by Amelia Jade
Rhyolite’s eyes narrowed at that. He felt that there was a story there, but he didn’t press the issue.
“I’m aware of that,” he admitted warily.
“Then if you wish to stay, you aren’t to do any more damage.”
“What damage? I’ve not done anything.”
Obsidian loomed up large. “Do not lie to me. You know of what I speak. Cease your actions.”
Angrily he spread his own wings, not backing down to the challenge. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve not done anything!”
Behind them there was the sound of snow as it cracked loose from a peak and began to plummet down the slope. Both dragons turned to watch. Aimee, with her human eyes and lower level of vision, was unable to see much.
“Ooops,” Rhyolite said. “I didn’t think that would happen.”
Obsidian’s yellow eyes flashed. “We must be careful. This is a risky season, and several lives have already been lost because of the avalanches.”
“That’s not our fault!” Aimee snapped, obviously feeling like the comment was a shot to her team.
“Calm,” he urged, ignoring Obsidian’s questing look. “Is there anything else you want?” he snapped, getting tired of his enemy’s presence.
“Yes. To speak to the woman. Alone.”
“Absolutely not,” he said without hesitation. “Whatever you want to say to either of us, say it.”
Aimee nodded her agreement.
Obsidian sighed. “I wished to ensure that he isn’t using his powers on you.”
“Don’t,” Rhyolite hissed, but it was too late. He’d opened the can of worms, and now Obsidian was going to bury him via other means.
“Have you not told her yet?” Obsidian asked, sounding at first surprised, then unimpressed. “She cares for you, isn’t this information you should have shared?”
“The time hasn’t been right,” he said defensively.
Aimee broke in at that point. “Umm, excuse me. But what the hell are you two talking about?”
Rhyolite felt a wave of fear wash over him with an uncanny abruptness. He ignored it, fortifying his mind against the sensation. Beside him though, Aimee went white with terror.
Just like that, it was gone again.
“What the fuck was that?” she snapped, regaining her composure.
“That was fear. It is my power.” Obsidian nodded in Rhyolite’s direction. “His is lust. A much more insidious power, one that you might not know is truly affecting you.”
“I swear,” he protested as Aimee looked at him calculatingly, her eyes narrowing. “I have never used my power on you. Not since I awoke, not once.”
“Get out,” Aimee hissed.
“If you wish a ride back to the city, I could provide one,” Obsidian offered.
“I was talking,” she said, acid in her voice, “to you. Leave us alone.”
The bronze dragon gave Rhyolite one last glance, before he lifted his wings and jumped into the sky. It was clear he was still in pain, but any satisfaction that might have been gained from that was lost as Aimee advanced on him.
“Take me to the car. Now.”
His first instinct was to argue with her. To get her to speak to him, to tell him why she was so mad. He was telling the truth: not once had he even considered using his powers upon her. But she seemed to think otherwise, and until she calmed down, he judged she would be unreasonably angry.
“Of course,” he said, slumping to the ground in defeat as she climbed back aboard, refusing to meet his eyes.
Once she was secured he took to the skies as well, the pain in his heart worse than anything else he’d experienced that day.
Chapter Nineteen
Aimee
He set her down just below a ridge, out of sight of anyone who might be using the road she’d parked on. Aimee hopped down from his neck, undid the rope, and marched off. The entire ride she hadn’t spoken a word to him, and she had no intention of doing so now.
The ass.
It all made sense now. The rapidity of their relationship, but more so the previous night. Never before had she been so quickly struck with such arousal for someone. Even on the two occasions she’d gone home with someone from the bar, it hadn’t been anywhere near as intense as what she and Rhyolite had shared the night before.
Wading through waist-deep snow, she climbed the ridge and started down, her anger giving her the energy to keep moving at such a fast clip. A fury had been stoked from the embers into a fire that filled her entire soul. How could she have been so stupid? That was, perhaps, what irked her the most. That she’d fallen for it completely.
It didn’t matter that he was hundreds of years old and had probably been practicing his techniques that long. She was smarter than that, and should have recognized that the manipulative dragon would be after her for one thing, and one thing only. And not only had she given it up, but she’d enjoyed it thoroughly the entire time. Her entire face was ablaze with embarrassment. Angel would be ashamed of her if he ever found out.
She began to pick apart their entire relationship during her drive back into the city, from the very moment he’d surprised her in his cave, up until the flight. Had he been manipulating her from the start? With gold and shopping sprees and fancy dinners? It had all been a ruse to get her to open her legs willingly while he plied her brain to ensure it happened sooner than later.
Aimee had been used, and the entire experience left her feeling vulnerable and exposed, like skin scraped raw. How typical of her. A good-looking guy shows interest in her, and she goes off-the-rockers crazy for him in a matter of days. Like every relationship she’d been in before though, it had ended in flames, crumbling down around her while she sat in the middle of it all and watched it happening, upset that she hadn’t seen the first spark leap from the hearth.
