“I guess not…” The man said and once again nodded to his two companions.
The one who had punched her in the stomach grabbed both of her hands while the second, who had turned to fetch something before, came towards her with a car battery and a pair of short jumper cables. They moved together as if it were a choreographed dance, one holding her still while the other clamped the cables to her hand.
Ignacio watched, it all happened so fast, as the man holding the battery grinned before attaching the last clamp to the free bolt on top of the battery. As he did, Maia’s body jolted from the voltage running through her. Ignacio roared at them in rage.
“Now, now,” their captor said. “It won’t kill her…but it sure hurts like hell. It all stops the moment you tell me what I want to know.”
Ignacio was no longer listening. His eyes were locked onto Maia, that amber color beginning to swirl with hints of darker red. A deep and rumbling growl began to vibrate from his throat as his body began to change.
Their captors had no idea what was happening. All they knew was the man they had strapped to a chair was beginning to grow larger, his bones popping and snapping as they rearranged themselves and ripped through the bonds on his chair as if they were made of paper. Before the three men could shake off the shock of what they were seeing, a massive crimson dragon took the place of their captive. The plexiglass walls around them became the victim of that long and lashing tail, the sound of them crashing to the ground was deafening and sent the three men running for cover and weapons.
Ignacio stepped towards Maia, standing over her protectively as he used his body to wreck the place around them. When he heard the ra-tat-tat of rapid gunfire, he hunched down to protect Maia, the thick red scales of his body doing what they had been designed for as they deflected the projectiles away. It wasn’t enough, though, and as a shrill alarm sounded all around them, more men began pouring into the large hanger and the bullets began to fly like snow.
Drawing in a deep breath, Ignacio felt that furnace in his belly rise hot and strong into his throat. As his anger boiled over, he opened his maw and released a hellish rain of dragon fire down upon their assailants. Equipment and plexiglass walls melted all around them, tires on nearby vehicles exploded and men began shouting all around. Ignacio gave them no mercy as he continued to belch fire all around them.
With one last massive burst of heat, he pushed back their attackers. Using that brief moment, he snatched up Maia, chair and all, in one large talon and spread his blood-colored wings. One good pump and an intense wind was caused, sending fire and men tumbling away while Ignacio rose slowly into the air. With all the force he could muster, he slammed his body against the roof of the hanger, sending concrete and rebar showering down onto the heads of their attackers.
He climbed through that hole he had created, careful to keep Maia safe and protected in his grasp as he clambered out onto the roof of the hanger. His amber eyes blinked against the dark night sky, realizing that they were square in the middle of the desert. His dragon eyes scanned the dark horizon, catching sight of the perpetual Vegas glow some miles to the south, beyond the edge of the horizon. Not knowing exactly where they were, Ignacio flapped his immense wings and lifted them both into the air. Cradling Maia in his scaly talons, he soared off into the night air, desperate to find a place for them to hide.
Escape wouldn’t be so simple for the lovers. Even as Ignacio took flight, soaring off into the dark desert that surrounded the compound, bay doors in the hanger flew open and a barrage of hummers, jeeps, and ATVs came flying from the rapidly burning building. They pursued the couple, determined to bring them back into custody.
Chapter Nine
Ignacio flew for only a short while, remaining in the air for less than half an hour as his wings beat against the cool night air. He carried Maia in his talons, cradling her as gently as a dragon could, until he decided that he had put enough distance between them and that compound. From the air, the golf courses of Coyote Springs were easy enough to spot. An oasis in the desert, more or less, with the well-manicured and routinely watered greens.
He chose a spot furthest from the club houses, nestled against a dune and a handful of stunted trees, slowing himself to land as gently as he could. The downdraft from his wings bent the trees, but for the most part he left the area intact. Maia was placed onto the grass, those massive claws handling her as if she was made of glass. He immediately shifted back to his human form, rushing to free her from the bonds of her chair.
“Maia,” he said. “Maia, are you alright?”
He scooped her up from the chair, lowering the both of them to the ground as he cradled her in his arms. She groaned at the movement, curling her hands with a wince. Her fingertips were blackened, pain throbbing through them from the shock they had given her.
“I’m… I’m fine,” she said, looking up to him. “Ignacio, we can’t stay here. They won’t just let us go like that. They are going to come after us”
“I needed to make sure you were ok,” he said to her, brushing a hand over her forehead as he did so.
“I’m so sorry, Ignacio,” Maia whispered. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t been so damned selfish none of this would have ever happened.”
“What are you talking about, Maia,” he asked, a concerned look coming across his face. “None of this is your fault.”
“Yes, it is!” She cried, pushing away from him slightly though not enough to leave his arms. “I just had to perform. I couldn’t just leave with you and get out of the city. If I hadn’t been such a selfish bitch we would be miles and miles away from all of this.”
“I am so, so sorry…” She reached up, gently running her fingers through his now shorter hair with a look of anguish coming across her face.
“No,” he said, taking her hand in his own, careful of her blackened fingers. “Maia, none of this is your fault. Do you hear me? None of it.”
