“What is happening?” I asked, at last a hint of defeat in my voice. “Please tell me why you’re doing this.”
“Sorry, babe,” Rasp said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Can’t do that yet.” He started the car, then turned back to face me. “Shit, are you, like, hungry or anything? I’ve got some trail mix in the glove box. Thirsty?”
I stared at him, wanting to cackle out a mad laugh. This was surreal in the most manic and bizarre way I could imagine.
“Uh…” I frowned at him. My throat was dry, like it had been packed with sand, but I wasn’t sure I wanted anything from them.
Finally, my need overwhelmed my wariness. “Okay, I’m thirsty.”
Rasp’s eyes widened, and he smacked Vincent on the shoulder. “Get her a water, dude. She needs a water.”
“Huh? Oh, okay,” Vincent said and opened a small, refrigerated compartment below the dashboard.
He pulled out a plastic water bottle, nearly fumbled it, righted his grip, then twisted the lid off before leaning back to offer it to me.
I hesitated, eyeing the bottle with trepidation.
“What’s wrong?” Vincent said. “I didn’t put my lips on it. Promise.”
Something about him gave me the impression that he wouldn’t hurt me, even though he’d just kidnapped me, and that put me strangely at ease. I should have been terrified of this huge, hulking man and his friend, but I wasn’t.
“Here you go, Brielle,” he said. “It’s safe.”
I froze. Of course they knew who I was. They’d targeted me. They probably knew everything about me. Still, hearing your name spoken by a kidnapper-albeit a remarkably polite kidnapper-was disconcerting.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I held my hands open for the bottle. When he gave it to me, I raised my bound wrists and drank half the bottle in four quick gulps.
“Rasp, are we gonna get in trouble?” Vincent asked, glancing at his partner with a combination of fear and worry.
Rasp let out a snort of derision. “Trouble? Dude, I told you, this is gonna make us freaking legends. He’s gonna love us for this.”
“Who’s he
?” I blurted, accidentally dribbling water down my front in my hurry to speak.
“Oh, uh…” Rasp muttered, glancing back at me. The smile faded from his lips. “Don’t worry about it.”
“We’re really sorry,” Vincent said, frowning at me apologetically as he turned. “We gotta keep that secret. You’ll see in a while though.” His eyes widened a bit as if he’d recalled something. “Shoot! Can you promise not to shift? Please? Not while we’re in the car, at least.”
I lowered the water bottle and let out a belly laugh. I couldn’t help it. Part of me wondered if I was still asleep on my balcony and having the weirdest fucking dream of my life. At that moment, I decided to see where this disaster of a kidnapping was going to take me. If I died, at least it would be under hilarious circumstances. I could tell the angel at the Pearly Gates a really funny story before heading into paradise.
“What’s so funny?” Vincent asked, his face falling in embarrassment.
The look on his face gave me the sudden and inexplicable desire to apologize. Why the hell did I want to apologize? What was wrong with me? I stopped laughing and composed myself enough to look at the guy again.
“Uh, I’m not laughing at you. It’s…oh, never mind.”
The two men went quiet, and I did my best to watch my surroundings as Rasp drove out of the grassy field onto a nearby country road. I logged each turn and twist, as well as any landmarks, in my mind. A neighborhood here, a farmhouse there, a river on the right, a bridge. With every mile that slipped by, we went higher into the mountains. Soon my brain was filled with dozens of pieces of information I could use to retrace our movements. Those would only be useful if I escaped, though.
“Is he going to be home?” Vincent asked after ten minutes of driving.
“Yeah,” Rasp grunted. “He only stayed at the penthouse last night. He told me he was going to stay at the country house for a few days to relax after the trip.”
Country house
?
Penthouse
? Who the hell were they taking me to? Fuck, was it one of the major royal families? Maybe someone was trying to curry favor with the dragon king Decimus? If that was the case, then they might be in for more of an ass-chewing than praise.
“Turn here,” Vincent said, pointing out the window.
“Dude, I know where the damn house is,” Rasp grumbled.
Rasp turned into the driveway and punched in a code on the keypad outside the gate. It slid open silently, and drove up a long winding road lined with tall, maple trees and evergreen shrubs. He pulled into a large, circular parking area in front of a massive house. I stared out the window with open-mouthed shock at the size and grandeur of the place. Whoever they’d brought me to must have had more money than God. It was even bigger than my family’s home.
“All right, let’s get her upstairs,” Rasp said.
In the blink of an eye, he shifted to his dragon form. He was long and lean with emerald-green scales. I’d watched this happen hundreds of times in the past, but seeing a person become a wolf was nothing compared to becoming a huge, twenty-foot-long dragon. The angled head that ended in a pointed snout, long razor-sharp fangs, and the strange slitted pupils looked foreign to me.
“Come on, ma’am,” Vincent said, opening the back door and helping me out.
I felt no immediate fear from these two. My instincts told me they were harmless, but that didn’t mean their master would be. Perhaps these two goofballs had been sent specifically because they were unassuming.
“Can you cut the ties on my feet?” I asked.
Vincent looked down at my feet blankly. “Crap. Uh, no.” He shrugged apologetically. “It’ll be fine. Rasp only has to get you up to the top floor. You won’t fly far.”
Turning, I eyed the dragon as he strolled around the car. Rasp looked at me with those strange dragon eyes, and I wanted to scream, but when he grabbed me in his taloned forepaws, I was too shocked and terrified to do more than let out a fearful groan.
He held me with surprising gentleness, and with several hard and powerful flaps of his wings, we were airborne. Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed he wouldn’t drop me. Cool air washed across me, but he flew with a grace I hadn’t believed possible, and when he landed on the balcony, I opened my eyes and let out a heavy sigh of relief as he put me down. After shifting back, he opened the large, ornate patio doors.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply