Page 19 of Dragon Bodyguard
She wasn’t dressed for the woods. She was wearing heels that were too expensive and a coat that had been twice the price of the shoes. She felt stupid to even think about it, but whenever she’d ever stained anything as a child, she’d gotten such a beating over it. The memory had stayed. She didn’t like to stain anything if she could help it.
She looked back over her shoulder, noting that the men were half-way through the slowing traffic. Horns were blaring, people were yelling, but the men had guns and the people quickly shut up.
She concluded stains would have to be accepted as a necessary part of saving her life.
Misha had already jumped the ditch. It was deep and muddy. She gave him a look despite their situation, but all she got from him was an encouraging smile. She thought she could detect some smugness there, though. And a hint of amusement. If they survived this, she was going to kick him in the shin for thinking she was more a princess than a born survivor.
He was holding his hands out, ready to catch her as she jumped, but she ignored him. Taking aim she leaped through the air, landing a good distance away from him rescuing her like a damsel. She could actually jump a ditch on her own, she’d have him know. And now he knew. She gave him another look; this one was self-satisfied.
“Well done,” he commended, sarcasm lacing through both words in a way that made her want to march over and kick him in the shin immediately.
Asshole.
“Men with guns,” she hissed at him, running up the incline and into the forested area.
There had to be at leastonetree big enough to hide behind. Or perhaps a tree to climb. She’d seen that in a movie once. Or did that only work with bears? No, bears could climb trees, right? She was running, trying to keep herself from stumbling on the underbrush and shrubs and bramble. The forest needed a good clearing out. Whoever owned it wasn’t looking after it properly. In fact, it looked like a garbage dumping ground.
“There’s nowhere to hide,” she said, stopping in her tracks.
Misha practically bumped into her from behind, barely stepping back from her when she turned around to face him.
“Maybe we should shift? Might be just about enough cover in here,” he said, her heart sinking in her chest at the soft reminder of how she didn’t have their kin’s built-in ability for self-defense.
“You know I can’t,” she said, but by the look on his face she could tell he hadn’t known for certain. So, he’d just probed and gotten an answer to a question he must have been asking himself: was she still a shiftless?
The wall she’d built against scrutiny and judgment snapped itself in place in a moment, declaring itself as soft aggravation with everything about him. She’d felt safe thanks to him in that intersection, but now she was beginning to see that he had as little of a plan as she did. Maybe he shouldn’t act all superior and throw smiles at her like this was all fun and games.
“You shift then, if you think it’s so safe,” she said.
He smiled again. Shin-kicking felt so very appropriate, but she held herself back. Listened through the trees. Why was it so quiet?
“I can’t hear them,” she said. “Could they have given up? Thought better of it?”
“Thought better of it?” he parroted, shaking his head with another small smile.
“It’s really annoying when you repeat what I’ve just said back at me.”
“I know. You already told me.”
“Are you seriously picking a fight right now?” she asked, about to say the rest of all the things she was thinking when she heard the men’s voices.
They’d clearly reached the ditch.
She couldn’t see it anymore, but it wasn’t far behind them.
“What do we do now, smart ass?” she asked, Misha’s smile widening a tad. “Why are you so calm?” she demanded, growing frustrated.
“Because the Rolls has a distress button.”
“What?”
Before he had time to explain himself, she could hear gunfire and shouting. Orders were given for the men to get down on the ground. They hadn’t even cleared the ditch before they’d been intercepted.
“How did they get here so fast?” she asked.
“Magic,” he replied. “No, really,” he added when she pulled a face. “We don’t have use of it too often, luckily enough. Magic takes a toll, you know? But for emergency calls, we travel by a simple enough spell. Takes a talisman to connect us up, but we all wear one when we’re off the grounds of the estate.”
“Huh,” she mumbled, beginning to feel dizzy again.
