instinct I had went into overdrive.
Oh wow.
He didn’t simply walk into the plaza. Those eyes told me that the moment he stepped foot into it, he owned it. I knew I should’ve looked away, but I couldn’t. I just sat there, shocked, and stared.
The two women saw him and stopped talking. He cut right through the layers of civilization, politeness, and social snobbery to some preternatural female sense that said, “ Dominant male. Danger. Power. Sex .”
Why couldn’t I find someone like that? Why couldn’t he be my guy? If he ever talked to me, I probably wouldn’t be able to string words together into a sentence.
The man was looking at me.
Wait. There were two other attractive women in his way, both brightly dressed, better styled, and telegraphing “available” with every cell in their bodies. They were roses, and in my current getup, I was a daisy. He should’ve looked right over me. I was pretty, but not that pretty.
He was looking at me like he knew who I was.
My brain took a quarter of a second to process that fact before spitting back a cold rush of alarm. Stay or go?
I wasted another precious second trying to listen to my instincts and my magic. My gut feelings were almost always right.
Stay or go?
I looked into his blue eyes. No, I was wrong. He wasn’t a tiger. He was a dragon, regal and deadly, and he was coming for me.
This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. I had to go. Now.
I jumped right off the bench and made a beeline for the trail leading out of the park. He made a slight adjustment to his course, heading for me.
I sprinted down the trail. The greenery flew by. People stared at me. The trail turned and I chanced a glance back.
He was running full speed toward me and gaining.
I dashed forward, squeezing every drop of effort out of my body. The air turned hot in my lungs. My side hurt. The path turned again and I shot out into the open plaza with the gift shop. The entrance was only a hundred yards away.
I felt the magic behind me. It swelled, furious and unstoppable, like a cataclysm.
I glanced back.
He was twenty-five yards behind me.
I wouldn’t make it to my car.
Too far for a Taser, and I didn’t want him any closer. I pulled my .22 Ruger Mark III out and flicked the safety off. I had practiced with this gun every other week. I would hit him.
“Stop. I will shoot you.” I didn’t want to shoot him. I had no idea who he was. I had no idea what he could do. I didn’t want to fire a gun in this crowded place. I didn’t want to kill him.
He kept walking. I felt him coming closer. I’ve never felt magic like that in my whole life. It was like trying to stand in the path of a tornado. Fear shot through me, turning the world crystal clear and sharp.
“Help me!” I yelled.
Nobody moved. There was a plaza full of people and nobody moved.
Damn it. I raised the gun, barrel up and to the left over the trees, and fired a warning shot.
He threw the roll of fabric at me. I saw a flash of blue silk and then my arms were pinned to my body by a crushing force, my gun flat against my leg. The fabric clamped me, like a straitjacket.
Strong arms grabbed me. Something pricked my neck. My legs went soft and I fell over. He caught me and picked me up as if I weighed nothing.
The world was turning fuzzy. I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, but instead a weak whisper came out. “Help . . .”
“Hey!” A man in a cowboy hat moved toward us.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” the man told him, his voice like ice.
The cowboy froze.
The man shifted me in his arms and I saw his eyes up close, blue eyes, on fire with magic and tinted with self-awareness.
Oh my God. My lips were too puffy to speak. “Meh . . . ma . . . mad . . .”
“Mad Rogan,” he said.
Someone shut off the sun, and I fell asleep.
Chapter 5
I opened my eyes. A pale ceiling stretched above me. I sat up. Folds of blue silk slid off my body, slippery over my skin.
I was in the middle of the floor in a large rectangular
Oh wow.
He didn’t simply walk into the plaza. Those eyes told me that the moment he stepped foot into it, he owned it. I knew I should’ve looked away, but I couldn’t. I just sat there, shocked, and stared.
The two women saw him and stopped talking. He cut right through the layers of civilization, politeness, and social snobbery to some preternatural female sense that said, “ Dominant male. Danger. Power. Sex .”
Why couldn’t I find someone like that? Why couldn’t he be my guy? If he ever talked to me, I probably wouldn’t be able to string words together into a sentence.
The man was looking at me.
Wait. There were two other attractive women in his way, both brightly dressed, better styled, and telegraphing “available” with every cell in their bodies. They were roses, and in my current getup, I was a daisy. He should’ve looked right over me. I was pretty, but not that pretty.
He was looking at me like he knew who I was.
My brain took a quarter of a second to process that fact before spitting back a cold rush of alarm. Stay or go?
I wasted another precious second trying to listen to my instincts and my magic. My gut feelings were almost always right.
Stay or go?
I looked into his blue eyes. No, I was wrong. He wasn’t a tiger. He was a dragon, regal and deadly, and he was coming for me.
This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. I had to go. Now.
I jumped right off the bench and made a beeline for the trail leading out of the park. He made a slight adjustment to his course, heading for me.
I sprinted down the trail. The greenery flew by. People stared at me. The trail turned and I chanced a glance back.
He was running full speed toward me and gaining.
I dashed forward, squeezing every drop of effort out of my body. The air turned hot in my lungs. My side hurt. The path turned again and I shot out into the open plaza with the gift shop. The entrance was only a hundred yards away.
I felt the magic behind me. It swelled, furious and unstoppable, like a cataclysm.
I glanced back.
He was twenty-five yards behind me.
I wouldn’t make it to my car.
Too far for a Taser, and I didn’t want him any closer. I pulled my .22 Ruger Mark III out and flicked the safety off. I had practiced with this gun every other week. I would hit him.
“Stop. I will shoot you.” I didn’t want to shoot him. I had no idea who he was. I had no idea what he could do. I didn’t want to fire a gun in this crowded place. I didn’t want to kill him.
He kept walking. I felt him coming closer. I’ve never felt magic like that in my whole life. It was like trying to stand in the path of a tornado. Fear shot through me, turning the world crystal clear and sharp.
“Help me!” I yelled.
Nobody moved. There was a plaza full of people and nobody moved.
Damn it. I raised the gun, barrel up and to the left over the trees, and fired a warning shot.
He threw the roll of fabric at me. I saw a flash of blue silk and then my arms were pinned to my body by a crushing force, my gun flat against my leg. The fabric clamped me, like a straitjacket.
Strong arms grabbed me. Something pricked my neck. My legs went soft and I fell over. He caught me and picked me up as if I weighed nothing.
The world was turning fuzzy. I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, but instead a weak whisper came out. “Help . . .”
“Hey!” A man in a cowboy hat moved toward us.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” the man told him, his voice like ice.
The cowboy froze.
The man shifted me in his arms and I saw his eyes up close, blue eyes, on fire with magic and tinted with self-awareness.
Oh my God. My lips were too puffy to speak. “Meh . . . ma . . . mad . . .”
“Mad Rogan,” he said.
Someone shut off the sun, and I fell asleep.
Chapter 5
I opened my eyes. A pale ceiling stretched above me. I sat up. Folds of blue silk slid off my body, slippery over my skin.
I was in the middle of the floor in a large rectangular
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