She sped by the turn that would have taken her home, heading instead to the north end of town, and then past the outskirts, until she came to the airfield. It wasn’t much, a tiny runway for small planes like crop dusters and the like, and two helipads. A smattering of buildings dotted the property, most of them hangars. She headed for one that was newer-looking than the rest, with two red-and-gray choppers parked out front.
It may not be her house, but it certainly would feel like home. Her team wouldn’t show up until tomorrow, but the others would be there. She could use a bunk and crash. It wouldn’t be the first time one of them had needed a place to stay.
Even as she put the SUV in park and exited, Aimee felt better. This was where she belonged. On the job, out helping people who needed it.
This was her home.
Chapter Twenty
Aimee
“What’s wrong with you, Flow? You look like you had a rough night.”
The harassing voice of Brian “Angel” Harkness awoke her from her dozing as he strode in to the common room where the SAR team hung out and did much of their non-physical training.
She looked up at him from her spot on the couch and flipped him the middle finger. But she stayed awake. His presence meant that they were now on duty, and the shift change had been completed. People were relying on her now, and Aimee was ready to throw herself at it, bringing her A-game more than she ever had before.
Bury the hurt beneath duty, she figured. Shove it so far down it never saw the light of day again. Rhyolite could stay out there in his dank, ugly cave and she wouldn’t care. Hopefully he lost all his treasure when an avalanche caused a cave-in. That, she figured, would serve the asshole right for manipulating her into sleeping with him.
“I’m good,” she replied to his unspoken question when she didn’t immediately say anything. Shoving Rhys from her mind, she shut the door on her hurt for the time being. The unspoken reprimand from Angel was enough to get her riled up. She was not going to let this asshole distract her from her job.
“You’d better be. Franco’s shift responded to a record number of avalanche calls the past three days. It’s getting worse.
” Harkness shook his head angrily. “The resorts still won’t close the hills either, despite our repeated requests. At this rate, it’ll take someone getting seriously hurt for that to happen.”
Aimee nodded. They ran into this every avalanche season, though this one was worse than any she could recall. “I suppose we’d better be ready to go save their asses when the inevitable happens, shouldn’t we?”
“Isn’t that always the way it goes?” he replied.
Behind them Jergins and Clancy rolled in, both holding cans of soda, talking to each other. Aimee opened her mouth to make a remark, but their radios buzzed at the same time.
“Be advised, reports of two skiers trapped on Napier Peak after a suspected avalanche. SAR is required on scene.”
The room exploded into action as the four of them leapt for their gear. Napier Peak was home to the Whorly Resort, one of Drake’s Crossing’s fanciest ski resorts, and also the most northerly and highest elevation. Anytime a call came in from them, it was bound to be bad news.
Aimee was ready first, and started for the door. Harkness wasn’t far behind, and his long legs caught up to her. When the other two joined up the four took off at a jog for their chopper. Shortly thereafter they were airborne and headed up into stormy gray skies that promised more danger than any of them were interested in.
“Listen up, people, this isn’t going to be easy,” Harkness said, speaking over the cockpit channel after getting the full details of the situation. “The two skiers are trapped in a valley about halfway down the hill. Seems they decided to do some free-skiing, and ignored all the warning signs.”
The team groaned. Arrogant pricks like these were the worst.
“How did we even find them?”
“Oddly enough, a cell phone call. They appear to be all right, just trapped, unable to climb up the walls. Some bumps and bruises, but I guess they missed the avalanche itself, and got caught in the aftermath of the shaking.” Her boss shrugged at the mysteries of life. “Anyway, let’s go get them. Flow, you’re first down to assess. I’m second and King you’re third if we need your ugly ass for some godforsaken reason.”
The laughter was tight and somewhat forced. Despite the situation, they all knew that it could go sideways in a second. Factor in the weather outside, which was likely to worsen, and things could go very, very bad in a hurry. The team settled into a deep silence as the chopper cut through the air, heading for Napier Peak.
Despite all the grief they gave him, Jergins was a hell of a pilot, and in short time had them stabilized over the crevice where the skiers were trapped. Pulling her suit tight, Aimee flung the door open and peered down, easily spotting the black-clad skiers against the blue-white of the ice and snow.
“Eyes on two,” she called, clipping herself in and undoing her harness and safety line. “Requesting permission to go for retrieval.
“Go get ‘em, Flow,” Angel replied, clapping her on the shoulder.
She swung out over the abyss and the wire began to unravel, sending her swiftly into the depths, spare harnesses jingling at her side.
“Help!”
“Save us! Please!”
That’s what I’m here for, idiots. What, do you think I’m just out for a joyride?
Aimee descended to the bottom and introduced herself to the two men.
“Are either of you hurt?” she asked.
They shook their heads.
“Okay, fine. You’re up first,” she said, picking the younger of the two and pulling him over. “Come on now, we don’t know how long we have. This ground could go at any time.” She wanted to stress the urgency of the situation to the two of them. Things had been going fine so far, but that was no guarantee it was going to last. The mountains were all unstable right now, and she wanted to be down here for as little time as possible.
“You’re next,” she said, speaking up to be heard over the beating of the rotors above her. The first civilian was rapidly disappearing into the helicopter.
