Chapter 2
Raven stared at Lisa, then Verrian, his face an agony of indecision. “We should be taking him to the hospital. That injury is serious.”
The mention of the word hospital only increased the panic flooding through Lisa, making it hard to focus. Everything tumbled through her head in a jumble. Verrian injured. Ultrima flying over the city. Police coming, surely.
“I know it’s serious,” she snapped. “But it’d be suicide to go near a hospital right now. Don’t you get it. Our faces are already all over the papers. Now with a dragon flying around and dispelling any chance we had of convincing people that this was all Rita’s imagination and creative photoshopping, all the dragons are in serious trouble. They’re going to be hunting us down. Anyone who has any connection to the dragons is going to be a target, not only for the press, but for the police as well.”
“Do you think any of them finding you is more serious than dying from that wound?” Raven demanded.
He didn’t get it. Well, there was no way he could, really. He hadn’t been at this as long as she had.
“Do you think they’re going to care that he’s dead?” Lisa demanded. “They’re just going to want to cut up his body and find out how it works.” Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. “Even if they did want to help him, what do they know about dragons and what they need to heal?”
Raven’s eyes widened as she spoke. He obviously hadn’t thought this one through.
Well, Lisa had.
“Verrian would be the first to tell you that it’s not just his life at stake, but his entire clan’s. And anyway, dragon’s regenerate,” she said tiredly. Her mind shied away from considering how. She’d sort that out later. “It just takes a while and we need somewhere safe.”
“Where are we going to go?” Raven asked. “We can’t go back to my place, the other dragon already found Verrian there.”
“A dragon showing up is the least of our worries,” Lisa said flatly. “If Ultrima wanted Verrian dead, he’d be dead. I highly doubt he’s going to bother us again. For a while anyway.”
Hard as it was to imagine, the real threat right now wasn’t a Trima dragon.
There was a knock at the door, and both of them froze. Verrian tried to push himself up on one elbow, but he barely moved before his face went ashen, and he fell back on the couch with a grimace.
“What if that’s the police?” Lisa whispered.
“They wouldn’t have gotten here this fast, trust me,” Raven whispered back.
He had a point, but it did nothing to slow the pounding of Lisa’s heart. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what they were going to do. There was only one way out of the apartment. Well, unless she could fly.
She bit back a hysterical laugh. Verrian could fly, but not in his current condition.
“Lisa? Open up. I know you’re in there!” Olivia’s voice called out.
Lisa almost sagged in relief.
“Are you alone?” she called out, her hand on the doorknob.
“Of course I’m alone. I’m not stupid.”
Lisa hesitated. What was Olivia doing here? There was no way she’d had time to come after hearing about the dragon. She must have been already here. But why?
She pulled the door open. Holding up a hand, she scanned the hallway in both directions, but it was empty. “Come on in,” she said quietly.
“Was that Verrian flying around?” Olivia demanded as soon as she was inside. “Way to keep his presence a secret.”
Her voice was filled with excitement, but she didn’t seem to even be that surprised. Then again, she’d had a bit of warning.
“No,” Lisa said shortly. “It was Verrian’s mortal enemy. What are you doing here? You can’t have come because of that.”
Olivia blushed. “I… well, even though you said that Verrian wasn’t a dragon, I couldn’t help wondering… I was going to come and ask you again.”
“Well, now you have your answer. If that’s all you wanted, then you might want to get out of here before things deteriorate any further.” Lisa hesitated, then added, “If you want to stay, I’d love your help, but it’s going to be dangerous.”
She didn’t need to elaborate. Olivia’s face had paled as she caught sight of Verrian on the couch. She looked at Lisa, then back at Verrian. “Is he okay?”
“No,” Lisa said shortly. “But he will be. We just need to get him somewhere safe.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “I’d love to help. You can bring him to my place,” she offered immediately. “My roommate is away for a couple of days, so there’s no one there to bother you.”
Lisa hesitated, trying to concentrate around the panic flooding her mind. She needed to think—this was vitally important.
The police would already be on their way. Too many people would have seen Ultrima flying over the city for the dragon’s existence to be ignored. They would be searching for him. And the only link they had was her.
They’d talk to everyone at work. Her absence would be noted, and Olivia’s as well. That would probably be the first place they’d look.
“We can’t go to your place,” she said reluctantly. “They’ll connect you to me too quickly. I need to buy us at least a couple of hours to heal Verrian.”
There was only one person in this room who wasn’t already connected to Verrian. She looked over at Raven. “Right now, your place is the best bet, if you’ll have us?”
