No wonder the guy had walked into the feeding room that first night as if he didn't have a single fear in his heart. She doubted the L10 would have lasted even thirty seconds against him.
Hell, the vamp-Torrence-had needed to blow up the canyon to take him out, and even then, Adam hadn't stayed down long at all.
He probably hadn't even needed her to dig him out.
But she'd had to do it.
I couldn't leave him there. Not in the dark.
A f**king dragon. She didn't know exactly how strong the guy was, but she suspected he could kick her ass in a fight. And probably the asses of a dozen or so vamps-all at the same time.
Dragons were huge. Ferocious. Those scales of his-they'd sliced her fingertips right open. She'd be willing to bet that the Wyvern was a hell of a lot harder to kill than a level-ten demon.
Shit. She'd tried to transform him.
When shifters or demons or any other damn supernatural being became vamps, they lost all their powers-and gained only the strengths and accompanying weaknesses of a vampire.
Not an overly good trade. But, if you were a low-level demon looking to live forever or a shifter headed for a real short future, sometimes the tradeoff didn't seem half bad.
For Adam, it must have seemed like a real piss-poor proposition.
Now she understood why he'd jerked away from her.
"Maya?" He took a step toward her.
Ah, hell, she'd been staring at him like some kid with a crush.
So the man was a dragon. Yeah, she'd always kind of had a thing for dragons. They were big.
They were strong. They could breathe fire and kill anything that got in their way.
She'd seen a picture of a dragon once. In this stupid fairy-tale book at her elementary school's library. The dragon-a big green beast with smoke coming from its nostrils-had been curled around the gates of a castle. A princess had been in the tower, peering down at him.
The teacher had told her class that the dangerous dragon was attacking the princess's castle and that only the little fairy tale star's true love would save her.
Bullshit. One look, and Maya had known that dragon was keeping the princess safe. Keeping everything bad away from her.
When she'd gone back home, found her mom passed out drunk on the couch, she'd wished, as only a kid can, that she had her own dragon.
She just hadn't exactly been expecting to eventually find said dragon in the form of Adam Brody.
Yeah, fate was twisted.
And getting more so by the second.
The tattoo on the base of her back seemed to burn.
Maya exhaled. "The guy on the phone-he'll be here soon." Then they could kiss their chameleon good-bye.
For a price.
Damn. This was going to make her even weaker.
Not the best situation considering the night ahead.
"Was telling him our location smart?"
His tone implied that it damn well hadn't been.
She lifted one shoulder. Let it fall in a careless shrug. "Skye won't sell us out to the vamps-he generally hates my brethren, thinks we're all a bunch of parasites."
Adam glanced away.
Huh. Her chin lifted. "For the right fee, he'll take care of our little problem. No questions asked."
Max whimpered.
"You sure you trust this Skye?"
Of course she didn't. But she could predict his actions, and that mattered more than trust. "Relax, Adam. I know what I'm doing."
Maya just hated that she'd have to bleed for Skye.
The warlock always required blood as his payment for services rendered.
While she waited for Skye's arrival, Maya slipped back into the bathroom, taking the cell phone with her. She had another call to make, one that required a bit more privacy.
She quickly dialed the number for Memorial Grove Hospital. Pressed the extension for Sean's room.
He should be awake by now. Maybe not completely coherent, but awake enough to-
"Hello."
The sound of his voice, slightly slurred, but definitely aware, hit her like a punch in the stomach.
"S-Sean?"
"Maya? I-is that you?"
Her knees were shaking. Shit. She was a mess. "Yeah, it's me." He was all right, but he wouldn't stay that way, not if he kept hanging around with her. "Sean, I, ah, had to leave town and-"
"And you left me a panther shifter for a babysitter," he finished, his voice seeming to fade at the end.
"Triond isn't a babysitter," she muttered, wincing. "He's just there to…keep you safe." While she was too far away to do the job herself.
"Huh. Right." A sigh. "When are you coming back? I really, really want to see you soon."
And she wanted to see him. The guy was the best friend she'd ever had, the brother she'd never had. "I-I don't know yet." He was also the one person she wouldn't lie to. "I've got some business to deal with here first, then I'll be coming home."
Home. Funny. She didn't really have a real place to call home. Never had. Those foster houses she'd stayed in hadn't been home. The cheap motel she'd lived in with her mother-off and on-
during the first ten years of her life hadn't been home.
"Maya? You there?" Worry filled Sean's voice.
Guilt immediately rushed through her. The guy should be resting, not worrying about her.
"Sorry."
"For you to cut out of town like this, well, you must be working on something…really important."
Trying to save a girl's life. Yeah, it was important. To her.
"Where are you, Maya? Where'd you go racing off to?"
She hesitated a moment, staring at the back of the bathroom door. The wood was chipping. "The city of Sin, Sean. The city of Sin." She wanted to keep talking to him, but knew there just wasn't time. Skye would be there soon-he was always fast-and the man didn't like to wait.
She exhaled. "I've got to go, Sean. Take care of yourself, you hear me? Try to keep out of fights with creatures that you know can kick your ass."
He laughed at that. A strangled, rough gurgle. "I don't think it's gonna be that easy."
"Sure it will. Just do what Triond says, get better, and I'll be back before you know it." She hoped.
Triond was a good bodyguard. One of the best in L.A. She'd barely had time to contact him before she'd left with Adam, but knowing that the panther was there, watching Sean's back, made her feel better.
"Sean? I, uh, just wanted to-to thank you." When she'd seen him in the hospital, she'd realized-
too late –that she'd never told the guy how she felt.
"You don't need to thank me." For a second, she could have sworn he sounded angry.
"Yeah, I do." She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of the door and remembering the night she'd first met him.