him for it.
But determination alone wasn’t going to make it happen.
“How?” she demanded. “We don’t even know where to look next. If Lisa isn’t at her brothers, were else can we look? We don’t know anything about her. We don’t even know that Verrian is still with her.”
“I don’t know yet,” Brad said firmly. “But we’ll figure it out. I’m not letting you give up.”
Lyrian stared at him. “Why are you so determined?” she asked, trying not to let her voice sound discouraged. “I mean, it doesn’t help you if I find my brothers. In fact, it’s just one of the reasons we can’t be together.”
Brad hesitated, she could see the indecision in his eyes.
The same indecision that warred in her heart.
He gave a sigh. “I know that,” he said softly. “Don’t think it hasn’t occurred to me. But it’s not the right option. I can’t protect you like your clan can. We might not be able to have each other, but if I can know you and Anarian are safe, then that’s going to make leaving you a little easier.”
Lyrian felt tears prick at the back of her eyelids.
How did he managed to say something she didn’t want to hear in words so beautiful it made her want to cry?
“Hey, no crying,” Brad said softly, brushing her hair out of her face. “Or I might just start.”
His eyes looked a little misty too.
Lyrian couldn’t help it. She reached out and threw her arms around his neck.
Brad pulled her close, and peppered kisses on the top of her head, murmuring her name.
It was dangerous. Risky. But the temptation to be close to him was too much. Lyrian lifted her face to his.
Brad stared down at her, uncertainty in his eyes.
His lips hovered just above hers, one hand tangled in her hair. She could feel his breath on her cheek, and hear his heart beating.
She’d never felt this close to anyone before. This felt as strong as any Mesmer bond she’d ever experienced, maybe even stronger.
Was this what a mate bond felt like, or was the mate bond stronger than this?
Was it possible to feel more strongly about anyone than the way she felt about Brad right now?
His head lowered a little, his lips inched closer to hers.
Lyrian’s whole body was crying out with need. How much she wanted him scared her. And excited her. There were so many reasons they shouldn’t do this.
But surely there was nothing wrong with a kiss? If they didn’t take it any further, then there would be no risk of forming a mate bond.
But could they stop once they started?
Chapter 20
Brad’s breathing was ragged. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to kiss Lyrian.
Especially since he could see that she wanted it a
s much as he did. Her own breathing was uneven, and the look in her eyes was all but begging him.
He wanted to. So much.
But it seemed like a really bad idea after he’d just told her he wanted to help her find her family even if it meant they couldn’t be together. It certainly wouldn’t indicate his commitment to that cause.
How could he say he wanted that in one breath, then kiss her in another? Especially when he knew that they couldn’t have this. He could have given it a go, tried a long distance relationship, maybe even looked at taking unpaid leave from work. But as she’d explained, there was no trial in this relationship. No maybe. It was all or nothing.
The idea both intrigued and terrified him.
Lyrian took the decision away from him by groaning softly, then rising on tiptoe and crushing her lips to his.
Her boldness broke through the last of Brad’s resolve. He pulled her body against his, delighting in the way it seemed to fit perfectly, as though made for him.
His heart pounded, and blood rushed in his ears.
What were they doing? This was crazy.
How far were they going to take this?
He knew they couldn’t sleep together. Not like this. He wouldn’t risk bonding with her unless both of them were certain. Now matter how tempted he was.
But now that she’d kissed him, he didn’t intend to pull back.
He wasn’t sure how long they stood there, in the shade of the giant rock, kissing as though their lives depended on it. If a dragon had come by then, Brad suspected they would have made an easy target.
But none did.
Their surroundings faded into the distance, and Brad let himself enjoy the feel and taste of her.
When her hand slipped lower, past his waist, to grab his buttocks and pull him even more firmly against him, an awareness forced its way through his desire.
He pulled back, breaking contact with Lyrian’s lips, and stared down at her, breathless. “We shouldn’t…”
Her eyes darkened. She knew as much as he did.
And she wanted to ignore it as much as he did.
In that moment, staring into each other’s eyes, something passed between them. An unspoken acknowledgment, and understanding that went far deeper than words.