“That’s it. I’m about to go and fly to the Himalayas. Not somewhere I ever thought I’d visit. I’m more of a warm sea and white sandy beaches kind of a girl.” She smiled weakly. “I don’t think I could do it alone. So thank you for agreeing to come with me.”
“No problem.” He chewed the inside of his cheek as if he were trying to stop himself from saying any more.
“I’m okay now.” She stood up and shouldered her pack. “Are we ready to go?”
A small smile crept across his lips as she said we. “We are ready. But before we go, there is something I have to tell you.”
Her heart skipped a beat before it hammered loudly in her chest. Was this it? O’Malley was going to tell Hannah they were mates. He was going to tell her they were meant to be together forever like true soul mates. The notion both excited and terrified her.
Mostly it just made her feel safe. If what Betsy said was true, then it would explain why O’Malley agreed to go with her and also mean that he would be there for her no matter what. A fact that seemed particularly important right now.
“Go ahead.” She breathed out slowly as the bar once more seemed to circle around and around her head. This time she was ready and placed her hand on the back of the chair for support.
“It’s about our flight.”
“Oh. Okay.” Her heart hammered in her chest for a different reason. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, everything is fine,” he reassured her although his expression said otherwise.
Hannah waited for him to continue. If everything was fine, why did he hesitate? He was stalling. “How small is the plane?”
His eyes darkened. “That’s the thing.”
“What’s the thing?”
“We’re not traveling by plane.”
“Helicopter?” Her stomach lurched at the thought. But surely it was too far to fly by helicopter. Not that she had any real idea of how long a helicopter could fly for. Perhaps O’Malley had called in a favor from a military friend.
“Yes, everything is fine,” he reassured her although his expression said otherwise.
“Then how are we getting there?” Hannah tightened her grip on the back of the chair while also holding onto the strap of her backpack as if it were a parachute. Was she going to need a parachute? Her stomach roiled at the thought.
“Okay. Maybe we should sit back down.” He went to the bar and filled up two glasses with an amber liquid and brought them back to the table. “Please.”
Hannah set her backpack down on the floor before she sat down. She wanted to scream at him, just tell me. But part of her didn’t want to know. “O’Malley?”
He placed the glass in front of her and she immediately recognized the smell of brandy. Her dad used to drink it when her mom was alive for medicinal purposes. After her mom died, he drank to forget.
“Drink.” He swirled the brandy around in his glass before he placed it to his lips and downed it in one gulp. He winced and placed the empty glass on the table.
Hannah took a breath, picked up the shot glass, and gulped down the liquor. “Oh, that burns.” She screwed up her face. The brandy might burn but as the alcohol threaded through her bloodstream, she welcomed the buzz.
“We’re flying to the village on the back of a dragon,” O’Malley told her while she was still recovering from her shot of brandy.
“A what?” She pushed the glass toward him. “It’s going to take more than one shot of brandy to make me believe that.”
“It’s the truth.” His expression was deadly serious.
“Look, if it’s some new top-secret military plane, that’s fine, I won’t tell a soul.” She studied his expression and a sneaking doubt crept into her head. One that wormed its way in and would not leave no matter how many times she told herself this was crazy. Crazier than crazy. “A dragon.”
“Yes.”
“You know that sounds crazy?”
“Yes.”
Ahh, now she got it.
Hannah stood up and grabbed her backpack from the floor. “Is this how you intend to get back at Karl?”
“I’m sorry?” He leaned back in his seat, stunned by the change in tone of her voice.
“You and Karl didn’t get along in the Army so you think it’d be cool to get back at him by telling me you would agree to help and then inventing this preposterous idea that we’re going to fly there on the back of a dragon?” Her temper flared. He’d wasted a whole day of her time.
“No.” He jumped to his feet and came around the table to her. “That’s not it at all.”
“I bet shifters aren’t even real, are they?” she hissed. “Is that also something you made Karl believe?”
Although, she had no idea how he would trick her brother into thinking he could turn into a cougar. The incident had happened when they were under fire so it’s not as if it could have been staged. And hadn’t she seen two people shift earlier today? However, at this precise moment, her brain was not thinking clearly.
“Hold on.” He put his hands up as if to stop her as she stomped toward the door. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“Don’t.” Hannah warded him off, but he reached out and grabbed hold of her arm just above the elbow. “Let go of me.” She wrenched her arm out of his grasp, but he moved to the door and stood between her and the only way out.
“I know how crazy it sounds, I really do. But it’s the truth. The same as it’s true I’m a shifter.” He sighed and his shoulders drooped. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer, as if he’d regained control. “I can prove that shifters are real right here, right now. I can shift.”
She tilted her head back and looked at him levelly, trying to figure him out. “Please, don’t waste my time.”
“I’m not. I promise you that shifters are real and that I have a friend who is a dragon shifter who has agreed to fly us to the village where Karl was last seen. Right to the village.” He locked eyes with her, and she could not see a lie.
“Damn it.” She swept a hand over her hair which she’d tied back in a ponytail. “This is the…”
“Trust me.” He moved away from the door so that she was free to go if she wanted to. “Come with me. It’s a short drive to my friend’s house and there you’ll see the dragon.” He shrugged. “If not, then you’ll know I’m full of crap.”
He was right. Since they were about to fly on the back of a dragon, it wasn’t as if there was much point in him lying. Why would he have said such a thing if it wasn’t real?
But that left one very disturbing fact that she could not ignore. If this dragon was real, then she was going to climb up and fly away on the back of a mythological creature.
Chapter Seven – O’Malley
For a long moment, he thought they had lost her. Hannah looked as if she was going to storm out of the bar and never look back.
Telling our mate she’s going to ride on the back of a dragon was never going to be easy, his cougar tried to console him.
Would it have been better if we’d simply arrived at Kelos’s house and watched him shift? O’Malley asked.