“It’s too dangerous.” He set his feet and crossed his arms, digging in for the almighty argument he’d known was coming.
Her eyes narrowed, glittering with intent. “These are my parents, Rune.”
“And they wouldn’t want to see you hurt.”
“She goes,” Finn said suddenly from across the room.
Rune had never—even when he’d left the team—wanted to punch his alpha in the face, but he might do it right now.
Hadyn didn’t look away, though her lips changed from a scowl to a smirk. “It’s settled then.”
“Like hell it is.”
“We need a distraction,” Finn said. “To get you inside unseen.”
Rune’s dragon let loose a growl of pure rage, loud and long and harsh enough that every man with a mate stepped in front of her, the rest merely stiffened, one or two younger ones dropping into defensive crouches.
“We already decided that I’d deal with that.”
Hadyn laid her hand on his arm, and immediately his dragon’s focus snapped to her, the sound cutting off in his chest. “Actually,” she said. “I think I can get you in faster.”
He started to shake his head, and the mutinous glare aimed his way had him changing it to a shake of resignation. Fuck.
She was going to do this. He could see the determination glittering in her eyes. Dammit. He should have locked her in their dungeon cells until this was over, except a bunch of unmated dragons were down there. Actually, leaving her here, without staying to protect her, suddenly seemed like a bad idea.
“Me,” he said, capitulating suddenly. “I’m the one with you. No one else.”
No other way was he letting her do this. Besides, while she clearly had skills, he had more. Rune waited for her argument. Instead, if anything, she acted…relieved, her shoulders dropping a hair. Barely noticeable except he was standing close enough to catch it.
“Deal.” She held out a hand to shake.
Dammit. That had been too easy. Grasping her hand, he didn’t let go when she pulled hers back, instead tugging her closer. “I have a feeling I’ve just been played.”
At least she didn’t smile, though the uber-innocent blink was enough of a clue that he was right. Had Finn been in on this? As what? Payback? Bastard.
“You can’t take it back now, Abaddon,” she said.
He grunted, though more at her use of his last name. That was for his team members. Not his… Not for Hadyn. There were many other things he’d rather hear her call him.
“It’s time,” Deep announced.
They made their way down to the tunnel to the back door. One by one, the dragon shifters who would be going to Colorado shifted and flew down the tunnel and into the night sky.
Rune shifted and waited for an uncharacteristically silent Hadyn to scramble up his back. He hardly felt a tickle, and suddenly she was already settled. Damn, that had been fast. Climbing skills definitely came in handy.
“Let’s go,” she said, the words edged with urgency.
She knew the flight took time. Dragons didn’t fly at the speed of a 747 and had to stop every several hundred miles to rest. A thousand miles separated them from their destination, but that was with a straight shot. They’d need to lay several false trails, split up and come back together to form different small groups only to split up again. Patience would mean the difference between life and death in this gambit.
If Hadyn remained this tense the entire time, she’d be an exhausted, nervous wreck by the time they got to Colorado.
“You won’t be able to speak while we travel.”
A flick of sensation struck him, like she’d bopped him on a scale. “I know that.”
Rune grinned despite himself and despite the seriousness of what they were about to do.
He took a few running steps, then extended his wings wide. No space in here to do more than one downstroke to get airborne, then he glided along the downward slope of the ever-widening tunnel. Kanta would close the door at the end and lock it behind Rune, who was last out.
The second he hit open air, he shot a thought at Hadyn. “You should know…when this is all over, I fully intend to keep you.”
There. Let her stew on that instead.
…
Rune flew alone, high and silent. Even his downstrokes were silent. Not a creak of his scales sounded—black dragons were designed to lay flatter and shift against each other without noise. Not a whisper of his leather wings beating—the membranes connected farther back on a black dragon’s rib cage as compared with those from the other clans. In this form, he reminded her of pictures of military stealth jets.
While Chaghan and Qara had learned to be covert, they were noisy compared to this. The wind was loud, though, a constant low drumming in her ears. The moon was waxing again, shedding brighter light on the lands beneath them. Every so often, Hadyn glanced around to see if any of the small group traveling with Rune was nearby, but she didn’t see another single soul up here.
As though they were cocooned in their own little world together.
Usually, she adored flying, an act she found incredibly peaceful, a beat out of time. Probably she wouldn’t have this night, anyway. Now that they were finally moving on a real plan to rescue her dragon parents, she should be focused on that.
She would’ve been, too, except for that damn parting shot of Rune’s.
Keep me? How the hell does he intend to do that? I’m not some collector’s item that can be picked up and set on a shelf to get dusty. Only taken out to be looked at and admired.
Keep me. Ha!
Besides. Dragons didn’t keep humans. Did they?
Or did he only want her around as a fuckbuddy until he tired of her? Until he’d used up the best of her youth, then sent her away when she got old while he basically stayed the same?
Screw that.
Except he’d said it deliberately when he had, knowing full well she couldn’t question him about it because she had to stay silent. Meanwhile, he hadn’t said another single word to her. Despite it being early summer, at this longitude and altitude at night it was cold and, even though she’d worn warm clothing in layers, she’d shivered. Once.
He’d lit the fire in his belly, warming her ass up, which told her he hadn’t forgotten about her up here. Not being able to talk to him, though…
Hadyn clenched her teeth to keep from speaking out loud.
Damn him.
Had he known? Had he realized his words would steal her entire focus? Had he done it on purpose to get her mind off what came after this long flight across the country? Would he cruelly take it back when this was over?