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15
Onnika had been gradually creeping closer to the two lead ships, drawing a crowd of spectators who were now riveted to the screen. Aidan was among them. Where had she learned to fly like that?
Her insane maneuver into the gully that at first had made everyone hiss with disappointment, thinking it was a mistake, had in fact been a stroke of genius. Her exuberant laughter was nearly drowned out by the crowd’s fervid cheers. Intrigued by the noise, more spectators gathered around. Her laughter continued as she danced through the stone arches and beyond. Aidan envied her joy.
This time, instead of taking the low road into the cleft, she went high, another good choice considering the vertical shaft at the end, which gave her no trouble at all the second time around. She was still smiling, even as her competitor, that asshole who had nearly knocked her out of the race at the start, eased up beside her, once more getting too close.
Aidan ground his teeth, knowing the prick was about to try something shameful again.
Even though the fiend’s ship must have been in her blind spot, Onnika glanced to her right with a look of annoyance. As they both blasted over the sandy plain, she dropped her altitude until she was but a few feet off the ground. He followed.
The distance between their wingtips narrowed. Aidan held his breath. But when the guy made his move, Onnika seemed to anticipate it, rolling her craft just enough so that his wing missed hers by inches. Then she retaliated…violently. Her wing punched down on top of his, sending his ship wildly off balance. With the ground so close, there was no correcting. His ship struck the rocky surface and tumbled head over end before exploding, leaving a scorched trail of fiery debris.
In the VR chamber, the man yanked off his visor with a loud expletive. The crowd cheered with ravenous glee. Onnika’s triumphant laugh now held a hint of smugness as she continued the race like she’d designed it herself. Who knew, maybe she did. He knew little to nothing about her, but suddenly he wanted to.
As she headed into the final lap, he took the opportunity to study her. The smile on her face spoke of pure bliss. It was a look he recalled wearing himself, once upon a time—one he hadn’t donned in a very long time. She appeared to be in her element, fully immersed in the world shown to her through the visor, as if she belonged there and would conquer every inch of it.
Aidan had actually stifled a yawn duringhisrace, not that it hadn’t been challenging, but once again he couldn’t find that place where he lost himself in flight, where exhilaration met adrenalin, both shooting through his bloodstream like a drug. That place where the body became one with the machine, just as he became one with his dragon.
“Woo hoo!” Onnika’s fists shot into the air above her just as she crossed the finish line in first place. She slipped off the visor, shook out her wild mane of sugar-white hair, and then immediately shot him a look filled with vengeful vindication. It was a good look on her. Sexy and powerful. Not that he’d tellherthat.
After gathering her voucher, she skipped down the steps, presenting it to him like a trophy between her thumb and forefinger.
He snatched it from her. “Only three more to go.”
Her expression fell, replaced by a glare. “That’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want, a pat on the back? You lucked out and beat a couple of amateurs.”
“Luck!? That was some pretty great flying, and you know it.”
He shrugged. “You shouldn’t have been caught off guard like that in the beginning. You could have had the lead all the way through.”
“I…” she huffed. “Yeah, I know, but who’d have expected such a dick move?”
“You’re going to see stuff like that more and more as we head further into the race.”
A sly grin played around her lip, and he registered his own words. She leaned closer, and he caught the sweet scent of her pheromones. “I will?”
Damn that expression of hers. It sent the blood rushing from his head so fast he was nearly undone. He’d almost forgotten how good she was at playing men. As if she could proffer that seductive smile and bat those pretty lashes and he’d give her whatever she desired. He wasn’t about the cave so easily, even if he did want to spirit her to some private corner and see if those lips were as soft as they looked.
“If you and Caryn get three more vouchers.”
Her grin once again faded. He waited for her biting comeback, oddly eager for it.
“You!” A man hollered.
Both she and Aidan glanced over to see the angered pilot who’d lost his ship to Onnika’s retaliation stomping toward them. “You cheating little bitch. That voucher should be mine.”
Broiling with a sudden fury, Aidan wrenched his fist back and then cracked the man across the jaw. His body spun from the force of the blow before collapsing, unconscious. A few pedestrians backed away from the sudden violence.
Aidan shook out his fist and faced Onnika. Mouth agape, she gazed up at him with wide, reverberant eyes.
Suddenly his gut was tied in knots. “Come,” he said. “It’s time to see how the others did.”
Then she aimed that disturbingly disarming grin at him. “Is that an order,Captain?”
He eyed those glossy lips of hers. “It would be if you were part of my crew. Which you’re not.” Yet.
