Voices shouted from above me.
The guards were armed. I wasn’t. I had one chance to make it from this place alive. Nor was it a chance I’d miss.
Boots clattered on the warehouse stairs above me even as I reached the basement. Arnaud yelled threats and vile cursing, ordering his men to shoot me on sight. Whether they heard him or not, I didn’t care.
I shifted.
My wings barely fit between the walls as I flew toward the oncoming guards. My legs folded beneath me, I drew in a sharp gust – and sent my flames hurtling at the two armed dragons rushing down the stairs. In their human forms, they had no chance of surviving. My fire, hot enough to melt solid steel, turned them to ash before they screamed.
Kicking off with my powerful hind legs, my wings spread, my flames catching the wood, cement and steel above me, I hurtled through the warehouse floor. Nothing on this green earth could halt a dragon flying for his life. The structure shuddered from its foundations. Cement blocks, wood, steel girders blasted in all directions.
My flames set it all on fire.
My father roared from behind me, his flames licking at my tail.
Chapter Seven
Jade
My father, Craig Kinnard, stormed into the kitchen where I sat at his table. His deadly scowl, one that frightened me when I was smaller and younger, failed to move me now. Having just escaped a terrible fate, freed myself from imprisonment on my own, I’d never feel fear when I faced him ever again.
“Hi, Dad.”
Leaning his butt against the counter, his arms folded across his broad chest, his glower deepened. “So you escaped.”
“Obviously.”
“Don’t get smart with me, girl.”
My hands around a hot mug of soothing tea, I leaned back in the chair. “Thanks for jumping in to pay for my freedom. It meant so much.”
He snorted. “I’m not paying that jackass a single dime. I earned my money just as he did. He doesn’t have the right to demand money from me when he could have done what I did years ago.”
I batted my eyelashes. “Your love for me is so clear. Thank you.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” he snapped. “I knew you’d get away.”
I also knew he’d just lied to me. “So I did. Why aren’t you happy to see me?”
“I’ve had a fucking bad day.”
“Like mine? Escaping that prison your friend created, avoiding his guards, walking twenty miles before finding a friendly face? That sort of day?”
“What do you want from me?”
“Whatever I might have wanted, I won’t get it. You’re incapable of love, cherishing your only child, why, golly gee, you’re just like Arnaud. How about them apples? All you care about is wealth.”
He turned away and opened a cupboard. Taking down a bottle of Wild Turkey, he poured a glassful. “Maybe that is all I care about,” he said, his back to me. “After your mother died – nothing seemed to matter anymore.”
“Not even me,” I retorted bitterly. “I loved her, too. And I needed you.”
He sipped from the whiskey, his eyes flinty, his face hard. “What for? You grew up, became independent, got tough. You didn’t need me, Jade. I didn’t need you, either.”
“That’s nice to know,” I snapped. “But you were an adult, and I was a kid.Yourkid. You didn’t bother to fake it. I’m your fuckingdaughter, asshole.”
Kinnard shrugged. “So I’m a bad parent. Sue me.”
Too furious to drink my tea, I shoved it across the table, spilling some from the rim. “Then it’s good we had this little heart to heart, eh? Clear the air? Fall into one another’s arms while crying? I’m outta here, and you’ll never see me again.”