Raven stared at her for a minute, then swallowed. “Sure. There’s just one potential problem…”
Lisa frowned. More problems were the last thing she needed right now. “What?”
“Pete and Marlow, the other band members. They saw the dragon attacking Verrian back at my place, before we left.”
Lisa winced. “Do you think they’ll blab?”
Raven shrugged. “Probably. They were pretty freaked out by that dragon attacking Verrian. They ran. But if we warn them that one of them could come after them…” his voice trailed off.
Lisa got the message. “Good, you can do that on the way. We need to get moving before the police arrive.”
Raven nodded, and Lisa heaved a sigh of relief. One problem solved. They had somewhere safe to go.
Relatively safe anyway. Anything was better than here.
Now she just had to figure out how to get Verrian there. She crossed to the couch, and knelt down next to the injured dragon, putting a hand on his arm.
His eyes flicked open, but the pain in them twisted Lisa’s heart. “We’re moving you to Raven’s house. We should be safe there until you’re healed. Do you think you can walk?”
As she said it, she realised the question was pointless. Blood soaked his shirt, though it had slowed a little now. There was no way he could walk.
Verrian nodded and pushed himself upright, his face contorted in pain, his breathing ragged.
Lisa put a hand on his arm. “Don’t push yourself too much.”
The fact that he could move a little helped. Between the three of them, they could get him to the car. The trick was going to be doing it unnoticed.
Their best chance of that was to move now.
“Grab the robe that’s on the end of my bed,” she ordered Olivia. “We need to cover him up. Raven, can you get on the other side. Verrian may be tough, but he’s not going to be able to make this walk without support.”
With Olivia and Raven’s help, she managed to get Verrian upright and the robe wrapped around his body enough to cover the blood. The cover wasn’t going to help for long though, despite the blood having slowed, Verrian’s movement started it up again. It would soak through the robe far too quickly.
But they didn’t have time for anything more. They needed to move, now.
Luckily, when they opened the door and peered out, the corridor was empty. So was the elevator. Even the carpark. It was only early afternoon, but the complete lack of people was a little unusual. Probably they were all out gawking at the sky.
They made it into the car and out of the apartment without notice, Verrian half lying in the back seat, his eyes closed, his face pained. Lisa tried to focus on the road, but she couldn’t help glancing back every few moments, just to reassure herself he was still alive. Olivia sat next to him, a worried frown on her face. Raven headed out to grab his bike to lead the way.
Unfortunately, getting out of the city was a little more difficult. Traffic moved at a crawl, nearly as bad as peak hour. Was everyone trying to flee the city because of Ultrima? Entirely possible.
Then again, Lisa also saw plenty of people standing on the sidewalk, staring up at the sky. One or two even had binoculars. Just as many wanted a chance to see a dragon.
Lisa gave a shiver. She certainly didn’t want to see the lightning dragon again.
They heard sirens in the distance. That was becoming far too familiar a sound. This time though, none were coming for them.
No one knew where they were.
Yet.
Lisa’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the number. It was Barry. Her boss. She bit back a sigh, and handed it to Olivia, never so glad that she couldn’t talk while she was driving. “It’s Barry.”
Olivia stared at her for a moment, then answered the phone on speaker, holding it up near Lisa.
“Lisa?” Barry’s voice asked, concern in his tone. “I know you said that your friend wasn’t a dragon, but in light of recent events, I’m going to assume you were lying. Are you okay?”
Lisa couldn’t help a slight smile at his immediate concern. Trust Barry. “Yes, we’re fine. I’m going to have to take a few days off though.”
Barry’s reply was immediate. “Sure. Whatever you need.” There was a short pause, then he added, “If you ever need legal advice, say to prove that these dragons need to be treated as human beings, or, you know, if you end up in trouble, I hope you’ll call me. All on the house of course.”
Lisa felt tears prick at the inside of her eyelids. “I’ll remember that,” she managed to say without crying. “Thanks, Barry.”
She realised, of course, that there was more to his offer than just kindness. Being the first firm to offer legal counsel to dragons would be quite a feather in his cap. But it still made her feel good.
There was just one other thing. Lisa hesitated. “They’re probably going to come and question you,” she warned.
“Of course,” Barry agreed. “I can’t avoid telling them what I know, which isn’t much, but I’ll hold out as long as I can.” He hesitated. “You might want to ditch this phone.”
Good catch. They could track it all too easily. “I will, thanks.”
“Just let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Barry repeated. “And take care, Lisa.”
