Chapter 11
When Kytrima drove off in his car, reality hit home for Nate.
He’d been a fool.
A completely and utter fool.
He’d been as bewitched as she claimed Brad had. He’d bought her story, hook, line, and sinker. He’d believed her about being a dragon, and about needing his help.
But she’d just been playing him.
Had this been her goal? To steal his car?
There had to be more to it than that, surely.
He had seen her eyes change, he hadn’t been imagining that. There was no way she could fake a change like that. Sure, contacts could make her eyes look different, but not change like that.
Could they?
He shook his head in confusion. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d been played, but he was sure he had.
The question was, what was he going to do now?
He should call the police and report his car stolen. But for some reason, he didn’t want to.
He wanted to believe that something had happened. That she would bring his car back. His heart was telling him she would, even though his brain was screaming that he’d been swindled.
Nate heaved a sigh, and sat down on the stairs. He’d give her thirty minutes.
Enough time for her to be well and truly gone with his car, if that’s what her aim was.
With his puppy, and Luna.
That was the first thought that pulled him out of the stupor he’d fallen into. He might be willing to risk losing his car, after all it was insured, but poor Lily trusted him.
And he was leaving her with a stranger who’d quite likely done a runner with his car.
How would he explain this to the police anyway? Tell them the whole dragon story she’d told him? They’d think he was crazy.
Admitting that he’d been convinced to trust her by the incredible sex wasn’t the best option either.
In no way did he come out of this looking good.
Nate sighed. If he was going to look like an idiot either way, he might as well make sure that he really was one. He needed to wait, just in case she did come back.
So even though he was certain he was crazy, he sat on the front stairs and waited.
Despite having made a decision, his mind kept going back and forth, debating the pros and cons of that decision.
Until a bolt of thunder startled him out of his own thoughts. Dark storm clouds had gathered, and just as he looked up, it started pelting down rain.
Hadn’t the sky been clear and blue a few minutes earlier? Nate hadn’t paid it that much attention, but he was sure it hadn’t been cloudy. He stood up and stared out at the rain.
A couple of patrons came out of the bar and stared at it too. Nate could hear snippets of their conversation.
“Nothing on the radar, and no rain predicted at all,” one of them said.
“We haven’t had rain here in months, it’s about time,” replied the other.
They stared at the rain for a bit, before shrugging and going back inside.
Nate though, couldn’t stop staring. No more thunder followed the first bolt, and within a few minutes, the clouds rolled away to reveal a clear blue sky again. The only thing that showed it had even happened at all were a couple of puddles.
A tingle ran up Nate’s spine, and he couldn’t help feeling he had witnessed something more than a random, out of the blue thunderstorm.
He was still staring when, five minutes later, his car come back down the road.
He followed it around the side of the pub as Kytrima pulled back into the parking lot.
Nate walked up to the side of the car, his heart thumping. “Have a nice drive?” he asked, as Kytrima opened the door.
“I’m sorry for taking your car,” she said immediately. “And sorry for any damage it might have taken when that bloody princess ran me off the road.”
Her words diverted him from his car. They’d been here. His brother.
And now they were gone.
“You saw them?” Nate demanded. “What happened? You were supposed to be staying here, out of sight, remember?” He waved his hands down the road. “So that they didn’t panic and run away.”
Any doubts as to her story being real had vanished the moment she re-appeared. She’d brought his car back. That had been his only reason for doubting her story.
No, it had been what caused him to start doubting. In reality, the whole thing was a fantastical story and he was a gullible fool for believing any of it.
But how else could he explain everything that was going on?
He wrestled with the problem for a moment, then gave up. It was a wild ride, and maybe he’d be left a destitute fool at the end, but right now, he knew he had to stay on this roller coaster to the end.
“I was!” Kytrima insisted. “I was just sitting in the car park, minding my own business, when they pulled in next to me.”
“Who?” Nate demanded immediately.
“The princess and your brother.”
“Why didn’t you come and get me?” Nate demanded. “I could have talked to Brad, convinced him to listen.”
“There wasn’t time. As soon as the princess saw me, she knew who I was. They backed out and started to run. I had no choice but to chase them.”
Nate could hardly argue with that. “Obviously you didn’t catch them though.”
Kytrima gave a growl. “No, of course I didn’t. Not much I could have done even if I had. I just wanted to know where they were going. But they lost me.”
“Were you responsible for that storm?” Nate asked.
The words sounded stupid, fantastical, and he almost wished he could take them back. Except… she was a dragon.
Kytrima nodded her head impatiently. “Of course that was me. It didn’t help though. I couldn’t use any real magic here, the humans would have noticed. And the princess knew it.”
Nate heaved a sigh. “So what do we do now? They’re obviously not going to come back here, now that they know we’re here. Where would they go next?”
“I don’t know, he’s your brother. Where do you think he’d go?”
Nate didn’t blame Kytrima for her snappy response. He didn’t know any more than she did.
What would he do if he were Brad?
He wouldn’t go to any of the other pubs or hotels, he’d know he’d check there.
Where else was there to go to hide in a small country town?