“Nice plan,” Riven laughed.
A growl built in Lucan’s throat.
“Shut up.” Saints, he’d screwed that up. She might not physically harm him, but she could skewer his soul. “Pepper spray. She sees me after four years, and she fucking pepper sprayed me.”
“Take a look around. This is hardly a safe, gated community.”
“But she knows me!”
“Does she? She looked at you as if you were a demon. Or else, she must really
love
you, mate.” Riven chuckled. “Mmm, yes. Pepper sprayed for love. That sounds about right. I told you
they’re
always trouble. Mates… Can’t live without them; hell of a time getting them.” He sighed, and Lucan suspected Riven was thinking of his own woman, who was so far from reach Riven would never have her.
Riven raised his brow. “By the way, she’s hightailing it through the building, probably heading for her car in the lot on the other side.”
“How do you… Never mind. It’s your funky Djinn-sense, right?”
His companion made a face at him. “Sometimes you are
so
human.”
“Thought I was one until I was twenty-five.”
“Open your ears man. You can hear it, too.”
And Lucan could. Meda was running down the tiled hall that ran the length of the building, her low heels clicking with each step.
He went back around the corner and stared at the door that wouldn’t keep him out for more than the moment it took for his shoulder to connect with it. She wouldn’t make it out the other end of the school before he had her in his arms and airborne as he flew them to the Cruentus compound.
“Time for round two,” he muttered.
“Don’t screw up this time. I’ll see you back at the compound tonight after my meeting with the Dragon Council.” At the mention of the governing body, he glanced at his watch. “And…I’m late. Wish me luck. They’re not as laid back as your brother, our elder.”
Lucan shook his head. He’d heard numerous rumors of the council head’s benevolence. Since Riven reported to that man, Lucan was sure the halfling was merely being dramatic.
With a puckish grin, the Djinn-Dragon stepped backward and, again using his Djinn-inherited abilities, opened a portal and disappeared from sight.
Don’t screw up
, he’d said. Lucan wouldn’t. Though he’d feared otherwise, he’d made the mistake of hoping Meda might be happy to see him. Stupid of him. Of course, happiness wasn’t the first thing to come to mind.
He wouldn’t fall into that trap again. A steep path lay before him on the way to earning her trust and, if the ancient ones ordained it, her love.
A scream split the air, tingling across Lucan’s skin and shoving him into action. Meda!
He didn’t pause as he launched himself at the door, his scales sliding into place over his body as the wood and glass splintered around him. A wide hallway lay beyond the doorway with a multitude of rooms on either side. Saints! Which one was she in?
Growling deep in his throat, he stormed down the tiled corridor, quickly scanning classrooms as he went. Another scream and a flash of blue light pulled him to a doorway, halfway down the passage.
Meda was trapped in a far corner, her burnt shoulder showing through her ripped sleeve as a dark-haired, olive-skinned woman advanced on her. A few small fires burned nearby where Meda had apparently evaded the female Djinn’s attack. The flames raced along the room’s dry wood. The place would soon be engulfed. He had to get Meda out of here.
Enraged, he dove between the two woman, instinctively thrusting out his arm and shooting off a power wave that rippled the floor’s large tiles and shoved the attacker backward into a wall of flames. He was so sick of the “war” crap. He just wanted to live his life, and he was pretty sure most of the Djinn, who hadn’t become automaton warriors for the Djinn king, felt the same way. At least, that’s what Riven said, and Lucan believed it.
The Djinn screeched and levitated out of the fire, tongues of the blaze licking at her pant legs. A light-blue energy field slid over her body extinguishing the flame. She glared at Lucan, obviously irritated to have her easy mark interrupted by a Dragon. Lucan bared his teeth at her. Her irritation should have been terror. No solitary Djinn, without special weapons, could outclass his kind in a battle—even a young Dragon like himself.
He placed himself directly in front of Meda.
“Stay near me,” he growled when she started to back away. Of course,
of course
, she didn’t listen. Using his extra reptilian senses, he managed to keep himself between the Djinn and Meda though he couldn’t see her.
A rumble started in his chest as he stared at Meda’s attacker and tried to judge her next move. His chest expanded then his belly hollowed and fire exploded from his mouth in a blazing streak. The Djinn dodged and hurled an energy ball. It exploded over his head. He wondered at the poor aim until Meda cried out at the ricocheting sparks. She pressed close to his back and Lucan nearly moaned from the feel of her, but there was no time to luxuriate in the pleasure of her touch.
Swooping out his arm once more, he slammed the Djinn into the far wall with a psionic wave then lifted her and tossed her to the opposite side of the room. Spinning, he captured Meda against his chest and protected her within his wings. He completed the rotation and, once more, confronted the enemy. And got a face full of blue flames.
His arms and wings full, there was little he could do but roar at the outrage. That rage roiled again in his chest. He narrowed his gaze on the enemy, staring at her, feeling her. The slightest muscular movement would be her end. And there it was. She started a move to the right, but he anticipated it, already knowing her direction.
With a blast of flames from deep in his chest, the fight was over, he and Meda the victors and the Djinn a sizzling mound of cinders.
They weren’t free of danger—at least, Meda wasn’t. The classroom’s blaze would soon be an inferno.
“We have to leave,” he growled, pulling her toward the doorway.
“No!” she yelled, shoving against his chest and trying to wiggle free of his wings even as the oppressive heat came at them.
“We have to leave,” he repeated.
She yanked again. “Yes, I have to get out of here,” she argued. “But not with you!”
“This building is about to come down around us. Now is
not
the time to fight,” he grated. “Fight me later.”
He grabbed her in a flash so quick he knew her vision would blur. She gasped as he captured her tightly in his arms, and they shot into the air.
