Chapter Nineteen

Lindsey

Dispirited, angry, weary beyond belief, I followed Brody in his new ride toward our houses. The crime scene investigation took long hours and most of the afternoon. Photos, fingerprints, bullets pulled from the rental car. Skinner proclaimed the silver Ford stolen from someone in California, and that Bethany's prints revealed a warrant for her arrest.

"She's wanted for assault with a deadly weapon," Skinner said as Brody and I watched the investigation wrap up. "No details yet. Keep your eyes peeled."

"How trite," I muttered, then got into the sedan.

"What did she say?" Skinner demanded.

"Never mind," Brody said.

Dusk arrived by the time we parked Brody's truck in his driveway and me in mine. He crossed the distance between us and took me into his arms. "You okay?"

"Not really."

"How about we get some food, then go flying?"

I considered the prospect of shifting into my dragon and hitting the skies only mildly interesting. "Maybe. I'm starving."

"Me, too."

His arm around me guided me into my house. I switched on lights, half expecting Bethany to pop up from behind the sofa or from a bedroom and shoot us both. She didn't. My house, still in its chaotic state of unpacking, remained still and silent. Perhaps she hasn't stolen her next ride yet.

In the kitchen, Brody poured wine for us both. "I think we need this first."

I heartily agreed. We sat at the table, drinking the cold, sweet wine, both of us lost in our thoughts. The alcohol soothed some of my depression, permitting me to finally relax. My legs ached from running, as I hadn't pushed myself that hard in a long time.

"Pizza?" Brody suggested.

"No. I don't want to open the door."

"We can't live our lives in a shell."

"I know. I just, you know, worry she's watching the house right now. Or they both are. And we won't see them coming."

He took my hand. "We're dragons, babe."

"So is Rivers," I replied. "Maybe Bethany is, too. We just don't know."

‘True," he admitted. "If she is, you're more than a match for her."

"How do you know?"

Brody smirked over the rim of his glass. "You're tougher, meaner, and far smarter than she is. She ran, didn't she?"

"Yeah."

"You plotted a way to take her out and you did." He saluted me with a grin. "I'll never underestimate you, my love."

I chuckled. "That was pretty cool, wasn't it?"

"It sure was."

Neither of us wanted to cook, so we concocted sandwiches and chips, recounted the events of the day as we ate.

"Why do you think she didn't turn and shoot you?" he asked, his mouth full.

"I don't know," I answered. "She had opportunities but didn't take them. It's been bugging me since then."

"Maybe she's having second thoughts about trying to kill you?"

"Or me chasing her intimidated her enough that she thought that if she shot me, she'd only piss me off."

He laughed. "Now that I do believe."

"She's nuts so who knows what's going on in her head."

"I think she didn't want to risk slowing down, then missing if she fired at you. If she missed, you'd be on her like stink on shit."

"Let's talk about something else."

"Like going out for a flight?"

I smiled. "Yeah."

We didn't just talk about it, we did it. Brody drove us to his favorite spot for shifting, his Ram smelling of leather and Armor-All. The spot turned out to be a long, lonely stretch of gravel road far enough from the city that only the stars brought any light. The moon, riding low over the eastern horizon, was little more than a sliver. All around were fields empty of crops or critters.

"There's no one around for miles," Brody said. "Though I'm sure some dragons come here. We can shift and fly without being seen."

I shifted. As before, the change came with the merest flicker of a thought. Instantly, the night's darkness fell away. I saw clearly. I saw the owl who flew on the hunt over the fields as easily as I might have had it been noon and under the sun.

Brody also shifted. He rubbed his muzzle against mine, his wings furled over his back. "You're so beautiful."

His hide matched his hair, giving him a soft glow. His honey eyes, filled with love, met mine before he entwined his long neck around my neck. My love for him, hardly noticed under the chaos that our lives had become, grew like the flames within us both.

"I love you," I said, shutting my eyes, happy to just feel his strong body against mine, our chests together, our combined warmth.

"I love you," he murmured. "We're fated. You and me. This is our destiny."

Deep inside me, I knew what he said was true. It wasn't coincidence that had me move in next door just as Rivers attacked him and Bethany found me. We were driven together. Forging a bond only death could break. I loved him beyond all reasoning, all logic, all common sense. For there wasn't any sense to any of it.

We simply belonged together.

"What say we fly?"

Brody spread his wings and leaped into the air. I followed a mere second behind him. Higher and higher we flew, the ground falling far away beneath our tails. I forgot Bethany. I forgot the massive chase, my anger, my depression. I but lived to fly. I knew that now.

Almost as one creature, we dove, we soared, wingtip to wingtip, laughing with joy, flaming great swaths through the sky. Hours we flew, dancing on our tails, our necks interwoven, our wings keeping us airborne as we confessed our love for one another.

On the ground, in our human shapes, we made love under the stars. Brody undressed me, his tongue in my mouth, his erection hard against my belly. My aroused pussy leaked my wetness down my thighs. Cupping my bare ass, Brody lifted me against the truck, spreading my legs. His cock nudged at my pussy, invading, spreading me wide, impaling me on his iron shaft.

