Dragon's Second Chance Romance - Riley Storm Page 0,52

for someone outside to hear her scream over that. Not that she was about to test Pete on his threat.

But if that’s what he’s threatening me with if I don’t behave, what the hell is he planning to do?

Practically hog-tied as she was, there was little that Claire could do except try to prevent herself from being treated like a pinball as Pete drove through town. She wasn’t secured, and every time he hit the brakes, she thought she was going to fall to the floor between the two rows of seats.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked after ten minutes had passed, surprised that he wasn’t already on the interstate headed out of town.

Five Peaks wasn’t a large town. The two-lane state highway that ran through its middle was perhaps three or four minutes from city hall at most. They should have been on it by now.

“Shut up, bitch,” he spat.

With some effort, Claire managed to roll over so that she was facing forward instead of looking at the rear seat. She watched Pete, noting the tenseness of his shoulders and the set of his face.

Fear began to set in deep. Whatever Pete was doing to her, it was going to be bad. Very, very bad.

But where the hell is he taking me? We should have been on the interstate ages ago…

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Pietro

He grimaced as his legs announced their unhappiness.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re cramped,” he growled, not having to turn his head far to see knees.

In the small confines of Claire’s car, they were practically pinned to his ears. How anyone fit in and drove the small hatchback was beyond him. Just getting in or out of the vehicle was an exercise in pain. Driving it was torture of the highest degree.

Self-inflicted torture. The shop was working on his truck, and his clan had replacements, but for that, Pietro had to go back up the mountain to get one of the communal vehicles. Something sized to fit.

The others are going to have hysterics if they see me get out of this clown car, he thought to himself, unsure who would laugh more, Kladd or Rann. The two were members of his team, though he’d not seen them in a few days. Pietro was looking forward to that, even if he wasn’t looking forward to the needling he’d get for his ride.

It was all the vampires’ fault.

The fact that they hadn’t been able to find the vampire lair was beginning to wear on Pietro. The team leader, Kladd, had everyone out scouring the area around Five Peaks, looking for signs of the creatures. Every clan had allocated one team to the mission. They were covering the area like crazy, from the air and on the ground, searching for anything.

So far though, at the end of every night, they had come up empty. Wherever the vampires were hiding, the location was perfect, and they were leaving no trace of themselves whatsoever.

It was a problem occupying more and more of Pietro’s mind because, until they were dealt with, Claire would be in danger. That was his responsibility. After all, he was the one who had put her in danger in the first place, his inability to get her out of his mind leading the vamps right to her.

Pietro turned off the asphalt onto a dirt road, the winding single lane making its way up through the trees for nearly ten minutes before spilling out onto the wide flat area at the base of the sheer cliff.

Sprawled out on either side of him were a number of small log cabins. Behind them and a hair to the left as he entered was the pathway that led up to the giant cave entrance, where all the communal Atrox clan offices and facilities were located. That was his destination.

He pulled up in front of his log cabin and killed the car, ignoring the looks from a pair of dragons as they passed by.

“It’s a loaner,” Pietro called after them, knowing it was useless.

The rumor mill had word of his arrival in style, and in true fashion, he was sure it would take less than ten minutes before everyone knew.

Sometimes life just isn’t fair.

“Well, well, well.”

Pietro looked over his shoulder and groaned as Rann exited his cabin across the ‘road’, if the compacted dirt pathway could be called that.

“Look what we have here,” the other dragon shifter said, laughter bubbling in every word.

“You know damn well that the vamps beat up my ride,” Pietro