“Not the only way. I need you to trust me.”
She snorted, letting out a strangled sort of laugh. “You don’t need to ask that. I still can’t believe you’re a dragon.”
Wade would always ask, but he didn’t tell her that. He reached for her, settled one hand on her shoulder, and gave her a quick little smile. “Whatever happens, I won’t let you go.”
He could sense the sea serpent getting closer, but he couldn’t stick around and fight her, not with Saoirse to worry about. He’d also never fought a dragon before and wasn’t sure how he’d get the upper hand with a sea serpent when his element was fire. Wade closed his eyes and opened himself up to the part of him that he locked away from the human form he walked the world in.
Shifting mass was a little like being on the receiving end of an avalanche. It wasn’t like how werecreatures shifted, breaking bone and tearing skin and turning it all into something else. Wade’s human body was essentially an illusion—solid, yes, but it wasn’t his true form.
His true form was what split through the ceiling and floor of Niall’s house, breaking free as mass settled back onto earth in the shape of a dragon that destroyed the house better than a wrecking ball. His wings unfurled, arcing upward into the sky, rain and wind lashing at them. His long neck stretched to its full length before he snaked it back down, tilting his head to look at where he carefully held Saoirse in one taloned foreclaw. She stared at him with a slack-jawed expression on her pale face, but she appeared unharmed from having the house come down around them.
The thing about being a dragon in a large urban city was that people would notice you.
Wade could hide himself from radar, and while he could get people to look away, he couldn’t make an entire city not see him. At least with the storm, there was cloud coverage, and hopefully, not as many people would be out in the rain. Wade launched himself into the sky, flying straight up toward the low-lying ceiling of storm clouds, both taloned foreclaws curled around Saoirse to shield her from the rain.
Boston disappeared when he made it into the clouds, flapping his wings hard to gain altitude. He was better at navigating direction in this form than on the ground, some other internal sense always knowing which way was up and down and where true north was. He banked on a wingtip in the cloud, sheet lightning cracking above him for a split second, and veered south, heading for the harbor.
He made sure to stay within an altitude that still let Saoirse breathe. The sound of jet engines echoed through the sky, mostof them far off at a higher altitude. Wade kept out of the flight paths of the ones heading to the airport, his world gray and cottony-looking, rain pelting his wings and body. He couldn’t stay airborne forever though, much as he loved flying. Casey was still missing, and they needed to find him before the sea serpent made it back to the harbor.
Dropping a building on top of a god was probably not enough to kill them.
He could hope it had killed Niall though. It would save Wade from eating the bastard. He probably tasted terrible.
Wade dived lower, the updraft different when he reached the trailing edge of the clouds. He snaked his head down below the clouds, getting eyes on the swath of Boston stretched out before him. The shoreline was closer, and he adjusted his vision to see farther, like a telescope. The water was choppy, all white-capped waves, and none of the boats in the harbor had any sails unfurled.
He rose back into the clouds, hiding himself away from curious eyes, and flapped his wings harder to speed up. He knew vaguely where he needed to go for the meet-up, and the boats waiting for him when he finally dived out of the clouds through howling wind and pouring rain held people that smelled like the sea and others that carried the scents of werecreatures.
He shifted mass as he arrowed toward a familiar yacht. The people on the small rear deck scattered, but they didn’t need to. When Wade landed on the deck with a heavy grunt, it wasn’t with the mass of a fire dragon but the easy weight of a human. The landing drove both him and Saoirse to their knees, the rocking of the yacht from the storm sending them sliding across the deck.
“Saoirse!” Riordan shouted. “Wade!”
Wade lifted his head, blinking rain out of his eyes. Riordan hurried toward them, keeping his balance against the rockingboat with ease. He crashed to his knees before them, dragging both of them into his arms for a bruising hug.
“He found my skin,” Saoirse said, sniffling hard.
“Thank you,” Riordan said, pressing a hard, close-mouthed kiss to Wade’s lips. “Thank you.”
“Not supposed to thank me,” Wade muttered.
Riordan laughed shakily before letting them go so he could shrug out of his leather jacket. “Here. You can use this to cover yourself.”
Wade was keenly aware of the sharp breath Saoirse drew in. His clothes had been ripped to shreds when he’d shifted mass, and Wade was grateful for the offer, but it was Riordan’ssealskin. “I can’t take that.”
“It’s only for a little while. We’re on our way to the islands.”
Wade hesitated but reached for the leather jacket after a moment. It was warm in a way a true piece of clothing wouldn’t be. He gripped it with one hand, meeting Riordan’s eyes over it as rain poured down around them. “I’ll give it back.”
Riordan smiled, and the look in his eyes was something Wade wanted to hoard. “I know you will.”
Nodding, Wade took the leather jacket and tied it around his waist, gaining a modicum of decency. “I destroyed Niall’s house.”
“You did what?” Lady Caith asked from where she was braced in the doorway to the cockpit.
“Niall isn’t the god, but he was working with one. She was glamoured as some old woman, but she goes by Caoránach.”
Wade heard Lady Caith’s fingers make dents in the doorframe. “He allied himself with the First Oilliphéist?”
“Looks like it. I’m pretty sure she’s not dead and is probably on her way to the water right now.”
