I aimed the dragon at the rooftop. Ready. Aim. Fire!
The dragon opened his enormous jaws and breathed. Flames streaked from his mouth and I steered him in a circle to form a ring of fire around the wizard.
Gotcha.
I swooped lower and landed the dragon on the rooftop. Thanks to an unexpected gust of wind on the approach, the landing was a little bumpier than I would’ve liked.
I climbed down and patted his head. “Stay.”
I sucked in a breath and approached the flames. They were taller than me which meant I couldn’t see the wizard.
I focused on a section of flames and carved a doorway for myself.
“Separatum.”
Latin. The forbidden tongue. Good thing I had a license to use it, not that anyone was within earshot. Knowing the Lord of Shadows, he’d followed me onto the dragon’s back and was observing me right now. The thought made me laugh.
I was still laughing when the doorway of fire dissolved and I stepped through the gap. Heat blasted my skin and I was pretty sure I lost a few eyebrow hairs. Never mind. They were in need of tweezing anyway.
Once inside the circle, I swiveled left to right in search of the wizard, but there was no sign of him.
The circle was empty.
The fire crackled around me as I decided next steps. Without knowing more about his teleportation skills, there was no telling where he’d gone. Some magic users could only teleport a short distance whereas the more skilled ones could teleport to another realm. Then there was someone like me who could send my animal companions to a temporary realm of my own creation. It wasn’t a skill I took lightly, especially because there was limited information about it.
I put out the fire and flew the dragon low enough to drop me safely on the ground before sending the dragon on his way. If the vampire authorities got their claws into him, they’d kill him for causing a disturbance. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t his fault.
Did I mention vampires have a low tolerance?
I found Kami waiting for me in front of the Gherkin. “Nice show. Next time I’d suggest dialing up the drama a smidge. Maybe throw in a crying baby on a ledge.”
“The wizard escaped.”
Her face tightened. “That stinks. Teleporter?”
I nodded.
“Any idea what he was trying to achieve?”
“Other than ruin your date? Nope.”
She cracked a smile. “The date was ruined when I shook Peter’s hand and it was sweaty. I could’ve forgiven him misleading me about his job, but…” She grimaced. “If you’re going to lay a sweaty hand on me, we’d both better be naked.”
“Well, at least he didn’t die,” I said.
As though hearing his name invoked, Peter cut through from the crowd. “No offense, Kami, but I think I’ll stick to women who don’t have special names for their weapons.”
Kami shrugged. “Your loss.”
Peter walked away.
“Two coins says he starts running before he reaches the corner,” I said.
“I’ll take that bet.”
Side-by-side we watched him go. About halfway down the block, he picked up the pace and two steps later launched into a full-blown run. I held out my hand.
Kami muttered as she dug into her pocket. “Stupid matchmaker and her dating profiles. So freakin’ inaccurate.”
The crowd parted as though driven back by an invisible hand. At first I worried there was another disturbance on the horizon until I saw him.
Him as in the Lord of Shadows. Seriously? I’d only been joking earlier.
He headed straight toward me, his gait almost predatory. “I should have guessed I’d find you in the midst of all this chaos.”
Kami’s eyes widened slightly.
“Kami, I’d like you to meet…” I was about to offer one of his nicknames, but quickly realized that might be a mistake. It was risky enough to insult him in private. I’d have to be suicidal to insult the Demon of House Duncan in front of a crowd. There could be repercussions.
“Prince Callan,” he finished for me.
Kami stared. “House Lewis? That Prince Callan?” Her gaze darted to me. “Or is it House Duncan? I don’t know how it works with a hostage.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “Am I allowed to call you a hostage?”
He smiled. “If you’re anything like your friend, I imagine you’ll call me whatever you like.”
She laughed. “Oh, you’ve gotten to know her already then. Nice.”
The prince angled his head toward the rooftop. “What happened?”
“There was an incident with a dragon. It’s all good now though,” I said.
Amusement danced in his green eyes. “Care to elaborate?”
“Not really. How did you know I was here?” If he admitted to following me again, crowd or no crowd, we were going to have words.
“If you must know, I was attending a meeting with my finance team and we heard the ruckus.”
“You have a finance team?” I asked.
“If not, I just left behind some very confused vampires in three-piece suits.”
Kami’s words tumbled out. “There was a wizard trying to control a dragon and make him breathe fire on the Gherkin. London took control of the dragon and went after him, but he teleported before she got to him.”
I pressed my lips together to keep myself from yelling at Kami. Why had she felt the need to disclose all that to a vampire? Even worse, to Prince Callan?
He looked at me. “Are you injured?”
I blinked. Not the question I was expecting.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Good. If you’re done here, why don’t you walk with me? My meeting is finished. You can update me on the particulars of this dragon incident. Perhaps it’s relevant to our mutual concern.”
I shot a helpless look at Kami.
“Am I invited?” she asked.
“No,” I said quickly. She’d said quite enough to the prince already.
The prince looped his arm through mine and guided me away from the Gherkin. I felt like I was under arrest.
“Where are we going?” I had visions of me being imprisoned in some secret lair he’d been preparing since the moment we met. I bet the primal part of him would enjoy watching me try to fight my way out.