Their Runaway Mate (2 page)

Still, Dillon's news was promising. At least his clan would have access to females, and they needed them desperately. If it didn't work out with this female, it sounded like there would be others soon. That was the first step in building a strong and healthy clan.

He only wished his parents had all lived to see this day.

***

At her aunt's declaration, Jasmine's all-too-fresh nightmare flooded over her again. This couldn't be happening. They couldn't seriously be considering giving her to dragons. "But the appeals, the injunctions, the—"

"Good grief, Jasmine, get moving. You know what to do."

"But…" Her words ended on a garbled sob. It wasn't like as if she didn't know this was a possibility—the Department of Homeland Security had sent a letter explaining the situation to every woman without a family who had been shortlisted, or as they liked to call it
volunteered
—but everyone had assured them that the human rights groups had a convincing case. The decision wasn't due to come in for months yet.

"I'll come when I can. When it is safe. I'll find you, honey, don't you worry about that." Trixy shook her head. "And I'll do what I can to get this fixed."

As soon as her aunt had disappeared from the screen, glass shattered over her.

Jasmine screamed.

Two yellow eyes peered through the broken shards of her bedroom window. Jasmine had never seen a dragon this close before, except in her nightmares. They'd always flown overhead, far above the realm of mere humans. Their kind didn't invade human neighborhoods. They just didn't. Until now.

A dark scar zigzagged down its reptilian face. Its scaly head was too large to fit through the narrow window, but before her eyes the creature began to morph and shrink. He was shifting to human form so he could come into her home.

The crash of more windows breaking pierced the thunder of her pounding heart. There were more of them and it seemed they were coming through every opening in her house. And if there wasn't an opening, they were making their own.

"Stop!" A man's voice broke through the chaotic noise.

He ran in front of the dragon and put up his hands as if he could command the beast like a lion tamer. Was he crazy? Maybe he was one of those vigilante slayers come to rescue her? Had he brought friends?

No one else came running. No one else shouted.

The frenzied sounds of her home being ruined still resounded through the air.

Her would-be hero glanced over his shoulder at her. Damn, he was a pretty hot savior. His dark brown hair was long enough to curl your fingers through, his green eyes twinkled, and his mouth was kicked up on one side in a lopsided grin. He winked at her before turning back to the dragon. Good grief, he may be sexy as hell, but he wasn't the smartest guy around. He didn't have a weapon or anything. There was no way he would be able to stop the swarm of giant beasts from invading her house and kidnapping her.

Why did all the good-looking ones have to be nuts?

At least he had stalled the invasion for a minute.

Jasmine scrambled to her bathroom—which was thankfully windowless—and bolted the door. The dragon's deep chuckle followed her. She pushed aside the bath mat, fumbled for the hatch in the floor and wrenched it open. Almost a century ago—long before the average person knew about dragons—this passage had been used for smuggling alcohol during Prohibition. Now it was her only hope of survival.

A thump from the other room suggested that the beast had just jumped into her room. How long would it take him to break through the door? Did dragons in human form have much strength?

What a stupid question. Of course dragons were strong.

That's why the council was sacrificing her and other single women to the beasts. "
A treasure fit for a dragon."
Her mother's lilting voice floated through her mind.

Shit, shit, shit.

Where was the blasted light?

Then her fingers found the switch, coated in cobwebs. She squeezed into the narrow opening. It was tight for the first few feet, then she ran out of ladder rungs and her feet dangled free. The whole idea of escaping through a secret passage was crazy. Would she make it? She prayed the opening would be too small for a dragon, even one in human form. But what if—? No, she didn't have time to question that right now. She had to try. She and her mystery rescuer would never be able to fight off a squadron of the winged beasts.

Jasmine let go of the last rung of the ladder she'd been clinging to. She landed with a thud. The fall hadn't hurt nearly as much as she'd feared it might. The small tunnel was tall enough for her stand but narrow enough to bang her shoulders. The yellowy glow of the lights in the underground tunnel made this whole thing seem even more surreal. A loud crack from above shot through the rock-hewn opening.