I clung to his body, our sweat mingling where our skin touched, his tongue in my mouth bringing me ever closer to my orgasm. I barely felt the metal truck behind me as Brody's thrusts sent all other feelings and sensations far away. Moaning, I dug my nails into his back, my pussy clamped down on his shaft like a vise.

His pumping grew harder, faster, setting my body on fire. I gasped, dragging in air as my climax seized me in its grip. Brody thrust harder, his cock striking my G-spot like a hammer. I threw my head back, crying out as my orgasm sent ripples through my body.

Brody's grunts filled my ear as I dragged air into my starved lungs, his cock spasming, ripping through him on the heels of my climax. I felt his shaft shudder, quivering, his thrusts hard, deep. He nipped my throat with his teeth, the exquisite pleasure nearly triggering yet another orgasm.

"I put a baby in you," he muttered against my flesh, his voice thick, raspy. "A baby."

***

"I've got to get back to work," I said the next morning over a hasty breakfast. "I'm behind."

Brody gulped his coffee, then grimaced. "If I don't get back to the site today, my job is toast."

"Go. Get out of here. You bug me."

He poured coffee into a thermos, then kissed me. "Will you be okay alone?"

"Don't be dumb. I can take care of myself."

"Call me if you think Byrd is around."

"Only so you can help bury the body."

"We're dragons." He grinned. "Body disposal is a single flame burst away."

"Good point. Now go or you'll be late. I'm not supporting your dumb ass."

He kissed me again. "Love you."

"Love you back."

After he departed, and the roar of his Ram's engine died away, I finished my coffee, then poured another. Leaving the dirty dishes for later, I strode to my office and opened my computer. I spent a few moments composing my thoughts, then started to work.

I'd delved deep into the project for several hours, absorbed and oblivious to my surroundings. The sound registered on my consciousness moments after my ears heard it. Lifting my head, I sought to make the connection. What was that?

A door hinge had creaked.

A tingle of alarm shivered through my nerve endings.

The soft, sneaky tread of a foot in the hallway got me onto my feet.

I crept silently behind the half-opened door, listening, guessing where the intruder was. Turning my head, I peered between the wood and the doorjamb. A shadow crossed my sight. A man. Not Bethany.

Austin Rivers.

He paused in the doorway, perhaps looking into the office. Surely he'd suspect I stood behind the door, as the house wasn't big and had only one story. No doubt, he'd checked the bedroom, the kitchen, the TV room. I listened to him breathing, waiting for him to take a step inside.

Austin did.

I flung my entire body against the door. I didn't just hit him with it, I slammed him flat to the floor in the hallway outside. Rivers went down with a strangled cry of pain. Dragon quick, I threw the door back and slammed my foot into his crotch. Then I stood back, out of his reach, with nothing between me and the front door except space.

Writhing on my carpet, Austin's face turned purple. His mouth uttered strange grunts as he cradled his injured jewels with both hands. Austin's pain-wracked eyes found mine while he wheezed for breath.

"Bitch," he said thickly.

"I broke your balls," I commented. "Now I guess I'll shoot them off."

Striding to my coffee table, I pulled my Glock from the drawer. Austin rolled onto his side to watch me, then slowly pulled his own gun from his waistband. I lifted my right brow.

"Think you can shoot me from that angle?" I inquired, aiming down the barrel of my gun. "How about I step this way?"

I paced to my right, forcing Austin to crane his neck in order to keep me in his view. He lifted the gun, then rolled onto his belly. Holding it in both hands, his mouth grinned madly, drool sliding from the corners, he aimed it. But his hands shook, and I circled him yet again.

His head drooped.

"Good God," I snapped, pacing forward and kicked the pistol from his hands. "Prick."

His acting might have earned him an Oscar.

Austin's hand hot out, grabbed me by my ankle and he yanked hard. I stumbled backward, falling onto my ass and back, losing my grip on the gun. The impact with the floor stunned me, but only for a moment. As he half rose, still grinning, crawling toward me, I kicked him hard in his nose with my free foot.

He cried out as blood gushed from his busted nose. His hand, lax, fell from my ankle. I crabbed my way away from him, grabbed my gun and stood. Gasping for breath, I aimed down at him.

"I can shoot you right now, you son of a bitch," I grated. "You entered my home with a gun, planning to kill me."

"Then do it," he yelled, his eyes narrowed in hate behind the blood. "Shoot me, bitch. Shoot me."

The vision of Skinner arresting me shot across my mind. Shooting the intruder as he lay on my floor wasn't exactly self-defense. At the moment, Austin was as helpless as a kitten. I might manage a self-defense case, given his history. Still, was that something I could truly do? Pull the trigger on a man who lay bleeding on my carpet?

His gun had fallen far from his hand. Austin posed no danger to me. Not as he was. Sure, I had the right. Perhaps even the duty to kill him. Save myself, save Brody, save the world from Austin's depravity. Did that really give me the right to blow his brains into my office?

"Get the fuck out of my house," I snapped. "Come back, and I'll kill you."