He found her gaze and held it, the sincerity of his words more than evident in his eyes. It brought a sense of calm and Maia felt herself able to breath a bit easier.
“Maia.” Hearing him say her name was like a cure. “All of this would have happened sooner or later, no matter what. I’m just happy I was able to meet you beforehand. I love you.”
It was as if a dam broke in her chest and pure emotion came flooding out of her. Hearing him say those words lifted her up and made her feel good as new. A light bloomed in her eyes and that smile returned for the first time in a while.
“Maia, I love you more than anything or anyone in this world,” he professed. “From the first moment I saw you I knew it. The first words we spoke to one another lit a fire in my chest that has only grown brighter with every second I spend with you. I love you, Maia. I will do anything to stay by your side.”
She felt as if her chest was going to burst and she realized she had been holding her breath the entire time. She released it with a look of shock and overwhelming joy, the smile on her face threatening to split it in half.
“I love you too, Ignacio,” she practically gasped. “Oh my god, I love you too.” It was all she could say, her voice cracking as the words left her.
She threw herself around him, her arms tight as she buried her face against his neck. She wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life right there…just like that. Wrapped in the arms of the man who loved her. Unfortunately, their sweet moment would only be allowed to last for a brief time.
The sound of helicopters was one she had come to associate with dread and this time was no different. At first, she had not realized what it was, but the sound became unmistakable the closer it came. Climbing to their feet, the two began to scan the horizon, waiting for a glimpse of searchlight to tell them where it was coming from. If only one of them had been keeping an eye at ground level, they might have seen the headlights before they heard the engines.
A dozen vehicles, easy, came barreling up all around them. Before they
realized it, they were surrounded, bathed in light from every angle as the vehicles closed in. A loud, booming voice called out from a loudspeaker, jolting the air around them with its harsh and biting crackle.
“Surrender immediately or we will open fire,” the voice commanded, threatening them. “I repeat. Surrender immediately, or we will open lethal fire.”
Maia’s eyes went wide and wild, scanning and searching all around them for some way to get out. There had to be something they could do in order to get away and be safe. It seemed Ignacio had been thinking the same thing as well, because she suddenly realized that she no longer had a handsome, naked Latino man standing just behind her…but instead a powerful dragon.
It seemed that many of the soldiers surrounding them had no idea the kind of fugitive they had been tracking, since a look of pure awe and fear had frozen a number of them in place as Ignacio transformed. By the time they snapped back to reality and the command to open fire was given, Ignacio’s armored scales had emerged. Maia seemed to realize what was going to happen next and ducked between Ignacio and a pile of rocks protruding from the sand dune, watching with a mixture of horror and hope.
Ignacio opened his dragon maw, breathing hell fire across the landscape towards their assailants. Shouts and cries came from the men who surrounded them and yet the bullets still came. Ignacio lunged towards them, spewing as much hate-fueled fire from his belly as he could. The more they dug in, the more his rage grew and his desire to kill them took over his intention to simply push them back. If they were to hurt Maia in any way, then he would die in that spot as he took them all down with him.
The helicopters were overhead now, hitting them with a spotlight as it hovered and continued to shout that repeated demand to surrender. It seemed they had reached a stalemate of sorts as neither side was willing to back down. Maia saw it and knew there were only two possible ways out of this and she was only willing to do one of them.
“Ignacio!” She yelled out to him. “Ignacio, we need to fly!”
She knew there was no way that they would be able to follow Ignacio when he was flying. He was massive, and she was sure he could move pretty fast when he needed to. Thankfully, he seemed to understand and began to back up closer to where she hid. As Maia carefully climbed as high on the rock formation as she could Ignacio crouched to give her the chance to jump on. All the while, he spewed bouts of fire to keep their attackers back, trying to use his body as best he could to shield her from harm.
Maia did her best to keep her head down as she waited for the right moment to jump onto Ignacio’s back. Bullets flew overhead, thudding into the sand dune with alarming speed and number. When she saw her chance, she took a breath and leapt with all her might. She landed hard on his back, her blackened fingers grasping at his scales for a solid grip as she started to slide off. With a growl of her own, she grabbed hold with all the strength she could muster and hauled herself into a sturdy position on his back. With feet and hands hooked into his scaly hide, she was ready.
“Ignacio, NOW!” She cried out to him. She only hoped he could hear her over the hail of bullets raining down around them.
He heard her, drawing in a huge breath before he unleashed a blast of heat and fire so powerful it almost rivaled the night he had created the glass desert that started all of this. All around them men cried out in pain or alarm, the tires of their vehicles bursting with explosive force from the heat as engines caught fire. At one point, Maia even thought she saw men with guns in their hands melted down to the stock.
As the trees all around burned against the night sky and chaos ensued amongst their attackers, Ignacio began to beat his wings as hard as he could without harming Maia. Pushing off as he rose into the air, the draft from his pumping wingspan feeding the flames into an inferno on the golf course.