It was coming.

Oh, God, what had happened to her knight in shining armour? Please let him be okay.

Dust showered her as the beast crashed against the narrow hole again. She had to hope he was safe. She
just
fit in the space. Neither the invading dragon nor her would-be dragon tamer would make it through here.

The dark figure loomed over her. He was shouting, but all she heard was a roar of sounds. The words were unclear. He reached into the hole and grabbed at her hair. She wrenched away, wincing as a handful of strands pulled free.

Then she ran, chased down the passage by the dragon's angry howl.

Chapter 2

W
hen she reached the end of the tunnel, Jasmine ached. She was gasping for air and her nightshirt was drenched with sweat and coated in dirt. Had she made it? Had she really escaped the deadly predators who hunted her? Her own house was a mile away. All she had to do now was get to the vehicle she and her aunt had hidden in the shed a few steps away.

The early morning air beyond the opening made her shiver. She peered cautiously into the quiet cemetery. Her spot was hidden behind a hedge. Thankfully it was still early autumn and the leaves hadn't dropped yet. She didn't see anything. She listened, straining to catch any stray sound. Nothing.

It had been a harrowing race through the passage. At least four times a blast of heat scorched the air at her back. Each time, she imagined the dragon shooting fire from his mouth as he dug through the earth to find her. It wouldn't take long for them to follow her here. She had to go.

She took a deep breath and stepped out of the opening. She scanned the sky for the telltale shadows of dragons. There weren't any.

Just one more big push. Just one more sprint. She was almost there.

As soon as she broke cover, nausea swept over her. No. She couldn't stop. She ran, ignoring the sharp stabbing pains wrapping over her leg muscles. She wasn't a runner. She wasn't much for any sport, but running was the worst of the worst.

But she could do it. She had no choice.

A shriek pierced her feeble feeling of safety.

No, they couldn't have found her. She was so close…

Another dragon's cry cut through the air, but it was fainter now.

They were going away from her. She wanted to cry with joy. She jerked the shed's double doors open. Thank God everything was as she'd left it. She raced toward the familiar boxy shape of her minivan. She fumbled with the door handle, then jumped in. She took a deep breath. Enclosed within the van inside the shed, she felt safe for the first time since her nightmare.

It was going to be okay.

She fished the keys out of the glove compartment.

A few minutes later, her old life was merely a fading dot in her rearview mirror. The pale peach color of the impending sunrise was incongruent with the red-hot panic that still chugged through her veins. A dark streak of smoke spiraled up from the horizon. Her chest tightened. It was coming from her home—or what used to be her home.

She pounded the steering wheel with the heel of her hand. Damn it. Why her?

But she knew why. It was her damn ex-boyfriend Colin Cyr.

At least she had ended their fleeting relationship before they had made it to the bedroom. If he hadn't set his eyes on her bakery after they had split, none of this would have happened. Or rather, it wouldn't have happened to her. Some other poor girl would be running for her life instead, because even Colin couldn't control the alliance with the dragons.

But he could and did control everyone's lives locally. There was no doubt he had engineered it so she was elected as the first sacrifice. Yes, she was a single woman with no immediate family, but her business was a cornerstone of their community. People lined up out the door for her fresh pastries and bread for their families.

He was probably already over there with a seizure notice in his hand. The government's letter had been very clear that all dragon sacrifices—or
volunteers
—forfeited their right to land ownership in human communities.

She turned her vehicle toward the bakery before she could stop herself. It was stupid. It was a crazy risk. But that bastard was not going to destroy her life and reap the rewards of her hard work.

No way, no how.

The streets downtown were empty. It was still too early for most citizens of their little town to be out of bed, let alone thinking about going to work yet. The welcoming quietness soothed her. If this were a weekday, she would have been in her bakery's kitchen already.

