by Rinelle Grey
He couldn’t help his voice breaking a little at that. He really did appreciate it. He couldn’t even begin to explain how much. He never expected to find this sort of help outside of his family, let alone from a human.
The trouble was, he was taking her into danger as well. Sometimes, fear had a very real purpose, and one that should be listened to.
They were going who knew where, and now that the reporter was gone, he felt alone. Very alone.
He took a deep breath. “This is a bad idea. We’re risking too much. We’d be a lot safer at your parents’ place.”
Lisa’s lips were tight as she looked at him. “No, we wouldn’t,” she said firmly. “I’ve already explained that. Dad could throw us out at any moment, and then we’re going to be hounded by reporters.”
Verrian hadn’t noticed more than one reporter, but he didn’t say that.
Lisa obviously felt very strongly about it. And her determination only made him feel worse. He wished he could agree with her. But he couldn’t.
He couldn’t risk Ultrima finding them and killing her because of him. His heart ached at the thought, and his hands clenched involuntarily.
He managed to keep his voice calm as he said, “As long as we stay calm, keep denying everything, and I don’t transform, I think we’re pretty safe.”
“And what if the police turn up?” Lisa’s voice was raised, half angry, half worried. “What if they ask you for ID? What are we going to do then?”
Verrian had no idea what she was so concerned about. “What’s ID?”
Lisa heaved a sigh. “Identification,” she explained more quietly. “Like…” she held the wheel in one hand and fumbled in her pocket, before pulling out a small leather pouch. She pulled some flat bits of plastic out and held them out to him. “Drivers licence, Medicare card, bank cards.”
Verrian stared at the flat plastic she handed him. One of them had a small picture that he recognised as Lisa in one corner. All of them had lots of words and numbers.
Lisa continued her explanation. “Everyone in the modern world has these. There isn’t a person in Australia who doesn’t have some sort of card that will identify them. Not having one not only marks you as different, probably illegal, and it means you have a lot less rights.”
How strange, that a few pieces of plastic could be so important in the human world. “Can I get some?”
Lisa shook her head. “Everyone gets a birth certificate when they’re born. That’s what lets them get their first card. Without it, you can’t get anywhere.”
Verrian frowned. This new information changed things. He was trying to work out how much.
No matter which way he looked at it, or how much of a spin he put on it, remaining in the human world posed more danger than he thought.
If it came down to exposing the dragon’s existence, or fighting Ultrima by himself, it really wasn’t a choice. Even if Lisa was involved.
A chill ran through him. He couldn’t expose his clan for his own safety.
He sighed. “Where are we going?”
Lisa glanced in the rear-view mirror, before pulling over to the side of the road next to a darkened building. She killed the engine, then stared over at him. “There’s a ruined house on the outskirts of town. We stayed there when Taurian was injured. No one will look for us there.”
It sounded isolated. Which was all well and good so long as no one did find them.
But they were going to have to take the chance. “So why are we stopped?”
Lisa twisted in her seat to stare behind them.
Verrian couldn’t help doing the same. The road was quiet and still.
“If someone is going to find us, or is still following us, better that it happens here.”
She was full of good ideas. Why hadn’t Verrian thought of that?
It could be because he wasn’t used to being at war and watching out for enemies. It could be that he wasn’t used to humans and their ways.
While both of those facts were true, they were also excuses.
The truth was, if he wanted to stay alive, if he wanted to protect Lisa, he was going to have to learn to think like that.
There was no better time to start.
He nodded. “How long do we wait?”
Chapter 5
Lisa stretched her neck in both directions, her muscles protesting at the movement. It had been late when they’d finally made it to the abandoned house, mercifully without being followed. They’d taken turns watching, neither of them game to sleep while there was the potential for Ultrima to show up.
But thankfully there had been no sign of him.
Which made her feel a lot better about scaring Verrian with what might happen if people realised he didn’t have any ID. It wasn’t like she just said it to convince him it wasn’t a good plan for them to go back to her parents’ house. It really was a valid concern.
Of course, it wasn’t quite as bad as being charred by a lightning bolt.
That hadn’t happened though, she reminded herself. The only person who’d tried to follow them was Rita, and they’d managed to lose her without too much drama.
They were safe.
Lisa looked over to where Verrian leaned against the doorframe, conscientiously scanning the sky and surrounding area.
He was a strange one.
He’d acted immediately last night when they were being followed, creating a brilliant distraction which had allowed them to escape from Rita. And yet, he insisted that he’d done nothing.
Was it a dragon thing?
She didn’t think so. Taurian certainly didn’t downplay his achievements.
Verrian took one more look out the window, then moved on to the window on the other side of the room, scanning the next section of sky.
She wasn’t in the least bit bothered that he was being overly cautious. She would rather not meet a dragon unexpectedly. Or expectedly, for that matter.
“No sign of anyone?” she asked, more to break the silence than because she thought he would have spotted an enemy dragon and not mentioned it.
