Fire in His Blood(20)

 

The fragile stairwell has crumbled away, leaving nothing but a gaping hole for at least two flights of stairs. There's nothing but empty air and another glimpse of concrete stairs far, far below. Wind rips through the gaping hole, ripping at my hair and pulling away whatever breath I have left.

 

I can't keep going. I'm trapped. I glance back up the way I came. I'll have to go back, take a chance on the door-

 

The dragon strikes the building again.

 

Beneath my feet, the floor groans and shifts. The stairs crumble, and then there's nothing to stand on any longer.

 

"No!" My scream echoes loudly in the stairwell.

 

As if in response, the dragon bellows again.

 

I struggle to grasp on to something as I slide helplessly toward the gaping hole so close by. My body scrapes against a long piece of rebar that sticks out from the now-broken concrete. I manage to grab it, and the momentum in my body as I slam to a stop means that it almost rips from my grip again. Somehow, though, I hold on, and it saves me from flying over the edge of the building and into the sky.

 

My naked ass hangs in midair. There's no purchase for my legs, and my sweaty hands are gripping the only thing that's keeping me from becoming a splatter on the pavement below.

 

 

 

        

          

        

         

 

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.

 

I flail my legs, searching for something-anything-to step on. My hands are slippery on the bar, and I won't be able to hold on for long. A sob rips out of my throat as the building groans and everything seems to shift a little more. "No! Help!"

 

There's no help, though. My grip slips, and then I'm flying through the air-

 

Large scaly claws wrap around my torso half a breath later. I slam into the hard scales of his hand. Paw. Claw. Whatever. It wraps tight around me, and I'm no longer in danger of becoming a pavement pancake.

 

Now I'm just in an entirely new kind of danger.

 

I gasp for breath-I'm not sure I'll have a decent lungful of breath ever again-and tug at the claws wrapped tight around my waist. My legs dangle free, one of my arms trapped against my body. With my free hand, I hammer at his scaly claws as he soars through the air. A squeak of alarm escapes me as the dragon lifts his claws toward his head.

 

Way to go, Claudia. You pissed him off and now he'll chew you into pieces.

 

But all he does is sniff my hair again with that enormous snout. He whuffs his breath against the side of my neck, as if making sure I'm all right, and then flaps his wings harder, gaining air and heading back toward the top of the building.

 

Right back where we started, except now I'm even more injured, filthy, and being cuddled by a dragon. I could just cry.

 

The dragon flies right back to the open area at the top of the building where he found me. He lands, cradling me close to his scaly, enormous chest. He folds his wings in carefully against his body, just like a bird, and then sets me down gently on the ground in front of him.

 

Then he crouches low, waiting. His tail flicks. His gold-on-gold gaze is focused entirely on me.

 

I don't dare move. Wide-eyed, I stare up at him, waiting. I'm half-expecting him to wiggle his butt like a cat ready to pounce. The stairwell isn't too far away, but it won't do me any good to run away, at least not in that direction. I'd only get stuck. I try to think of other options and come up blank except for one-flinging myself off the side of the building. I glance over at the wide-open skies just past the dragon and suppress a shiver.

 

Effective, but not quite the result I want. I want to live.

 

The dragon growls low in his throat, startling me. My gaze goes back to him, and as I watch, he arches his back and transforms. The speed of it is breathtaking. Before I can blink my eyes, he's human again. At least, mostly human. He's still got that little frill of horns at his temples and the mottled scale pattern on his golden skin. He gets up from his crouch, beautiful, perfect body uncurling, all six feet and change of him. And he moves to stand right in front of me, gold-on-gold eyes blinking.  

 

He puts a hand out to me. "No."

 

 

 

 

 

7

 

 

 

 

 

CLAUDIA

 

 

No?

 

No what?

 

I stare at him in surprise. "What do you mean, no?"

 

"No," he says again slowly. He says it with an unusual inflection, as if he's tasting it and finding it foreign. "No."

 

Then he looks at me, waiting.

 

He's parroting me. I said no, and he remembered it. Actually, I've said 'no' to him quite a bit. It shouldn't be surprising that he picked it up. He probably doesn't know what it means. On a hunch, I sidestep toward the stairwell again.