In Like a Lion (16 page)

Chapter 21

Jake went high, pumping his leathery wings with sweeping strokes. He didn’t stop until the atmosphere chilled and a slight buzz in his head warned him the oxygen content was too low.

He descended slightly and his head cleared. His massive wings beat against the air, and he marveled at his ease of movement. The large muscles that powered his flight warmed as he used them, but his heart and lungs coped effortlessly with the tremendous demand.

He choked back a yell at the exhilaration flooding through him. It wouldn’t do to attract attention.

The desert unrolled beneath him like a gigantic map. His keen eyes lent him a field of vision beyond human capacity and a clarity he had never experienced. Tiny specks resolved into buildings and cars, some hauling long tails of dust.

He was hopeful he appeared even tinier to any people below, but he would have to keep this experiment short.

He didn’t want to leave Anjali alone for long anyway.

He scanned the vast landscape under him and found the cabin. Nothing approached for miles.

The air under his wings heated as the day warmed and he found a current, opened his wings, and soared.

His emotions were muddled. Elation and pride warred with shame, regret, and anger.

How had he let Kincaid snow him for so long?

He shook off his negative thoughts and embraced the freedom of flying, dipping and swooping, rolling and twisting.

His wake upset a highflying eagle, sending the animal tumbling. He swooped down and snatched it out of the sky with a taloned claw, receiving a nasty bite. It didn’t pierce the scales, but it pinched nonetheless.

“Damn. Hey, a little gratitude might be nice.” He opened his grip. The majestic bird slapped its wings on Jake’s forelimb and took off.

Jake flew higher again, testing the limits of this body. He found the dragon instincts easier to control than the lion’s. This was a creature that hunted with his brain. Not that the lion was stupid, far from it, just driven more by instinct.

His body hummed with magic and he felt guided toward the northeast. He realized instinctively the dragon sought the concentration of wealth and jewelry represented by Las Vegas.

He drifted in that direction for a moment before coming to himself.

He took a gulp of bracing air to straighten his head. The dragon’s compulsions might be more complex, but they were no less dangerous.

He turned to head toward the southwest, propelling himself with blazing speed. This time he couldn’t resist. “Woo hoo!” Instead of the booming screech he had feared, his words came out deeper than his normal voice, but in the manner of speech.

The dragon could talk.

Amazed, Jake let the sun warm the lighter tiles on his belly and pondered the turn his life had taken. He wasn’t sick, far from it, and he had family. He was eager to meet Kyle and his other brothers.

Anjali’s face flashed into his mind. How could he leave her?

Though the lure of the sky tugged at him after so many years of confinement, he started back.

His solitary experiment suddenly felt lonely.

She flew in the dream, but that wasn’t surprising. She’d dreamed of flying since childhood. Her friends had told her they had similar dreams of flying and falling. She had nodded and smiled at the time, but hadn’t told them she flew as a dragon in her dreams, and she never fell.

She twisted her body. A current of air slipped like silk along the leading edges of her wings. She wheeled on the stream, letting it spiral her higher and higher, laughing at the wind on her face, soaking up the sun heating her back.

It was so quiet here. Since she glided, even the crack of her wings displacing the air didn’t disturb the silence.

She corkscrewed lazily and spotted her chest. The scales were the dark metallic blue of an evening sky reflected on water.

She was usually pearlescent white when she flew. That niggled at her a bit, but she was enjoying herself too much for contemplation. It was only a dream after all.

Jake corkscrewed again, savoring the sinuous flow of his muscles.

His loneliness had passed and a strange fullness burgeoned in his mind. It should have been uncomfortable, but instead it felt right. An idea developed. The thought was crazy, but he gave voice to it anyway. After all, everything he was defied rational thought.

Anjali?

Jake? Where are you? How did you get into my dream?
She sounded drowsy, relaxed.

I think the question is, How did you get in my head?

I’ve given up wondering.
The husky tone of her mental voice reminded him her body lay in the bed hundreds of feet below.

The image of her curled on the bunk, warm and tousled from sleep made him ache.
I’m coming back.

Jake pulled his clothes on and strode to the cabin. He put his hand on the knob, closing his eyes and leashing the mad rush of desire that had sent him racing to Anjali.

As he entered the narrow room, she raised her head sleepily and stretched. The motion thrust her chest into prominence. A tiny bit of peachy skin peeked through a gap in the buttons. “Is it time to get up already?”

He almost groaned, turning his head. “We’ve got to get going.”

Anjali swung her long legs over the edge of the rickety bed and glanced at her watch. “It’s not even ten yet. Aren’t you going to rest?”

“I’ll rest when we get to Vegas.” He had to get them out of here or he was going to do something monumentally stupid.

Her midnight hair had come loose from her braid. She slipped the band off the end, combing her fingers through the heavy silk of it. “I had the most amazing dream.”

He couldn’t help smiling. “Let me guess. You were flying.”

Her pink lips came apart. He closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to kiss her.

Anjali leaned forward. “Uh huh, I’ve had this dream before, but this time you were there.”

“OK,
Dorothy
. Get your ruby shoes.”

She shot him a dark glance. “After you busted up his second crew, Kincaid probably had to call in bigger guns. If they’re going to track us, they’ll have to go on foot. I’d say we’re a good ten hours ahead. I think you have time to rest, and talk.”

“Nothing to talk about.” Who knew? The dream link could be just one more facet of being mates and he certainly wasn’t going to tell her about that. “And if you’re right about bigger guns, and I’m sure you are, we can’t risk being cornered here.”

He snagged her purse off the square table and began to empty it.

“Hey!” She made a grab for the leather bag, but he held it out of her reach, fending her off with his other hand.

