The sun was starting to set when Ty slid the truck to a stop and smiled at the ranger in the small guard shack that reminded Senora of a toll booth.
“We’re about to close,” the woman said. “Unless you’re camping or renting a cabin, you don’t have time to get in and out before we close. There’s no tent camping on the mountain without a permit.”
Ty smiled at the woman, an expression Senora assumed made most women melt instantly.
The ranger wasn’t amused, but Senora was. Men like Ty got their way all the time just by turning on the charm. Senora struggled not to laugh as she witnessed Ty meeting his match.
When he heard her snort indelicately from holding in her giggles, he turned to look at her, then arched an eyebrow.
Before she knew what he was about to do, he reached into her front pocket, pulled out her FBI badge and handed it to the woman.
“I understand, Diana,” he said sweetly. “We’re here on official business, and I’ll need a way to access your fire roads so I can search for a wanted criminal.”
Diana gasped, and Senora almost choked. Ty was laying it on thick, and the woman in the crumpled, tan uniform was buying it hook, line and sinker.
“A criminal?” she said, leaning forward and whispering dramatically.
Senora did her best to keep her eyes from rolling in her head. This couldn’t be real life. It just couldn’t be.
“A dangerous criminal,” he added. “But we’re trying to keep it hush-hush, so I’m going to need you to keep it to yourself.”
The woman nodded, all too eager to help. Her complete change in demeanor was astonishing, and Senora found herself watching Ty work and admiring the easy way he talked to people. She’d always been comfortable with people, but nothing like the way Ty was. People, men and women alike, adored him. Even the ranger, who had been prickly because it was almost time to close up, had ended up bending under his smooth words.
It was enough to make Senora want to gag.
The ranger gave Ty directions, and after handing him a map with the fire roads in red and giving him all the inside tips to bypassing the gates, they finally drove away and headed into the park.
“Smooth, right?” he said, obviously proud of himself.
“It would be more impressive if you weren’t as good-looking as you are. An average-looking man couldn’t do what you do. Unless you lied about dragons being the only shifters who could enchant humans. It isn’t very fair if you’re using your powers to disarm people.”
“I thought you didn’t believe that we have those powers,” he shot back lightly, laughing at her when she frowned.
“Touché,” she said. “But you know what I mean. Even if you don’t have supernatural advantages, you do have other gifts that help you get what you want from people.”
Ty looked amused, his smile lighting up his dark brown eyes from within.
“So you’re saying if I wasn’t handsome, then I wouldn’t have been able to get that woman to let me on the fire roads?”
“Exactly,” Senora said.
“So you think I’m handsome.” It wasn’t a question.
“I guess I walked right into that,” Senora said.
Ty shrugged, but his expression was still smug. He’d laid the trap so smoothly, and she had given him exactly what he wanted. Senora made a mental note to be more careful next time, but the truth was that she didn’t really mind. After the awkwardness of their conversation earlier in the day, she was more than happy to go back to the easy, friendly banter they had enjoyed while working on the Glen Rose case. She still wished she was working alone, but if she had to work with someone, then Ty would do. At least she could count on him to protect her in an emergency and to bring valuable insight to situations that she was wholly unprepared for. The paranormal world was a far cry from the world she was used to, and having him there with her made it easier to navigate.
She would never admit to that last bit, because she was still not willing to believe that everything he said was true. Were there people on this earth with powers beyond her understanding? Yes. But were those people something other than people, and were they walking among the humans undetected since the dawn of time? Senora doubted it. She was a natural skeptic, and a big part of her would never accept it, even if she saw it with her own eyes. There had to be another explanation.
“So what’s the plan?” Senora asked, trying to pull her thoughts away from the paranormal and all that it entailed.
“We’re going to drive around and see if we see anything.”
“You made it sound like you were going to take me on a wolf-guided tour of the wilderness.”
“It’s almost two million acres. Even on four legs, there’s no way I could cover that much ground in one day. Accessing the fire roads is going to make this much easier.”
“What are we looking for?”
“Areas with high peaks and dense forest. Dragons like to hide out until dark to fly, so we need to find as many places that can hide a dragon as possible.”
“Wouldn’t he just turn into a human during the day?”
“He would, but he would be unclothed unless he has something with him. As quickly as they left the hotel, I’m not so sure our fugitive has clothes for his human body.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” Senora said, blushing somewhat. “I guess if I didn’t have time to stop and grab clothes that I would have to find somewhere to hide until dark.”
“That’s one thing to consider. The other is Carla. Is she with Ethan against her will, or is she in on this somehow?”
