He considered me for a moment, then said, “That’s pretty brave.”
“Or pretty stupid,” I muttered, and knew which one would win my vote. “Once we get the codes, if you can then get me to Maine, enough time will have passed for me to be able to recall the ring and give it to you. That way, you can have the ring within days, and I get the protection and help Egan wanted me to have.”
“What’s in Maine that’s so important?”
“My dad. He’s dying.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“So am I.” But I was also angry—at the scientists for keeping me away for so long, and at myself for so stupidly leaving him in the first place. “Do we have a deal?”
“I think I could live with a deal like that.” His gaze rested on mine and played havoc with my heart rate. And I wasn’t entirely sure if the cause was the heat that surged between us or the dragon spark that seemed to glow deep in his eyes. “But be warned—if you’re playing me for a fool, or if you betray me in any way, you will regret it.”
“I’ve got too many regrets in my life already, Trae. I don’t intend to add any more.”
“Good. Where do you want to go first, then?”
“Florence,” I said, and walked around to the passenger side of the car. The car beeped as I approached the door and lights flashed. I wondered where he’d gotten the keys from, decided I didn’t want to know, then opened the door and climbed in.
“So who are we going to steal the codes from?”
“From a Louise Marsten, mother of Doctor James Marsten, who is the founder of the Loch Ness Research Foundation and chief tormentor of all things dragon.”
He started the car and drove out of the turnaround, then asked, “How many of you were there in this place?”
“Three adults and six kids, the youngest of which is only seven.”
“Seven? Bastards. What the hell were they doing to you all?”
I snorted. “What do scientists the world over do with the new species of animals they’ve discovered?”
“We can hardly be classed as animals—”
“In their minds we can, because we turn into monsters that shouldn’t exist.” I rubbed my arms, but it didn’t do a lot to ward off the sudden chill. “They prod, they poke, they examine, and they cut. They put us through hoops and they expect us to be happy about it.”
“But, as you pointed out, we can turn into monsters. Why didn’t you, and just get the hell out of there?”
“Because for many years, we didn’t realize they were drugging us.”
“You should have destroyed them while you had the chance.”
“We couldn’t. We barely escaped as it was.” And only because the scientists had been too busy fighting the fire that had taken the life of one of their own, and had almost claimed ours.
I looked away, watching the buildings, shops, and houses coming to life as people began waking to the new day. Longing flicked through me. For too many years, my life had been one of white walls and bright lights. And air so cold it could turn the skin blue—which wasn’t such a problem for me and my mother, but it had certainly been one for the air dragons. The scientists had discovered fairly early that cold limited their movements, restricting their fire and making them extremely sluggish. Which of course, had proved a big problem for Egan. But it had been an even bigger one for the kids—especially Carli. The small brown dragon had been the first of the young ones snatched and she was still the youngest of them all—she’d barely been three when she was taken, and she was only seven now.
It was Egan who had realized that the cold was killing her, and he who had insisted that they turn the heat up in both her room and in the common rooms. For some reason I’ll never understand, the scientists had actually listened. Maybe they just didn’t want to lose their only female air dragon. But it was around that time they must have begun increasing the dosage of the drugs they’d been giving us—so much so that we actually started tasting them.
It was a realization that had begun our plot to escape.
But those plans had taken a very long time to come to fruition, I thought, my gaze lingering on the warmly lit homes zooming by. God, the luxury of waking in a home, surrounded by family, was not something any of us had experienced for a very long time. My capture might have been my own stupid fault, and Egan’s had apparently been due to carelessness, but most of the kids had been netted in those magical, mystical hours of dawn and dusk, when young air dragons rode the energy in the air, trusting the still-flaring skies to hide their forms as they attempted to master the wind. They’d been easy pickings for the older hunters who’d been high above, waiting for that one who strayed a little farther from flock than they should have.
And to take a three-year-old? Hunters who would do such a thing—who would not only betray their own but tear families apart for the sake of money—disgusted me. I think I hated them more than I hated the scientists.
At least we’d taken one of them out in San Lucas, which meant there would be one, maybe two, hunters left on my trail. That I knew of, anyway.
I tore my gaze away from the roadside and looked at Trae. The golden light of dawn shone through the windshield, washing across his features, making the spiky bristles lining his chin gleam like molten gold.
I have to say, twenty-four-hour whisker growth on this man was incredibly sexy.
“Tell me about the ring,” I said, as much to keep my mind off desire as to find out the history behind the ring.
He shrugged. “It’s basically the king stone, and it was Egan’s by birthright.”
“Why?”
He looked in the rearview mirror, then said, “Our father is the king of our clique, and Egan was the first-born pure-dragon son. As such, he was heir to the family fortune.”
“And throne?”
“Possibly.” He glanced at me. “I’m surprised that he didn’t talk to you about all this.”
