CHAPTER SIX
Ryan
Ryan snorted as he extended his foreleg hoping the woman would understand that she needed to climb on his back. If she didn’t, he’d have to pick her up with his claws. With hearing more sensitive than he ever had he followed the movements of the men behind the door trying to gain entrance. He heard the hiss of flame and knew they were trying to torch the door open. If he could, he’d shoot flame at the door himself and melt it permanently to its metal frame.
But this whole being-a-dragon thing was still very new and there was much he did not know. Spewing fire would be helpful but beyond his skill set at this moment. His conversation with his father was disappointing and unrevealing. As Ryan surmised after he transformed to his dragon self he was adopted by his parents as a baby. They had no idea who his parents were or are. When Ryan displayed unusual abilities when he was young his father employed a hypnotist to suppress Ryan’s natural expressions of super strength, hearing and shifting.
It was infuriating.
But now there were many things he understood about himself—his constant restlessness, the feeling of being constrained, the sense that he was more than he was. Every victory on the playing field, in card games, in seducing women were all pale imitations of who he was.
The woman stood there with his clothes in her hands, staring wide-eyed at him. How could he convey that he would not hurt her? That he needed for her to come with him so they could flee this place? There was no question in his mind that she should go with him wherever that would be. It didn’t occur to him that she wouldn’t.
Ryan roared his frustration which was probably not the wisest thing. She yelped, then straightened her body and a neutral expression settled on her face.
“Okay, you damned dragon. But afterward you are going to explain everything.”
Of course he would. He shook his head in the human equivalent of agreement. She took off her shoes wincing then clutching them along with his clothes and scrambled to his back. She settled between his shoulders and he raised his wings.
“Wait!” she called. He felt her shift and fiddle and he snorted impatiently. He looked over his shoulder to see her stuffing his clothes and shoes into his pants, then turning pulling the legs through loops and then tying them a knot and hanging the contraption off her neck.
The effort to break the ruined door was nearly paying fruit. The hissing of the acetylene torch suddenly ceased. Any second their pursuers would pour through the opening they made.
“Let’s go!” she yelled.
Ryan watched the edge of the high building and leaped, soaring down toward the helipad on a lower level below. People out for a smoke on the helipad screamed or cursed at the sight of the dragon bearing down on them, but he felt the edge of a current of warm air and banked to find the rising spiral to carry them up and over the city.
Steph had grabbed his hide with both hands and leaned over his neck reducing wind resistance. His heart unaccountably swelled at the thought that the woman was that smart. She was a prize, this one.
He soared relishing the wind under his wings and the freedom of flight. Ryan thought he could go on like this forever, but he felt Steph shiver on his back. She was hurt, and probably tired and sore and couldn’t ride him for long without weakening. This was a sobering thought. Where was he going to go?
He hadn’t thought about that on his mad dash to get to Steph. After his conversation with his father Ryan had the horrifying thought that she would be held accountable for his actions, and he could not allow this. Ryan might not be as involved in his father’s business as the elder Kaur would like, but he was aware of the powerful and dangerous elements that ran through the current government.
Ryan ran through the different properties his father owned and remembered a hunting cabin in Vermont. They couldn’t stay there long, but it would give Steph the opportunity to regroup and Ryan a moment to think about their next steps. A picture of the lodge popped in his mind and then the most amazing thing happened.
Utter cold gripped him, the kind he imagined existed in space, and the sensation of falling overtook him. He could hear Steph screaming in his mind. But because he could not breathe knew that was not possible. There was no air where they were.
Ryan swore and almost lost it as panic gripped him. This would not do. Steph was with him and he needed to protect her. At the thought of Steph an instinct he didn’t know he had asserted itself telling him this was right and normal. Ryan regained his composure. He thought about the cabin again.
The atmosphere burst around them and the sun sinking in the sky temporarily blinded him. He looked away and then below to the secluded lake and the large “cabin” his father built as a getaway from the pressures of urban living. Ryan had counted on flying for at least two hours, but this was much, much better. How he got here was a mystery, but he was glad there was some shortcut for travel. It would make things easier once he figured out what to do.
He swooped low over the lake for the sheer joy of it, then settled on the grassy shore.
Thank God! The words came from Steph but he didn’t hear the sound. But he got the impression that she was utterly exhausted and couldn’t take much more.
Ryan shifted and turned to catch Steph in his arms.
“What are you doing?” she snapped.
“Holding you up.”
“Get your hands off of me.”
Ryan stared into her compelling greens eyes and thought that he wasn’t going to let go of her.
“Where the hell are we?” she snapped.
“At my family’s hunting cabin. I thought it was a good place to hide out a bit while we decide what to do.”
“I need to get back to the city and report to my firm.”
“No,” said Ryan stubbornly. “That is the first place those government agents will look for you. Besides, I don’t think you are done with your assignment of babysitting me.”
“Babysitting?” she said indignantly.
“Don’t deny it. And my father was right. I am a mess, and I need to stay away from the family business for a while until the dragon business dies down. I don’t think they’ve associated the dragon with me yet.”
Ryan lifted Steph in a sweep of his arms.
“What are you doing now?”
“Taking you inside and getting you out of the sight of prying eyes.”
“Here? We are in the middle of nowhere.”
“No, not quite. You have heard about surveillance drones, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then.”
Ryan held her tightly as he walked up the stairs that led to the deck that surrounded the log cabin. He breathed in her scent and found it enticing. No. Mesmerizing was more like it. Had he ever found a woman’s natural musk more enticing? He did not think so. From deep within him he rumbled satisfaction.
He set her on her feet outside the door. He intended to find the key and get her inside. But with her so close he found the lure of her body too much to take. Ryan had never second guessed himself on his attractions. He enjoyed women, and they enjoyed him. But this was far, far different, and he wanted to find out why.
Ryan leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. Instantly the taste of her overtook his senses. He drew closer and put his arms around her pulling her to him. Her mouth was soft and the taste of her sent tingles through him. He deepened the kiss, and she did not protest. Pressing his tongue forward she opened for him and slid his tongue along hers. This tasted better than the finest wine and he wanted more of her.
“Come inside,” he said. His fingers searched for the emergency key between the chinks of the logs and found it. Reluctantly he drew away and opened the door.
Steph stared at him with a far away look and Ryan knew she would deny him nothing. Something rattled in his brain long forgotten about dragon lore. What was it? Yes. Dragons could seduce any woman. It was part of their magic. Well, Ryan didn’t feel any magic except the kind between a man and a woman when they were hot for each other.
Still, he would not abuse the thin thread that tied them together and would not take advantage of it. He wasn’t sure what that thread was, but he wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t snap. In less than a day this woman became very important to him which seemed incredible. But then again it was entirely true.
He opened the door and picked her up again and walked through the halls to a guest bedroom. Ryan lay her down gently on the bed which smelled of clean bed linen. His father kept a caretaker here who was supposed to have the cabin ready at a moment’s notice so he wasn’t surprised. But that was another consideration. He didn’t want the caretaker to reveal their presence.
“Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
“No,” she said. “Stay.”
Ryan swallowed hard. How could he refuse he