“What in the world would she be in on? By all accounts, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he took her because he thought that she was in danger, but the witnesses were clear that she was shrieking in terror as they fell from the window.”
“What about when he shifted and began to fly? Once she knew what he was, did she seem just as scared?”
“I don’t think we’re going to get that information,” Senora countered. “All the witnesses were in shock. It’s one thing for them to notice her screaming when they see a man jumping out the window, but it’s quite another when their own fear is ignited and they are focused on something other than the woman and the man falling through the air. I think that most people would take a few seconds to figure out what they’re looking at in this type of situation, and I don’t expect them to have the clearest accounts of what happened at that point.”
“It’s not like eye witnesses are typically reliable anyway.”
“That’s another thing to consider.”
Ty shifted gears as the truck climbed up the steep road which was nothing more than a wide, gravel path cut into the side of the large hill.
“This doesn’t seem wide enough to accommodate a fire truck.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Ty said. “But it will work for us.”
“What if he flies out when we’re on our way up? How will we chase him?”
“We still have some time, and I don’t intend to be mid-climb when he flies out.”
“If he’s here.”
“If he’s here, I have an idea of where he could be.”
“And once we get there? Are you going to catch him? How are you going to catch him?”
“That’s the tricky part. We’re not going to catch him here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t fly, Senora. What am I supposed to catch him with?”
“Okay. So what is the plan? The end plan, I mean. I know the plan right now is to flush him out. Then what?”
“We’re going to follow him.”
“Didn’t we just do that?”
“You have to trust me on this. Catching dragons takes some finesse. You can’t outfly them.”
“So right now, we’re observing.”
“Observe and contain, then ambush. I also want to see if he still has Carla.”
“If he doesn’t?”
“Then, we’ll call in reinforcements to help find her and leave the bounty hunter to catch him. Kaden is the best, and I have no doubt that he’ll find Ethan.”
“You just don’t trust him to take Ethan down without hurting Carla,” she concluded.
“Kaden has a temper, and he’s known to work sloppy. It’s really a wonder that more people don’t know about dragons the way he works. He usually only kills the dragon, but with Carla being right there, her life is in danger.”
“Why are you okay with it?”
“With what?”
“A man who hunts shifters? Doesn’t that go against everything that you stand for?”
“I’m a wolf. I share nothing with the dragon except my ability to walk through the world in human form. If he committed murder, then he deserves what he gets.”
Ty’s tone was short and curt, catching Senora off-guard. She hadn’t heard him speak so tersely before, and she almost wished she hadn’t asked.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess that would be like asking you if you were mad about police apprehending a fugitive from Oklahoma just because you’re from Texas.”
“We really aren’t comparable. We’re not mortal enemies or anything so melodramatic, but there’s no love lost between our two groups, and I’m not going to stick my neck out for someone who has earned a bounty that high.”
“I don’t blame you.” Senora’s voice was gentle. “I’m not going to say I understand where you’re coming from, because I don’t. But you don’t owe Ethan anything just because he’s a shifter, and if you’re feeling guilty about that, you should let it go. He made his choices, and you have a job to do.”
The silence in the cab of the truck was so heavy that Senora wondered for a moment if she had made a mistake saying what she did. But she stayed quiet, letting the tension that hung between them work itself out until she felt his hand clasp hers in the near darkness. He squeezed gently, then let her hand go, his touch saying more than he could ever say with his words.
She’d hit the nail on the head, and her words had soothed his heart.
“We have a job to do,” he corrected softly, and all at once, the spell was broken. “We’re in this together, you know.”
“I know, and I’m so grateful that-” something caught her eye, and she hung onto the last word, then gasped. “Is that? No way!”
She pointed, but Ty had already seen what caught her eye.
“Yes, it is,” he affirmed, stopping the truck and flipping open his glove compartment. “Keep your eyes on him,” he said, handing her binoculars.
She put the binoculars to her eyes and adjusted the brightness and the focus.
“She’s on his back,” she called out. “The way she’s sitting, she appears completely calm. She might not be with him of her own free will, but she doesn’t appear injured or scared.”
“That’s a good sign,” Ty said, papers rustling as he opened it up. “She’s probably enchanted, which means that she’s not with him by choice, but he’s showing that he values her life, which means that she’s safe for now, and I don’t have to try to rescue her without the equipment I need to catch a dragon.”
“Enchanted?” Senora repeated, disappointed.
She’d forgotten about that possibility. Yes, Carla looked completely at ease astride the massive dragon, but that didn’t mean anything.
“It’s alright. We’ll get to her.” He had a large map out, and he was watching the dragon, then referring back to the map. “Don’t let your hopes get dashed just yet. There are only two dragon strongholds within flying distance of this area, and now that we’ve found him and we see which direction he’s heading, I know exactly where he’s going.”
