Everyone was staring and whispering.
And that one over there had a camera pointed at him. While he’d been captured on camera only in his dragon form, it was clear everyone in town remembered he was frequently seen shadowing Alric. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. If Alric had come out as a dragon and Cameron was a mage, then clearly Ravi had to be either a dragon or a mage.
Alric and Cameron had also been careful not to state that they were all living in Burkhard Castle in Sonthofen, Germany. But again, someone had talked to the press. Or maybe someone remembered that the fire dragons had lived in Burkhard five hundred years ago and guessed they might still be there.
Their days of being forgotten were clearly over.
Ravi sighed gustily. Never did he regret an impulse decision so much as “rescuing” that plane.
Sometimes, he really did feel like it was for the best. They were steadily getting interest from possible mages. The website was busy with people taking Cassie’s “Are You A Mage?” quiz like it was the hottest new quiz on Buzzfeed. It ranked up there with “Which Disney Princess Are You?” and “The Food You Pick Will Predict Your Perfect Pet.”
Ravi was sure that for a lot of people it was a mix of a game and a dream, but in the end it meant they were collecting vital information. It was all getting shoved into databases and compared against what they knew about existing mage clans. Just the thought of all that information and computer keys clacking made his head ache.
Word was spreading at the speed of light. Or social media, same difference. All the different apps were filled with pictures of dragons. Ravi’s own shiny blue dragon was everywhere, but he was also seeing blurry clips of red dragons from the battle with the Jaeggi, when they’d fought to get Cameron back. There were a few interesting ones of Warin from the rescue of Tori in Finland, as well. And others were so shadowy and grainy, Ravi couldn’t tell if they were of dragons or the Loch Ness monster.
The end result was that the world was interested in dragons again. Search engines boasted that searches for mages, dragons, clans, and the Dragon War were up like a million percent. All the news agencies had a host of histories, pundits, political talking heads, and more on every night, talking about what the potential implications were going to be for the world.
Ravi wanted to point out that nothing was really going to change. It wasn’t like they’d suddenly appeared from nothingness. They’d always been around. For now, it seemed like most of the world was excited. Ravi hoped it stayed that way, but it really didn’t matter so long as they found mages.
Sighing again deeply—because this situation was so dire, it required two sighs—he headed into the game store and took a look around. It wasn’t crowded at this hour, but the two employees kept staring at him with wide eyes. Ravi had the worst impulse to go over there and say, “Boo!” The stares rattled him enough that he couldn’t enjoy his shopping, and he finally gave up, heading back out of the store.
Let’s just get the milk he was supposed to buy. Yeah. That seemed a better decision all around. Ten jugs of the stuff. Fifty-plus people burned through milk fast. He needed to work on convincing Alric that they needed their own cows so someone wasn’t constantly running to the store for milk.
But that might mean he would be stuck milking cows. Or cleaning up after the cows. Ravi’s nose wrinkled.
He’d taken all of five steps when an excited uptick in voices caught his ear. After so many years as Alric’s bodyguard, Ravi had developed good instincts for trouble. People who sounded excited normally led to problems, so he turned toward it automatically, trying to figure out the source and the cause.
Someone said, “There he is!” in a distinctly American accent. They all turned, like a flock of Canadian geese spotting someone to terrorize.
Reporters. A giant flock of reporters. Or was a group of reporters a gaggle? A battery of reporters? No, a terror of reporters!
Didn’t matter. They rushed forward with phones, video cameras, and microphones raised, all thrust in his direction. Questions were shouted at him in a thick mélange of languages that turned it all into angry noise.
Ravi froze for a second, startled at this rush of reporters that seemed to multiply in front of his eyes.
Uh-oh. He had very firm orders to not talk to any reporters. Under any circumstances, including near-death.
Um. Ravi’s eyes darted about, trying to find a quick and easy exit, but this street was lined with small stores, and going into a store would be a supremely Bad Idea, right up there with rescuing an old, crippled war plane. He’d be cornered very quickly. Yeah, no, let’s not do that.
Without any plan, he turned on his heels and started running, his speed ramping up quickly. Even on two legs, there wasn’t much that could touch the speed of a wind dragon. He could outrun them, certainly, up until someone had the bright idea to get into a vehicle and chase him down. Even he couldn’t outrun a car.
Shiiiiiiit, where to go, what to do? Should he call for a lift? Run to the outside of town limits, shift, and then go airborne?
“Stop running! We just have a few questions!” someone yelled behind him.
Ravi dared a peek over his shoulder. A woman half-leaned out of a van window, a mic thrust forward in her hand like a lance. Damn, at least a few of them had managed to get into cars quickly.
He was running out of time. No pun intended.
In his panicked state, Ravi’s eyes almost skipped over the figure on the bike completely. What caught his attention was the slim, masculine build straddled so confidently over the bike, the hint of a handsome face under the helmet, currently watching him with interest.
Handsome man plus bike. Win!
Ravi spun like a dancer, changing directions so he was moving toward the motorcycle. He threw himself onto the back of the bike, arms automatically going around the man’s middle even as he ordered, “Drive, fucking drive!”
The man spluttered a laugh for some reason, but thankfully gunned it. The motor roared as the bike took off, creating the most interesting vibration through all of Ravi’s bones. Tightening his hold on his unexpected savior, he leaned close, carefully moving his body and shifting his weight with the man so as not to wreck them.
He’d never been on a motorcycle before. This was amazing! The nimble little machine weaved through the streets and growled like it was a mechanical dragon. They took a sharp turn and zipped around another corner before plunging down a narrow alley, quickly putting distance between them and his pursuers. He chanced a glance over his shoulder to find the journalists had been reduced to a distant crowd that was shrinking by the second as they got farther way.
Oh, yes! Ravi had to get one of these things. If he couldn’t streak across the sky in his dragon form, then a motorcycle was definitely the next best thing.
And it would be even better if he could get this wonderful-smelling man to teach him how to ride a motorcycle on his own. Without thinking, Ravi hugged the man and pressed his nose against his neck, taking another deep sniff. It was all rather intoxicating. The narrow escape, the rush of the wind, the man’s smile, the rumble of the engine, his rescuer’s wonderful smell—wait.
Waiiiit. He knew that scent.
A delighted smile exploded over Ravi’s face. “Hot damn, I have a mage!”
“I have a dragon!” the man responded with a laugh.