The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) - J. R. Ward Page 0,201

pavement as if he were trying to give her time to hit the gas before the dragon emerged.

Skidding to a halt by the driver’s door, Mary ripped the thing open just as Bitty scrambled over to the passenger seat.

“Rhage!” the girl screamed. “Rhage…! What’s happening, what’s wrong!”

Rhage somehow had the presence of mind to reach up and shut his door, and Mary didn’t waste a second. “Seat belt! Put your seat belt on!”

“We can’t leave him!”

“Seat belt! He’s going to be fine, but we have to go!”

Mary hit the clutch and the gas at the same time, slamming the gearshift into first before releasing her left foot. Tires squealed as all those horses dug for purchase on the asphalt, and she got ready for the momentum to explode them forward.

Meanwhile, back in the asshole zip code, the group of idiots had decided to rush toward the car.

Yeah, like that was going to last.

Cue the slo-mo.

At the very moment the GTO started to scream forward, as Bitty was yelling and Mary was fighting to stay cool, a great roar lit through the night, so close to them that it actually disturbed the traction of the muscle car.

And even though it was just in her peripheral vision, Mary got a totally clear picture of the second Bitty saw the beast emerge from Rhage’s body.

The girl froze, a slack-jawed expression overtaking her previous fear. “What … is that?”

“It won’t hurt us, okay?” Mary said.

And WHEEEEEE, they were off like they were shot out of a cannon, careening forward, getting out of Dodge.

Unfortunately, the humans—a.k.a. the bowling pins with the attitudes—were directly in front of the GTO. Which was how Mary’s dream of not getting into car accident number three was sorely thwarted. Wrenching the wheel to the right, she avoided killing one or more of them—a courtesy none of them deserved—but the bad news was that she hit a Dumpster, crashing into the thing, all that forward momentum turning into totally-going-nowhere in a split second.

As the steering wheel punched her in the chest and a Bad News Bears hissing sound came out of the crumpled hood, she wrenched around in a panic to Bitty.

The girl had managed to put her seat belt on before the impact.

Thank you, God—

Another roar cut through the night, and yup, out the back window she saw that the beast was fully present, not just voicing its opinion. And yup, the humans had changed their minds about their little attack, stumbling over themselves to get headed in the opposite direction.

As if they were very clear that, however improbable it was for a dragon to materialize in the back parking lot of a strip mall, they were not about to argue with what seemed to be happening—

Before she could stop Bitty, the girl was out of the car.

“Damn it! Bitty!”

Mary jumped out, too—and cursed a whole lot more: The beast had curled forward on its powerful legs and was going all Jurassic Park, things-are-closer-than-they-appear, crouching into attack position as it blew the cobwebs out of its lungs.

No, no, not lunch. Nope, not going to happen—

“Get back in the car!” Mary barked as she ran into the beast’s path, putting herself between the retreating fidiots and her darkling husband.

“What is that!” Bitty yelled out. “What happened to him!”

“Hey! Hi!” Waving her hands, Mary caught the beast’s attention. “There you are. Hello, way up there.”

The beast chuffed, its jowls lifting off its enormous teeth in a smile. Then it let out a keening sound, part inquiry, part protest.

“No. You may not. You cannot eat the humans.”

Yeah, okay, she still couldn’t believe it anytime those words came out of her mouth. Oh, the places you will go, indeed.

But the beast dropped its head. Like it was pouting.

“I know. I know, but you have a sweet tooth. You like slayers more—”

Abruptly, the beast’s gigantic head snapped to the left. And Mary closed her eyes, thinking, Shit, she knew why.

“Bitty,” she muttered without looking away from the dragon. “I told you to get back in the damn car.”

The beast’s nostrils flared wide. And then it blew out the inhale as it scented the girl.

“Bitty! I mean it! Get back—”

Chuffing sounds abounded as the beast stretched out on the ground, laying its head down on the asphalt toward Bitty.

Mary lowered her hands. Glanced over at the girl.

Bitty stood there, utterly motionless, as if her brain simply couldn’t compute it all. And then she came forward, moving slowly, her arms down and her eyebrows way up. Her