“What good does that do us?”
“Silver City has an airport, and Denver is a short flight away.” He had put the map away, no longer focused on the dragon that was fading into the distance. “The last flight out leaves at eleven, and the airport is only twenty minutes from this point.”
“It’s almost ten,” she said, surprised when she looked at the clock that so much time had passed.
“We’ll make it. And even if we don’t, there’s no way Ethan can make it from here to Denver in one night. The maximum a dragon can fly in one night is just under five hundred miles, and Denver is over six hundred miles away. They will have to hole up somewhere, and we will be ready for them when they do.”
They reached the top of the road, and Senora took one last look in the direction of the dragon, catching the tiniest glimpse of him in the distance before he disappeared completely. She sighed, put the binoculars down and looked down the fire road ahead.
She immediately wished she hadn’t.
“That’s awfully steep,” she said, her stomach in knots. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“It’s fine,” he said, starting down the road much faster than Senora was comfortable with. “At the bottom of this hill, there’s a turnoff that will take us straight into town. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights?”
“Not afraid, just respectfully leery.”
Ty laughed.
“You’re something else, Senora Edwards.”
“I could say the same about you, but I really just want you to focus on driving.”
She was tense, but nothing was going to fix that, short of reaching the bottom of the large hill. Her heart pounded so loud that she could barely hear what Ty said, but she wasn’t about to engage him in conversation right then.
“Please, just drive,” she said softly.
She hated herself for sounding so weak, but the gravel road was so steep that she almost couldn’t see the road over the hood of the truck.
“Close your eyes, and I’ll tell you when it’s safe,” he said, his voice gentle and the laughter gone.
She did as he asked, grateful that he’d stopped teasing her. Eyes squeezed shut, she saw pictures flashing through her memory, the steep trail that headed through the trees so slippery that the four-wheeler beneath her slid from side to side.
“Please slow down,” she heard her voice say.
“Quiet,” a curt woman’s voice told her from the front seat.
In the truck, Senora’s heartrate quickened, and she gripped the seat beneath her hands and braced her feet.
“I’m scared,” her voice said, though it sounded distant and high-pitched.
“I said shut up,” the woman said.
Senora felt her arms wrap around the woman’s waist, even though the move instantly repulsed her. She was shaking, both here and on that four-wheeler, her entire body convulsing with the fear that she felt.
The four-wheeler pitched sideways, and for an instant, Senora was certain that it was going to roll and they were going to die. She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, but the tears escaped anyway.
They slid the rest of the way down the hill. Not once did the woman offer words of comfort for Senora. Senora fought back the sobs that threatened and held her silence, even though the tears were flooding down her face now.
She knew she was going to die. She just knew it. When she didn’t and the four-wheeler finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, Senora didn’t feel the relief that she should have. The slippery slope was behind them, but there was so much more ahead and-
“Senora,” Ty’s voice broke through the memory and jolted her back to reality. “Senora, are you crying?”
She felt a soft touch as Ty wiped away a single tear that had escaped and slid down her cheek. She was still trembling, and her stomach was in knots.
What the hell had just happened? she thought. Where had that memory come from?
Ty was talking to her again, his concern evident. She shook her head, willing the dread that clung to her and the memory that was already fading to release her. She opened her eyes and forced a smile, but it didn’t materialize.
“What happened, Senora? I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m so sorry. We’re on solid ground now. The road is paved and pretty flat.”
“I’m fine,” she said, but her voice cracked. She swallowed and tried again. “I’m fine. I just had a moment.”
“I didn’t realize that you were actually scared. I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault, and I’m okay. I just remembered something, and I got overwhelmed.”
“By a memory?”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t even know if it happened to me or if it’s from a movie or something. I didn’t think I’d ever been on a four-wheeler before I was an adult, so I think it’s just some remnants of a long-forgotten dream. I’m fine now. I really am.”
Ty stared at her for a moment, then nodded and put the car in gear. The paved road felt like heaven beneath the tires, and within a few miles, Senora felt like herself again. Ty was silent, letting her regain her composure on her own terms and driving more carefully than she’d seen him drive all day.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet and gentle.
“We’re almost to the airport. Are you going to be alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “It’s really nothing. It must have been a recurring nightmare that going down that road triggered. I really am just fine.”
She felt his hand on her leg, but she was too stressed to react.
“If you ever need to talk.”
“I know that you’re here. And thank you. Thank you for not making me feel like a complete fool for what happened back there.”
“You scared me.”
“It scared me, too.”