“As I said, he wouldn’t. All he’d say was that the past no longer mattered.” I studied him for a minute. “Was that because of this Sila you mentioned earlier?”
“Undoubtedly.” Though his voice was flat, without emotion, the heat of his anger swirled around me, scorching my skin.
“What happened to her?”
“My father happened.”
“He tore them apart?”
“He killed her.”
“What?” I stared at him, horrified. “Why?”
“Because my father’s eye was always on the greater prize. Sila was a black dragon with no family links that would enhance the clique’s position and standing in the dragon community, and therefore useless in his eyes.”
“He killed her because she didn’t have the right connections?”
“Afraid so.”
My God . . . “Your father sounds like a murdering bastard.”
He snorted softly. “That’s the understatement of the year.”
No wonder Egan hadn’t wanted to talk about the past. No wonder nothing had really mattered to him anymore—at least until the kids had come along. He’d lost the woman he’d loved and, as a result, had simply closed up and retreated emotionally.
Everything about him made so much more sense now. I blew out a breath, then asked, “So where do you fit into all this?”
“Me? I’m the unwanted get of the maid.” His tone was lightly mocking.
I raised my eyebrows and said, “You don’t have the attitude of someone unwanted.”
He glanced at me, amusement bright in his blue eyes. “And just what sort of attitude would that be?”
“Sullen. Angry.”
“Oh, I’m angry. Trust me on that.”
“Yeah, but it’s a different kind of anger. More vengeful than the-world-owes-me-a-living.”
A smile teased his lips and my hormones again. “You’re quick to judge someone you’ve only just met.” He glanced briefly at the rearview again. “Tell me how you and Egan met.”
“I told you how we met. In a cage, in t
he research center.”
“And the scientists forced you together?”
“Well, it wasn’t force, but we weren’t given a whole lot of choice, either.” It was either mate, or have them force the issue by in vitro fertilization. Something they’d ended up trying anyway after so many years of nothing happening.
And it still hadn’t worked, simply because they had no understanding of a sea dragon’s nature. They might well implant me with a fertilized egg, but it wouldn’t stay that way nor grow in my womb.
“I’m gathering they wanted you to reproduce?”
“Yeah.”
“Egan wasn’t your mate, so that wasn’t going to happen.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You seem very certain of that.”
He smiled. “You wouldn’t be responding to me so fiercely if he had been. Besides, Sila was his mate.”
“God, it’s a wonder he didn’t kill his father.” I would have, had I been in his shoes. “So can female air dragons dictate when they get pregnant, like we sea dragons can?”
He looked surprised at the thought. “No, that’s the male’s prerogative.”
“And when air dragons finally meet their destined mates, do the males remain faithful?”
He glanced at me, amusement touching his lips. “Why the questions? Sourcing out a potential mate, are we?”
Heat touched my cheeks and I looked away from his knowing gaze. “No. But Egan wouldn’t talk about this stuff, and I have no one else to ask.”
“Ah.” He contemplated the road for a second, then said, “It depends on whether they actually commit to their mates or not. If they do, then they remain faithful. If they don’t, then no. My father is one of the latter—he has no regard whatsoever for his soul mate, and beds whomever he can at will.” He glanced at me, one eyebrow raised. “What about you sea dragons?”
“I don’t know. Mom was captured when I was very young, and there was only ever me and Dad. I love my dad to death, but he wasn’t very forthcoming about that sort of stuff.” And he certainly hadn’t encouraged exploration as I’d gotten older. Not that I would have, anyway. I’d spent most of my life hiding what I was from the world, pretending to be human when I was anything but. I had friends, but never close ones. Male friends, but never boyfriends.
“So what is the story behind your birth?” I continued. “Did your dad deliberately get a human pregnant?”
“Not deliberately. He was drunk, apparently, and she was just a warm body when he needed one.” He shrugged, a seemingly casual gesture that belied the deeper anger I could feel in him. “Human and dragon matings almost always result in a pregnancy, even if the male doesn’t wish it. No one really knows why.”
“So why mate with humans in the first place?”
“Because they can. It’s as simple as that.” He glanced in the rearview. “In times past, we draman were killed on birth.”
“What?”
“To keep the purity of the master race, you understand.” Again his voice was mocking. “It’s only in the last fifty years or so that the practice has been outlawed by the council.”
I raised my eyebrows. “There’s a council of dragons?”
He nodded. “It consists of the kings from the thirteen major cliques. They make the rules and clean up the problems.”
“So basically, they make sure the cliques continue to operate under the human radar?”
“Basically.”
“How come no one did anything about Marsten?”
“They might not even know about him. The council only concerns itself with problems on our continent, as far as I know.”
Well, if there was a European council, they were fucking falling down on the job.
He looked in the rearview mirror once again, and something in the way he did it sent unease prickling across my spine. “What’s wrong?”
“I think we’re being followed. Don’t look,” he added, just as I was about to.
