I swat his knee.
Max laughs. “I’m kidding,” he says, then scoots a little closer, and reaches out for my hand.
Head swimming, I slide my fingers through his. The cool of his skin calms the embarrassed heat in my own. The memory of his lips on mine scatters a shiver through my muscles and I find myself thankful Hank and Brynn are up front. Otherwise, I might maul Max right here in this back seat.
Max traces my knuckles with his thumb, a pleasant, steadying rhythm. “In all seriousness, I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” he says quietly. “Even before you decided to help me.”
Shifting my gaze to the two gargoyles, then out the window again, I tilt toward him. “Be honest, you just wanted me to shut up, didn’t you?”
I giggle and, when Max leans in, I meet his lips in another gentle kiss. Desire blazes through me and only the presence of Hank and Brynn keeps me from tackling him. With this thought dousing the fire a little, I rock back, and lift an eyebrow at Max.
“If you’re using your magic on me—”
Max flicks my nose, and again I burst into giggles. He opens his mouth, probably gearing up for a snarky comeback, but a violent jolt cuts him off as something rams the back of Brynn’s car. It throws both of us sideways. Our seat belts keep us in place, but turned as I am, my neck cranks at a funny angle.
Sharp pain splinters down my already aching spine. Before I can right myself again, a second impact slams into us. My head collides with something hard, ripping consciousness out of my hands, and tossing me into burning darkness.
17.
WHEN I BURST TO LIFE again, I tumble over the seat in front of us, leaving a blaze of flame behind me. Brynn curses and the van veers left. Scrambling to my knees, I fight to regain my bearings. I must have hit my head in just the right spot. Dread crawls up my throat. One more life down.
Still in the very back, Max gapes for a moment at the small fire, then grabs my backpack out of the floor and water bamfs up next to me.
As much as I’d love to not do this car chase thing naked, I need both hands to hang on as Brynn takes a sharp turn off the highway and onto a sideroad. Clinging to the headrest, I glare out the back window at the massive black truck intent on crushing us like a Coke can. Possibly rival bounty hunters. Then again, why would they risk hurting Max?
Whatever the reasoning behind the assault, I’m not going to let that happen.
Gritting my teeth, I hit the button to roll down the window, then shift into phoenix form and bolt outside. Wind tosses me sideways. I spread my wings, fanning out my feathers to right myself. Regaining control, I hover low to the asphalt, swooping toward the truck behind us.
I aim for the tires. Though strong, my beak isn’t tough enough to puncture them, but my fire and talons might do some damage to the rubber. With a screech, I tilt sideways as I pass the truck. Flames spread out from the tips of my feathers to lick the undercarriage and wheels.
The car swerves away from me as a wave of magic blasts out one of the open windows. I swoop under it, soaring into the sky behind them, then dive back for a second assault. An invisible force tugs at my feathers. I race ahead of it, spinning to claw at the tires before curving up around the front end of the truck.
A man in the passenger seat pops up onto a knee. He throws a hand out the window, and again I have to dip under his attack. I use the momentum to make a pass by their as yet undamaged tires on the other side, torching these as well.
A satisfying pop resounds from the bottom of the truck. Again, they swerve, almost crushing me against the guardrail. I barely make it up and over it before I’m smeared across the metal. With another battle screech, I arc around the car once more, wrapping them in a flurry of fire, then shoot into the sky to survey the damage.
Smoke and flame surround the vehicle as it skids to a stop. As I loop a circle above them, shapes pore out of the doors and onto the street. One of them — a girl with oversized headphones around her neck — gestures toward me, shouting something I can’t hear.
Mentally, I curse. As gratifying as it is to have been right about our fellow coffee shop customer, I should’ve been paying more attention to her when we left, watched to see if she followed us. Now I’ve wasted another life. One I apparently don’t have to spare.
The magic connecting Max and me tugs at my body. Keeping high, hoping to stay out of range for any of our pursuer’s spells, I swoop back toward Brynn’s van. She slows as I near the window, punching it the second I’m inside. Max gapes as I shift back into human form and dig straight into the backpack for my change of clothes.
Quickly, I get decent, lifting my brows at him. “What?”
“That was hot.”
I smack his knee. “Shut up.”
“What?” Max grins, holding up his hands. “It’s true, mama. Not just a pun.”
“You okay back there, kiddo?” Hank asks from the front.
“Nothing a little phoenix fire couldn’t handle,” I say, putting my seat belt back on, and craning to watch out the rear window. “I couldn’t tell who they were, but one of them was at the coffee shop for sure.”
“The one with the headphones?” Brynn asks.
I click my tongue. “You got it.”
Brynn growls something in a language I don’t understand. “I should’ve been paying more attention. Good job knocking them out.”
Pretending to brush off my shoulders, I throw her a wink. “It was