He glanced over then, his purple eyes in their dragon form, the slitted pupils sending a delicious shiver down her spine. They looked so exotic. Maybe it helped him see better?
They returned to normal in a second as he shook his head. “Nothing at all. How did you sleep?”
“Good.”
Such polite, correct conversation. It was hard to believe they’d been so intimate only two days ago.
As it did every time, her body responded as soon as she started thinking about that day. The physical memory was so strong, she didn’t think she’d ever forget.
Even if she wanted to.
Which she didn’t.
Or at least, only sometimes.
In some ways, it would be better if she did forget. That would make it far easier to move on and return to her normal life in the city when all this was over.
And she couldn’t justify staying away much longer. She’d had some leeway, since this had started over the Christmas/New Year period, when the offices were closed anyway and her boss had been really good about letting her book holidays straight away afterwards. But she would run out of leave days soon. It wasn’t like she’d been saving them up or anything. She’d had no reason to.
If she didn’t go back soon, she wouldn’t have a job to return to.
That thought didn’t scare her nearly as much as the thought of walking away from Verrian did.
The fact that she was so scared of that scared her even more.
It was complicated.
Lisa bit back a sigh.
Verrian looked at her curiously, but didn’t comment.
Lisa didn’t even try to explain. She looked around for something else to focus on.
“We’d better see if Karla is in range yet,” she said.
Verrian nodded. “Since we’ve lost the reporter and seen no sign of Ultrima, maybe we’ll be able to meet up with her again.”
Lisa n
odded. She’d had the same thought. Was counting on it even. And yet, it disappointed her.
She gave herself a shake. She was letting herself get far too affected by this. Her plan had always been to sleep with Verrian, enjoy the experience, then move on.
She just hadn’t realised how hard that would be.
It wasn’t that she felt something for him. She ignored the immediate protest in the back of her mind. No, she wasn’t going to imagine that that was the reason.
It was the adventure she was going to miss.
Going back to her quiet, ordinary home and her everyday job was going to be as boring as hell
Lisa bit back a sigh as she dialled Karla’s number.
“The person you are trying to reach is not available at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?”
She hung up. “Still not in range. I’ll try Chase. Maybe he’ll know what’s going on.”
But Chase’s number just rang and rang.
Lisa bit her lip. Why wasn’t he answering? That wasn’t good. Even though Karla’s mobile was out of range, she should be getting an answer from Chase’s landline. Where was everyone? Had Ostrian caused more trouble than she’d expected? What if Karla and Taurian had listened to whatever story the grumpy old dragon had made up?
The urge to go and find out that everything was okay was strong, but she had to remind herself that she had her own problems to deal with. And no matter how many hassles Chase was having, the situation wouldn’t be helped by the addition of a reporter or attacking dragon.
Lisa took a deep breath. Karla and Taurian were both reasonable people. They wouldn’t do anything hasty.
She hung up the phone. “No answer there either. Looks like we’re on our own.” As soon as she said the words, a chill ran through her.
They were on their own.
Verrian’s frown deepened immediately, and his mind went straight to the possibility Lisa was trying not to think about.
“What if Ultrima finds us?”
Lisa’s mind shied away from the possibility. If she didn’t think about it, she could keep the fear and panic at bay. Just.
Her first instinct was to brush off his fears. But while there was no sign of the Trima dragon now, it would be stupid not to have a plan in case he showed up. Luckily, there was only one option. “We get in the car and run. It’s not very far back to the town, and his lightning can’t affect us inside the car.”
The crease between Verrian’s eyebrows lightened a little. “That sounds like a good plan.” He was silent for a moment, staring around the empty room. “What do we do in the meantime?”
There wasn’t much they could do really. The roof of the abandoned house was solid enough to keep the rain off and to keep any flying dragons from seeing them, but other than basic shelter, the place was rather lacking.
Lisa wasn’t even game to use her phone, she needed to save the battery to contact Karla. It wasn’t like she could plug in her charger here.
“I don’t know,” she said. “What do dragons do for entertainment?”
It was rather a lame question. She wouldn’t blame him for ignoring it.
But he didn’t, of course. He tilted his head slightly to one side, considering her question.
“Well, aside from the usual pastimes of eating, sleeping and…” he broke off, his face reddening a little.
Lisa could immediately guess what he was going to say. A flush of heat started in her body, warming her with a pleasant glow until it hit her face, where it became indistinguishable from embarrassment.
She wasn’t supposed to be feeling this. Their connection had been a one off, something she’d never had trouble convincing herself of before. Why was it so hard now?
Verrian cleared his throat. “Well, aside from that, we often sing and dance and tell stories. What do your people do?”
Lisa opened her mouth, then gave a short laugh. “Pretty much the same thing, we just use technology to do it.”
“What do you mean?” Verrian asked curiously. He took one, last look out the window, then came over and sat on the floor beside her.
