Page 40 of Sustaining
And I still can’t figure out what the shifter is thinking.
“I’m going to take you to your island, Arlow.”
Not what I would have guessed someone with a massive erection pressing into me would say.
“You’re seriously thinking about that right now?” I settle my palms over his chest, feeling his hammering heart against my fingertips. A heart that’s clearly not pounding from dirty fantasies but from serious thoughts that are always circling his mind.
Why can’t he shut those thoughts off? Just for five—maybe fifteen, possibly thirty—minutes?
With a pent-up sigh, my dark hair fans against my face with the force of my tired exhale.
“You guys swam in.” His voice teeters with ridicule. “Someone tells you there’s water women lurking, and you dive. Right. In.” He blinks those beautiful but annoying green eyes up at me.
The asshole.
“What would you suggest we do, since you should be doingall the thinking around here?” My eyes narrow on him, my arms folding over my chest, far away from his delicious muscle tone. His palms continue to push sweetly back and forth against my curves.
“I’m a fucking dragon so obviously I’d suggest you fly in. Funny thing about mermaids, they don’t get airborne often.”
He’s so insufferable it’s hard to believe I missed him.
“I thought we could all stay in our clothes and just sail up to the island. We didn’t plan ondiving right in. And there’s no way this ship would hold a dragon’s weight for you to fly off of it.”
I’m logical. I am. I’m not as reckless as he makes me out to be. Things happen. Bad things happen to everyone from time to time.
He lifts me then. My fingers dig into his shoulders as he abruptly stands with me wrapped around his hips. There’s an eerie, determined look in his eyes, and before I can dwell too long on it, he’s walking us toward the edge of the ship.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
With swift movements that I barely process, he swings me over onto his back, and I’m embarrassed of the shriek that slips from me
“We’re going to fly safely out to that island. It’ll take ten minutes. This is what you should have done in the first place. This is a plan. A real one. Not a let’s go swimming in a water-women-infested sea and hope for the best.” On and on he rants.
My lips part to argue, but before a word even passes over my lips, he jumps. I clutch on to him, prepared for the impact of the cold, crashing waves.
A tear sounds. The sharp smell of smoke tinges the air. And then a roar shakes through my body from the beast beneath me.
Warm, crimson scales are rough against my fingertips while the breeze whips around us so hard it steals my breath away. Higher and higher we soar. My heartbeat climbs right along with us as Kain sweeps those big red wings with gentle strength. A smile curves my lips as we fly into the night sky, but one thing pulls that happiness away in an instant. Pain sinks ever so slowly through my stomach.
Two ivory horns are cut short against the dragon’s head. They’re a jagged and harsh sight to see. Horns are a sign of superiority in the dragon world. And Kain gave his up for the shining onyx ring on my finger. He wanted a grand gesture to represent my shifter’s devotion.
And here he says I’m the reckless one.
I’m not the one soaring off in the middle of the night alone to a dangerous island.
My fingers stroke softly along his big neck while my gaze is captured by the uneven cut of his horns. Slowly, I hug my body against his until every inch of me is wrapped around his beast, holding him to me like I’ll never let him go.
It wasn’t reckless. Even this right now, isn’t reckless. No matter what it seems, I know without a doubt that Kain has thought every single detail and every single possibility through.
Whatever happens tonight on Isolde Island, Kain’s ready.
Fifteen
Then There Were Eight
In no time at all,we’re over the thick shadows of the island. We never actually descend, though. Minutes pass while the beast circles high in the night sky. I wait and wait for him to touch down, but he never lowers.
What are you waiting for?