As they rose further into the air, the helicopter swooped around and brought its spotlight onto them. Maia could see a gunman preparing to fire, but before she could call out about it, Ignacio screeched and turned sharply in the air, bringing his heavy tail around like a whip to knock the chopper right from the sky. As it spiraled out of control, it left a trail of smoke, finally crashing down just outside the ring of vehicles with a deafening boom and a catastrophic plume of smoke.
They took advantage of the diversion caused by the crash and Ignacio rose higher into the air before taking off towards the south. His wings pumped with a fury as he sped them away from certain death as quickly as he could without causing Maia to lose her hold on him. It wasn’t long before the bright lights of Vegas were below them, the whole city mapped out in lights for Maia to see as he glided along.
Maia clung tight to the back of her dragon lover, her adrenaline still rushing as she stared in awe at the world below them. She had been mostly out of it during her first flight when Ignacio had broken them free of the compound. For the first time, she saw the world the way only Ignacio had seen it and she was blown away by the beauty of it all. As Vegas passed below them, she settled down against his warm and scaly back, holding on tight as she wondered what awaited them next…and where they were going.
Chapter Ten
When Maia woke from her unexpected nap, she felt them descending and slowly rose up away from Ignacio’s back in a slight panic. Was everything alright? Had they been followed and shot at? Was Ignacio hurt? As she looked around she realized that the sun was beginning to rise over a gorgeous landscape of small, rippling mountain ranges that seemed to span for miles upon miles. The landscape was a mixture of rusty reds, dusty browns and earthy greens that seemed to sing as the light of the sunrise kissed them.
As her lover slowed in his flying, slowly soaring lower and lower to the ground, Maia sat up and just took in the beauty around them. Far to her right, to the west, she could see a sprawling city along the gorgeous pacific coastline, lights dotting along the beach and scattered up into the hills as if someone had tossed handfuls of stars. With the moon and the night sky still hanging over the pacific but the morning light creeping in from the east, the panoramic view before her was utterly breathtaking and absolutely beautiful. She wondered what city it could be…and could they be safe there?
When Ignacio finally landed it was amongst the lower mountain ranges, keeping them well hidden and well away from anyone. It felt as safe a place as any and so Maia carefully slid down from his back and stepped away to give him room. Ignacio changed back to his human self, left standing nude in the soft morning light before her. Without hesitation and an obvious look of need in her eyes, she went to him, burying her face against the warm skin of his chest. The weight of his arms around her was as comforting as an old blanket and she felt herself melt into him with a heavy sigh.
“Do you think we are safe?” She asked softly, murmuring the words into his chest.
“I think so,” he answered, pressing his cheek against the top of her head. “We’ve crossed the border into Mexico. It should be a while before anyone is able to come after us down here…let alone find us.”
Mexico. Well, that had been his idea from the very start. She had to admit it was a smart move. Different country, different government. The people who had held them captive and chased them down wouldn’t be able to just follow them here so easily. Nodding, she held him tighter and just enjoyed the moment of peace.
“I love you, Maia,” he said to her, his arms holding her closer.
His words caused her to lift her head, her eyes meeting his for a moment as a faint smile came over her lips. She felt as though she had been given such precious little time to look into those eyes without something coming along to put a stop to it. For a long while, she simply looked at him with that loving smile on her face.
“I love you, too,” she finally answered, leaning towards him to press her lips against his.
The moment their lips met she felt her chest tighten and her knees go weak. She slid a hand up into his freshly cut hair, holding him close as her lips sought more of his. Her kiss sent
a wave of desire through him and he pulled her closer, his hands pressing against her back before sliding towards the curve of her ass. The feel of her in his arms was nearly enough to send him spiraling.
Maia suddenly couldn’t get enough of him. Her fingers slipping from his hair to instead search and grope across his bare shoulders and back. They then moved to his arms. His strong, muscular and protective arms. As her hands met his flexing biceps, she felt his hands reach the curve of her ass and she smiled into their kiss.
Even as she envisioned it in her head, Ignacio’s hands worked to play out her fantasy as he brought them slowly around her hips and up under the scrubs style shirt she still wore. With one swift motion he slipped it up and off of her body. Pulling her close again he rumbled with pleasure at the feel of her bare breasts, so warm and firm, against his chest. His hands continued to explore her exposed body, running his palms and fingers along the slope of her spin before hooking into the waistband of her pants.
As his fingers took hold, his lips parted from hers and moved to her jawline, following the curve of her neck to her collarbone and then down along her chest. As he lowered himself he pulled at her pants, slipping them down over the curve of her plump yet firm ass. His lips lingered across her bare breasts, kissing her gently before his tongue snaked out to pass across her quickly hardening nipples, one after the other.
Maia gasped, her eyes following him on his journey down along her body. When his tongue toyed gently with her nipples she whimpered a soft moan, her hand moving to rest once again against his head while the other caressed his strong shoulder. He continued moving down, his lips leaving a trail of feather-light kisses along her stomach as she felt her pants slip down to pool at her ankles where she stepped out of them and nudged them to the side.
Mad About The Dragon: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Dragon In My Heart Series Book 1) Page 8