“Put your face against my chest to protect it,” he told her, hoping she fully understood him in this form that distorted his voice. They were going up and out, and he wasn’t stopping until they were free of the building. Maybe not even then.
Shielding her with his body, he crashed through the ceiling and rocketed toward the overcast sky. The two of them needed to hide and quick. Already, he heard sirens in the distance. A crowd would gather as soon as they realized it was the school ablaze.
“Is anyone else in the building?” As much as he was loath to leave Meda alone for a moment, duty would force him to save others if there were any.
He nuzzled the top of her head and wished for the intimacy they’d once had, but she bent away. Right. He was in his Dragon form. She’d be repulsed by it. Just as he’d feared, she’d hate what he’d become.
“No. I was the last one there. Everyone else was going to a Friday, after-work get-together.”
She wouldn’t like it, but everyone would assume she’d perished in the fire, consumed by the flames. Between his magic and the Djinn’s there wouldn’t be much left of the place. If the Djinn’s body wasn’t completely obliterated, officials would think it was Meda. It worked well for his purpose of starting a new life with her. But life wasn’t all about him. He wanted her. He needed her. Still…he had to consider what she wanted.
This wouldn’t be easy.
Meda Hutchens couldn’t begin to wrap her head around what was happening. Her day had started out normally then, this afternoon…it had all turned into a surreal weird-fest.
First, a guy had shown up at the school, claiming to be her dead husband. The man had been the spitting image of Lucan, too. Then that…that…witch had attacked her in the classroom with some sort of weapon Meda hadn’t seen. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t witnessed the woman floating six inches above the floor or if she hadn’t been accosted with those blue-fire missiles. Meda’s shoulder burned, but she didn’t doubt she’d be dead if this…
beast
hadn’t stepped in to rescue her.
A dragon? That’s what she supposed the creature was, though it was outside her realm of belief.
“I’ve lost it. I’ve finally snapped,” she muttered. A witch? Magic? Lucan? This…this…thing? And now they were flying? Had she gone utterly mad?
Maybe. Maybe she’d lost it long ago when she’d decided to continue teaching preschool though the aftermath of Lucan’s accident had left her unable to ever have children of her own. That had been a blow, but she was finally seeing past the blackness. Why the nervous breakdown now?
“You’re completely sane,” the creature answered, interrupting her thoughts.
“Not likely,” she retorted. This just wasn’t…lucid. Neither was the strange calm sweeping over her. As the creature helped her, almost cradling her against its massive chest, she felt completely…safe. Perhaps she was growing accustomed to the situation; perhaps it was something exuded by this creature carrying them. She didn’t know. Crazy people usually seemed content in their situation. Maybe it was even that… People had always claimed she had abnormal strength and courage. Maybe it was foolhardiness. It could be that rigidness had been mistaken for strength, and the brittleness inside her had just snapped.
“Meda, it’s okay,” the dragon said. “I promise you, you’re not going insane. This is just something your world isn’t aware exists.”
“Right. Like vampires, fairies, werewolves and elves.”
“Unfortunately,” he growled, “a breed of elves does exist. Rotten, vile creatures.”
Not comforting in the least. Obviously, though she hadn’t mentioned it, shape-shifters were also real. The nerves in her belly clenched and fluttered as ice water seemed to trickle along her spine. This wasn’t right on so many levels, and even though she didn’t want to admit it, she was getting the sickening feeling that she was completely, soberly, in her right mind. Crap.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced at the wispy clouds and matchbook sized houses racing below them. Feeling bile roll in her stomach, she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face to his chest, ignoring the sound of approval that came from low in his throat.
“Where are we going?” she whispered.
“Home.”
“My home?” she asked tentatively.
“Our home.”
Oh hell. This couldn’t be good. He was dragging her off to his lair.
He started their descent before she could protest or come up with an escape plan—which was pretty impossible since they were flying high enough that escaping him would mean plummeting to her death, unless she sprouted wings and that was entirely likely being that the world had just turned upside down.
She fought for control of her nerves as she started shaking. Her breaths came in huge gulps. Would he kill her here? Were there others here, waiting for their victim. Didn’t dragons…eat people.
“You’re getting hysterical,” he commented, his voice level, calm and almost mocking. “Take a few deep breaths. This will all be fine. I promise.”
“Fine?” she exclaimed. “
Fine?
And how would you describe
fine?
”
“Breathe, Meda. No one will hurt you here. Calm down.”
Who the hell was he to tell her to calm down? Even if she
was
getting overwrought? Who could blame her?
Annoyed that he was making light of this while she feared she might be in peril, she scowled and turned her face away from his solid, blackish-green scaled chest. His hand traveled up over her back to her cheek. He turned her to rest against him once more. A strange stuttering erupted through her. Fear? It had to be fear. Except…she wasn’t frightened. Not exactly. Not anymore. Momentary hysteria aside, the more she was with him, the more comfort seeped into her. And the excitement, the racing pulse, the warmth from solicitous care…she couldn’t identify why it quivered in her middle.
Her body jolted as he alighted onto a mosaic tiled patio. A tall wall surrounded the area. To one end, a small waterfall burbled into a clear pool. Lounging furniture was scattered throughout the space. Over the brick fence, the hulking shape of mist-shrouded mountains filled the landscape.
Turning to the back wall, leading inside the mountain where they landed, she found he had taken them to his cave, just as she’d suspected. Well, it
was
a dwelling. Biting her lip, she eyed the doorway carved into a side of a mountain. Cave was a gross injustice. The entrance was covered in glass and steel, showcasing the inner, remarkably posh portion of his home.
He elbowed open the unlocked door and stepped inside. He set her on her feet then shut the door. Meda looked around, stunned by the plush interior. How had he gotten overstuffed furniture and sports-bar sized electronics to a…well…cave?