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With my bare palm, I reach for him, but he’s yanked away before I can touch his skin. Legion snatches the man with his teeth, ripping into him before tossing him aside. The injured vamp lands on the other side of the road. I note the other vampires are already strewn across the bubbling pavement, each one bloodied and unmoving.
Legion stalks to my attacker and pins the man to the ground with a large, bloodied claw. Smoke curls from the dragon’s nostrils, and a moment later, a lick of flames leaks from his mouth, engulfing the vampire until his screams are cut short.
Finally, the dragon turns to face me.
I stare at his glowing eyes, a thousand feelings racing through me. The urge to go to him is strong. I find myself scanning his large form, checking for injuries.
I shouldn’t care.
But I do.
And that’s exactly why I turn away and fumble with the driver’s handle. Warmth hits my hand, and I stop, turning to see Legion’s dragon inching closer. His large snout nudges my hip, and I sidestep mostly out of instinct so I don’t brush him with my exposed skin.
He stares at me with a sadness that pricks at my heart.
“I can’t,” I say simply.
He huffs, and a small whiff of smoke escapes his nostrils. His frustration reignites my own temper, and I turn away, wrenching open the car door and sliding inside before he can stop me.
I avoid his glowing gaze as I rev the engine and hit the gas, swerving back onto the road—as if I can somehow outrun him. But he doesn’t move even when I speed off, and I watch in my rearview until his mournful eyes disappear.
My heart aches with a sense of loss, but I shove the pain down, reminding myself he’s the enemy. And you can’t lose what you never had.
I’m nearly back to the city when the car is accosted a second time. I gasp, swallowing a panicked shriek as I imagine Uziah’s men regrouping and doubling their efforts. This time without a watchful dragon to rescue me.
Instead of stopping, I hit the gas, speeding up and heading for the portal.
The sound of metal being scraped is followed by the roof being punctured. I glance up to see a long, blood-stained claw poking through the car’s roof. Then another. Then another.
Suddenly, the road beneath my tires drops away, and my entire car is being lifted into the air. Wind roars outside, and I glance out the window to see large black wings beating wildly against the air—gaining altitude fast.
Treetops fall away, and my stomach drops to my knees as the dragon above me banks sharply right and I’m carried off across the skies.
Chapter 33
Tori
Realizing my power windows still work at a thousand feet elevation is possibly the weirdest part about my current situation. I lean my head out the open window and scream at the dragon currently stealing my car with me in it. Not to mention, he’s flying in the opposite direction of the portal that will take us home.
“Put me down, asshole!”
Legion ignores me and keeps flying.
I hastily roll the window back up to avoid a flock of incoming birds.
After that, Legion simply flies toward the horizon. The ground beneath us changes as we fly away from the Crossroads and any other sign of life inside it. After a few minutes, hills and valleys and farmland slope toward mountains and rivers and lakes.
I grip the steering wheel like some kind of life line when he suddenly dips toward the ground again. My knuckles whiten, and my breathing stops as the rocky mountaintop comes up to meet me far too fast. At the last minute, everything slows, and my tires once again touch the ground.
I jostle as if I’ve hit a pothole, and then everything goes still.
The dragon retreats, and I watch in the rearview as the beast shifts into the man I know; the man I have every reason to hate.
I watch him approach in the side mirror, my temper swirling at the sight of the naked, handsome, infuriating man who’s just saved me then abducted me—again. Climbing out of the car, I glare at him, mask and gloves off in a silent dare.
“Tor,” he says, relief lacing my name like a prayer. The sound of my name in that voice sends shivers through me, but I refuse to let him see how affected I am.
“Don’t,” I say coldly.
