Some things, I was sure, were impossible to get used to. Getting shot was one of those things for me.
Grinding my teeth together so hard I could have sworn they were about to break, I kept myself from making any noise. Telling Cole, or really any of the guys, wasn’t going to help us right now. It’d only distract them, which was unnecessary. I couldn’t be killed by normal bullets, only weakened.
When I tried to twist to return fire again, I found two things. One, I couldn’t twist thanks to the new wound in my side. Two, I was out of ammo.
“Fuck,” I snarled. I knew Cole probably had spare ammo on him, but that was going to require more hands than I currently had available. Reaching around him, I tucked the now useless gun back into his holster and summoned my magic instead.
Whatever it takes. No one is taking me tonight.
Forming a ball of blue ice-flame, the fire specific to Cole’s dragon, I hurled it back at the SUV following us, hoping it would disable the vehicle.
Shit. Missed.
“Vixen,” Cole yelled to me, grabbing my attention, “give me your hand.” He took one hand from his handle bars and snatched my opposite hand from across his body.
“I’m pulling you through,” he warned, then used a combination of dragon strength and some seriously impressive driving to haul me around his body so that I sat straddling the bike in front of him, my legs draped over his thighs.
Better still, now I could see my targets.
“Fuck them up, Vixen,” he rumbled, replacing his hands on the handlebars and keeping his eyes on the road. His job was to keep us alive and get us free of our tails. Mine was to deter, delay, or destroy them. Whatever it took to ensure our freedom.
“My pleasure.” I grinned, gripping him tightly with my legs while forming another ball of flame and lobbing it at the SUV speeding behind us. We were on the road heading up to the Hollywood Hills, and there were thankfully no other cars around to see what happened when that burning ball of ice-flame hit the hood of the black Escalade.
Blue flame spread across the front of the car like wildfire, clinging to it in the way only magical fire ever could. Within seconds it had penetrated the engine, and the whole front of the SUV exploded. Shards of ice-covered machinery rained down, but we were already gone, speeding up the inclining road which would take us into the hills.
A stinging itch alerted me to my body pushing the bullet out of my side, but I could still feel blood flowing freely from the wound. It would heal over in a few more minutes; I wasn’t concerned about that. But I could feel a slight weakening from the combination of healing and magical grenades.
“One left,” I told Cole, watching as the remaining biker followed at a safer distance than what I’d nailed his buddies at.
Waiting, I formed another ball of flame. This one was made of Vali’s dragon fire and burned a blinding orange-red in my palm. Creating and throwing fireballs had been one of the first—and only—dragon skills I had mastered since we’d bonded, and it was seriously coming in handy.
The biker sped up, getting closer and aiming his gun at us, so I threw my fire at him. It missed, but so did he. His shot smacked into a tree by the side of the road, sending a shower of wood chips flying out as we sped past it at breakneck speed. Frustration clenched my jaw tight, but I forced myself to remain calm.
Patience, Kit. Deep breaths. Try again.
Holding my palm out and slightly behind Cole—so as not to blind him—I formed another fireball and bided my time. Waiting. My magic was not limitless, so it wasn’t in my best interest to be lobbing magic off left, right, and center and burning out before dealing with this fuckwit following us.
Rounding a corner, he came close once more, and I threw my fire, missing him again.
This guy had the reflexes of, well, of a dragon.
Deep breath. Try again. My fire reformed, and my side ached.
This time when the biker came close, I waited just a little longer. He was aiming his gun at us, but I wanted him closer to ensure I’d hit him this time.
The man squeezed off a shot right at the same moment that my fireball hit him, engulfing him in flames and incinerating him before his bike skidded to a stop against a tree beside the road.
Unfortunately, he had pretty good aim, and his shot burrowed a deep gash in my outer thigh where it was wrapped around Cole’s waist.
“Shit,” I hissed, feeling the burning pain and tensing up.
“Damn it, Vixen,” Cole growled, glancing down and seeing the bright red of my blood against the pale white of my skin.
“It wasn’t intentional,” I sulked, wrapping my arms around him to hold on, seeing as our pursuers were handled.
“Let me get a little further into the hills before we stop,” Cole told me, pressing a quick kiss to my neck, “just in case there was anyone else following.”
“Got it,” I nodded, clinging to his front like a spider monkey. Sitting on the front of a bike was far from comfortable, but given I was halfway into Cole’s lap, it wasn’t the worst place in the world to be. “It was just a flesh wound, anyway. I’ll be healed by the time we stop.”
“Just a flesh wound,” Cole snorted, not easing off his speed at all as we tore through the dark and winding roads which would carry us further into the hills and away from innocent bystanders.
We continued for a few minutes more before Cole finally slowed and then pulled into a little lookout. There was one other car parked in there, but as we turned off the road, they were just leaving, which meant we had total privacy.
Cole parked the bike overlooking the twinkling city lights and killed the engine before seizing my face between his huge hands and kissing me like I was oxygen and he was drowning.
“That was too close, Vixen,” he rumbled when he eventually freed me, and I leaned my forehead against his. Panting, I licked my lips and tried to make my brain focus on his words.
“Wasn’t close at all, Cutie,” I teased. “I had that totally under control.”
Liar, liar pants on fire, Kit.
My heart rate was thundering a million miles an hour, and I was lightheaded—from the magic used or from the adrenaline of the chase, I wasn’t totally sure. What I did know was that the magic zapping between Cole and I wherever our skin touched was pure ecstasy.
“Vixen,” he warned, as my hands trailed under his leather jacket and pushed it down off his shoulders. “We don’t know for sure how safe it is out here. We should get back to the rendezvous point before—”
“Can’t,” I sighed, teasing my hands under his dark gray T-shirt and pulling it off him without any resistance. “I used too much magic just now. I can’t relocate us until I refuel.”
The plan, worked out with the guys in advance, was that if something like this happened and we ended up separated, then I would use the same Ink Magic spell I’d accidentally performed on our way to the lake house in order to relocate us to a meeting point. Trouble was, as I’d learned in practice with Austin, relocating two people and a motorbike took a whole lot of juice. Juice I just didn’t have enough of left.
“How many times did you get shot?” Cole scowled at me, and I shrugged.
“Three. I think. But the one in my back was pretty deep, so it took a bit out of me.” I blinked up at him with my most innocent expression. “So I just need a tiny bit of a recharge before we can relocate.”
Cole cast a glance around us, checking that we were, indeed, alone, before cursing under his breath. “You, Vixen, are going to be the death of me, you know that?”
I snorted a laugh. “Except you’re immortal now.”
“Still,” he murmured running his broad hands down my sides until he reached the skirt of my dress, bunched up around my waist. “I might die of stress.”