The only hint that something was wrong was in the whiteness of the knuckles that gripped the wheel.
"What was that?"
When she didn't say anything further, he touched her shoulder. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"Nothing happened." She shuffled away.
He took the hint and dropped his hand. "Something upset you."
"Perhaps it was a sign of how much you repel me." She chuckled, but the sound was all wrong. Her tongue flicked over her lower lip.
An answering pulse of desire in his groin had Aaron reaching for her.
Gripping her upper arm, he tugged her to him, taking care not to mark her skin.
His dragoness was stronger than him, yet the woman was fragile. He'd felt her throb with desire, felt the vulnerability of her soul just then. The protector in him screamed to take care of her.
"That's not true." His voice was gentle. "The fire didn't hurt you or me. I have never seen this kind of spontaneous combustion before. Tell me what it means. You owe me that much." A part of him knew her answer was important.
She refused to look at him. The obstinate set to her jaw told him she was going to stay silent.
He answered his own question. "It means your dragon accepts me, isn't that right?"
"It doesn't matter what my dragon wants. I don't want you, get it?" Folding her arms, she met his gaze, all trace of the fiery dragon gone. Her eyes were pools of green that reflected the sea around them.
"Loud and clear." Letting her go, Aaron clenched his fingers into fists at his sides.
It's what he wanted to hear, wasn't it?
He'd sensed the connection between them and had been attracted to her; yet, he wasn't ready to accept it. Not when it felt like he didn't deserve this chance.
Taking a step back, he turned away. "Now what?"
"You keep your distance from me, immortal." Her voice was steady.
She was right.
Best that he stayed away from her. Besides, he wasn't ready for a mate either.
19
Hope
Aaron had insisted on taking a shift at the wheel, so Hope could go below deck and get some rest. As a dragon, Hope was used to going without sleep for days. But right then, she needed the chance to put distance between them.
So she gave over the wheel to Aaron without protest.
If he'd been surprised by that, he didn't comment.
Four hours later, she was back on deck, just as dawn broke over the horizon.
He handed over the wheel, letting her steer the boat through the small islands that had begun to appear.
She focused on navigating to the side of the larger island, which she knew from experience was uninhabited. By the time she let the cruiser drift closer to shore, Aaron had lowered a smaller rowing boat into the water.
Together, they got in.
Aaron took the oars, and Hope directed him to the far side of the island.
A small beach came into view.
He whistled. "Just how many times have you been here?"
Lips curving at the question, she raised her eyebrows. "Enough times to know my way around. Don't tell Eve. If you do, she'll only worry."
"That's what older sisters are for." He tilted his head.
"You have siblings?" Hope knew it was dangerous to find out more about this enigmatic immortal. It would only make it difficult to part when the time came.
Yet her dragon wouldn't back down, insisted on finding out everything it could about this man.
"Brothers," he replied. "Not blood-born, but brothers by fate. Me and five other Ascendants were brought up together in a hermitage in the Himalaya mountains. Zayn, my twin, younger by just five minutes, was always getting into trouble. He loved picking fights with neighboring shifter clans, and I was always having to bail him out. He was fiery, Zayn was, and so impulsive. Fearless, he never hesitated to speak his mind or follow his heart."
Caught up in his story, she placed her hand on his arm. "Where is Zayn?"
Aaron looked away, his knuckles tightening on the oar. "He's dead."
She tightened her fingers on him. She wanted to comfort the lost, lonely boy in him who missed his brother. Before she could reach out to hug him, Aaron stopped rowing.
Jumping out, he pushed the boat toward the beach, the muscles on his forearms and biceps bunching with the movement.
When she made to follow, he held out a hand. "I’m taller than you."
The water barely reached his waist, while it would be chest deep for her.
The boat was by no means light, and she was no weakling. Yet Aaron was not even breathing heavily by the time he'd towed the boat to where the water was shallow enough for her to jump out.
She'd underestimated his strength.
She'd felt the corded tension of those muscles when they'd kissed, had felt the power of him when they'd fought, yet the sheer animal strength of him hit her.
Her dragon pushed up against her skin, insisting he would be a worthy mate, one who was more than a match for her. Then the boat hit the sand.
Grasping the side of the boat, she heaved it up.
Aaron did the same on his side, bending a little to accommodate the difference in their heights.
She helped to carry the boat across the beach. Once they reached the trees, they hid the vessel behind a thick row of bushes.
Keeping close to the ground, using the trees for cover, she ran through the forest, until it gave way to a clearing.
She dropped down behind a large banyan tree whose trunk was wide enough to provide cover.
Aaron crouched next to her.
His skin brushed hers, his eucalyptus and pine scent a sharp, tangy contrast to the smell of earth and leaves around her.
A rush of heat bloomed low, and she swore to herself. They were in the Seychelles, on enemy territory, and yet she couldn't stop her instinctive reaction to this male.
Moving just enough to put some distance between them, she closed her eyes and raised her nose to scent the air.
There was a smell of water laced with a tingling taste of something metallic. Elysian guards.
They didn't smell of dry ice like vampires. The Elysians were more closed off.
While vampires were driven by logic, their need to be rational often at war with the humanness in them, the Elysians felt inscrutable. It was as if they didn't exist. She couldn't connect with them at all.
A touch on her shoulder shook Hope out of the spiral her thoughts had taken. She followed Aaron's gaze to find two men in the clearing.
They stood talking to each other, dressed in black pants and shirts, modified guns slung across their backs. One of them raised a cigarette to his lips and offered another to his friend. A match flared, and then the fragrant scent of tobacco, light and fruity, curled in the air.
Post tsunami, most tobacco crops had been wiped away on Earth, and cigarettes had become too expensive, except for the elite.
Yet there in the Seychelles, some of the old ways endured.
The guards continued to chat.
"Not all Elysians are telepathic," she whispered.
"Clearly not." He jerked his head toward where the guards continued to chat, unaware of their presence.
They still had the element of surprise on their side. If they moved fast, they could take them both down.