Chapter Twenty
Kylie
They slowed as the commercial buildings gave way to rundown industrial factories. These were still in operation, but barely. The city was changing and they refused to change with it. In a few more years, Kylie fully expected the entire area to be abandoned and ready for reclamation by the city.
Corde came to a halt and she slid from his arms. It was embarrassing to have been carried like that, but she had to admit there was no way she would ever have been able to keep up. They would have had to stop and wait for a cab, something Corde hadn’t been willing to do.
“Can I ask you something?” she said as they continued on deeper into the abandoned buildings.
“Sure.” The response was distracted, his attention focused outward instead.
Corde had his hands held out to the side at the ready, and Kylie belatedly realized he’d probably put her down in case he needed to summon his sword. Was he expecting trouble too?
“Well, I was thinking. You said that you think these things can sense the lifeforce, or whatever it is, in you, right?”
“Mm-hmm.” He guided them through a factory with crumbling walls and out the other side.
“So, won’t it just be able to follow you here?”
“Yes.”
Kylie frowned. “So what am I missing? Why bother coming all the way out here then? Won’t it just follow you here?”
“I hope so.”
“Really?” she asked sarcastically. “Because you know, I’m out here too.”
He looked over his shoulder and smiled. “The safe house isn’t for me, my darling. It’s for you.”
Kylie thought furiously for a moment, and then her jaw dropped open as she realized everything that was going on. “You can’t just start calling me cute little names like that while you say you’re using me for bait!”
Corde smiled. “My apologies. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now. It just sort of slipped out.”
“I’m not really sure I believe this whole ‘mate’ business,” she said. “I like you, I know that. There’s chemistry. But you make it sound like we’re tied together forever.”
“We are.”
She shook her head. “That’s not how it works, Corde.”
“Yes, it does. Just like the safe house. We’re not using you as bait, Kylie. It’s going to come after you regardless. All we’re doing is letting it happen in a place where we have the upper hand.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean Kallore and Vanek will be on their way here as soon as they finish with the police. Then it’s three dragons against one of them. Even though it just…fed,” he shuddered at the term and Kylie felt sick. “Even with that, the three of us should be able to defeat it. And out here, there’s nobody around. If we need to shift, well…we can.”
Kylie looked around again, this time envisioning massive dragons battling. She saw factories shattering, smokestacks crumbling, and debris flying everywhere. Fire filled the sky as everything burned around her.
“Umm, are you sure I’ll be safe?” she asked with a squeak, suddenly feeling very, very small.
“It will get to you over my cold, dead body,” he promised solemnly.
“That’s kind of what I’m afraid of.”
Corde paused, looking around for a moment, and then turned to face her. “Have a little faith in me,” he admonished, before kissing her.
Kylie’s brain dissolved into mush at the heat of his mouth, the hunger in it. She almost melted into him, throwing her arms around his neck so that she wouldn’t stumble and break the moment.
“We’re going to be fine,” he said when they finally parted. “Now let’s go.”
She watched him as he started off again, her lips still tasting of him, making her head swim. Damn he was hot. And he cared for her, wanted to make her his, to share everything he had with her. He was smart, funny, gorgeous, and had plenty of money, and wanted to treat her like a goddess.
So why was she still not totally ready to dive in? Something was holding her back, preventing her from giving it a try. She walked after him, analyzing her thoughts, her emotions, trying to figure out what her subconscious was attempting to tell her.
But there’s nothing wrong. It’s a dream come true.
That was it, she realized. The reason behind her fears. It was a dream. Kylie hadn’t yet come to grips with the fact that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t real after all. That she was being lied to, that everything was just a big scam. It was a lot of effort to go to in order to get in her pants, but maybe he had a flair for the grandeur.
Or he was just delusional.
They emerged from another building into what appeared to be an old loading dock. The massive flat area was filled with various rusted old machinery. Carts, dumpsters, and piles of random metal everywhere. Concrete barriers had been dumped in a pile in one corner, while a huge stack of wooden pallets, rotted and starting to collapse on themselves occupied another.
Corde paused to look at the area.
“What’s wrong?”
“This would be a perfect area for a trap. We’re almost there; the entrance is in that building.” He pointed to the concrete bunker-like structure on the far side of the loading zone. “If we can just get over there, you’ll be safe.”
Kylie started to speak, but before she could Corde spun around, his focus all of a sudden behind them, not in front. His nose wrinkled several times and she saw his eyes tighten in alarm.
“Run,” he hissed. “Run!”
Her feet were already moving, carrying her out into the obstacle course. Heavy footfalls let her know Corde was right behind her. At one point she glanced over her shoulder. Immediately she wished she hadn’t.
Coming after them in complete silence was a black shape, a shadow in the darkness that had fallen. It lurched and humped across the ground in a revolting manner that was somehow fast enough to gain ground on them, even if it looked like it should be slow.
It was large, almost as big as Corde was. He’d described it to her earlier, but this was much bigger. It must have grown after it had eaten the gang. Kylie’s fear grew as she suddenly realized if she didn’t outrun it, it was going to eat her!
Her short legs churned faster, and she moved swifter than she had in years, but still it gained on them.
Corde pulled alongside of her, and then in front of her, running backward the entire time.
Show-off.
“Don’t look back. I love you.”
And just like that, he reversed direction and charged at the Outsider with a mighty roar.