Loving York (Warwick Dragons #2) - Milly Taiden Page 0,53

clear to see which of the big cats had been burned. He landed on one, his talons slicing into the flesh and bone. It scampered away. The other one swiped at him, but York snapped his teeth on it. The sickening crunch made his stomach roll. The last jaguar, the one that had dashed off, had made a seriously wrong move. The animal had gone in Armstrong’s direction.

At least they would have one Nolan jaguar to set things to rights with Lewis and fire his ass from the board.

Now York needed to get his dragon ass up off the beach and into the air.

He had a mate to save.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Josie

Josie had been in helicopters before.

That’s not why she was feeling particularly confident. She crossed her arms in defiance as she eyed her captor. “You’re a real dumbass, Steiner.” Josie laughed despite the genuine fear she felt when she noticed that he still had a gun pointing at her.

“Yeah? And why is that?” he asked.

“My boyfriend is a dragon.”

Steiner smiled. “Sure. But he’s up against four shifters. Even if they don’t kill him, we will be long gone by the time he can get away to follow us. And with a helicopter? No trail for his shifter nose to follow. I’m not a dumbass. I’m a fucking genius. Besides, up high here? No plants for the little witch.”

Josie had so been hoping he would say that. She opened her hand, where the vine was crushed. The other was wrapped around her other arm. With as much speed as she could manage, she sent the vine out from her hand, to wrap around Steiner’s arm. He shouted in panic and tried to move away from the plant.

But, he had to be careful.

They were high up in the sky, over the water, and the fall would be a long way down.

The vine wrapped itself tightly around the snake’s arm in the imitation of a boa constrictor. Josie smiled at the poetic justice of it all. The gun fell to the ground, and Josie kicked it toward her as Steiner continued to struggle with the rampaging vine. She pointed the gun at his chest.

“Tell your pilot to turn this plane back around.”

“Fuck you,” he spat, uselessly tearing at the vine.

“Wrong answer,” Josie snapped. “Turn the chopper around,” she ordered the pilot.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Steiner roared.

“I’ve got a gun pointed at your boss’s head. I’m pretty sure that you’re safe to do what I say.”

“She doesn’t have the guts to pull the trigger,” Steiner argued as his free hand continued to struggle against the vine. “I pay your salary, you spineless prick. Follow our flight plan.”

Josie shrugged. “Bad call.”

She went to pull the trigger, but it was a jest. She wouldn’t actually kill Steiner. They needed him alive to get their end of the bargain with Interpol.

Either Steiner had caught on to her bluff, or he had no intention of dying in his own helicopter. He threw himself across the narrow space, knocking Josie off her seat. Her grip on the gun loosened, and it fell to the chopper floor. She didn’t know where the weapon landed. There were bigger problems to deal with.

Like Steiner’s hands locked around her neck as he tried to choke the life out of her.

Unfortunately for him, it put the vine right by her mouth, and Josie was able to speak another spell to the plant. It tightened its grasp on the arm. It was already purple, quickly losing circulation. Steiner reared back, his teeth gnashing at the vine.

“You’ll lose the hand soon,” Josie hadn’t meant for that to happen, but the man had been trying to suffocate her to death. “If you turn the chopper around, I’ll reverse the magic.”

Steiner backhanded her with his good arm. Josie’s lip cut on one of his rings, and her mouth filled with blood. She gripped her cheek, and that’s when she spotted the gun. Steiner’s eyes followed her gaze, and they both dove for it. Josie, who didn’t have an injured limb, was much quicker. She tightened her grasp on the handle of the gun and jumped up to her feet. She silently thanked God for her balance and steady legs. Thank you Parkour.

She used the handle of the gun to hit Steiner in the head. She had never thought to pistol-whip someone, but Steiner would kill her if he had the chance.

She couldn’t let that happen.

A dragon was waiting for her on the beach. Or he would be halfway flying