“What kind?” The bartender replied as he picked up a glass and scooped up some ice.
“Just a Coke.” Alvena responded with confusion as Kai walked up.
“She’ll have a Coca-Cola.” He said to the bartender, who began to fill the glass at the soda station.
“Yeah, that’s what I said, a Coke.” Alvena said as she looked at Kai and the bartender strangely.
Kai chuckled at Alvena and then turned to the Bartender.
“Do you serve food here?” Kai asked the man behind the bar.
“Just burgers and fries.” The man said as he handed him a greasy plastic covered piece of paper.
Kai looked at Alvena and she shrugged.
“Just two regular cheeseburgers and fries will be fine.” Kai told the man as he placed the menu back on the bar. He wiped his hand on his jeans, trying to remove the greasy feeling. “Our car broke down and we were wondering if there was someplace close where we would be able to get a rental?”
“Not sure. I’ve never had to rent a car.” The man replied. “There’s a phone book by the phone in the back hall. You can check in it.” The man motioned in the direction of the phone as he walked off to put in their food order with the kitchen.
“Alvena, I’m going to go check on the phone book. Why don’t you wait here for the food and enjoy your Coca-Cola?”
“Sounds good to me, Kai. I can’t believe how exhausted I feel and I didn’t even walk as far as you did since you carried me part of the way.” She said distractedly as she clinked the ice in her glass.
“Alvena?” He waited for her to look at him. “No worries, lass. I have a lot more stamina…” he winked at her, “…than the average guy.”
Alvena spit out a piece of ice. It slid down the bar. They both watched it until it stopped. She turned to him a look of horror on her face. She glanced back at the ice and then back at him. After the fourth time, Kai couldn’t help it, he broke down laughing and she slugged him in the arm.
“That wasn’t very nice.” She grouched. “Just go find us some transportation so we can get out of this place. I can feel my life shortening as I speak.”
“Sure thing, lass.”
Kai chuckled all the way back to the phone hanging on the wall in an even dirtier hallway. He carefully picked up the phone book and flipped through it. There were no car rental places listed and he didn’t think he would find anything in the area. He was afraid he was going to have to get something from Baton Rouge, which wasn’t acceptable since the mercenaries supposedly were heading there looking for them. They needed to find something in a completely different direction. The book wasn’t going to help him, so he dropped it on the little shelf by the phone and walked back out into the pub. As his eyes landed on Alvena, she looked at a man that had approached her. Kai’s footsteps picked up speed.
He watched as the man said something that his mate didn’t appear to appreciate. She shook her head no and turned away. The man grabbed her arm and jerked her back around to face him. Quicker than even Kai thought he could react, Alvena swung her arms in the maneuver he had shown her. The man’s hands fell away as he yelped in pain. The next thing that happened had Kai stopped in his tracks, his breath stuck in his lungs. Alvena stood up and got right in the man’s face.
“Don’t put your fucking hands on me. I. Said. No. Thanks.” Her eyes shown with fury as she turned from the man. His Valkyrie, finally showing her strength.
His pride was short lived as he watched in horror as the man raised his fist towards Alvena. That’s all Kai needed to see, he pulled on his dragon guardian’ s resources and raced to Alvena’s side. As he arrived the man was in mid-swing, but Kai stopped the man’s fist in its tracks. Kai’s large fist wrapped around the man’s and squeezed. Kai could smell the alcohol on the man’s breath as he yelped in Kai’s face.
“What the fuck, man?” The drunken idiot slurred at Kai.
“The lady said No. Didn’t your mum teach you any manners?” Kai seethed. Alvena turned to look at him as he held the man part way to his knees by his fist.
“Kai!” She yelled. “Behind you.”
