There’s nothing here,he snapped, rubbing his throbbing temples.
His dragon stayed silent.
A growl rumbling low in his throat, he stalked off in search of a drink?—
“Daayan, daayan!”The screams in the local vernacular tore through the air, punctuated by heavily accented English. “Witch! Must die!”
A mob surged from a dusty side street, wooden clubs raised, chasing after a slight figure torpedoing toward him.
Instinct flared, and Race grabbed the human?—
Rain fell, a torrential downpour out of nowhere, drenching them and the mob.
What the fuck?
“Let me go!” she yelled, her English accent jarringly out of place in the mountainous village.“Damn it, release me,” she hissed, casting a wild-eyed look over her shoulder at the advancing horde, her dripping chin-length hair sticking to her face like black ink.
The group of skinny men formed a semicircle, their wet, angry faces flushed from the mountain cold, their weapons braced for battle.
“Sir, give her to us,” one shouted, shaking his baton. “Bad woman.”
Hell, he should let her go. He had more than enough shit to deal with. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow as the rain rustled faster, keeping the furious female shackled to his chest.
“Why?” he drawled, blinking away the droplets. “She’s just a girl. What could she possibly do to a group of big, strong men like you?”
Her heart pounded so hard he could feel it against his pecs.
“She make rain, sir,” the man cried in broken English, flinging his hand upward toward the sky. “See? And lightning!”
The others joined in, chanting, “Daayan,daayan.”
More villagers gathered at the would-be lynching.
“She witch, sir. Bad luck,” the first man said. “Bring curse to village.”
“I’m not bad luck, you whinygit!” She twisted sideways in his grip and attempted to lunge at the man as if to snatch his club and beat him with it. “You know nothing! Go chase your goats, you insufferable jelly-brained twats?—”
Race clamped her mouth with his palm, muffling her cussing. Nope, not terrified.
Seething.
She growled.
His dragon stirred.
Then she sank her teeth into his palm—hard—and didn’t let go.
Fuuuuck.The little vixen!
Race didn’t release her. Just kept an ironclad hold around her waist, while she kept her teeth buried in his palm as if determined to take off a chunk.
His dragon prowled beneath his skin, chuffing, distracting him.
Calm down, we’ll be outta here in a hot minute.Race glanced up.
The sky brooded with dark clouds and the promise of rain, but the actual deluge poured only in a tight circle over them. Justthem. Him, the girl, and the weapon-toting locals.
He opened his psychic senses and scanned her, promptly picking up on her abilities. The moment he brushed her mind, a wild vibration surged?—