The wait was a short one, but the sky above them darkened, and she could see snow flurries moving in.
“Let’s go!” she shouted, pulling the man closer as she snagged the descending line and secured him to the now-empty clip. “Angel, one to pull up.”
Her headset crackled with static before his voice came over the air. “Roger that, Flow. Jergins says it’s getting bad out here, so we may have to do an accelerated departure with you.”
“Lovely. Just wait till I clear the walls, okay?”
“Jergins says no problem. He doesn’t want you any flatter than you already are.”
She laughed in the face of everything, knowing that Jergins would never make that joke in a calmer situation. “Tell him that if he gets me out of here I’ll forgive his pathetic excuse to distract me.”
Laughter was all that greeted her. Truthfully though, it had helped. The shock of his crude humor had helped to focus her on the situation, even as she stared up at the high vertical walls of the crevice, praying that they wouldn’t come crashing down on her at any moment.
As if to enhance her fears, a low groaning sound reached her ears, something so very deep it reminded her of a building falling over in a movie. A hundred feet down the crevice she saw one entire wall simply tip over and hit the other with a crunch.
“Uh, Angel?” she asked, starting to back away. “Did you see that?”
“Line’s on its way down. Hang tight, Flow, we got you.”
That was bad. Really bad. If he wasn’t acknowledging it, that meant he was trying to get her to focus on him.
“Angel,” she said, panic entering her voice as another section crashed over, this one less than fifty feet away. “Hurry please.”
“We’re not leaving you, Flow. Stay focused.”
She turned as the sound intensified. Behind her the ground moved. Not like an avalanche, but rippling, as if something were moving underneath it.
A chunk of wall behind her simply exploded outward, ice chunks flying out in all directions. Aimee screamed and ducked into a ball, protecting her head with her body and arms. Chunks battered her and sent her to the ground.
Above there was a horrifying bang. Looking up, she saw smoke begin to pour from the side of the chopper. Oh no. Her team!
“ANGEL!” she screamed.
There was no response.
“Angel?” she asked. “Angel respond. Are you okay? Angel?”
“We’re okay.” The voice was shaken, but steadying even as he spoke the two tiny words. “Jergins says we took a hit of some kind. What the hell happened?”
“Ice. The wall exploded.”
“Any injuries?”
“Lots of bruises, but nothing a hot tub and wine won’t take care of,” she quipped, trying to keep her voice from cracking, and only half succeeding.
The ground under her heaved, and the entire left wall in front of her crumbled forward. Aimee shouted and bolted toward the rear, but the ground heaved again and flung her from her feet.
“Shit, Aimee, we’re losing power.”
“GO!” she shouted, training taking over. “Get the civvies to safety.”
She flipped over onto her back, watching as cracks appeared in both walls on either side of her. The ground was shaking but she got to her feet anyway, hoping to run onward, making it farther into the crevice, where she could perhaps find shelter.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” she shouted, pushing herself to her feet, stumbling forward as the ground shook and bounced. After no more than five feet she fell to the ground, but this time she kept crawling, using all four limbs to balance her.
More ice from the walls came crashing down, a spear of it impacting less than five feet to her left, spraying her with shards that sliced at the exposed parts of her face.
“Ow, motherfucker!” she shouted.
Her headset buzzed. “We’re going to get the other chopper. Jergins says ten minutes.”
“Bullshit,” she
gasped, thrown to the side as the floor under her rose three feet in less than a second. “It takes three minutes to do preflight.”
“We radioed in. Franco was still on base, he’s getting it prepped now.”
“Okay. I’ll wait to hear from you, then light my flare.” Every member carried several small flares on them for emergencies, though they hoped never to use them.
“We’re coming back for you,” Angel replied, static breaking through the earpiece as they flew out of range.
“You had fucking better,” she said to herself, using up precious air as she pulled herself forward, breathing hard from the exertion.
All at once everything stopped. The ground calmed, leaving nothing but the falling flurries from the storm above them. Aimee looked around, feeling off. Something wasn’t right. She looked up the crevice to perceived safety, and behind her where it was blocked off less than ten feet from her.
Gulp. Nervously she got to her feet, putting one hand against the wall to steady herself.
The instant she touched it the ice wall shook, spilling more ice to the ground.
“What the fuck?” she cried out, pulling her hand back. The wall had felt…well, squishy was the only way to describe it.
She reached forward, trying to figure out what to do, when suddenly something moved behind the wall.
A scream ripped from her throat as Aimee found herself staring into a large, yellow eye. One filled with malevolence as it narrowed on her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rhyolite
He was sulking.
There was no other way to explain it: the sour mood, unwillingness to do anything, and an intense desire to be alone. The only thing that would change that was having his mate around. Aimee. She wanted nothing to do with him, thinking that he’d somehow conned her into thinking that all he wanted her for was sex.
Did she not see the myriad other things he’d done for her? Or the way his face lit up when she did something as tiny as laugh? How about his attempts to adhere to and fit in with a human society that frankly scared him with its technological advances? Rhys had learned the internet and been in the process of discovering all sorts of other things about the world, just so that he could be a better match for her.
