Destiny Kills

“Ah.” He contemplated the road for a second, then said, “It depends on whether they actually commit to their mates or not. If they do, then they remain faithful. If they don’t, then no. My father is one of the latter—he has no regard whatsoever for his soul mate, and beds whomever he can at will.” He glanced at me, one eyebrow raised. “What about you sea dragons?”

“I don’t know. Mom was captured when I was very young, and there was only ever me and Dad. I love my dad to death, but he wasn’t very forthcoming about that sort of stuff.” And he certainly hadn’t encouraged exploration as I’d gotten older. Not that I would have, anyway. I’d spent most of my life hiding what I was from the world, pretending to be human when I was anything but. I had friends, but never close ones. Male friends, but never boyfriends.

“So what is the story behind your birth?” I continued. “Did your dad deliberately get a human pregnant?”

“Not deliberately. He was drunk, apparently, and she was just a warm body when he needed one.” He shrugged, a seemingly casual gesture that belied the deeper anger I could feel in him. “Human and dragon matings almost always result in a pregnancy, even if the male doesn’t wish it. No one really knows why.”

“So why mate with humans in the first place?”

“Because they can. It’s as simple as that.” He glanced in the rearview. “In times past, we draman were killed on birth.”

“What?”

“To keep the purity of the master race, you understand.” Again his voice was mocking. “It’s only in the last fifty years or so that the practice has been outlawed by the council.”

I raised my eyebrows. “There’s a council of dragons?”

He nodded. “It consists of the kings from the thirteen major cliques. They make the rules and clean up the problems.”

“So basically, they make sure the cliques continue to operate under the human radar?”

“Basically.”

“How come no one did anything about Marsten?”

“They might not even know about him. The council only concerns itself with problems on our continent, as far as I know.”

Well, if there was a European council, they were fucking falling down on the job.

He looked in the rearview mirror once again, and something in the way he did it sent unease prickling across my spine. “What’s wrong?”

“I think we’re being followed. Don’t look,” he added, just as I was about to.

“Cop?”

“Nope.”

The unease gave way to fear. “Do they look official?”

“Hard to say.”

I flipped down the sun visor and slid open the vanity mirror’s cover. It took several seconds to position the mirror so that I could see the traffic following, but then the big black car leapt into focus.

And though I couldn’t see the faces of the driver and the passenger, I knew what they were all the same.

Hunters.

Chapter Five

Fear ran through me, stifling in its power, sucking away my breath and my strength. All I could do was stare at the car behind us—the car that held the men who had helped kill Egan, and who would probably kill me if I gave them too much trouble.

And all I could think of was getting away. Even though I couldn’t move, couldn’t even talk. I was frozen to the seat in fear of the men behind us. Men who had snatched away so much of my life.

I couldn’t let them catch me. Not again. Not when there was still so much to do.

“Destiny?” Trae said, his voice seeming a long way away.

I gulped down air and tried to rein in the tide of panic.

“Floor it,” I said, my voice a low tremor. “Get us out of here.”

“The minute I floor it, the people in that car will know we’ve spotted them. The situation could end up being a whole lot worse than it already is.”

“The situation will end up a whole lot worse anyway.” I had to grip the door to stop the urge to slide down the seat and keep out of their sight. They obviously knew I was here or they wouldn’t be following us. It was pointless, trying to hide.

Trae shot me a sharp look. “You know the people in the car?”

“Personally? No. But I know what they are, and I know just how far they’re willing to go. We need to get away from them. Now.”

That last word held an edge of panic, which Trae seemed to ignore as he said, “So who are they?”

“They’re the people who shot Egan. They’re dragon hunters.” And the scientists would be close by somewhere. If not in the car behind us, then somewhere near. They were always near.

He swore softly.

“Look, we need to get out of here,” I insisted. “We need to lose them.”

“I will, I will.”

“Before we get out of the built-up areas and onto open road. They hunt in packs. They always hunt in packs. There’ll be another car around—somewhere close.”

“You make them sound like animals,” he muttered. But nevertheless, he pressed the accelerator and the car gathered speed.

Not sharply, not enough to notice immediately, but enough to ease the clamoring of my nerves.

I looked in the vanity mirror. The big black car was still very much behind us. “Their car looks faster than ours.”

“It is.”

“Then what are we going to do if we can’t outrun them?”

“Outsmart them. You feel like breakfast?”

I blinked. “You can’t stop and eat breakfast at a time like this!”

“You tell me where in the rule book it says I can’t, and I’ll obey.”

“But—”

“I’m not a free-roaming thief for no reason, you know, so just trust the fact that I know a thing or two about getting away from people.”

His expression and voice might have been bland, but there was nothing bland about the look he cast my way. It was all dangerous, hungry male. Heat sizzled across my skin, followed by a rush of desire.

“What?” I said, voice suddenly breathless.

“Time to use the charms God and your parents gifted you with.”

“What charms in particular are we talking about?”

“That sexy body, of course.” Even as he said the words, his gaze skated downward, causing my pulse to flutter.

It sure as hell was a fine way to banish fear.

“To do what?”

The question came out breathy, and amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes.

“Make out.”

“I’m not making out with you.” Though I wanted to. Lord how I wanted to.

“Not me. The cook.”

“What?” Why did this man always leave me feeling I was three steps behind?