by Amelia Jade
“Why am I not freaking out?” she asked suddenly. “Shouldn’t I be having a mental breakdown over this?”
“Honest guess? I’d say you have a bit of dragon soul in you. You’re more adaptable than many others.”
Kylie got up and paced over to the window. “I don’t know. I—”
Pounding footsteps on the stairs spun her around. Corde moved faster than she’d ever seen, interposing himself between her and whoever was coming. The flaming sword reappeared and a rumbling growl rose the hackles on her neck as he prepared to defend her.
“Corde, it’s me.” She recognized Vanek’s voice and stepped out from behind Corde’s protection.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“You need to go. Now. Both of you.”
“What, why?”
“The police are here. In force.”
Corde shook his head. “For what? I thought Elin cleared it.”
“She did. But that was before. Let’s go.”
Corde looked at her, his eyes asking the question for him. Do you trust me?
Kylie met his gaze. Biting her lips, she nodded, though she had no idea why.
“Let’s go.”
She moved toward the stairs while he snatched up her bag and followed, easily catching up as they headed toward the elevator.
“Won’t the police be down there?” she asked as they piled in.
“Elin is stalling them. You’re going to have to escape until she can get it cleared up. If she can.”
“What the hell happened?” Corde growled.
“I picked up a few snippets, but it turns out the gang is dead. They went to confirm your story I guess. They found nothing but bodies. Cut by a sword.”
Corde hissed angrily. “The Outsider.”
“That’s what I’d think.”
The elevator chimed and opened for them. Kylie paused. This was it. If she stepped inside, she was trusting in Corde, in what he was saying and had shown her. Trusting that he was the good guy. That they were running from the police for a good reason. Because they were innocent.
Because it was all a misunderstanding.
She laughed once, a hysterical sound, and then got into the elevator, dwarfed on either side by the two dragons. One who claimed to care deeply for her, and the other who was just looking out for them.
“I must be insane,” she said to nobody in particular.
The doors closed and they started to move.
Chapter Nineteen
Corde
The elevator chimed a moment later and opened.
“This isn’t the basement,” Kylie said as they emerged onto the roof.
“Why would we go to the basement? That’s where the police are. We want to stay away from them.” He flashed her a smile. “There’s a much more efficient way to escape.”
The sun was very low in the sky to the west, the clouds a brilliant orange color. He took the stairs swiftly up to the helipad.
“We’re going to escape by helicopter? And why do I have to escape anyway? I didn’t do anything.”
He turned to look at her. “I know you didn’t. That’s not why you’re coming with me.”
Kylie followed him up. “So why am I going with you then?”
This was the question he’d been dreading. One he’d secretly hoped she might not think to ask. But his mate was smart, and she’d puzzled it out.
“The Outsider is coming for me now,” he said. “That’s why it took out the gang, and absorbed their lifeforces as well, probably. It wants to take me on. We need to get you somewhere safe while Vanek and Kallore get ready to attack it.”
“And…why do I need to be safe? Can’t I just go with the police? It doesn’t want anything to do with them, does it?”
“No,” he said slowly.
“Just tell her,” Vanek said as he tossed a bag at him. “This is painful to watch.”
Corde snagged the black duffel and set it at his foot. “Rude. Go away. Try not to get shot, and make sure they don’t wreck anything when they come in.”
His friend disappeared back down the stairs, jogging back to the elevator.
“Corde, what aren’t you telling me?”
Sighing, he looked her right in the eye, not letting the luminous purple glow of them intimidate him.
“When a dragon finds his mate, the woman he’ll be with forever, a bond forms between them. It’s strong. Stronger than anything humans can establish between each other.” He frowned. “Think of a couple that’s been married fifty, sixty years. How close they are. The vibe you get from them. Do you know what I mean?”
Kylie nodded.
“That’s entry level when it comes to a dragon’s bond with his mate. It starts like that and grows.”
“But what does that have to do with me?”
“That bond is full of life. Of lifeforce,” he said, still staring at her. “And we think the Outsiders can sense it. The one that attacked Kallore seemed to sense that Elin was his mate. That if it could kill her, it could defeat Kallore easier.”
Kylie nodded, then repeated herself. “But what does that have to do with me?”
Corde just looked at her, waiting for it all to come together in her head. She was smart, thoughtful, and capable of puzzling together why he was telling her—
“Oh fuck me,” she whispered. “They’re coming after me, because…”
His usual snide comeback to such a comment didn’t seem appropriate just then, so he went with a different route. “Yes, Kylie. You are my mate.”
Her eyes worked for a few brief moments, the violet catching and reflecting the last bits of light as they darted around while her brain thought it all through.
“Why do I not feel like this is some sort of great revelation?” she asked at last. “Shouldn’t I be stunned that I’m apparently a dragon mate?”
“If I’d told you a week ago, you would be. But by now, you’ve experienced the bond between us, Kylie. You know who I am, what I am. You’re aware of the person that I am, and most importantly, you know that the care I’ve shown for you is real, not fake. You can feel it. A part of you has known, you just weren’t ready to listen.”
“And why am I ready to listen now?”
“I didn’t say you were,” he teased. “But I certainly hope so. Because we need to go.”
“How are we supposed to go if the helicopter isn’t here yet?” she asked, pouncing on his change of subject.
