Page 35 of Bewitching the Dragon
Something hit the pavement near her hand, and she rolled the other way and then jumped to her feet. Glancing at the place where she had been sitting, she saw a black scorch mark.
“Okay, maybe I can.” She scrambled toward the dragon—even if it was Rahu, she was seriously running toward adragon.
That just wasn’t right.
He lowered one wing, flattening it on the ground, and Becca wedged her foot under the joint and hoisted herself onto his back. She quickly positioned herself so that she was straddling his neck, and she wrapped her arms around him and held on for dear life.
I can’t believe this is happening.
The wings flapped, kicking up dust and leaves and creating something of a wind tunnel that blew at the band’s long hair as if they were posing for a music video, and then in the next breath, Becca was flying.
Without releasing her hold one single millimeter, she leaned to the side to confirm that yes, she was not touching the ground. In fact, she was probably thirty, forty, one hundred feet in the air.
Moisture smacked her in the face, and she squeezed her eyes shut until it cleared. When she opened them again, they were above the clouds.
Above. The. Clouds.
Despite the direness of the situation and the reality that all those things that weren’t supposed to be real actually were, a giggle escaped her lips, and the dragon glanced back over its shoulder. She gave it a feeble wave and then clutched onto his neck again. He winked and then turned around to pay attention to where he was flying.
The dragon just winked at her.
Not just the dragon but Rahu. She was flying on Rahu’s back.
Wait—where the hell was he taking her?
Chapter Eleven
Rahu took her to the City of the Dead. He didn’t know what else to do. The aboveground cemetery was loaded to the gills with gargoyles so it seemed the safest place for her at the moment.
It was dusk when he landed on the moss-coated pavers that formed something of a town square between four of the largest crypts in the cemetery. The gates were locked, which meant no human tourists would be wandering about, and he could shift back to his human form without worry of being spotted.
It also meant the surrounding gargoyles were free to shift as well.
Rahu summoned the magic, commanding his dragon to let go of his form so that he could shift into his human shape. As soon as the magic shimmered the air, Becca stopped her visual admiration of the landscape to stare at him as the scales and horns and wings faded and were replaced by skin and hair and blue eyes and—oh shit, he forgot to magik his clothes back on. He did so, quickly, as he felt his cheeks suffuse with heat.
And then she attacked him.
“You jerk,” she shouted as she pummeled him with her fists. “You knew about all of this and you didn’t tell me? We slept together, you asshole!”
He grabbed her wrists because, damn, those blows hurt. “I couldn’t. They swore me to secrecy.”
“Liar,” she cried out. “I don’t believe anything you say!”
“Becca, I’m really sorry. I wanted to tell you, I swear.”
She tugged her arms free of his grasp and stormed several paces away, turning her back to him. Hopefully, she was taking a minute to think about everything. Maybe she’d realize that he hadn’t had any damn control in this situation. Not even a little bit. If he had, he would have done things much differently.
Her shoulders tensed as magic filled the air again; the gargoyles were taking their human form. More than one, based on the amount of magic he could feel.
He suspected Becca could feel it too, because she faced him again, her curious gaze darting all around. He could feel her fear, too.
“It’s okay,” he said. “They’re friends.”
“They who?”
“Gargoyles.” He cleared his throat. “They’ve actually been protecting you for your entire life.”
Someone stepped out of the shadows. And then another someone and another. Men and women, all looking as if they were carved from stone, even in their human form. They moved to the edge of the pavers and stood at parade rest. None greeted them, but Rahu noted they were all eyeing Becca with undisguised curiosity.