“Thanks,” Lisa managed, then nodded to Olivia to hang up the phone.
Lisa hesitated. There was so much of her life in her phone. All her photos, her texts, everything. Yes, it was all backed up, but who knew when she’d be able to access the backup? Ditching it wasn’t easy, but there was no other choice. If the police caught up to them, she risked losing far more than memories.
“Here, give me that,” she said roughly.
Olivia handed the phone over.
Lisa stared at it for a few moments, then she hit the button to reset to factory defaults and threw it out the window. Even with how slowly the traffic was moving, it didn’t take long for it to be crunched under a car tyre.
At least the data from it would be unrecoverable. Lisa hoped.
“What did you do that for?” Olivia asked in shock.
“They can track it,” Lisa told her.
Olivia was silent for a few moments, then heaved a sigh. “I suppose I should ditch mine too.”
Lisa winced. She’d had enough trouble giving up her own phone. Her concern for Verrian had made it a simple choice. She couldn’t make herself ask Olivia to do the same.
She didn’t have to. Olivia heaved another sigh, rolled down her window, and pitched her phone out onto the road.
All was quiet in the car for a few moments as they inched their way along the crowded road.
Lisa glanced over at Verrian in the backseat, his face pale and his eyes closed. Was he still okay? Would he make it as far as Raven’s?
It was too late for second guessing her actions. This was where they were, and the only way was forward.
If only there weren’t so many cars in the way.
Ahead of them, Raven swerved into a side street. Lisa followed.
The backstreets were a lot less crowded. Even though they weaved around a lot, it felt much better to be moving.
The further they got from the city, the less crowded it became, although the odd siren still set Lisa’s nerves on edge. Lisa hadn’t realised Raven lived so far out of town. That was going to come in handy.
Raven pulled into a long driveway, the house pretty much hidden from the road, and Lisa’s nerves calmed a little. The house seemed private, hidden, safe. They’d be okay here for long enough for Verrian to heal.
So long as Raven’s friends didn’t give them away.
Lisa pulled to a stop as close to the front door as she could, then came around to Verrian’s side of the car. Blood was starting to seep through the robe now, hard to hide, even though Lisa did her best to wrap a clean section over the wound.
Verrian managed to open his eyes. “Thank you, Lisa,” he said quietly.
For some reason, his words made Lisa’s eyes fill with tears. Was he ever not polite? “Nothing to thank me for. Just stay alive, okay?” she insisted.
Verrian nodded shakily. “Sure. I’ll do my best.”
The fact that there was still some strength left in his voice gave Lisa hope, but the way he leaned heavily on her and seemed to be struggling to put one foot in front of the other, concerned her again.
Somehow, they managed to make it inside without further incident.
Lisa paid little attention to the interior of Raven’s house. The musician stood in front of her, looking nervous. “What do you need? Where is the best place for this?”
“We need to lie him down,” Lisa said. “Do you have a guestroom?”
Raven quickly showed her into a neat and tidy bedroom. Lisa felt a little bad that Verrian was going to bleed all over the black embroidered doona, but at least it probably wouldn’t show the stains.
The effort of getting inside had taxed Verrian. He barely moved as they eased him onto the bed, then just lay there, his face pale and his eyes closed.
Lisa’s heart constricted. Had the move hurt him more? Were they too late?
Was there any way he could heal from this without assistance?
“Do you need anything?” Raven hovered in the doorway.
Lisa could barely hear his question over her thumping heart. Ignoring Raven and Olivia’s curious eyes, Lisa sat gingerly down on the edge of the bed. “Verrian?”
He didn’t answer. His eyelids didn’t even flicker.
Panic hit Lisa, but when she laid a hand on his chest, it was still rising and falling, if faintly.
He was still alive, but he seemed to have slipped into unconsciousness.
If she didn’t do something, now, he could die.
Lisa’s heart skipped a beat. There was only one answer now. She was going to have to sleep with him. Anticipation fluttered in her stomach, along with a healthy dose of nerves.
She and Verrian would be bonded for life.
Her knees trembled. Part of her wanted this so much. She ached to be with him again. She wouldn’t even hesitate if it weren’t for the longer term implications.
Mated for life.
Lisa shook her head.
She was going to have to do more than just sleep with him. The sex came later, after he was healed.
How did she do the first part?
She didn’t even know where to start.
Karla. Karla would know what to do. Lisa fumbled in her pocket for her phone, then she remembered.
It was gone. And she wasn’t even sure she could remember Karla’s phone number.