Kai ducked just as an arm swung past where he had been and hit the man that Kai had only moments ago been holding. He turned without stopping, grabbed Alvena’s hand, and drug her towards the door as the whole place broke out into a brawl. Chairs and people were flying across their path as he tried to get Alvena to the exit without being hurt. They had been at the far end of the bar away from the door, and as they fought their way through the mass of people – he was shocked to realize there were so many in the small building – they were pushed and herded towards the center of the seating area. Kai stopped and pulled Alvena into his body. He looked around the room, his eyes swinging left and right, trying to find a way out of the mess. An overweight man swung a chair off to their right, his large stomach impeding his movement. Someone pushed the man and Kai watched as the chair headed for him and Alvena. He turned her quickly in his arms, facing her in the other direction and covering her even more with his body. The chair cracked across his back, the weight and momentum of the guy at the other end, causing Kai to stagger a few steps before catching his balance. He winced as the bruises from the chair made themselves quickly known.
“Kai! Are you okay?” Alvena screamed over the mayhem.
“I’m fine, lass. We’ve got to get out of here.” Kai boomed, his eyes constantly scanning.
Alvena tried to pull away but Kai clung tighter. He couldn’t lose her in this chaos. He imagined a thousand ways she could be hurt by the arseholes now beating the shite out of each other. Kai was getting frustrated by the lack of options. It didn’t help that his dragon wanted to barbecue each and every person in this building for putting their mate in danger.
Alvena jerked at her hand, which made Kai’s fury rise. Why was she trying to get away from him? He had to protect her. It was his duty. It was his right.
“Kai, your face.” She yelled into his ear.
Kai barely registered her words as he started to move them forward and shoved morons out of the way. Alvena continued to tug at his arm.
“Kai, someone might see.” She said as she yanked his hand that was holding her wrist up into his line of sight. Shite. I partially shifted. How did I not notice?
The exercises that his teachers had taught him to control the dragon were not working. His anxiety over Alvena continued to grow and impeded his ability to calm. As he shuffled them forward, moving one drunk or half-drunk pub patron out of his way at a time, Kai made hard won progress towards the door. He stopped again to gauge the swarming mass of swinging arms and bodies for openings.
All of a sudden, someone slid across the floor and knocked Alvena out of his grasp. As she fell to the ground on top of the unconscious man, another one came up from the same direction and grabbed her by her hair. Yanking her up, he smacked her across the face. She moaned in pain from the hit, and then started to get her balance. Once her feet were under her, she started to turn toward her assailant just as Kai leaped forward. Fire burned through his blood and he no longer cared what happened. This man would die for touching his mate. He pulled Alvena back and yelled at her to stay. She was yelling something and hitting him on his back as he grabbed the man by his throat. Dangling several inches from the floor the man was making wheezing sounds and grabbing furiously at Kai’s hands. As the man fell limp, Kai used the strength of his dragon and threw him, now unconscious, across several tables to hit a wall. He turned when he noticed that Alvena was no longer yelling behind him. His eyes searched furiously for his woman and didn’t find her.
“ALVENA!” Kai roared.
Several people around him raced in other directions and opened up a lane of empty space. Alvena stood at the other end. She was standing as he had shown her in their self-defense lessons. Pride overwhelmed Kai that his mate remembered what he had taught her only the day before. The fact that she was able to remember the movements in a time of stress was more evidence of how s
trong she was. How right for him she was. Her movements were still sluggish in comparison to his own as she worked to do the movements properly. He grinned with lethal pride as he watched his Valkyrie. His warrior mate. Soon he would need to show her some offensive moves in order for her to really defend herself. Her current moves only helped her escape, as the next moment proved.
His heart plummeted as he watched her barely block a hit from the man in front of her. She kicked out and missed. The man reached for her and she twisted, her arm flew back, her body following. Her elbow landed square in the man’s face. Blood gushed. Kai was moving forward, other patrons stumbling in his way as they brawled and impeding his process to get to his mate. As he threw yet another person from his path, Kai roared. His arms wind milling as he threw another and another out of his way. How did she get so far from him?
“ALVENA!” He screamed as he watched the man loop his arms around her and start dragging her towards the exit.