“Cop?”
“Nope.”
The unease gave way to fear. “Do they look official?”
“Hard to say.”
I flipped down the sun visor and slid open the vanity mirror’s cover. It took several seconds to position the mirror so that I could see the traffic following, but then the big black car leapt into focus.
And though I couldn’t see the faces of the driver and the passenger, I knew what they were all the same.
Hunters.
Chapter Five
Fear ran through me, stifling in its power, sucking away my breath and my strength. All I could do was stare at the car behind us—the car that held the men who had helped kill Egan, and who would probably kill me if I gave them too much trouble.
And all I could think of was getting away. Even though I couldn’t move, couldn’t even talk. I was frozen to the seat in fear of the men behind us. Men who had snatched away so much of my life.
I couldn’t let them catch me. Not again. Not when there was still so much to do.
“Destiny?” Trae said, his voice seeming a long way away.
I gulped down air and tried to rein in the tide of panic.
“Floor it,” I said, my voice a low tremor. “Get us out of here.”
“The minute I floor it, the people in that car will know we’ve spotted them. The situation could end up being a whole lot worse than it already is.”
“The situation will end up a whole lot worse anyway.” I had to grip the door to stop the urge to slide down the seat and keep out of their sight. They obviously knew I was here or they wouldn’t be following us. It was pointless, trying to hide.
Trae shot me a sharp look. “You know the people in the car?”
“Personally? No. But I know what they are, and I know just how far they’re willing to go. We need to get away from them. Now.”
That last word held an edge of panic, which Trae seemed to ignore as he said, “So who are they?”
“They’re the people who shot Egan. They’re dragon hunters.” And the scientists would be close by somewhere. If not in the car behind us, then somewhere near. They were always near.
He swore softly.
“Look, we need to get out of here,” I insisted. “We need to lose them.”
“I will, I will.”
“Before we get out of the built-up areas and onto open road. They hunt in packs. They always hunt in packs. There’ll be another car around—somewhere close.”
“You make them sound like animals,” he muttered. But nevertheless, he pressed the accelerator and the car gathered speed.
Not sharply, not enough to notice immediately, but enough to ease the clamoring of my nerves.
I looked in the vanity mirror. The big black car was still very much behind us. “Their car looks faster than ours.”
“It is.”
“Then what are we going to do if we can’t outrun them?”
“Outsmart them. You feel like breakfast?”
I blinked. “You can’t stop and eat breakfast at a time like this!”
“You tell me where in the rule book it says I can’t, and I’ll obey.”
“But—”
“I’m not a free-roaming thief for no reason, you know, so just trust the fact that I know a thing or two about getting away from people.”
His expression and voice might have been bland, but there was nothing bland about the look he cast my way. It was all dangerous, hungry male. Heat sizzled across my skin, followed by a rush of desire.
“What?” I said, voice suddenly breathless.
“Time to use the charms God and your parents gifted you with.”
“What charms in particular are we talking about?”
“That sexy body, of course.” Even as he said the words, his gaze skated downward, causing my pulse to flutter.
It sure as hell was a fine way to banish fear.
“To do what?”
The question came out breathy, and amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes.
“Make out.”
/>
“I’m not making out with you.” Though I wanted to. Lord how I wanted to.
“Not me. The cook.”
“What?” Why did this man always leave me feeling I was three steps behind?
“Of the burger joint we’re going to stop at up ahead.”
“How do you know there’s a burger joint up ahead?”
“Because I’ve been this way before, and I always scout out localities.”
“When you’re planning a job, you mean?”
He shot me an amused look, neither confirming nor denying my accusation. “The place is open twenty-four hours. The early morning shift is one man, and he’s both the cook and waiter. You’re going to charm the pants off him.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. You’re going to make that man want you bad enough to take you out to his truck.”
“Where you’ll deck him and snatch said truck?”
“Precisely.”
“I’m not happy with this plan, I have to tell you.”
“Well, unless you got a better plan, this is the one we’re stuck with.”
“The car behind us will spot us leaving in the truck.”
“The car behind us will unfortunately have two flat tires by that time.”
“Why not do all four?”
“Four is trickier, and the chance of getting caught increases dramatically.”
I stared at him for a minute, then crossed my arms. But one glance in the mirror at our black shadow and the men within left me little in the way of options.
I blew out a breath. “What’s this cook look like?”
“Like a cook?”
“I’m not making out with a lecherous old man.”
“So you’d rather be caught by those behind us?”
No. I’d just rather come up with something else.
The burger joint turned out to be attached to a gas station, though the cobwebs draped over the pumps suggested they hadn’t been used in some time. The building itself was brick, and it was hard to say what color they were thanks to the years of grime coating them. The large windows that lined the front were decorated with Christmas lights that cheerfully flashed in the early morning sun, and a huge burger sign sat above the weather-worn entrance, flashing on and off intermittently.