She had to wait as he radioed into the port requesting a place to dock. Once he had his instructions, they kept going.
“To keep that kid’s people off our trail.”
“The kid we just abandoned? He’ll take at least an hour swimming in, and many more than that flying back to whoever he’s with.”
He didn’t respond to that, focused on negotiating pulling into the dock, instructing her to toss the rope to one of the men standing on the wooden planks, waiting. Once they’d tied off, paid up, and were walking away, he took her by the arm.
“Best to find a fishing vessel,” he said, glancing around them, assessing the options.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. “Why?”
“So that the stench covers my tracks. I’ll fly up into the mountains to lay a false trail, then circle back and go.”
“I guess that’s as good a plan as any.”
“You’re not going with me.”
Hadyn tried to jerk to a stop, only to be dragged along by his grip on her elbow.
“The hell you say,” she snapped, stumbling a bit as she caught up with his long legs.
His face didn’t change from that emotionless, uncaring wall that he’d put up when they’d first met and had put up again with Zeke. A wall that hid his real emotions, she had no doubt.
An immovable wall of dragon shifter who’d made up his mind. “This is not up for debate, Hadyn,” he said.
Chapter Eight
They’d made it as far as the border between Chile and Peru. Not nearly far enough, though he’d been glad he’d filled up the external tanks he’d added to the boat. At this rate, as it always did, it would take them fifteen days to get up the coast to San Francisco. He could maybe push that to ten days if they took turns driving and only stopped to fuel up, not to sleep. Maybe.
The weather gods would need to be on his side to make that work. Unfortunately, he’d had a run-in with Castor Dioskouri a couple hundred years back, and the son of Zeus hadn’t entirely forgiven him. Hopefully, Rune would stay under that particular demigod’s radar.
None of which would be a problem if they weren’t being followed.
Who knew if Zeke had lied or withheld important information? What if the kid had been bright enough to send a runner or partner back for the others? What if, in Rune’s own exhaustion and carrying Hadyn with him, he’d fucked up, and the entire group was on his tail?
Rune’s determination to ship Hadyn as far away from him as possible had surprised even him. He’d always been protective of mates, but the second that kid had said the word bounty, all Rune had been able to think was how delicate the woman with him was.
She acted tough, and yeah, she knew the dangers of being around dragon shifters, but one swipe of a tail or talon, one blast of fire, one fall from too high up…hell, simply being in the way if Rune got into a wrestling match on the ground with one of the fuckers coming for him and…no more Hadyn.
He didn’t have time to inspect too closely as to why not letting that happen was so important to him, but he’d be damned if he was going to keep her in the line of fire. Not when a price was on his head.
Any and everything would be coming for him now.
So he kept a grip on Hadyn’s arm as he marched her into town. Daylight helped, though he kept his senses sharpened for any other supernatural creatures in the area. The last thing he needed was witnesses or other bounty hunters gunning for that money on his head.
He knew exactly what he was going to do. Undoubtedly under continued protests, he’d put her on a different path to get to his old team in California. Either he made it there safely as well and met her…or he didn’t. He’d get in touch with Deep and have his old mentor arrange for Hadyn to be met and escorted.
“What’s the worst that could come for us?” she asked suddenly.
Given that they were now walking through the cobbled, bustling streets of the seaside town, and he was busy scanning the streets for any kind of threat, it took him a second. “What?”
“The worst? Dragons, right?”
A lanky man coming out of one of the shops side-eyed them both. They needed to be more careful.
Spying a small alleyway, he pulled her into the shadowed space. “Why are you asking? Nothing is going to change my mind.”
She shook her head. “Listen…my dad always said that the safest place for a rogue dragon shifter was in the middle of a lot of humans.”
Rune frowned, trying to follow. “The scents mask ours to a certain extent, and most dragon shifters avoid humans, preferring to live in nature, in mountains, and with their own kind. It doesn’t make it safe. Other things prey on humans.”
“Vampires, ghouls, succubus…” She waved a hand. “I know…but dragons are the most dangerous in the skies, right? Especially high up.”
Suddenly, Rune realized where she was going with this. “You want me to get in an airplane to fly?”
“Can you think of a faster way to get us both far away safely?”
Fuck. She was right. He couldn’t think of one.
Human planes—the large jets at least—actually flew faster than a dragon could. A cocky smile graced her lips, and he had the sudden urge to make it disappear…with his own lips. Press her up against the stone of the building and take back up where he’d left off on the damn boat, only this time with his head between her legs, and then his cock inside her.
Get your mind on the mission, Abaddon. The voice in his head tended to be Deep’s. He hadn’t talked to the red dragon since he’d gone rogue. What did Deep think of him and all he’d done?
“I assume you have a passport?” she asked. Hers she kept zipped in a pocket in her pants along with credit cards and cash.
“Several.” All under assumed names because his kind might despise traveling by plane, but they did it when they had to, and the Alliance would be monitoring.
She cocked an eyebrow in question.
“Fine,” he growled. He leaned down, getting right in her face, dead serious. “But we do this my way.”
She narrowed her eyes, probably at his tone and proximity. Then she smiled. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re awful cute when you get all alpha-hole-y?”
Rune blinked, suddenly floundering in the sparkle of her humor. Why did she not react normally like every other mate? “Anyone ever tell you that you’re unnatural?”
“Awww. You noticed,” she cooed like he’d given her the best compliment ever. Then she went up on tiptoe, planting a quick kiss at the corner of his mouth. It had the same impact as a bolt of lightning, frying all his systems. He held on to his glower with supreme effort as he tried to force his body to calm.