Kai reached his mate just as her right foot kicked back and into the man’s knee. Kai grabbed the man’s shoulder and threw a large clenched fist straight into the man’s face. As he flew backwards from the impact, Kai took in his black fatigues. Shite. They’re here. Kai turned around and grabbed Alvena, he slung her over his shoulder and ran for the door through the thinning mass of people as more and more of them were going down and not getting up. Kai felt Alvena’s arms and legs swinging as she hit and kicked at him, but he ignored her protests as he reached the door and threw it open wide. He winced as he stepped into the bright sunlight of a late afternoon Louisiana day.
The door banged behind them.
“God damn it, Kai. Put me down.” Alvena screeched from his shoulder.
He was holding down her legs, but her fists were landing some solid hits on his already bruised and battered back. He had lost count of how many chairs, and at one point he swore he felt a table hit him from behind as he had shielded the woman that was now his reason for breathing.
“Kai Darrow! Are you listening to me?” She was yelling from his shoulder as he strode down the line of motorcycles parked in front of the pub.
Kai spanked her on the arse as he saw what he was looking for, a Harley Davidson Super Glide. Not the best looking one, but nice all the same. He lowered a still yelling Alvena to the ground. He looked at the other bikes and reached over and grabbed a helmet. He turned to Alvena to have her put the helmet on.
“Kai Darrow. What the hell are you doing?” She seethed at him. Her eyes were wild with anger and adrenaline from the fight and she had that wide stance with her hands on her hip again. His warrior Valkyrie.
Kai shoved the helmet at her, holding it out. Alvena refused to take it.
“I am not putting that on. What do you think you are doing? Not to mention the fact of you dragging me like some cave man through the pub and partially shifting in front of everyone. I just pray to God that you didn’t kill anyone in there. Do you have any idea what you just did to those people?”
As she rambled on, asking him a million questions and berating him for all kinds of things, Kai became totally turned on. There was nothing sexier than Alvena as an avenging Valkyrie. He took a step towards her and then another. When she noticed him moving forward, Alvena stopped talking. He saw her move like she was going to take a step back, but she stopped herself and squared her shoulders as he came only inches from her.
“Lass.” He rumbled low.
“Kai, don’t look at me like that?” She demanded.
“And, how am I looking at you, Alvena?” He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. His hand moved to cup the back of her head.
“Like you want to eat me.” She whimpered.
Kai yanked her forward, his lips crashing into hers. All of the tension and fear pushing him to do whatever it took to make this woman part of him and convince his dragon that she was safe. Her lips trembled under his. He nibbled and caressed and softened his onslaught just enough for her to open to him. When she did, his tongue sought hers. Her taste erased all reason. Man. I love her taste. He thought. His hand had long ago dropped the helmet and it was now kneading her arse. Man. I love her arse.
The banging of the door pulled him back to the here and now. Kai looked up to see a few men struggle to a truck parked on the other side of the parking lot. He rested his forehead on Alvena’s.
“Lass, we need to get out of here. I think that last guy was one of the men after us.” Kai whispered against her lips.
Alvena pulled back from him.
“How, we don’t have a car or anything?” She asked with little conviction. She had to know what they would be taking out of here. They needed to do it quick though before the owner of the bike he had chosen came out and caught them.
“Lass, we’re taking the Harley.” He said as he bent and retrieved the helmet. “I know you’re upset and want to talk and resist, but we need to be gone like five minutes ago.”
“Kai…” She started to protest.
“Come on lass, where’s your spirit of adventure?” He grinned at her in challenge as he swung a leg over the Harley.
“Fine.” She said as she grabbed the helmet and tried to stuff it on her head backwards.
Kai chuckled as he grabbed the helmet back from her. He turned it around in his large grasp and pulled it down on her head. He clicked the straps shut and pulled her to the bike as he worked to start the engine. Balancing the Super Glide between his legs he pulled out the necessary wires to hot-wire the Harley.
“Come on, lass, it’ll be fun.” He said as the door banged open again. Kai and Alvena both looked up to see the man who had attacked her by the door. He was swaying on his feet.
