"This is pretty amazing." Logan was sitting in the front seat, awestruck, staring at the Phoenix skyline drawing.
I suddenly felt naked, like fully naked. Art was personal and it wasn't a finished piece.
"Thanks," I said, snatching the piece from his hands and tossing it in the back as I cranked the heat.
I hopped up on my seat, on my knees, and turned around so I could rifle through my clothes. Pulling out a wrinkled t-shirt and jeans, I spun back around. Logan was looking at the back seat. My blanket and pillow were still laid out from when I had slept here last.
An awkward silence stretched out as I wiggled into the jeans and then whipped off Logan's shirt, tossing it to him. After putting on my own shirt, I turned to face him.
"Alright, what do you need to know?" I asked, getting down to business. Anything I could tell him that would keep the hunters away from us was fine by me.
Logan eyed the back seat again. "Are you homeless?" His voice held not one ounce of judgment. It was full of compassion, and it made emotion rise up in my throat.
I didn't see how this was relevant to the hunters finding me …
"Yes. I graduated in late May, and some savings kept me financially afloat through summer, but I've been sleeping in my car for about three months-saving up for an apartment. I had plans to travel, so it's not a big deal."
When Jen got back from Europe, we were going to move in together. Until then, I was going to be a car-sleeping hippie and see the country. But Logan couldn't let it go.
He pressed. "Your mother passed, but do you have anyone else? An aunt? Cousins?"
Way to shine a light on my shitty family-less life, buddy.
"No. I'm all alone in this cruel world," I said dramatically.
He smiled. "Right. Sorry. Umm, the first set of hunters that came for you. Were they the same ones we killed a few days ago? When we found you in the woods?"
I shook my head. "No. The first set found me a couple hours after I had first transformed. I had stolen clothes from a nearby ranger station at the canyon, and when I came out they were there. They wore olive green army fatigues and had that weird glowing red knife."
Logan looked distressed; his brow furrowed as he pinned me with a gaze. "You're sure this was a different set of guys?"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm an artist. I do faces for a living. One guy had a big red beard and scar over his eye. The other was bald, and the third was a female with black hair."
Logan cursed. "Start the car. Let's get out of here."
Chills ran up my arms. "Why, what's wrong?"
Logan stared out into the dark cold night. "Those hunters that you lost up at the Grand Canyon will still be looking for you. How did you get away?"
I sighed, throwing the car into drive. "I flew."
Logan's eyes bugged out as he gave me directions to the ranch house. "You flew! I haven't flown in years." He sounded envious.
I shrugged. "I panicked. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure that I hadn't accidentally dropped acid or something."
Logan chuckled. "I'm sorry about before. It's hard for me and the others to grasp what it must be like for you. I can understand your wanting to leave."
Guilt gnawed at me. These guys had saved my life, and twice now I had tried to figure out how to ditch them. "I'm not going anywhere," I told him, and was rewarded with a sexy grin.
"Is it because I gave you a hundred grand? I was hoping that would make you guilty enough not to leave us," he said.
Hah! I laughed a genuine laugh that felt rare in these dark days. "Is that real? The money. I mean, I don't even know how she will get it into my account. I only gave her my first and last name."
Logan chuckled. "Eva can find out anything. The money will be there."
What the...? For real? I couldn't even process a hundred grand. "But … I mean, shouldn't I share it with you guys?"
I careened my car onto the I-40 and made my way out of Flagstaff and into the direction of New Mexico.
He winked. "You can share the next one."
"The next one!" My skin hurt just thinking about it.
Logan nodded. "That's how I keep the pack and myself employed. Scales, talon clippings, and even urine."
I gasped. "You sell your pee?"
He grinned. "You will too once you see how much it's worth to the magical community."
Well, I guess it was better than stripping.
"Blood?" I queried.
Logan paled. "Never give your blood to a sorcerer."
Oh. Yikes. I still had a lot to learn about this new life.
About thirty minutes later, we pulled up to a private, gated ranch on a sprawling ten acres, complete with a red pole barn and white picket fence. Logan made me drive around the main house while he hung his head out the door and sniffed the air like a dog. Once satisfied, he let me park and we stepped out into the chilly night air. I grabbed my pillowcase full of clothes and my laptop before shutting my car and locking it.
"What is this place?" I asked, hugging my shoulders. I lost my only good jacket in the fall.
Logan riffled through some keys on his keychain and pointed to the mammoth house. "It was a nonprofit for the rehabilitation of children with special needs. They lost their government funding and I scooped it up at auction. I let them live here rent free for a few years, but they couldn't keep the place together without the funding. The horses and vet bills were too much. Not to mention the children's therapy. So the owners moved down to Phoenix a few years back and run a smaller operation there."
He had a cat named Mittens and tried to save failing non-profits. Logan Sharp was like no male I had ever met.
"So now it's our safe house?" I presumed as he placed the key into the handle.
"Unless we get found again," he surmised.
Which was a damn good possibility. Logan reached into the belt of his pants and pulled out a sleek black gun. My breath hitched as fear flooded my system. I knew he wasn't going to use it on me, but guns freaked me out. Probably because I didn't know how to use one, and all I read in the news was how if you handled one without knowing how to use it, your head got blown off.
He must have smelled my fear or something because he turned to me then. "Sorry, I need to check the house. Stay behind me."
As we entered the house, the lights flicked on and I was surprised to see the place was completely furnished: a grey worn couch, colorful rug, and white barstools around the kitchen. It looked like a homely farmhouse, not a dragon hideout.
"I bought it furnished," he explained.
That made sense, because this didn't seem like Logan's clean modern style. I set my pillowcase down as he ran upstairs and checked out the house. When he got back, my eyes were searching the room, taking in the layout, when I felt Logan staring at me.
"What?" I asked, wondering if he would ever be able to get that vision of me in a purple velvet bikini out of his head. How embarrassing. I just met this guy. Normally it took a few dates before I stripped down to my unmentionables. Besides, I still wasn't sure if he was a player or not.
Logan sighed. "Eva warned me that your dragon magic would start appearing now that the containment spell was wearing off."
I shrugged. "That's good, right? If I get hurt, I will heal."
Logan looked pained. "Yes … but there is much more to dragon magic than healing."
"Oh." Shit. Why hadn't I thought of that? Was I going to shoot green fire out of my hands like him? Could I hurt someone? My pulse rose as I began to panic; I could feel my scales tightening under my skin as my dragon tried to free herself.
Logan launched himself forward, eyes wide, thick pink lips forming a small O. "Shhh." He caressed my left arm and heat flared in my belly, sending a calming wave throughout my body. "You're safe. There's nothing your magic can do that I can't handle."
I swallowed hard, feeling the heat trail down my arm as Logan essentially stroked my dragon into a deep sleep. When I no longer felt her stirring, he lowered his arm. My eyes met his and we both stood there unmoving, just breathing and staring at each other's green eyes. It was like looking into a mirror. Those eyes were my eyes in a way.
"Logan," I breathed. "I'm scared." I wanted to be that badass girl in the movies who didn't need a guy to comfort her, but I was totally freaking out. A dragon shifter. One of two, and now about to sprout some magic that I didn't know anything about. Logan moved as if he was going to take me into his arms, but the front door opened, causing him to step back.