Chapter 8
“Look, before you say anything,” Rita said quickly, “I want you to know that the police were here an hour ago and said I was to call them if I heard from you. So don’t tell me anything you don’t want them to know.”
Lisa couldn’t help smiling. It was perfect. “That’s okay,” she told Rita. “I want you to tell them this. In fact, I’m counting on it.”
She glanced up and down the quiet, industrial street. No one was around at this time of night. All the buildings were dark and empty. Just as long as it stayed that way.
“Oh.” Rita was silent for a second. “You want me to? Well that’s a turn up for the books. Why?”
“Does it matter?” Lisa asked. “Look, do you want the information or not? I thought you would want more news, since you apparently can’t help publishing it whether you have permission or not.”
The accusation was a little unfair. Rita hadn’t published everything Lisa had told her. Lisa ignored the guilt tugging at the back of her mind. It didn’t matter. Right now, her aim was to distract Rita from why she wanted this information to be released.
And it worked.
“I’m so sorry about the article in the paper,” Rita said quickly. “I didn’t say anything to my boss about what you’d told me, honest. Paul sold the photos directly him and if I didn’t agree to publish them, I would’ve lost my job.”
Even though she’d already guessed something like that, Lisa was glad to hear Rita hadn’t deliberately betrayed them. Not that it changed anything now. “That’s okay,” she said. “I take it you heard what’s going on?”
“The dragon flying over the city? Yeah. Kind of sad I missed out on that one, although I don’t really want to come face to face with that guy again.” Rita hesitated a minute. “So, since someone else has made the scoop, and the news is out there, does that mean I can release the other stuff you told me? I didn’t want to until I’d talked to you, just in case.”
Typical. Rita just wanted the story. Lisa bit down the sarcastic retort that rose to her lips. This was exactly what they needed right now.
“Sure,” she agreed. “And I have another juicy detail for you, and for the police.”
“What?” Rita demanded, her voice excited.
“I have the location to the dragon’s lair.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. Then, “I’m not sure I want to go anywhere near that dragon again, even if it would be the best scoop ever.”
At least she had a healthy dose of caution.
“You don’t need to go there,” Lisa assured her. “We just want you to release the information.”
“Ahh.” Rita gave a laugh. “Not your dragon’s lair then, the other guy. Dragon war getting serious huh? Sure, I can do that.”
“We can’t talk for long, remember,” Verrian’s voice in her head intruded on her conversation. “The police will be here as quickly as they can.”
Lisa bit her lip. She strained her ears, but could hear no hint of sirens.
Not that a lack of sirens was any guarantee. The police were probably keeping them off to avoid spooking her. “Sure,” Lisa said quickly. She gave Rita the location of Ultrima’s lair, in a far distant mountain, then ended the call.
Then she turned to Verrian with a smile. “Let’s get out of here.”
He smiled back, his eyes glowing slightly in the darkness. It was kind of nice, being just the two of them again. Even the thrill of danger only added to the moment.
Danger followed Verrian wherever he went, but to her surprise, Lisa was starting to get used to it. At least this danger wasn’t likely to be a dragon attacking them. Funny how the police seemed far less threatening when you compared them to a dragon throwing lightning bolts.
She could feel the connection to Verrian in the back of her mind. The awareness of his presence never left her, even when they were in different rooms back at Raven’s.
Somehow, it stopped her being afraid.
She wasn’t alone. She’d never be alone again.
That thought was more comforting than she’d ever expected it to be.
She’d have to save marvelling over that fact for later though, right now, they needed to get out of here. She pulled on the helmet and threw her leg over the bike.
Verrian climbed on behind her and put his arms around her waist. His presence was comforting as they drove off into the night.
The city was eerily quiet. The roar of the bike engine sounded abnormally loud in the absence of other traffic. Lisa winced. “So much for going undetected,” she said to Verrian, the mind to mind speaking having no trouble communicating itself over the roar.
“I can fix that.” Verrian’s arms tightened around her waist for a second, then suddenly the engine roar was muted. A few moments later, it disappeared altogether.
