Page 22 of Dragon’s Rebel

Chapter 10

Rebel finally drifted off to sleep. She woke just as they were circling over downtown Portland, nestled between the Willamette River and the forests of Vista Ridge. The sun was just barely up, and there were traffic helicopters in the sky.

Rebel hoped Thorne had remembered to cloak himself, or they were going to be on the morning news.

Thorne climbed high in a wide curve, coming around to face the ridge. Rebel just managed to pick out the cliff where the mansion was concealed before Thorne folded his wings and dove. Wind rushed past her ears as she peered out between his claws.

Just when it looked as though he was going to dive straight into the cliff below the house, he half-unfurled his wings, tilting them to cut their downward speed.

The brush-laden cliffside rushed at them, still too fast, and Rebel fought the urge to shut her eyes. At the last second Thorne folded his wings again, and they plunged into what looked like a solid rock wall.

The magical illusion melted away, and they were through the cave mouth and into the underground tunnel that led into the lair. Thorne extended his back legs, running awkwardly down the tunnel until the momentum ran down.

He sat back on his haunches, setting her gently on her feet and making sure she was steady before he let her go.

Come on, he said. We should wake the others up and let them know we got the serum.

He still sounded grumpy. Not that that was anything new; pissed off was pretty much business as usual for Thorne.

Which was fine. Rebel wasn’t exactly the poster child for Little Mary Sunshine. The world was a hard place, people in it were assholes, and you were pretty much on your own to survive.

And if you were strong, and not an asshole, you usually ended up being responsible for somebody weaker than you.

With Rebel, it was Tempest. Not that Rebel wouldn’t do anything for her sister. Tempest was the only person she loved without reservation, and she’d cheerfully kill anyone who tried to hurt her.

But it was still a lot of responsibility. Thorne had a whole city to worry about. That was a crap-ton of responsibility.

Somebody should appreciate it.

Rebel put her hand on his shoulder. “Hey,” she said. Thorne stopped. “Thanks for saving my life.” She took a deep breath, then let it out. She could do this. “Don’t tell anybody, but for a few seconds there, I was pretty fucking scared.” Okay. That hadn’t been so hard.

He turned his head to look at her, his huge electric-blue eyes glowing in the dim cavern. There was a long pause. Finally he said, So was I.

Wow. Okay. Having a moment. They both stared at each other, not knowing what to do.

Deflect, Rebel. Deflect.

“Of course you were,” she said. “You wouldn’t want a Keeper of the Seals going splat on your watch. Very embarrassing. Especially when she still doesn’t even know where the Seal is.”

Exactly,Thorne said, beginning to walk down the corridor. He kept his pace slow, so she could keep up. The others would never let me hear the end of it.

That was better. Snark and sarcasm.

She kept her hand on his shoulder as they walked. After a minute, she heard his mental voice again—but not directed at her.

Talking to his brothers? That was weird. She’d never been able to overhear their conversations before.

Give it a rest, Thorne said. She does not think our tail is sexy.

Holy hell, it was the dragon talking back. The two halves of him were separate enough to have conversations. Who knew?

And they were talking about her.

I said, give it a rest, Thorne answered. She’s not going to fall in love with us. Especially our dragon parts.

Rebel smothered a gasp. Was it possible that crusty, overbearing, dutiful Thorne really did have feelings for her? Were those his fantasies that she’d seen?