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Chapter Fifteen
Sienna closed her eyesfor just a second as she allowed her other senses to kick in. The wind sliding through her T-shirt and whipping at her hair, the scent of grass and pine and the faintest tinge of wood smoke in the clarity of air up high.
At least Bongo’s barking had faded into the nether. He hadn’t liked being left behind, despite having his own doggy door he could go in and out of at the back of the house, and enough food and water to last a week. She only wished she could tell the dog he was safer at home alone than he’d ever be with them. And it wasn’t like Bongo could keep up to them in the water.
So why did guilt pinch at her insides when finding the rest of therareswas imperative to their survival?
She flicked her eyes back open. She needed to focus now, not concede to how close she was getting to Gray and his sidekick, Bongo. She didn’t want to miss the thrill of gliding through the sky. Gray had mentioned he couldn’t fly, yet her added weight as he cradled her against his chest with his huge wings spread out either side didn’t seem to weigh him down.
The treed valley soon gave way to cleared farmland before transitioning quickly to townhouses, their lights coming on below them as the people inside woke and no doubt got ready for their working day.
She snuggled closer to Gray, feeling the heat of his body even through the armor he’d put back on. She was confident he’d keep her safe even so high up in the air.When did you start trusting him? He kept you captive! Has sex really made you change your mind about him that easily?
As much as she hated to admit it, being intimate with himhadchanged things between them. Like it or not, she was closer to him now, less immune to his charms.
He dipped a wing and they swung to the left, the glint of the river easily visible below while the edge of sun appeared on the horizon, lighting the sky far too quickly while highlighting the grassy bank of the river and the weed infested and gravelly, barren ground alongside it.
Gray had clearly chosen this area because it was deserted. No one would be likely to see them.
She shivered. Whatwouldpeople say if they caught a glimpse of this huge winged man with his striated orange and tan skin? She didn’t want to think about the fallout of such a thing on social media or even the news. She didn’t doubt for a second the Dronians would get hold of the footage and use it to their advantage.
The railway line came into view then, too, the train visible far off in the distance. That it seemed so surreal now that she’d made a carriage her home told her just how deep she was getting with Gray. She couldn’t imagine him no longer in her life and she’d barely known him for more than a few days.
The ground was rushing up fast when Gray pulled his wings up high, then bent his legs in preparation for landing. She inhaled deeply, the scent of the river pulling at her already and making her senses buzz with anticipation.
Thud.
Gray grunted as he landed, his legs giving way before he dropped then rolled, tucking his wings around them to cushion the fall.
With her breaths coming hard and fast, and her pulse beating furiously, it took her a handful of seconds to realize she was unharmed and still in Gray’s arms on the ground and enfolded in his wings. She sat and peeled apart his wings, dawn light for a moment making her blink before she climbed free from his hold then turned around to face him. “Are you okay?”
He pushed to his booted feet and shook his wings experimentally before he nodded. “Nothing but a few cuts and bruises, and a dent to my ego.”
She snorted. “I’m betting it’s not every day you carry someone through the air.”
He wiped some grass and bits of gravel off the palms of his hands and onto his gray sweatpants. “I’ve trained for all kinds of scenarios,” he said. “Though mostly I’ve been taught how to protect and defend myself.”
She absently pushed her windswept hair back from her face. “Was that part of your bounty hunter training?”
“No, actually it had been part of my assassin training.”
Her heart skipped a beat, sudden coldness hitting her hard in her midriff even as her skin went hot and clammy. He sounded so matter-of-fact, so careless. “You were an assassin?”
A coldblooded killer.
He exhaled heavily and looked away. “I wasn’t always a bounty hunter.”
“Clearly not,” she said in a brittle voice, the nausea swirling around in her stomach threatening to rise. He was no better than the Dronians who’d killed her people. Had he killed for pleasure like the Dronians did? She took a step back from him. “I really don’t know you at all, do I?”
He looked back at her, his eyes narrowed. “I eradicated bad people, Sienna. Murderers, rapists, people without a conscience who didn’t deserve to live. I always made sure of that before I accepted a target.”
“How did you know theywerebad people? How did you know if the intel you received was even true?”
“Other than the fact I saw it in my target’s soulless eyes?” He sighed heavily, then added, “I made sure I watched my mark for days, sometimes weeks or months before I took away their last breath. I needed to know first that they deserved their fate.”