Corde wasn’t hurt by that; he could tell she needed some time to process everything that had been said. There was more than just the connection between them that she needed to come to terms with, but also the fact that as long as the three Outsiders were loose, she was in danger and needed to stay close to him. Her world had just changed in more ways than she could comprehend, and the only thing keeping her from having a bit of a breakdown was the imminent danger they were in. If the police arrested him, it would separate the two of them, exposing her to the Outsider.
“Who said anything about a helicopter?”
Kylie looked up into the sky, craning her head left and right. “There is no helicopter, is there?”
He shook his head. “No. We’re not leaving that way.”
“Then how?” Kylie’s eyes popped wide as she spoke. “Are you going to fly us out of here?” she asked with a gasp.
Corde frowned. “What? No. There’s still plenty of sunlight. I think a huge-ass dragon jumping from one of the taller buildings in downtown Barton City with a screaming woman on his back might just attract a bit of attention, don’t you?”
“I guess,” Kylie agreed. “Hey, who said I would be screaming?”
He chuckled, then walked over to the edge of the helicopter pad and hauled open a panel of the raised platform, retrieving the bundle of black straps and material inside. “This is how we’re going to get out.”
“What is that?” she asked cautiously as he started putting it on, tightening straps and adjusting the fit.
“I just tol
d you, our way out.”
“Uh-huh. Try that again, but this time explain what exactly the object is,” she said, crossing her arms.
“It’s a parachute. A tandem one, to be specific.”
Kylie gave him a sidelong look. “And you know how to use one of these, Mr. Sword-wielder Dragon-man from the past?”
“I never told you I was from the past.”
“It’s kind of hard to miss once you told me you were a dragon.”
“Oh. Well, the answer is, yes. I was awoken by the military. They taught me a lot of things. How to use a parachute was one of them. We always thought a rooftop escape might be necessary when using our dragons wasn’t’ an option. Now, we’re running out of time. Let’s go.”
“Why am I not fighting this?” she asked as he strapped her in, her back pressed firmly to his chest. “I should be fighting this. And screaming. Lots of screaming.”
“I thought you told me you wouldn’t be screaming?” he asked, leaning in to kiss her briefly on the cheek.
“I’ve had time to rethink my position on this,” Kylie said with a nervous tilt to her voice.
Corde picked her straight up and shuffle-walked to the edge of the platform. The suit had flaps built into the arms that would help him guide them away from the building, and the wind was blowing to the west as well. The drop was a short one, only forty floors, but he knew they would be just fine. The military had spared no expense on the suit when he’d requested the tandem one two days before.
“Ready?”
“No. Can we just do the dragon thing instead? I think I’d be more okay with thAAAA!” her voice trailed off into a scream as he took the last two steps at a run and flung them from the building.
Arms spread wide, he caught the wind and they shot away from the building. A second later he pulled the ripcord and the parachute deployed smoothly. His heart slowed ever so slightly at that. Corde had maybe exaggerated his skill with a parachute to Kylie. The military had taught him, true.
But one jump didn’t make him the expert he’d sounded like.
They landed on the roof of a three-story building as far away from his as he could manage. Corde doubted their departure had gone unnoticed, but he hadn’t heard any sirens just yet.
“Quick, let’s go,” he said, stuffing the parachute half into the bag and then hiding it under a piece of metal venting. If there was time he would come back for it, but for now the first priority was getting them somewhere safe.
“Where do we go?” she hissed, looking over the roof to the ground below.
At that moment he became aware of a buzzing. “Answer it,” he said, pointing at her pocket.
Kylie frowned as she pulled out Vanek’s cellphone. “Forgot I still had this,” she said to him before lifting it to her ear. “Hello?”
He surveyed the area, keeping a watchful eye on the growing shadows. An Outsider could be hiding in any one of them, and it would be on them before he knew it.
“Yes, this is Kylie. Who? Colonel Mara?”
He nodded to indicate that she was trusted.
“A safe house? Okay. Where?”
Listening to just one side of the conversation was a little disjointing, but he kept most of his attention on the rooftop around them. They crouched low to avoid being seen by anyone walking on the streets below. Their arrival had attracted a bit of attention, but by avoiding being seen, he hoped people would move on. The darkening sky and swiftness of their descent meant they hadn’t been airborne for very long, which reduced how many people might have seen them.
Hopefully.
“What? That’s right where we’re doing our community service. How…Oh. Okay, fine. Yes, we’ll go there now.” She hung up the phone and shoved it back in her pocket.
Instead of asking her what the plan was, he simply waited for her to explain. Kylie was his equal, his mate, his partner. He would keep her safe, but she needed to know that if something went down, they were in it together. Until the end, whether that was tonight, or hundreds of years in the future.
“She wants us to go to a safe house.”
“Let me guess,” he said, putting things together. “She arranged with your company for us to be doing community service nearby, so that she could keep an eye on us?”
“Got it in one. The old abandoned industrial area we just started on. We need to… hey!”
Corde scooped her up and then hopped over the edge of the roof, cushioning the landing as best he could, his knees bending hard.
“Tell me as we go, no time to waste,” he said, taking off at a dead run through the parking area behind the storefront.
The Outsider had made its move. Now it would be coming for him, and he needed to get Kylie to safety before he could deal with it.
To the west the sky began to darken as the sun sank between two peaks, disappearing at last over the horizon. Afternoon had given way to evening, which would soon give way to night.
Time was running out.
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.
