He slid his fingers from her body slowly, chest heaving, staring back at her. Then the telltale mirage-like waves visibly flickered over him, and, her mind clearing fast, she knew what he was doing. This was about to get ugly.
Carefully, trying to act as though she was still disoriented from the succubus’s effect as well as humiliated by what she’d been doing—she didn’t have time to unpack that now, so she went with the real feelings—Hadyn sat back in her seat and put her seatbelt back on.
As soon as the click of the buckle sounded, Rune acted.
“Wrong move, bitch,” he growled.
In a flash he shot his arm forward, only his entire hand and forearm shifted, dragon claws covered by onyx scales and tipped in talons built to shred another dragon’s diamond hard exterior.
He punched through the back of the seat and must’ve gone through the succubus’s body as well, because the woman grunted, then gurgled for a second before she slumped forward. Only, in her death, her foot pressed harder on the gas, sending the car careening forward.
“Fuck,” Rune muttered, then yanked his arm back and threw his body over Hadyn right as they went off the road. The thump of hitting the curb was followed by chaos. The deafening rumble and screech of metal buckling under impact filled the air while her body was shaken and spun and flung so hard her teeth hurt, and she didn’t know which way was up or down.
And then…nothing.
The stop and silence were so sudden she found it as jarring as being in a hurtling scrap of metal. By some miracle, Rune was still wrapped around her body, caging her in, like her own personal bubble wrap.
“You okay?” he demanded, but through gritted teeth.
She tried to do a mental check of her body, only she was still so stunned, and felt squeezed from every direction, that she couldn’t entirely tell.
“I think so,” she said. “You?”
His face was above hers, illuminated by something outside. Which was how she’d caught his blink, as though shocked she’d asked. Did no one ever care enough to ask this man something like that?
Anger rose inside her on his behalf. Anger that was misplaced given where she was right now. Almost as though her mind didn’t want to focus on what had happened.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, pulling her back to the immediacy of their situation.
That wasn’t an answer.
“In other words, you’re not okay,” she supplied. They couldn’t ascertain their physical states until they got out of the car. “Are you able to move?”
“Working on it,” he said through gritted teeth.
Working on it? She frowned then stilled as his form started to ripple with the change again. It must be bad if he was having to shift to get them out of this.
“I’ll do my best not to crush you,” he said.
“I appreciate it,” she murmured. Couldn’t help herself. She’d blame it on shock later.
Rune’s entire body started to morph before her eyes. In the dim lighting and such close proximity, at first she had difficulty discerning what was happening. Then the skin of his face turned to midnight-colored scales, spikes protruding from his head. At the same time, he started to grow.
A human sounding yell emerged from him, his face contorting in pain, but he kept going. The screech of metal being split apart, shredded, accompanied the full roar of a dragon. As soon as she could move, Hadyn shrank in on herself, knees pulled up to her chest, arms over her head. Once again chaos reigned around her, but nothing touched her.
Then, once again, silence.
She lowered her arms slowly to find herself staring at the smaller, softer scales of a dragon’s belly, Rune’s fully shifted form looming over her. All around her on the ground were scattered pieces of a yellow cab. She didn’t look too closely, not wanting to see what had happened to the succubus.
“Dammit,” Rune’s voice was pissed in her head, his body shuddering.
Quickly, Hadyn scrambled out from under him, then realized what the problem was. Apparently, their car had slammed into a large pole in a gas station, and he’d shifted straight up into power lines which were now wrapped around his wings.
Before she could say anything to try to help, he jerked one wing and the entire pole shot right out of the ground. Wires snapped and down the street a transformer blew. Sparks fell to the ground to bounce along the pavement in a shower of electricity before darkness fell over all the surrounding homes and businesses.
Rune gave his entire body a shake and lumbered down the street to be sure he had rid himself of all the hindrances.
“Get on,” he snarled in her head.
As though she was the one holding things up. Sensing he wasn’t in the mood for a snappy retort, she climbed up, settling herself between two spikes at the base of his long neck. The second her ass met scales, he spread his wings wide and launched into the air.
“There’s no way humans didn’t witness that,” he said. Actually, he sounded quite upset about the possibility, his voice tight.
Enforcer.
His job for centuries had been to keep dragon-kind’s secret, ensuring no humans discovered their existence. No wonder he’d been short with her. He’d probably sensed hundreds of eyes on them. Maybe the late hour would help with that.
“Is there anything that can be done?” she asked.
“I should go back and wipe their memories.”
“Then do it.”
“Not with you. I need to get you to my team first.”
“Bullshit.”
He bobbled in the air, and she held on a little tighter, unsure if his reaction was because she was calling him out or because she swore.
“Keeping you safe is not bullshit—”
“Do your job, Enforcer,” she snapped. “I’m not some breakable doll and it’s not your job to keep me safe.”
“If I hadn’t kept you safe, you’d be crushed in that car right this minute, or being sucked dry by that bitch.”
“And I’m grateful.” She softened her voice. He was right. She would be dead, but he also needed to hear this. “But don’t let whatever this protective instinct you have going on override what you know you have to do. You need to go back.”
Silence.
Hadyn waited. Dragons, she’d found, often needed a minute to unstubborn themselves. If she had Rune’s persona pegged right, he’d figure out she was right.
Sure enough, a second later he tipped his wings, turning them back in the direction of the crash.
“You stay by my side at all times.” An order, not a request. “That succubus found us way too easily.”