Page 40 of Vex
Unless he was imagining it.
No.
The guards on the snow mobiles were almost on her now.
Vex let his fire loose, watching it wash over the guards and Luisa, whose scream rent the air as it hit her.
And flowed safely around her, not doing her a bit of harm.
The flames engulfed everything in their path, turning the snow to steam and the guards to ash in seconds. But around Luisa, the fire parted like a curtain, creating a perfect circle of safety in the inferno. She stood untouched in the center of the destruction, staring up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
His fire could not harm his mate.
Vex circled once, scanning for additional threats, before spiraling down to land near her. His massive dragon form settled into the snow, wings folded against his sides as he lowered his head to meet her gaze.
Up close, he could see the damage the cold had done—her lips were blue, her skin mottled white and red from frostbite, and she was shivering so violently she could barely stand.
Climb on, he thought at her.
The mental connection felt as natural as breathing now that he'd acknowledged it. He could sense her confusion, her disbelief, the way her logical mind was trying to process what had just happened. But beneath it all was relief so profound it would have brought him to his knees if he were in his other form.
She approached him on unsteady legs, her bare feet leaving bloody prints in the snow. The sight of her pain sent fresh rage coursing through his system, but he held perfectly still as she reached for the ridge of scales along his leg. Her fingers had to be numb with cold, making her grip clumsy, but she managed to haul herself up onto his back.
He could feel her fear through their bond, the way she fought to stay conscious as her body finally began to warm against his hide. Her grip on his scales was the desperate hold of someone who'd been seconds from death, and he sent waves of reassurance through their mental link.
Vex launched himself skyward with powerful wingbeats, carrying his precious cargo toward the casino's lights. The storm fought him every meter of the way, wind shear threatening to knock them from the sky, but his dragon form was built for this. He climbed above the worst of the weather, giving Luisa a view of the Mountain from an angle no human was meant to see.
Movement on the roof caught his attention. A sleek speeder sat on the landing pad, its engines already spinning up for departure.
Two figures ran toward it with the desperate haste of people whose plans had just gone catastrophically wrong. Even from this distance, he could make out Maera's distinctive silhouette and Zymon's bulk beside her.
Vex folded his wings and dove, the speeder growing larger in his vision with each passing second. He could incinerate them both where they stood, end this threat to his mate with a single burst of dragonfire.
But he still had a mission to complete. The stolen IDA data was somewhere in this building and destroying it along with Maera would leave too many questions unanswered.
He targeted the speeder instead, letting his fire loose in a concentrated stream that turned the vehicle into slag. The explosion sent both figures diving for cover, their escape route eliminated in a burst of superheated metal and burning fuel.
He landed and let Luisa carefully climb off before transforming back to his human form.
The change was swift, his dragon form condensing back into human shape. But he kept his fire ready, flames dancing around his fingers as he stalked toward the two figures cowering behind the wreckage of their transport. Maera's perfect composure had finally cracked, her face white with terror.
Vex held his fire in his palm, staring Maera down.
The flames cast dancing shadows across the rooftop, their heat turning the falling snow to steam around his hand. He could end this now. One gesture, one moment of released fury, and the woman who'd tried to kill his mate would be nothing but ash on the wind.
But even through the haze of protective rage, his tactical mind asserted itself. Maera knew things about the data theft, about her buyers, about the larger network that had made this operation possible. Dead criminals told no tales, and there were still questions that needed answers.
He closed his fist and let the fire disappear. He still had a job to do.
"Let's talk."
21
Luisa was pretty sure she was on fire somewhere, burning to a crisp in dragon-induced death after Vex let it rip. All of this? A pre-death hallucination that would end any second as her last synapses fired.
Any second now.
No?
