Chapter Five #2
It was less windy once he stepped between the trees.
He went faster, thankful that he could see Emory move in the distance.
There was no hiding a dragon that big, or the trees Emory had taken down when he’d landed.
Broken branches had fallen to the ground, and Graham had to avoid them, which wasn’t easy when rain pelted his face and wind pushed him this way and that.
Emory wasn’t just a dragon. One second, Graham could see a massive tail move, and the next, the tail was gone.
The entire dragon was gone, and Graham panicked and ran forward.
He stumbled on some roots and had to catch himself with his hand, scraping it against the rough bark of a still-standing tree, but he ignored the stinging.
When he reached Emory, the man was sitting on the forest ground, looking wet and a little dazed. There was a gash on his forehead, but from the looks of it, there was nothing broken. Graham couldn’t be sure, unfortunately, and he was careful as he knelt next to Emory.
His knees turned wet instantly. His clothes were sticking to him, and he hated it, but he hated whatever Emory had been trying to do even more.
“Are you okay?” he asked, having to yell to be heard above the wind.
Emory blinked at him. “Graham?”
“Yeah. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I didn’t see the storm coming. I didn’t think it would be this strong.”
“Well, it is this strong. We need to get out of it.”
“It’s fine. I’m not flying anymore.”
“You’re not flying because you crashed.” Graham hooked his hands under Emory’s armpits and attempted to haul him up. “Come on. We need to get to the car.”
Emory frowned. “What are you doing here? You should be at the castle.”
Graham swallowed. He hadn’t been planning on telling Emory what he was doing or where he was going. He hadn’t been planning on telling anyone. Unfortunately for him, his plans didn’t matter when Emory was hurt.
Graham gently touched Emory’s forehead. Emory hissed and jerked back, and Graham quickly held his hands up to let him know that he wouldn’t touch him again. “I was just checking your forehead. Come on. We need to get inside. You’re bleeding, and it’s cold.”
“I don’t understand what you’re doing here.”
“There’s no time to explain. Do you really want to stay out here longer than necessary?”
A leaf slapped Emory’s cheek, plastering itself to his skin. Emory grimaced. “Not really.”
“That’s what I thought. Let’s go back to the car. We can talk as much as you want once we’re inside.” It wouldn’t be great, but it would be drier and warmer.
Emory narrowed his eyes. “We’ll talk about why you’re here in the storm.”
“Maybe I’m in the storm for the same reason as you are.”
“I really doubt you were flying in your dragon form.”
Graham pulled on Emory’s body again, and this time, Emory finally got to his feet. He stumbled, but Graham was there, holding him up. He had to lean against the closest tree, but he managed to keep both of them on their feet, even though Emory felt heavy enough to bring both of them down.
“We will talk about this,” Emory said, sounding slightly threatening. Graham wasn’t afraid, though.
“We’ll do whatever you want as long as we get out of the storm,” Graham promised. He wasn’t sure how he’d get out of the promise, but he didn’t have to worry about it now. He couldn’t afford to.
* * * *
EMORY WAS GRATEFUL for Graham’s presence.
After hitting that tree, he’d felt a little dazed.
It wasn’t surprising since he was pretty sure he’d hit his head.
He’d be fine, but his head was already starting to hurt, and he was drenched and cold.
If Graham hadn’t been there, Emory would’ve had to walk all the way back to the castle, which he could have done, but it wouldn’t have been fun.
It wasn’t going to be fun to get back to Graham’s car, but at least it was closer.
Emory had a lot of questions about that car.
He was pretty sure that Graham didn’t own one, which meant he’d found one through other means.
Had he stolen it? Emory had just been thinking that Graham’s presence here today might be a miracle, but he wasn’t sure anymore.
It was still a good thing for him, but a miracle?
Tyne would have a fit if he knew Emory was thinking about Graham that way.
But Emory couldn’t deny that Graham’s presence today was helping him once again. Not only had Graham saved his life when he’d been fighting Carlyle, but just now, he was probably saving him from pneumonia.
Emory could have cried when they reached a car parked not far away. The rain was still pelting them, and he desperately wanted a warm shower. Hell, he’d even settle for lukewarm. He just needed to get out of the rain.
“We’re going to get your car all wet,” he pointed out over the sound of the rain.
“It’s fine.”
Emory understood why it was fine once they reached the car. It definitely wasn’t Graham’s. If Emory remembered right, it was Meyer’s. “Tyne is going to be so pissed,” he said with a snicker. He hadn’t meant to freak Graham out, but the man turned to look at him with wide eyes.
“Please tell me I didn’t take Tyne’s car.”
