“Fuck,” he yelled, then ran.
At first, I thought he ran from the enormous dragon that stared down at him from nearly thirty feet up. I was wrong. He ran clear of the cars, then shifted into a dragon.
“Shit!”
Alix cowered behind me, safe from the bullets, but petrified with terror that a dragon’s four legs and wings stood over her. Blubbering in her fear, her face stark white, she shut her eyes as I spun and reached for her with my talons.
“Don’t kill me,” she screamed.
I saved my breath and didn’t answer her. I dared not fight that asswipe. Not with Alix to protect. He’d smash her flat just to spite me. Seizing her in a firm yet relaxed grip, I leaped skyward, my wings beating strongly. Alix screamed again, completely freaking out, losing her mind.
“Chill,” I ordered. “It’s me. Calm down, okay? I’ve got you.”
Her shrieks faltered, but she quivered in my grip, her eyes tightly closed as I carried her higher and higher. Risking a glance back, I saw the asswipe hard on my tail, flying fast and closing the distance. Neither of us flamed. Flames did little damage against dragons and alerted sharp-eyed humans to our presence.
No. He intended to slash me to pieces with his talons, let Alix fall ten thousand feet to her death.Not gonna happen, buddy.
Smaller, lighter, and faster than he, I beat my wings strongly, putting distance between us. With the storm clouds so low, I entered them moments after jumping into flight.Time to lose you, sucker.Once deep within their cover, I switched direction. With my inner navigation keeping me informed, I knew I headed toward the mountains.
Most excellent. The storm concealed the rocky crags, turning them invisible. The clouds eddied and pooled around my wings, possibly informing the pursuing asswipe where we were. I changed direction again, this time angling north, parallel to the mountains.
Any glance back showed me zilch. No pursuit. While I could have lost him that easily in these thick clouds, I dared not believe I had. Zigzagging my way across the sky, staying within the storm, I reversed direction, dropped several hundred feet in altitude, headed south again, then east.
All the while, Alix shivered and shook with cold and terror.
I had to get her back on solid ground and warmed up before very much longer.
“J-J-Jade?”
“Yeah, honey, it’s me. I’m headed back now. I think we lost him.”
Alix moaned. “I’m f-f-freezing.”
“You’re gonna be okay. I know you’re cold, you’re scared.”
Daring to send a narrow stream of flames near Alix to warm her up, I hoped the asswipe wasn’t anywhere nearby. Should he see it, he’d be on me like a hawk on a dove. Alix’s teeth continued to chatter, but her shivering eased a bit.
“You’re a dragon.”
“To be perfectly accurate, I’m a dragon shifter.”
“Oh.”
Diving beneath the clouds, I looked sharply for the goon chasing us. I saw nothing of him. The snow still swirled heavily enough to conceal me as I soared lower, gliding toward the vast city below. Once again, my navigational instinct kicked in, and within a few minutes I landed in my apartment building’s lot where we’d started.
I set Alix down, then shifted to my human form. She gazed at me, her already huge eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets to roll down her cheeks. She also shivered, her lips and eyelids blue. Despite our need to hurry, get out of that place, I took her into my arms.
“I’ll help you warm up,” I murmured, rubbing her arms, her back. “You’re so cold.”
Alix started to cry against my shoulder. “I want to go home.”
“As soon as you can drive, we’ll head to your place.”
I got her into her car, started the engine, which warmed the interior. After shivering for a while longer, her cold hand in mine, Alix finally sucked in deep breaths. Her face no longer had that gray tinge, her lips were no longer blue.
“I need,” she began, then wiped her face with her hands. “I need an explanation.”
“You’ll get one. When we get home.”
