Inferno answers, and our Prez nods. “We’ll meet you there. I’ll go get Bamba, bring her and Francie, meet you there.”
“I’ll get the SUV,” Trigger growls, having joined in to hear what was going on. “I know exactly whereyou’re talking about. I heard the accident on the CB all night. Rain loosened some rocks and sent them sliding down the mountain. Hit the car. They’re saying it’s lucky the driver is even alive. They were working to cut the steering column, pinning her in. That’s what I heard before coming in here.”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Inferno snarls, face contorted in anguish. “Last thing I said to her was that she was a fuckin’ coward and didn’t belong here.”
“You didn’t mean it, and she knows that,” Francie cries, curling into Inferno.
“I told her she . . .”
I place a hand on his shoulder, not just because I feel the need to comfort him, other than the fact that he’s one of my brothers. Though a part of me is pissed he said that to her. The only thing keeping my dragon at bay and from being totally pissed is, is the fact I’ve seen him tearing himself up over it.
“Let’s get going,” I tell him and usher him to the doors. “We’ll catch up to Clay and get to your sister.”
Inferno nods, and I glance behind me. “Bring our go bags.”
“We’ve got them,” Brimstone says, already heading to get the bags.
I meet Heat’s gaze and jerk my chin before following through the door after Inferno. We’ll figure out the clothes situation when we get there. Rightnow, what mattered was getting in the sky, catching up with Clay, then getting to the mate my dragon demands is his.
I refuse to let this get to me. I didn’t want a mate. I tried to put her out of my head all day, only for the image of her to pop into my head all over again.
She’s mine, whether I want to be okay with it or not.
Shifting in the middle of the parking lot, I span my wings and jump, taking flight, my wings flapping, the rain hitting me like ice shards, but it doesn’t bother me. It never has. I roar into the dark night, eyes burning with the fire raging in my throat.
Images of the woman continue to fill my head. Some of these scenarios I don’t want to even think about. My dragon and I become one on this, as we don’t want to find she’s gone before we get to her.
My club has always come first. They’re my family. Have been since Heat and Brimstone found me so many years ago. They brought me into the club, gave me a purpose.
Inferno and I catch up with Clay not long after getting in the air. Clay roars and flaps his wings. He was beating himself up and blaming himself. I could tell without being able to hear him.
About fifteen minutes after catching up with Clay,we come upon the scene and have to stay out of sight to keep from being noticed.
From up here, we can see them pulling her from the car. They shout and rush, running for the ambulance. As one, we follow the ambulance and only let it out of sight when we make it to the hospital. We all have to find clothes, and that won’t be too hard. There’s a store just down the street where we’ll be able to get clothes for now. Heat will have our cuts with our bags.
“She’s gonna be okay,” Inferno mutters, talking to himself. “She’s got to.”
“She’s too stubborn not to be,” Clay remarks, eyes still ablaze. His dragon is far too close to the surface.
Hell, I’m sure if I look in the mirror, I’ll have the same look. My own dragon refuses to relinquish its hold on me completely.
I don’t say anything. It’s not the right place to speak up right now. They don’t know what I do when it comes to the woman they both love so much. They don’t know she’s my mate. Not yet, that is.
“She carries the dragon mark,” Clay says, eyes on me. “Your dragon is tattooed over it, covering the mark itself.”
“What?” I look at him in astonishment. I’d never heard of such a thing. “How the fuck does she havemy dragon tattooed on her? I’ve never seen her before today.”
Clay stills in his walk, Inferno next to him. “My granddaughter is like her grandmother, sees things in her dreams. Knows the truth before she realizes it. She’s human, yet special. Makes her the perfect dragon mate.”
“I told her she wasn’t worth having the dragon mark,” Inferno mutters, shaking his head. “I won’t forgive myself if something happens to her.”
Clay places a hand on his grandson’s shoulder, eyes never leaving mine. “Carina is a fighter. Stronger than most. She’s just blind to something because she refuses to let go of the past. We’ll see her through this, and then we’ll deal with the fact that your brother here is her mate.”
I blink at him, my dragon wanting to roar at the knowledge. I didn’t want to hear it said aloud. I didn’t want to think about the fact that Clay said she had my dragon tattooed on her when she’d never even seen him before I saw her . . . fuck it was only this afternoon I saw her and now here we are, going into the hospital to find out if she is alive or not.
FIVE
PYRO