“Stop.” He yelled as other men staggered out behind him, wearing the same black fatigues.
Kai grabbed Alvena’s hand and dragged her onto the motorcycle. He started the motor and shoved the bike backwards and turned it around as he revved the engine and raced to the road. He heard a single gunshot as he swerved out of the parking lot. Alvena was clinging to his back and he wanted to stop to make sure she hadn’t been hit by the shot, but he knew that if he stopped the men could catch up to them. He raced down the road to the crossroads. He took the turn at full speed, only his dragon reflexes saving him from wiping out on the turn. He raced down the road and around the curves, making turns where he could. No idea where he was going, only knowing that he was trying to put as much distance between those men and his mate.
Chapter 22
After being on the motorcycle all day with only a few stops here and there for necessities sake, Kai finally pulled down a long dirt lane. Al’s fingers were sore from clinging to him. Her first motorcycle ride not endearing her to the thrill of the ride. She had been afraid to move, afraid that she would throw off Kai’s balance and make them skid across the asphalt, the hot, black pavement peeling the skin from their bodies. As, a dragon shifter, Kai would probably survive, but she wouldn’t. A guy on a motorcycle is HOT, a mousy girl like her, not so much.
The roar of the bike stopped suddenly, the silence more deafening than the engine. Al opened her eyes and looked around Kai’s shoulder. They were stopped in front of the doors to a very dilapidated barn, its time beaten and weathered wood showing that it had obviously seen better days.
Kai twisted on the seat in front of her, reaching back to take her hand, “We’ll stop here for the night, lass. We can both use some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll keep heading towards Texas.”
He helped her off the bike.
Once off the motorcycle, Al unsteadily stepped back and watched as Kai pushed the kickstand down with his large booted foot, the muscles in his legs flexing with his movements. Her eyes followed the motion of those muscles as they traveled up his legs to his trim waist and higher yet to his strong arms and wide shoulders. She could seriously fall in lust with this man. Standing there, her body still vibrating from the motorcycle, watching Kai, she felt as if she could orgasm all on her own. Hell the man was a walking orgasm.
Uncomfortable where her mind was heading, Al turned away and began looking around the outside of the barn. There was what appeared to be an old horse corral to the left. Back up the dirt drive a ways, she could see what appeared to be short block walls near a huge tree. The walls were probably from the farm house that went with the barn. The surrounding fields could be hay fields, but the deserted feel of the area, made her think it was more likely wild grasses and weeds.
Lost. She felt utterly and totally lost. Where were Rogue and Nat? Were they okay? How did we get in this mess and separated? She missed her friends, she missed being able to chat with all of the Book Worms, to be able to ask their advice. What advice would they give her about Kai, especially if they had seen him at the bar? When Kai had busted in on her altercation with the man who had hit on her, Al had been furious, until she realized that he had stopped the man from most likely knocking her out. The situation had gone from bad to worse as they tried to make their way out of the bar. She had never been in a bar brawl and was not excited about now being able to add that to the list of things she never wanted to do again. However, her self-esteem took a huge leap forward as she thought of how she had protected herself several times during the chaos. She knew that she had a lot more to learn, all she really knew were defensive moves to help her escape, but she felt capable of at least doing that much. Now, after the hours that she had spent thinking it through, she realized that during the brawl Kai had done what he felt necessary to protect her. She was no longer mad. Just more confused.
With each passing minute, Kai showered her with affection and compliments. He continuously protected her with his own body. Al was afraid of what she would find on his back when, if, he finally allowed her to check it out. Their breaks were short and few, just enough for her to use the facilities and grab something to drink and eat. He had even refused to talk to her, just telling her “later” when she tried to discuss how he had lost it in the bar. Because he had. She had watched as he partially shifted. He could have exposed his people, if anyone had been able to notice the change in the man. Luckily, no one would believe anyone that did see anything, they would be accused of being too drunk or getting hit on the head one too many times, Al was sure.
Finding the Dragon (Dásreach Council Book 1) Page 23