She parked the minivan beside the side entrance, not in her usual parking spot, but she didn't plan on being here that long. Still barefoot and in her nightshirt, she hurried to the door. The fake brick in the wall scraped when she pulled it from its place. She dug out the spare key and looked over her shoulder.

No one was there. Yet.

She had to make this fast.

The familiar aromas of yesterday's baked goods, which were still on display, flowed over her when she entered. On a normal day, her first step would be to transfer those to the day-old shelves. But today wasn't normal. She didn't bother with the light. That would attract too much attention if someone happened to drive by. Besides, she didn't need it. She knew her bakery better than she knew the home where she'd been raised.

The commercial-grade ovens and mixers were too large to grab and take with her. Unfortunately. She'd saved her pennies for two years to buy the new deck oven, and it had been worth it. Her bread sales had doubled after that.

Tears gathered in her eyes, but she wiped them away. She didn't have time for melancholy.

She entered her closet-sized office and crossed straight to a tattered recipe book. She knew the recipes by heart, but it was the most important thing she owned. She would not leave it for Colin. He might be able to force her out of town, but he wasn't going to steal her secret recipes too.

That was it. That was all she needed to do.

On her way to the exit, she paused in the heart of her little kingdom again. A fresh wave of anger washed over her. Why should he get any of this?

A few minutes later, she was laughing to herself like a maniac as she climbed into her getaway car. Perhaps if the dragons ever found her she would be completely crazy by then.

She parked a block away and waited. The time on her dashboard clock ticked slowly on. It wouldn't be long now. She used the time to dig into the bag of clothing she'd stashed in the minivan months ago. She shimmied into a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt. She had just tugged on her sneakers when Colin's car pulled into her usual parking stall. Damn him. He wasn't supposed to be here yet. And what the hell was he doing parking in her stall?

Shit. She grabbed her door handle. She had to stop him before—

And then the air shook with a huge boom.

Colin scrambled out of his car. He was covering his ears, but he looked uninjured. Thank God. She hadn't wanted him to have her bakery, but she didn't want to kill him.

Flames encircled the bakery. She had just sabotaged the one thing she'd worked her whole life to achieve. It was gone.

And now she needed to disappear too.

***

Kylan hadn't heard from Dillon for hours and now he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean she is missing? How did that happen?"

"She had an escape hatch in her bathroom that no one knew about."

"To where? The middle of the earth?"

"Actually it led to a local cemetery, quite a nice old place with—"

"What's going on now?" Kylan brought his man back to the task at hand. Dillon had a thing for cemeteries, but now wasn't the time. Before the dragon mandate was issued twenty years ago, Dillon had planned to visit New Orleans and tour the cemeteries. Now they were barely allowed to fly over the mountains without written approval from the local human governments.

"Maryk from the Kelvin clan was breaking into her bedroom when I got there. I tried to stop him, but… I don't know. It was like once he saw her, he flipped into rogue," he said the words with a detached evenness that told Kylan all he needed to know about Dillon's frustration and anger. "I think I've managed to bring him back, but I've advised the on-call collection team to watch him."

Maryk Warryk was more brawn than brains, so if he went rogue they'd have to contain him immediately. Hell, Maryk had probably frightened her into changing her mind about volunteering. Why would the Kelvin clan send him? Kylan shook his aching head. As much as he was happy to have the humans concede to allowing female volunteers, he wished it had happened in another two weeks. Then he could have overseen the proceedings himself.

"What's the plan now?"

"I've circled overhead and can't see anything."

"That's it?"

"And I'm tracking down CCTV footage of Main Street."

"Why?"

"Well, I figure she might have been caught on one when she blew up her bakery."

"You never told me about that," Kylan said.

"Oh, yeah. The place exploded in a ball of fire."

Kylan rubbed his forehead. "Okay. Keep me posted."

"Hey, Kylan," Dillon said. "I saw her…"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Dillon paused. "I liked her and you would too. She would be—"