Even though his leg didn’t quite touch hers, she could feel the heat emanating from him. Her own temperature rose a notch to match. His nearness distracted her enough that it was hard to concentrate. What was his question again? Oh yeah.
“Well, someone writes a story down in a book, so lots of people can read it, or they act it out and record it in a movie, so lots of people can watch it, or for music, they record a song and millions of people can all listen to it over and over again.”
Verrian nodded. “I can see the advantages of that. But I’m not sure I’d be ready to give up the personal, performance side of our singing and dancing. You see, when you’re singing a song for a group, you can tailor it to their needs. For example, if they’ve just lost a big battle, not only will you pick a suitable song, but you can change it in subtle ways that bring meaning for those people in that situation. You can’t do that with a recording.”
Lisa had never thought about it like that before, and she had to stop and consider it for a moment.
She’d never even thought about the differences between recorded music and live music, and even now, she was pretty sure that none of the concerts she’d been to had been anything like what Verrian was describing.
Somehow, it sounded rather special.
“So, I’m guessing you sing?” she asked curiously.
Verrian nodded. “I’ve always performed for my clan. It’s… It’s the one thing I’m good at.”
He was doing it again, putting himself down.
Lisa knew all about that. She’d done it herself enough times.
It still surprised her coming from Verrian though. Why did he have the same lack of self-confidence that she did? He was a dragon. And a prince.
Her throat ached as she stared at him. He was a prince. Someone special in his clan. A leader.
It was almost insulting for her to feel like she could understand him.
His family, who were all undoubtedly as wonderful as he was if Taurian was anything to go by, would be far more useful to him. Why did he need her when he had them? They supported him completely, she’d seen that.
He should never have to doubt himself like this. Not like her. He was wonderful, and kind, and completely loyal.
And a truly beautiful singer.
He had everything going for him, and yet, he still doubted himself.
It hit her with a suddenness that took her breath away. The self-doubt had nothing to do with Verrian and what he was capable of. It was all in his head.
She shied away from the possibility that the same might be true about herself. He only felt like he was nothing. She really was. She had nothing going for her. No skills, no abilities, not even a supportive family. Not like Verrian.
“I bet you’re brilliant at it,” Lisa insisted.
Verrian smiled and nodded, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Do the other dragons not appreciate your singing?”
She couldn’t imagine it, but who knew with dragons?
Verrian shook his head immediately. “No, everyone loves my singing. It has always made me very popular.”
What was bugging him then?
“But...?” she prompted.
“But nothing,” Verrian said quickly. He rose to get up, but Lisa quickly put out a hand and just touched his knee lightly.
As soon as her hand touched him, there was no denying the heat that surged through her.
Both of them froze.
An aching need throbbed through every part of her body in time with the pounding of her heart. Her eyes flashed to his, and she saw the same response in them. He wanted this as much as she did. That knowledge made it even harder to resist.
She wanted to follow up that minor touch with something more. Something much more. She wanted to run her hands all over him and soak up this feeling he created in her. To share that experience with him.
&nbs
p; Probably not a good idea. Especially not right now. A dragon could show up any minute, she needed to remind herself of that.
Somehow, though, that thought wouldn’t stick. Maybe if a dragon was knocking on the door, she could ignore this feeling, but otherwise…
Even stronger than the desire to get physically close to him, and far stranger, was the need to know more about him. She actually cared why he felt the need to downplay his obvious strengths. She felt an urge to try to help him, to convince him he was as awesome as she knew he was.
And that scared her even more.
Because if she cared enough to want to try to help him, it meant this was about more than just awesome sex. It was something deeper. Something far more risky. If she cared about him, then it was going to hurt that much more when this ended.
Despite all that, the need to know wouldn’t be ignored.
“I...” she paused and licked her lips. “I didn’t mean to pry, and I’m sure it’s none of my business, but…” She hesitated, then blurted it out. “The things you can do, the beautiful singing and the projecting a sound somewhere else, they’re so awesome and cool, so why don’t you seem happy about them?”
For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. He frowned, and she could see his face closing up. There was tension in every line of his body.
Then he heaved a sigh. His body relaxed, he sat back down next to her. This time, their knees touched.
“I was happy about them,” Verrian said quietly. “I loved entertaining people, and I did feel I did something useful for my clan.” His eyes met hers, and for the first time she saw real pain in them. “Then Ultrima attacked, and I realised how useless they all were. I was knocked out in the first few seconds.”
Lisa’s own heart ached. She knew exactly how being useless in a fight felt. She’d been there herself. Far too many times in the last couple of weeks. She understood how crushingly guilty it could make you feel. “That must have been awful,” she said softly.
“If I hadn’t spent so much time entertaining everyone, if I’d focused some of my time on learning to fight, like Taurian, or my brother Warrian, if there were even some way my powers could be used in combat, then maybe I could have helped more.”
