What Fire Dragons Treasure - Cristina Rayne Page 0,65

of concrete barriers, that she noticed the blond guy heading towards her from the parking lot to her right. Her first reaction was a wash of terror as her mind immediately thought that it was Garrett hurrying towards her. Her second was to continue walking and trying to learn to breathe again as she didn’t recognize the man at all.

“Good! I thought I was running a bit late,” the blond said as he stopped right in her path.

Amber stiffened in alarm and then she gasped when she realized that the guy was dressed in the exact jeans and red polo shirt with the tiny black polo logo that Otaron had been wearing when he had dropped her off at the diner.

“Ollie…” she said uncertainly.

He nodded so imperceptibly that she would have missed it had she not been scrutinizing his face. The relief she felt almost brought her to her knees.

“Jeez, you look like you were in a car accident!” he said with a frown. “Forget your hotel, you’re staying with me for the night. No arguments.”

She offered him a weary smile, hearing the very real chastisement buried in his words. “Whatever you think is best. I’m about to fall over.”

Remembering what he had said about the fragility of glamours, Amber was careful not to touch him as she followed him to, not the car from that morning, but a black F-150 truck. They didn’t speak again until they were several blocks away from the police station and heading south.

“Raphek’s pissed isn’t he?”

Otaron’s eyes slanted briefly towards her. “Yes, but not at you.”

Amber sagged in her seat. “I’ve really made a mess of things again. I thought for sure the cops would hand me over to Senator Johnson’s ‘custody,’ but since that didn’t happen, I have no idea what he’ll do now that his son’s been arrested for attempted murder. This trip was supposed to make all of us safer, but now I think we’re worse off than before.”

“Oh, he’ll release a doctored video of the border incident,” Otaron said matter-of-factly. “But he was always going to find a reason to do that, so you shouldn’t feel one iota of guilt when it happens. We just need to prepare ourselves to counter whichever way he chooses to slander us. Now, see that stop sign up ahead next to all those large shrubs and trees? The second I stop, get out and walk to your right. Raphek is there waiting for you among the shrubbery. He and Airon will get you back to the safehouse. I’m going to lead any possible tails on a merry stroll around Austin for the next hour.”

Works as “just the king’s eyes and ears” her foot! With his uncanny ability to disguise himself as virtually anyone and all this sneaking around, this dragon-shifter was straight up Ethan Hunt from the Mission Impossible movie franchise!

“Thanks, Ollie,” Amber said as she slipped out of the truck before it had come to a complete stop.

She was only able to take a few steps around the corner before she was abruptly grabbed around the middle and pulled between a couple of large flowering shrubs into someone’s yard. Yet, she wasn’t in the least alarmed because a familiar warmth had completely enveloped her, a warmth she had thought she might not ever get to bask in again.

“Raph!”

A hard kiss was her answer, one that didn’t last nearly long enough.

“I’m going to roast that bastard alive!” Raphek growled, his eyes literally blazing with red fire as he ran a thumb gently over the entirety of her neck.

Yep. The bruises were as bad as she had feared.

“And when we get back to the safehouse,” he continued in that same rumbling voice that seemed to vibrate up her spine and make her shiver in excitement, “I’m going to bury myself so deep into your heat and make the core of you burn with the most exquisite pleasure that you never again think to leave my arms out of sacrifice.”

Amber buried her face into his chest. “I didn’t want to.”

“I know,” Raphek murmured into her hair, “and that’s what makes it worse, that you thought you had no other choice but to go anyway. Come. Airon’s waiting to pick us up a few blocks down.”

Soon after crossing through a series of yards and back alleys, they were slipping into the backseat of the silver car Otaron had driven that morning. Amber was almost shocked that they had made it this far without incident.

“All clear?” Airon asked