Taming London (Warwick Dragons #1) - Milly Taiden Page 0,58

over at James, who hopped out of the helicopter.

“Hello there,” James called over. “Sorry about your ride. It seems I have a bird at the same airport as you. Imagine my surprise. Though I will say, it’s fun to see you looking so sad that you’re caught.” James was positively beaming. “If this is what it feels like to save people, I am in the wrong business,” he added.

London rolled his eyes. “Not the time.”

“So, you’ve taken our pilot. I still have a way out,” Rochelle argued. “I’ll fly the thing myself.”

“I’m a dragon, or did that escape your notice?

“This is ridiculous,” Rochelle said. “Shoot the girl,” he ordered to Humphreys.

The sound of the gun cracked through the air seconds later.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bethany

Bethany was filled with hate in a way that frightened her. If her hands and mouth hadn’t been bound, she didn’t know what she would have been capable of just then.

Lucille was tied to a chair, a duct tape gag on her mouth. She struggled against her bonds, but she was firmly secured. Bethany struggled against her stepfather, but the man was stronger than he looked. He had also given himself an unfair advantage by keeping her bound. She tried to speak through the duct tape, but it was impossible. All that was coming out was a muffled sound that annoyed her. She wanted to do something. Especially since she could hear the fighting happening outside. She knew it was London. From the opposite side of the mansion, she had heard him busting down the front door and calling for her. Now, he was fighting with the guards. She would have recognized the sound of his dragon’s roar anywhere.

As Leonard dragged her to the front of the house, she made his life as hard as she could by dragging her feet and struggling against him. She was desperate to get outside, to see him. She knew that he must be going out of his mind with worry. God, how could she even have questioned a future with him when all she wanted was to throw herself in his arms and make sure he was safe? So can you trust him? Can you let your insecurities go? She had to. She loved him. Though how he had managed to find her was beyond her comprehension. She herself had no idea that Lucille owned property outside of the city.

She heard the injured howl of her dragon, and she panicked. She stomped on Leonard’s foot, and he shouted profanities at her, threatening her with the gun he held clasped in his hand.

“Enough of that.” A man stepped out from the kitchen.

Bethany’s knees shook under her. The man in black who had been following her in the museum but a few short days ago was standing right there. She didn’t know how long he had been waiting to make an entrance, but she could tell by the pretentious cut of his hair, his upturned nose and pointed chin that he liked to make a grand entrance, that he liked to be in control of the show.

“Rochelle, this has gotten complicated.” Leonard pointed out of the window where London was letting a helicopter land. “How are we going to fly away in a chopper when there is a dragon here?”

“You’ll threaten to kill the girl if he doesn’t let us take off. It’s quite simple.”

Bethany struggled against her bindings, shaking her head, then nodding. She was shouting, but the muffled sound had Rochelle look at her with interest. He stepped toward her and ripped a small corner of the tape, just enough to let her speak.

“You have something to say to me, I think.” The corner of his eyes were crinkled. This man was insane. He loved to play and toy with his victims, that much was clear.

“Who are you?” she asked.

He merely broadened his smile.

“Wait,” Bethany said. She wanted to play for time, in hopes that London would find something to do with the helicopter. “You’re Jean Rochelle? Why were you following me?”

“Why do you think I was doing that?” he said, a smile playing on his lips.

Her head snapped in Leonard’s direction. “You were going to have me killed?”

“You are far too clever for your own good, Miss Russo. The second you made me in the museum, I had to retreat. I had no idea if you had told your beau about me. But I wasn’t going to take that chance. Not when Interpol is closing in on me again. Oh, if