The Dragon God

V

It wasn't easy to keep Ivan's eyes away from Ina as they followed Ryan back to a Range Rover that was waiting in the trees. Ivan knew that it had been red once, but it was so covered in mud from the travels through the forested Canadian wilderness that nobody could have been able to tell.

He grabbed a blanket out of the rear of the vehicle, throwing it around Ina first. She was shivering. Humans really made for terrible mates, he thought, watching as Jack and Ryan kissed one another. Yet he envied what they were capable of.

The whole world had gone to hell, and both Jack and his mate had managed to find sanity in one another. Ina had watched his father declare war, had been at the mercy of his teeth and flame, and had still gotten to her feet and pressed on. Angrily. With difficulty. But she had done it.

They were far more resilient than Arthur gave them credit for.

Jack changed back into his natural form, taking to the skies overhead. Ivan could feel the barometric pressure drop as clouds rolled in for shelter. Now that they were far out of the city and Jack was in his own element, cover would be easy.

Ivan felt Ina's eyes on him. He stood in the chill and the rain, completely nude, and she was staring at him. He turned his head, a smirk on his lips, about to ask her what she was staring at.

He realized her eyes were on his face. For a second, her hazel eyes locked onto his blue ones. The world faded. Her eyes were intense, focused on his gaze, unblinking. The burnt orange of the inner iris flared out into surreal gold, and then to earth green: a solar eclipse in autumn. She blinked. Instantly, the celestial even ended, and Ivan found himself wanting.

He felt something in his body change.

Ina turned her head away from him.

No, wait. Something had actually—Ivan threw his hand down to cover himself.

"Goddammit," he hissed.

"You coming, or are we waiting for someone else to show up?" Ryan called from the driver's seat. He started the vehicle, and Ina got in without argument.

Ivan rubbed his face, grabbing a second blanket to give himself some sort of modesty before shutting the hatchback. When he got into the vehicle, Ina was in the front seat, giving him the entire back to himself. No doubt because she'd seen the erection he'd started getting.

How embarrassing.

The Range Rover started moving with a lunge as Ryan put it in gear.

"So, this place we're going—"

"Due north. Maybe eight or nine clicks," Ivan responded. Thinking about the business at hand was a good way to make sure he didn't get any further reaction from his body. Yet, when he leaned forward to direct Ryan past a couple of large boulders, he caught a whiff of Ina's wet hair, and it stirred something inside. To his dismay, Ivan found himself trying to sit back again, situating himself so that he was as far away from Ina and her enticing scent as possible. As badly as he'd wanted her in the office, he had the very distinct impression that Ina had exactly no interest anymore.

"Hey. I'm not seeing anything here, man." The entire vehicle thumped as Ryan drove over a fallen log.

Ivan heard Ina shriek as she reached up to grab at the ceiling. She held herself in place as the vehicle took a nosedive into a creek before bouncing up again. Ivan reached up and held her shoulders back. It was the least he could do, since Ryan was driving a little too fast for this part of the wilderness.

Everything came to a halt as the man hit the brakes just a few feet in front of a rock face that went straight up.

"Holy shit," the human panted from the front seat. He looked over at Ina. "You okay there?"