“I have to make room for essentials.”

“Everything in there is essential.” She wrapped her arms around her chest, shoving her breasts into the vee of her blouse.

He imagined dipping his head and running his tongue across the honeyed flesh, but settled for brandishing a fist full of lipsticks, mascara, and eyeliner pencil.

“All right, maybe not essential, but important. And I’m not going to let you change the subject. Did we actually
share
a dream?”

“No.” Not a lie exactly.

She narrowed her eyes, her glance long and assessing. “
You
were flying and I somehow connected with you while dreaming?”

Damn.

He couldn’t lie to her directly. “That about sums it up.”

She sucked her lip. He really wished she wouldn’t do that. The sight of her lip emerging, rouged, moist, and plump, acted like a hand on his cock.

He stalked to the undersized window.

Anjali eyed Jake’s tense body.

He’d taken everything else in stride. Why was he so upset about her dream wanderings? It made no sense, but the stiff line of his shoulders and back made his feelings clear.

She wanted to go to him, to stroke his powerful back, slip her arm around his waist, lean her head on his shoulder, but she hesitated, unsure of her welcome.

She gave in to the desire to touch him though, placing her hand on his shoulder blade. He shuddered and she stepped back, damning the impulse, eyes burning at the rejection. “You really should rest. Surely we can spare an hour?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “I think I can fly us out of here. So I guess we can spare the time.”

“Yo, Coventry!”

Zara grinned into her cell phone. “Don’t you know any other greeting, Derek?” She covered a yawn. “What are you doing up?” She peered at the bedside clock. “We don’t have to be to work for hours.”

“I called the preserve this morning. They have motion-activated cameras at various waterholes. Guess what they caught on camera last night?”

The lion.
Zara gasped in amazement and sat up. “No way.”

“Way. It’s in your email.”

Zara thumbed into her email. Seconds later the picture was open in front of her.

A male African lion.

“That thing’s big. Lord, almighty.”

“You mentioned my name?” Derek said.

“You are amazing, Derek.” She smooched the phone. “I’ll meet you at work in an hour. I take back everything I ever said about you.”

“What—?”

Zara laughed as she cut him off mid sputter, closing the phone with a click.
God, I love the news business.

Anjali checked Jake from where she sat by the cabin window and smiled. In sleep, he seemed just like the young boy she’d seen in the videos. Except sexy as hell.

Her hand ached to smooth back a strand of hair from his broad forehead. He’d been sleeping for almost forty-five minutes. He’d made her promise to wake him in an hour and though she’d like to give him more time, she wanted to live more.

She could see his eyes moving under his lids. He dreamed.

The dream link had worked one way. Would it work another? Could she enter
his
dream?

She shook her head. She probably could. But
should
she? He’d seemed upset by her earlier accidental foray. How would he react to a deliberate attempt? Badly, no doubt.

The scientist in her yearned to try. She stood and paced over to the door and then back to the table. Her feet made prints in the fine dust on the wooden floor, reminding her someone probably tracked them at that very moment.

Jake was deadly in his other shapes. He was lethal in his human body, as well, she acknowledged, remembering the strength of his hand on her throat and how easily he’d knocked Anders unconscious. But Kincaid had trapped and held him before. Didn’t they need to know everything they could about what he was capable of?

Rationalizing much, Anjali?
A tiny inner voice whispered, but she ignored it. The compulsion to attempt to enter his dream was too consuming.

She squirmed in the metal folding chair for a comfortable position, and shut her eyes, focusing on calm, trying to subdue her roiling nerves.

Any weapon they could exploit against Kincaid was worth Jake’s anger. She hoped.

She focused on even respiration, trying to clear her mind and banish outside concerns.

Despite the open window, the cabin roasted under the desert sun. She scratched an itch at her hairline and found it damp with sweat. A drop rolled down the side of her face. There was a breeze outside, but it was eerily silent with no large vegetation to brush past.

Her stomach gurgled. They’d found some canned food in one of the cupboards, long forgotten by the owners no doubt. But a can of peaches wouldn’t hold her long.

She gave up concentrating on her own respiration and began listening to Jake’s.
In and out. In and out
. She inhaled and exhaled in sync with him. The rhythm lulled her. The wall in front of her blurred, darkened, and disappeared.

When she had dreamed earlier, she’d felt as if she were the one flying. Had seen through Jake’s eyes, felt the ripple of his muscles as if they belonged to her.

This time was no different.

Anjali foundered in a swimming pool. She was inside Jake again, the feet that felt like hers stretched desperately for something solid, churning the water.

She coughed, choking, as water flooded her mouth and nose.

A scream bubbled out of her chest. She opened her mouth to let it out, but nothing emerged. A horrified spectator in Jake’s dream, all she could do was share the experience.

Men ringed the sides of the pool, long poles in their hands. Other men stood farther away, rifles trained on him. Kincaid paced by the edge, looming larger and more menacing than in real life.

Jake swam hard to the side, his arms sending up curtains of water, but a pole thrust him back to the center. He treaded water with grim desperation.

“Push him under again,” Kincaid’s voice terrified in its indifference.

Nothing she had seen in the videos had prepared her for this. She was no longer aware of her body sweltering in the cabin. Her mind was entirely encased in the reality of the dream, fighting with Jake not to go under.

A pole jabbed forward. He dodged to the side, but another was right there. It battered him with bruising force, making him submerge, and held him under for what seemed like forever. Buzzing filled Anjali’s head from lack of oxygen. Panic overwhelmed her.

Jake shoved at the heavy shaft, fighting to get to the surface; frantic to snatch a gasp of air, but the pole wouldn’t budge. The water pressed in on him. Fear strafed through Anjali.