“You didn’t.” Emory paused. He was wasting time getting into the car and getting warm, but he was already as wet as he was going to get, anyway. A few more seconds for a dramatic pause wasn’t going to change anything. “You took his dragon’s car.”
Graham groaned and opened the passenger door. “And there’s not going to be a way to hide that we were in it. We’re going to get everything wet.”
Emory almost made a bad joke, but his head was really starting to hurt, and he knew the car felt blessedly warm.
He slid in, sighing in relief when Graham closed the door behind him.
Yes, he was still wet, and he was sticking to the seat, but his skin prickled with warmth, and for a moment, he could close his eyes and lean his head against the headrest and just breathe.
The driver’s door opened, and a gush of wind made Emory shiver.
He blinked his eyes open, wondering if he had a concussion.
Was he supposed to close his eyes if he did?
He could really use a nap right now, but he wasn’t sure that would be allowed.
Of course, he wouldn’t have to be hurt for long.
If he let the mages get their hands on him when he reached the castle, they’d make sure he didn’t feel any pain.
“I’ll drive you back,” Graham murmured. “You can close your eyes if you want. You’re probably exhausted.”
“I am, but it doesn’t feel like a good idea.” Emory needed something to distract himself with. He looked around the car for something he could mention about Meyer, but it was incredibly clean, so much so that it looked new.
At least until Emory turned to look at the backseat.
He’d been hoping to find a few empty wrappers or something, just to make easy conversation for a few minutes until they reached the castle, but that wasn’t what he found.
No, the back of the car held a few boxes and bags.
It wasn’t a lot, but in any other circumstance, he would’ve thought that someone was moving.
Was someone moving? “Where were you going?” he asked.
He heard Graham suck in a breath and knew something was happening. He just wasn’t sure he’d managed to get the truth out of the man. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.
“Nowhere,” Graham said.
“It doesn’t look like it.” What made this mess even more confusing was the fact that Graham never left the castle, not since he’d arrived here. He wasn’t a prisoner, but it seemed like he’d made himself one. Emory knew that some of the mages were worried about that.
They would be even more worried when they found out that Emory had caught Graham running away.
That made Graham sound like he was an unruly child, but he was running away. There was no denying that, but Graham would try. He didn’t give Emory an explanation, but Emory wanted to know why Graham was doing it.
Did he feel it was time for him to leave?
Did he not feel welcome at the castle? As far as Emory knew, no one but Tyne held a grudge against Graham, so he should be fine.
Hell, Emory had seen the way some of the mages treated Graham.
They were trying to befriend him and make sure he felt safe, but for some reason, he didn’t seem to be able to see that. It was kind of sad, actually.
“You are leaving,” Emory accused. “I mean, you can deny it, but I can see it. Your stuff’s in the backseat. You should have put it in the trunk if you didn’t want me to see it.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t planning on stopping to pick you up. I didn’t think anyone would be out playing in the storm today.”
“Running was a pretty stupid idea.” So Graham had been trying to sneak away.
He no doubt hadn’t told anyone that he was leaving, which made Emory wonder how the mages would have reacted if they’d found out after the fact.
Hell, it made him wonder how Tyne would have reacted when he’d found out.
He’d probably have smiled and thrown a party or something.
“You’re one to talk. You went flying in the storm.”
Emory barked out a laugh, surprised. He hadn’t expected Graham to answer back. Normally, he wouldn’t have. He had to be really angry that Emory had ruined his plans of escaping.
He’d stopped for him. He’d been leaving, and no one had probably noticed, and he’d stopped for Emory.
He could have easily left him in the forest, especially after he saw that Emory was okay, if a little dazed.
It would’ve been easier because he wouldn’t have had to drag Emory’s ass to the car and come up with an explanation for his presence there.
That explanation hadn’t been enough, but Graham had tried.
Emory couldn’t say that he’d saved his life a second time, but that was only because he probably wouldn’t have died because of the storm.
The list of what he owed Graham was getting longer and longer.
Emory didn’t know what to think of that, just like he didn’t know what to think of what Graham had been doing.
“I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about leaving? ” he asked.
Graham snorted. “I don’t want to talk at all.”
“We can do that.”
“Oh, thank you for giving me your authorization to keep my mouth shut.”
The man really was snarkier than Emory had expected, and he liked it. He wanted to see some fire in Graham, possibly directed at Tyne.
He wanted to find out what was going on in that man’s head.
He wanted to know why Graham was running away when he was safe at the castle.
Today wasn’t the right day to push, though.
Emory’s headache was becoming stronger, and he wanted nothing more than a shower and his bed.
Hopefully, once his headache was better, he’d be able to think again and find a way to get Graham to admit what he was up to and why.
In the meantime, he’d let him hide behind his newfound snarkiness.