She didn’t know what to do, so she acted like she was squatting. Luckily she didn’t need to go, but a new thought came to her. If someone was looking for her, maybe she could leave something of hers to help. A message on the ground. She took the brooch she wore that belonged to her mother and used the needle part to scratch something. She wrote her name and Spider’s then halfway point. She drew an arrow in the direction that she thought they were headed.
“Ouch!” she muttered under her breath when the needle pricked her finger.
“What are you doing over there?”
“I was looking for something I could use to wipe myself, but I pricked my finger on a rock or something.”
“Did you go? I smell nothing.”
“I couldn’t go with you watching me.”
“Well, time’s up.” Spider jerked her to a standing position, and then he backed up a few steps and shifted into his dragon form.
She could have run, but what was the point? He was too large and there was nowhere to run. Not yet, anyway. Bracing herself, she didn’t scream when his talons scooped her up and then the wings lifted them into the air. Looking down, she prayed that her message wouldn’t get covered up.
The likelihood that someone would track her to New Mexico was slim. If only she had held on to her purse with her cell phone in it. She said a silent prayer that God would keep her safe and that he would send someone to rescue her. Valorie’s words came to her. She needed a knight in shining armor who could fight a dragon.
Chapter 14
Viper had been flying for about an hour and a half. Callie’s scent was fading a little, and he felt desperate to find her. He descended a bit and caught her stronger scent. They must’ve landed. He touched down on a dry lakebed. The scents grew stronger here. Callie and… two Drakonian males, not just one. So the attacker had help.
He shifted back to his human form and searched the area. On the ground, he noted a place where the dirt was disturbed, not smooth like the other places.
Squatting, he used a hand to clear dirt from the scratching. He could make out two names, Callie and Spider. Then the words said halfway point with an arrow he assumed was the direction this Spider was taking her.
“Spider,” he said the name out loud. He didn’t know this male, but he would make him and the other male pay.
There was something else. Leaning closer to the ground, he inhaled and scented human blood—Callie’s blood. His dragon growled deep inside.
“I know. Whoever drew Callie’s blood would die first.”
He shifted back into his dragon form. Before he lifted into the air, he used his fire to create a circle around the message that Callie had left. Hopefully, if the other enforcers were following his tracks, they would see his mark.
Viper was a well trained Drakonian warrior. He could take two males, but his worry was for Callie. She could get killed if caught in the middle of the fight. His priority was to get her to safety. He would have to wait to deal out justice.
Moving his large wings back and forth, he jumped into the air and worked his way higher and higher into the night sky. The dragons would seek shelter soon, not wanting to travel during the day in dragon form. They would be spotted easily. Where were they taking her?
*****
Callie was so uncomfortable. She tried to put her hand between her and the talons, but it was no use. She was glad she had nothing to eat because she would have thrown that up. Flying by dragon was not her thing.
The good thing was she kind of had an idea where they were taking her. When she was little and visiting her aunt and uncle through the summers, her uncle would have to make up games to keep her active imagination entertained. One of their favorites was the Name That Place game.
He would pick a state and she would have to research everything about that location, including which routes she would take to get there, what sites she would visit in each location, what foods originated from each place. Callie went through the United States quickly, and then her uncle had to pick places around the world.
Since she knew she was in New Mexico, she had to think of the direction they were taking. There were lakes around, but if these dragon shifters were anything like what she read in fairy tales and fiction stories, they would want to go toward the mountains. If they kept this path, it would lead directly to Baylor Peak.
It was good to figure out their destination. She didn’t feel helpless and useless. If there was an opening for escape, she would take it. It would be better to die trying to get free rather than to remain alone with these two scary males.
Was anyone looking for her? She was to meet Valorie and her husband after church. She planned to make that lasagna for the King R Ranch and send it back with them. Viper would also stop by to check up on the security system. It would piss him off to find out she was taken.
Viper had been determined to keep her safe and would probably blame himself. But there was nothing he or anyone else would have been able to do to prevent it. These guys shifted into damn dragons. No one could save her, so she would have to save herself. How was she going to do that? She had no clue.
Her uncomfortable and unwanted flight looked to be about over. The dragons headed for the mountain peaks. The first one landed and shifted to human form.
