Dragon's Fake Wedding Date - Riley Storm Page 0,43

anywhere.

Her pace faltered.

“Kick it into overdrive, little lady,” Rann barked, and her rear exploded with the distinct pain of being smacked. “Don’t slow down yet.”

“Did you just spank my ass?” she hissed.

But her legs moved faster again.

“I think you can forgive me that little slight,” he said dryly. “This time at least.”

“But what…are we…going to do?” she asked, forced to take several puffs of air to get the sentence out.

Rann didn’t respond immediately, and for a minute she thought he hadn’t heard her. A glance up at his face revealed that wasn’t true. His normally smooth features were screwed up in a tight, unpleasant look.

“What is it Rann?” she asked, her legs near to giving out, despite the fear of being caught.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, turning to look at her, though he ran along smoothly as if he wasn’t affected in the slightest.

“What?” she yelped. “That seems like a big question for right now.”

He grimaced, but his jade eyes never wavered. “Do you trust me?”

Gayle licked her lips, giving the question some thought even as they took a left, crossing one of the major thoroughfares through the tent city and then plunging into the ‘side streets,’ such as they were.

Behind them, the majority of the mob came on, growing closer with every passing second.

Did she trust him?

The answer came to her easily. There was no hesitation in her mind nor in her soul.

“Trust was never the issue,” she puffed. “I trust you Rann. You’ve earned that.”

Unless it comes to sneaking out a window undetected.

But she left off the sarcasm. It wasn’t appropriate for the situation.

“Okay, great.”

Gayle yelped as strong hands grabbed her up into his arms. Then, they started moving fast. She immediately flung her arms around his neck.

“Let go,” he barked, not taking time to explain.

She did, freezing stiffly in his arms as he carried her, leaving the mob behind as he accelerated.

“Crap,” he said suddenly, slowing abruptly.

“What?”

“I was trying to circle us back to the truck, but it seems they caught on. They’re in front of us too.”

The mob must have realized it, because a renewed howl echoed through the otherwise quiet tent city. Everyone who wasn’t after the pair of them had taken shelter.

Wise choice.

“Only one way out now,” he said. “I’m glad you trust me.”

Gayle was about to ask what he meant by that when Rann spun her up and around his shoulders, until she was sitting on his neck.

“This doesn’t seem like much help?” she asked as the crowd closed in. “What are you going to do now? Can you get us out of here?”

She could imagine the grin on his face when Rann spoke next.

“Just watch me.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gayle

“HOLY SHIT!” she shrieked as Rann changed.

The ground shot away beneath her as he grew, his body thickening and lengthening. In her peripheral vision, she saw massive wings sprout from behind her, spreading wide, knocking down dozens of tents as they went.

His neck grew longer and wider until she had to straddle it like a horse’s back. Clothing ripped and tore, and scales of deepest, darkest crimson appeared, replacing the pale skin on every inch of his body that she could see.

Horns sprouted down his spine and she had to quickly scoot forward lest one of them end up somewhere unpleasant. But they provided something for her to hold on to, and she gripped the one in front of her tightly.

“Rann what the hell are you doing-ahh!”

Her question turned into a scream of terror as the wings spread wide, and with a mighty flex of legs she could no longer see, they became airborne.

The downdrafts of Rann’s dragon wings flattened tents hundreds of feet in every direction, also sending the mob of Church faithful toppling. There were shouts and screams and all manner of noise, but Gayle barely noticed.

She was too busy clinging to Rann’s back for dear life, trying not to fall off.

And she was still screaming.

“You can stop now,” the dragon said as it turned its head to regard her, the long, sinuous neck easily flexing to allow them to make eye contact.

She stared up at the giant yellow eye with its black vertical pupil. Then she screamed some more.

“They’re going to think I’m kidnapping you at this point,” the voice—still Rann’s voice, though different—said, clearly exasperated.

“I’m flying on the back of a dragon, okay? I think I’m allowed to scream!” she shrieked back at him.

But as she did, her eyes flicked outward.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, the fear gone as she saw