He growled and his wingmen banked as they all three drove forward.
They’d drive her down into the ocean if they had to. They wouldn’t be leaving this region without her. She was too valuable.
Stenlen’s chest thumped with adrenaline, his lips pulling back over his teeth as they drove her on.
After a while, her speed lagged, her altitude dipped, and she changed directions to coast on the wind current.
She was almost spent.
The smell of land washed over him.
She was going for the islands. It didn’t matter.
They weren’t going to let her escape them.
A dark line rose out of the distance, bisecting the sea and sky and the small form in the air dipped and dove for the water.
He grinned.
He had her scent; he would soon have her taste too.
As soon as they were within human sight distance, he drove the trio down into the water sliding through the ocean toward the islands.
He continued swimming once the momentum began to drag, then surfaced enough to draw breath.
In the distance, he could make out the crescent of sandy beach dotted with people.
While in the water, he couldn’t tell if she kept going straight or if she broke away and veered off in one direction or another.
His men broke away to pursue each option as he continued forward toward the populated beach. Once he reached the land shelf he shifted into human form, swimming forward until he blended with the humans.
He slowed his pace only stopping when he reached waist height in the water. He was bare, as would she be.
Would she risk emerging naked?
He scanned the space trying to pick her out of the crowded beach and laughed.
It was a hedonistic resort.
Striding forward, his eyes scanned the people, trying to pick her out, ignoring the appreciative glances the human women were training on him.
While their shapes were pleasing, he was fully focused on finding his dragon woman.
His nostrils flared, hoping to pick up residual scents of her despite her human form.
He couldn’t smell her anymore.
He stopped to scan again.
Had she come this way? He couldn’t be sure, as soon as they shifted to human form, the scent was masked, and the trail went thin.
Dammit.
There were too many here. His head swung from side to side, trying to hone in on the right woman, but there were none alone. They were in pairs, groups or with men.
“Hey there, luv, want to join us for a drink?”
His head jerked toward the voice. A bottle blond eyed him up, taking her time. Her gaze trailed and lingered over his groin before flicking up to his face.
Would she be so bold to confront him directly?
The woman stood before him, barbells through her nipples and a diamond in the dimple of her belly button, a thin tattoo spiraled up her ankle. She had several friends looking on with interest.
“Come on, have some fun,” she said, shifting her body in invitation toward the small group. There were a couple of guys with them.
“Some other time.” He winked at her and turned toward the path that led back to the resort.
Striding up the incline, he drew a deep breath, nostrils wide. Only ripe human and sunscreen lotion and alcohol.
Fuck.
He hoped Clive and Merwin were able to track her.
He wandered through the complex like he was a resident, smiling at random women that showed interest in him, and even a few good-looking men. He continued wandering, determined to find her.
By the time he wandered back out to the beach, his men were there waiting for him, acting like locals.
As soon as they sighted him, they both gave a shake of their heads.
Damn.
She had to have come this way, if they hadn’t found her, then she was here somewhere.
But if she wasn’t?
He ran a hand through his wet hair.
Back to the skies to retrace where they’d originally picked up her scent.
They were too close not to follow up. He had a job to do and he wasn’t going to let his king down.
They at least knew roughly where she’d come from.
Marli held her breath until her chest burned, threatening to suck sea water into her lungs.
Watching from the seabed, shielded by the sea shelf, the large shape drifted overhead, blocking out the sun.
Dear dragoness, he was huge.
How long had it been since she saw a male dragon? She’d forgotten how big they were.
Had she seen three of them pursuing her? There was only one here.
The other two must have gone around to flank her.
As soon as his large mass drifted far enough away, she kicked up to the surface, greedily sucking air into her lungs, watching him swim toward the beach, head turning, clearly looking for her.
She kept her distance in case he turned around. He didn’t. He was focused on the people ahead of them. She swam to the left, toward a group playing a game with a floating ball, intending to mix with them, trailing him, moving from group to group, blending. She watched the female humans approach him, inviting, disappointed.
His body was toned and attractive, water trailing down his body.
He was dangerous, not just to her, but to her queen and her heirs.
There were far more important things to focus on than lust.
She worked her way forward, careful not to draw too much attention as she plucked a bottle of lotion to rub onto her skin, then an abandoned drink, letting it splash on herself to mask her scent, stumbling in the sand from group to group moving closer until he disappeared into the building complex. She waited by the beach for him to either return or disappear completely.
Her patience paid off as he reappeared, walking toward her.
Her gaze slipped along the front of him. Nice.
She watched his face, still searching, then head toward two men.
Breath held, timing her movements so that she walked past them with a small group of women heading up to the resort.
“Nothing, she’s gone,” he said.
Where his features were sharp, the other two were blunt and bland.
“Maybe she’s heading back, and we can pick up her trail again.”
“I don’t think so, - it doesn’t matter. She was circling something—it has to be her tribe.”
“We’re close.”
“Come on, have some fun now, we’ll head out again soon.”
“If she warns them, we won’t be able to get close.”
“Doesn’t matter, we can pick off their patrols and bring them back for the stable.”
Marli tripped, spilling the drink, making a show of swiping the liquor off her arm and chest, drawing his eyes.
Glancing up, seeing his attention on her, she winked and tipped her head, “Shame to waste good liquor.” She pouted.
His gaze slid down her form, he started to move forward. She glanced up toward the resort and made like she saw someone she knew, waving. She threw him a smile and trotted up the sand maintaining proximity to the group of women.
Shit.
What the hell was she going to do now? If she flew back, they’d catch her scent and just follow her.
If she didn’t, the island would be ignorant of their coming.
Marli needed to get help, and she prayed she would be in time.
8
Kymri walked out of the council room, growls rumbling in her chest.
She’d presented the reports showing sparse activity in the region. Red’s pirate ship had been spotted before the storm, but otherwise was absent from the boundary region. The cruise ships were maintaining their sail routes parallel to their borders staying well outside the periphery, as were air vehicles. The US military were still sending out their planes, and they too were respecting the magnetic boundary, having learned the expensive lesson of losing their planes—to both navigation failure and dragon deflection—when they didn’t.