Of course. Sound dragon. Why hadn’t it occurred to Lisa he could do something about that? She still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that he could change sound like that. “Much better,” she said approvingly.
Now they were as silent as the dark streets they were travelling through. Lisa didn’t feel so exposed and detectable. Much more comfortable.
They drove east for about thirty minutes, leaving the phone booth where they’d made the call far behind. Hopefully, if the police traced the call, they’d focus their search to the west.
As they neared the outskirts of the city, Lisa slowed, paying more attention to their surroundings. Every car made her tense up, just in case it was the police. Luckily, they only encountered a few of them, but even so, she was a bundle of nerves by the time they reached the edge of the state forest.
Once they were off the sealed roads and onto the dirt tracks stretching between the tall plantation pines, she felt a lot better. Surely no one would be looking for them here?
Verrian stared around them. “What is this place?”
“State forest,” Lisa told him. “They grow pine trees for wood and paper. But because it’s state land, you can travel through it.”
“Are you sure we aren’t going to get lost?” Verrian asked doubtfully. “If I were flying over the top, it would be easy to find our way, but down here we can’t see anything but trees.”
He’d hit on the one possible issue. Lisa tried to sound confident. “I’ve been through this area a couple of times. I went out with this guy who liked to go four wheel driving here once.”
She felt rather than heard Verrian’s mental growl. “You’re my mate now.”
Seriously? He was choosing this moment to get all alpha on her? “It’s not like he’s going to show up and tell us the way,” she said back flatly. “And right now, if he did, I’d be saying thanks.”
“That’s the bit I’m worried about.” There was still an undercurrent of a growl to Verrian’s words.
“Look, I slept with you to save your life,” Lisa snapped. “Telling me who I can and can’t see, WHEN THEY’RE NOT EVEN HERE, is a pointless waste of our time when we’re still running for our lives.”
Verrian was silent this time, but somehow, Lisa could still feel his annoyance.
No, not annoyance. More, a self-righteous feeling that he owned her.
Like hell he did.
But right now wasn’t the time to tell him that. Right now, they needed to find their way through this forest, and that was going to take all of Lisa’s wits. She needed to clear her mind, and ignore Verrian’s stupid, pig-headed, male pride.
The task in front of her, navigating miles of unmarked and unsigned dirt forest roads, was more than enough to keep her busy. It wasn’t like she had the GPS on her phone, or even a compass, to help her.
Lisa sped through the tall trees, the eerie silence of the bike just making the experience seem even more surreal.
How had her life come to this?
Not that her life had been perfect, but she’d managed pretty well for herself. She’d found herself a decent job, rented a nice apartment, and she certainly hadn’t had a bad social life.
Then she’d met Verrian and all that had gone out the window. Her apartment was probably swarming with police, her workmates being questioned, and certainly the only thing her friends would be asking her if she ever saw them again was, ‘Was that really a dragon?’
And now, he had the gall to tell her she was his mate and act as though that meant she could never talk to another man.
She hadn’t signed up for that. None of this had been planned. She’d slept with him to help him, not because she was making a promise to be his for the rest of her life. Yes, she’d known about the bond, but that didn’t mean she belonged to him.
Not that she had the least interest in any other guys. And despite Karla’s warnings, that had nothing to do with the bond. She hadn’t even thought of anyone else since the moment she’d first slept with him.
But that didn’t mean she was going to sit down and let him dictate her life to her.
Lisa bit back a sigh.
Not the time. She’d told Verrian that earlier and she needed to remember it herself.
Light almost blinded her as car headlights swept across the road in front of her. Lisa swerved, panic hitting her. But the car wasn’t on their road. In her distraction, she’d gone too close to the highway. Anyone could see them. They may have muffled the engine’s sound, but there was no way they could drive without the headlights on, especially not in the intense darkness under the pine forest.
Lisa cut back into the trees, her heart hammering in her chest.
Had that been a police car? It hadn’t had flashing lights or a siren, and was too dark to see if it had markings. It could have been anyone. Hopefully they hadn’t even seen her.
She needed to stay alert though, not let her mind wander.
If she didn’t pay attention, she and Verrian might not have a future to argue over.