Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

Aydan

My hands clench harder on the steering wheel. "Tell her that she doesn't need to count on this guy or this Specter company. I'll keep her safe."

Granger has the phone in his hand that's in the sling. His good hand is hovering over the phone. "Are you sure ?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, frustrated beyond belief as I skid around another corner, looking for a gas station before we head out of town.

Sam is in trouble. It's our job to keep her safe. Yes, when I promised myself that I'd always keep her safe, I never imagined a world where she could shift into a dragon and some dragon asshole would be chasing her. Well, two dragon assholes. Even though she seems to trust the other one, for some reason.

We see a tiny gas station up ahead and sigh in relief. We'd gone to the main one in town and found it absolutely destroyed. The gas gauge on the car we'd stolen has been sitting on empty for the last few miles, so we'd known we weren't going to make it far unless we found another place to stop. Luck was on our side.

"Aydan." He says my name really slowly and softly. "You can protect her from a lot of things, but a dragon? I'm just not sure."

"I am."

He sighs. "This guy… he's a dragon too, and he has connections. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to label him as an enemy."

I pull in next to the pump. "Yeah, right."

I unbuckle, surprised when he catches my arm. I look back at him, and his face is a mask of pain, probably from everything that's happened just as much as his injured arm. "I don't like this either. The idea of her with some… male dragon that can't resist her, but she's the top priority. Not our feelings."

I shake him off. "Don't you think I know that?"

I get out, and he follows. All around us, the town is quiet. Every sane person has gone into hiding since the earthquake. Like I would be doing in any other circumstance.

"We have to be smart about this. We have to be able to accept it if we aren't the ones who can save her. Our pride isn't worth her life."

My jaw hurts from how hard I clench it. "It's not my pride that's the problem."

"Then what is it?"

I hesitate. What is it? "I–I never told her."

"How you feel?" he says lightly, because we both know the answer.

I look at him as I start filling up the car. "We, the thing is, something happened between us, and I didn't stay and talk. I didn't make my feelings clear. I just– I don't know. I chickened out. I mean, not entirely, I was going to talk to her, but then everything happened."

"You'll get a chance to talk to her." His dark eyes are gentle. The bruises and cuts on his face looking worse than before as they start to heal.

Some of the ache I hadn't even noticed before starts to fade. "Thanks." I focus on the fuel pump. "It's not just that though. She needs us right now. Sam is too trusting. This guy wants to bring her to a bunch of scientists he claims can help. Do you really think that's what they'll do? Or will they hurt her?"

He gives a dark laugh that makes my head jerk up. "Oh, they're not going to hurt her, because we're not going to let them. Wherever she goes, we're going to. I'm just saying, you might need to prepare yourself for the possibility that we'll all be heading to Specter Inc. with the dragon asshole at our side."

I smile. So Granger isn't as zen as he seems. "Alright. I can do that. As long as we're with her."

The pump stops.

"Want me to grab some snacks inside and some water? I have a feeling we'll need them," he says, then pats his stomach to emphasize just how long it's been since we had anything.

"If you're quick," I tell him.

He takes a step toward the gas station. A chill rolls down my spine.

"Stop."

He stops. I'm breathing hard. Every instinct in my body screaming that we're in danger.

"Get in the car. Really slowly. Really quietly."

He does, and I mirror his movements. We both close the car doors. I'm sure they're not closed all the way, but we're silent. My hand drifts to the key to turn the engine on, but movement makes me hesitate.

The green dragon emerges from behind the gas station, stalking down the road, breathing roughly. I know he's trying to scent her. I don't know how I know, but I do.

Do we smell like her after spending so much time with her? Do I smell like her after what we did together? I don't know. I want to turn on the engine and gun it out of there, but another part of me thinks that might get us killed.

The muscles in my hand twitch as I go to turn the key, but Granger's hand closes over mine, and he shakes his head. The dragon continues down the street, and now I see that it has wounds torn into its body, gaping openings in his back.

He's injured. And angry.

The dragon hesitates at the intersection, and I pray he goes in the direction away from us. But after a minute of sniffing, his head snaps in our direction. My heartbeat races, filling my ears. Do I try to get us out of here? If he gets much closer, I won't have a choice either way.

We have to get to Sam. We have to survive this.

But when the dragon's gaze meets mine… I know we're done.