Before Maple could answer, the SUV suddenly accelerated, closing the distance between them with aggressive intent. In that moment of rising panic, something unexpected happened—a pulling sensation deep in her chest, like a compass needle swinging toward magnetic north, urging her toward the canyon roads that led back to the hidden town.
"Head toward the canyon," she said urgently, the words coming from some instinct she didn't understand but couldn't ignore.
"Maple, I don't know where this hidden dragon town is."
"Just head that way. I can... I can feel which direction to go."
Ben shot her a look that mixed concern with growing alarm, but he turned toward the desert roads leading into the vast canyon territory. Behind them, the black SUV acceleratedfurther, and Maple realized with a chill that whoever was following them had no good intentions.
"We better find help soon," Ben muttered, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. "Because I don't think whoever's in that car just wants to have a friendly conversation."
SIX
RUNE
Rune had every intention of retreating to his office in the city after that catastrophic encounter with Maple, but his body refused to cooperate with rational thought. The idea of sitting through board meetings and corporate negotiations while her citrus and rose scent seemed permanently embedded in his lungs felt impossible. Worse, he couldn't risk anyone at Trigg Corporation seeing their unflappable CEO looking like he was slowly coming apart at the seams.
Because that's exactly what's happening,his dragon roared with smug satisfaction.She's unraveling you.
"Shut up," Rune muttered aloud.
The past two hours had been an exercise in futile distraction. He'd dismissed his housekeeper early, needing the illusion of control that came from managing his own space. Tasks that normally would have been handled by her became desperate attempts to keep his hands busy and his mind focused on anything other than Maple.
His dragon had been relentless since the moment he'd walked away from Bram's office, roaring demands that made Rune's jaw clench with the effort of resistance. The mate bondwasn't fully locked into place yet—he'd maintained enough distance to prevent that final, irreversible connection—but the resonance was growing stronger with every hour Maple kept his claim marker close to her body.
Ancient magic designed by his ancestors to ensure no Alpha could escape fate forever.
Currently, he stood in his walk-in closet, methodically reorganizing suits that were already perfectly arranged. The mundane task should have been soothing, but his hands shook slightly as he moved hangers with unnecessary precision. He hadn't cleaned out this space in years—it didn't need to be done—but the alternative was acknowledging the growing certainty that his carefully controlled life was about to be obliterated.
"This is ridiculous," he said to the empty room, his voice carrying the edge of a man fighting a losing battle. "She's just a human who stumbled across something she doesn't understand. I'll figure out how to unbind her from the marker, she'll go back to her normal life, and?—"
The sharp pain that lanced through his chest cut off his words mid-sentence. Rune staggered, one hand bracing against the closet wall as the sensation hit him. Not the warm awareness he'd been fighting all afternoon, but something cold and urgent that made his dragon surge to the surface with violent intensity.
Our mate is in danger.
"No, you're overreacting," Rune growled out.
But even as he tried to dismiss the instinct, another wave of alarm flooded his system. The mate bond might not be fully activated yet, but it was strong enough to carry emotional echoes, and what he was feeling from Maple's direction wasn't confusion or curiosity.
It was fear.
His dragon's roar echoed through his mind with enough force to make his hands shake.
She needs us now.
Rune abandoned any pretense of rational thought. He bolted from the closet, taking the stairs three at a time as he raced through his mansion toward the private garage. His Lamborghini sat gleaming under the overhead lights, a machine built for speed and precision—exactly what he needed right now.
The garage door was still rising when he peeled out of the driveway, the sports car's engine responding to his urgency with a throaty roar that matched his dragon's fury. The canyon roads stretched ahead of him, winding through the red rock formations that had sheltered his kind for centuries, and he pushed the vehicle to its limits as that invisible compass in his chest guided him toward Maple's location.
She's close. Too close to the hidden entrance for coincidence.
The thought struck him as he navigated a particularly sharp curve, his hands steady on the wheel despite the chaos in his mind. Was she trying to find him? Had something happened that made her seek out his territory for help?
The questions evaporated when he crested the next rise and saw the nightmare unfolding ahead of him. A black SUV with tinted windows was aggressively pursuing a modest sedan along the treacherous canyon road, both vehicles moving at speeds that turned every curve into a potential death trap. The SUV driver seemed intent on forcing the smaller car off the road, and Rune's enhanced senses picked up the terror radiating from the sedan's occupants.
Maple.
Her presence blazed in his awareness now, bright and desperate and absolutely terrified. She was in that sedan, along with someone else—a male whose scent carried the earthy tones of fieldwork.
