“Yup. See a nail, call it a nail, hit the nail on the head.”
In his mind, his dragon cocked his head, making a questioning sound. Neither of them was sure if he should be growling at her by now.
“Don’t worry. Subtlety would annoy me. I prefer the direct approach.”
His dragon eased at that, apparently taking it as a compliment. Rune, however, was debating showing her exactly how direct he could be.
“Smart,” she said next.
Caught in his own head, he shot her a glance, not following. “Thanks. Which part?”
She rolled her eyes. “You use a boat because dragons are unlikely to follow, don’t you?”
After a pause—he really needed to remember who’d raised this woman—he shrugged. “Seemed pretty obvious.”
Almost all dragon shifters feared the oceans. Only able to maintain flight for so long, the waters separating the land masses were too big to fly across. No dragon’s land, so to speak.
“Not to any dragons I’ve met,” she said.
She wasn’t wrong. “I imagine that it’s a limited number.”
“True, but I bet you wouldn’t use this method if too many had thought of it.”
Also not wrong. The farther out he went, the less likely they’d be followed, even by a dragon in flight. They didn’t like to lose sight of land. That she could read him so well was becoming a point of irritation, crawling under his skin like a scarab beetle from his mother’s homeland.
“More subtle than a hammer, then,” he said.
Then he wanted to smack himself in the head because Hadyn tipped her head, and he could practically hear the motors whirring.
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said quietly.
Bloody hell. “You didn’t.”
She bit her lip, disbelief evident in her gaze. “I think hammers are…errr…handy to have around.”
Rune did growl at that. The last thing he wanted was her worrying she’d offended him. “I’m well aware that I can be…hard. I don’t have time to soften things up for people. I thought maybe with you I didn’t have to.”
Her hand landed on his forearm and squeezed. “You don’t.”
How was it possible for everything inside him to be both tense and settle at the same time?
“The boat is handy for other reasons,” he said.
She stilled as well, then slowly pulled her hand away. “Humans?” she finally asked.
He nodded. Other than flying his ass, which these days involved going undetected by radar at the borders and wasn’t always an option, or like now when he was being followed by more than he could handle alone, boats were often the easiest way in and out of countries.
“Like I said…smart.”
Rune grinned suddenly, rare amusement combined with rising tension and popped like a bubble inside him. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”
Silence had him glancing over to find her staring at him.
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head, her mouth twisting with what appeared to be confusion. “Nothing. I just wasn’t expecting your face to be able to form a smile.” Then she gave him a twinkling wink and looked out to sea. “How do you know where you are?”
Teasing followed by a change of subject. She was going to give him whiplash. Just answer the question. “The sun recently came up in the east, so if I keep it at my back we’re heading west.”
“I’m learning all sorts of things today.”
Her teasing was not helping him turn off his reaction to her. Other women had tried it from time to time. But her daring made him want to retaliate with teasing kisses. Tit for tat, so to speak, but a hell of a lot more fun. Also a bad fucking idea given where they were and that they were on the run. Even if dragons didn’t tend to fly out this far.
“We’ll head north shortly, then turn east when we need to stop for fuel and to rest at night.”
“I assume you have a course already mapped out?” she asked next. How was she not feeling this?
“I’ve made this trip several times.” More times than he cared to count actually. Rune was not necessarily more comfortable with the ocean than others of his kind. Need had forced his hand.
“Is there anything we do other than…” She spread her hands wide, indicating them and the boat. “This?”
“This is about it. You can sleep more if you want.” He hitched his chin at the small galley down a hatch situated between them, semiwilling her to give him a little breathing room. What would her skin feel like against his fingertips?
Hadyn plopped down in the co-captain’s chair with a shake of her head. “Maybe later.”
Great. “Suit yourself.”
They settled into silence, and, after a while, he’d almost allowed himself to relax into it.
“So, what’s your story?” she asked suddenly.
“I knew you couldn’t keep from talking,” he shot back, rather than answer.
Undaunted, she propped her feet up on a bar, the picture of casual grace. “It’s a fair question, Abaddon. I’m putting my life and my parents’ lives in your hands.”
“On Chaghan’s reference.”
“And you think that means I don’t need more?”
“I think that’s all you need to know.”
“Hmmm…” The small hum put him in mind of a badly acted caricature of a psychologist. Tempting to ask what she meant by that, but he held his silence.
“A loner for all seasons, huh?” she prodded.
“I’ve hardly been alone.”
“I guess not. All those dragon mates.” She paused, tipping her head consideringly. “What did you do with them, anyway?”
The laughing implication rankled. “None of your business.”
“I mean, rumor has it you tried to mate them all yourself and failed each time.”
He was well aware of the fucking rumors.
Trying to turn a mate who wasn’t your fated resulted in two horrible consequences—her death, which was unthinkable, but also the loss of a part of the male’s soul. The instinct to find a mate could override a sense of morality for some dragons.
“The mates are fine,” he muttered, his voice starting to turn to more of a growl.
His own teammates may not have hunted him down the way they should have…but he’d bet they’d wondered. They’d definitely blamed him and his group of dissenters and rogues for the almost twofold increase in dragon-caused fires. They hadn’t started them, but they’d been involved, not that he expected anyone to give him the benefit of the doubt about it. He tried not to blame the team too much, when he was feeling generous.