How can I be so aware of him and furious all at once?
“Ash.” He reached for her, but she ducked him.
“Don’t you dare. If you think I’m letting you near after you got me into this nightmare?—”
“Ash,” he growled. “We’re leaving.Now. You can yell at me later.”
“Laterwhen? After you turn into a bloody dragon again? After you fly me to some other bizarre place?—”
“No flying.” He caught her arm. “Hold on.”
“Hold on to what?—?”
The cave dissolved around them, and she flung her arms around his waist, her eyes shut tight. Heat rushed through her, as if she were being turned inside out, and then there was nothing—no weight, no sensation—just air.Oh, God, oh, God.
“Fuck!”His curse drifted in the ether, as if from a distance.
The impression of moving through mist continued until the world snapped back into gloomy darkness. Her knees buckled as her feet touched ground.
“Damn it,” she gasped, grabbing his arm to stay upright. “You did that thing again!”
“Dematerializing—”
“Of course, it is. Because turning into a bloody enormous dragon and scaring the life out of me wasn’t enough,” she retorted, panting for air. “Any other powers you’d like to tell me about? Pull rabbits from hats? Make tea appear out of thin air?”
“No tea.” His lips twitched. “Besides, I doubted you’d want to sit on my dragon’s neck or hang from my claw.”
“It’s not funny.” She scowled, sweeping back her damp hair, the cool air refreshing in this…this forest he’d dropped them in. “Those other dragons you killed nearly burned me inside that cave.”
The humor vanished from his expression. “Where was Skaldr?”
“How would I know?” She paced over the moss-covered ground, more gray rather than green under the moonlight. “Hemet with someone. I heard them, and then he appeared and said he’d be back.”
His eyes narrowed. “He left you alone?”
“Yes.” Ash glanced up and frowned. The night sky was clearer here, with no heavy cloud cover. Her gaze latched onto an enormous, violet-tinged moon—far larger than she’d ever seen. “This isn’t Earth. Where are we? I thought you were taking me back?”
“I tried. The portal basin is heavily guarded. It seems they’re aware the gateway was used.”
“So, then, when?”
His brow furrowed. “We’ll try in…two days, when things settle down.”
“Two days!” she yelled.
His expression darkened. “We will leave, make no mistake. I must check in… Never mind.”
“No, I do mind. Check in—why?” Her gaze searched his.
He studied the trees surrounding them, moonlight gleaming off his bare torso, and shrugged. “So, Michael doesn’t think I’m dead. And since you’re obviously on a scouting-slash-holiday trip, no one would throw a ruckus if you don’t report in, right?”
About to say her mother would start to worry, Ash sighed at the futility of that. Her job sometimes took her away for long periods with no contact. Then there was the proprietor, Ama Deni…
Ugh. For now, she was stuck there.
Her gaze followed the rising ground toward what looked like a clearing, with shrubs clinging to the looming rock face and a large, darkened crack. “God, not another hole in the mountain.”
“It’s hidden and defensible.”
