There was a gust of air and his eyes widened. One minute Ellis was standing in front of her and the next he was gone. No, not gone. He was sprawled on the ground about ten feet away. How did that happen? What the hell… His arm was at a strange angle and he wasn’t moving. Not even an inch.

The hairs on her whole body stood on end and everything in her told her to look up. Yet, at the same time, that same voice screamed for her not to look but rather to run instead. Icy tendrils of fear crept up and down her spine. Oh god! Her eyes slowly lifted.

What the hell!

It was large and scaly with golden eyes. Its wings spanned at least twenty feet.

A dragon? No fucking way? Had Ellis knocked her unconscious? That had to be it. This was a dream.

It was a nightmare! The thing swooped down, grabbing her in it’s giant talons. It wrapped those huge claws around her in a vice-like grip and rocketed to the sky so quickly that the air was pulled from her lungs, taking her blood curdling scream along with it. It sure as hell felt real. The wind in her face, the scales against her skin, the adrenaline in her veins. Lord help her. She had just been taken by a dragon. The scream finally made it from her lungs and once she started, she struggled to stop.

Chapter 2

The next day…

Water filled her throat and nostrils. She was going to drown. If she wasn’t so busy fighting for her next breath, she would have laughed at the irony. Less than twenty-four hours ago she didn’t think that things could get worse. Yesterday she had two choices, agree to a third escort—a prominent senator who wanted to screw her brains out—or become a crack whore. Neither decision had seemed appealing at the time. Go figure!

At least she’ d had a choice in the matter though. Right now her only option was to run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Make that… drown. Her only consolation was that she was moving fast down stream. The current that threatened to take her life, was also saving it. Another hilarious irony. The relentless current was taking her farther and farther away from the dragon shifters. Those huge SOB’s that were intent on raping her.

Candy managed to break to the surface, she gulped in air. She had given up trying to swim to the edge. It was no use, the current was just too strong. She felt like a leaf in a shit-storm.

Her dress was thin, it didn’t weigh her down, but it was up around her arms and her hair was in her face. She was too busy trying to gulp down her next breath to care.