CATHERINE SAT UP and stretched, shaking her hair back. Alek reached out to catch a lock with his fingers and studied it. The hair glowed ruby in the morning light with streaks of bronze and copper. Staring into Catherine’s surprised eyes, he reached out and tucked it behind her ear. He felt a rush of attraction for this determined woman, she’d never allow her fear to conquer her and it surprised him. Many women might have pleaded their sex as an excuse, but not Catherine; this woman who was so obviously self-sufficient and independent. He never imagined he would find it sexy. It wasn’t what he had expected when Elena told him they were to collect four women.
Catherine studied his breastplate then glanced up at him. He reached out to touch her cheek gently. 'I promise, I won’t let any harm come to you.'
ALEK’S WORDS FLOWED through me and at his touch my cheek flared hot. We stared into each other’s eyes and he gave me a quirk of a smile. 'And Audrey, of course.' He stood, offered a hand and lifted me to my feet. We stood about an inch apart, hands joined and his eyes on mine. My skin tingled at his close proximity, heart thudding madly and the air between us felt tense with anticipation.
'CATTTT? ALLLEKKK… Time to GOOOOO.' Loi’s voice bellowed from down the track.
We jumped apart; dammit! Ugh, fantastic timing, Loi.
Alek made a courtly bow and offered me his arm. 'Shall we?'
The intenseness between us vanished and his eyes sparkled with light-hearted mischief. I laughed. 'We shall.'
We walked back to the campsite to find it packed up. Everyone mounted and waiting for us. Sian, rather daringly, sat in front instead of behind like Kassie and Laura. That’ll be my challenge, to be able to ride in front. The thought made me want to laugh. It brought back memories of squabbles with my cousin over who got to ride in the front seat of the car. An unexpected wave of homesickness hit me. I closed my eyes, swallowed hard and willed the nauseating thoughts away. As Alek and I approached Loushka, Gredel called Audrey to him. She whined at me. 'Go on then,' I said. The dog dashed across to Gredel who scooped her up onto Phroma’s back. Audi thought it great fun and began to pounce on Phroma’s saddle which caused the griffon to twist, this way and that, to see what the little imp was up to.
'Audrey, settle down,' I commanded in a stern tone, while everyone else tried not to laugh. Audrey looked abashed and whined at me, then inched her way forward to Phroma’s head to give her kisses of apology.
'How are you going to fasten her down?' I didn’t want to lose my furry rat-bag no matter how mischievous she might be. Gredel explained how he intended to belt Audrey to him and the saddle.
I must have looked more concerned at this as he again reassured me. 'It’s perfectly safe. I’ve done it with my niece and nephew before as well as my own dog.'
I looked across to Audi who sat nicely, pretending to be on her best behavior. 'You behave, little miss.'
Alek spoke to me and I turned my attention back to him and Loushka. Loushka had her front legs down on the ground so I could get up easier and Alek crouched down to give me a leg up. I stared down at his hands.
I am not a chicken, I am not a chicken.
Swallowing hard, I placed my foot in his hands. He gave a quick heave when I pushed off and I flew into Loushka’s saddle. She really needn’t have bent down. I scrabbled around for a hold and pulled myself into the back seat as Alek made a smooth leap up, assisted by Loushka. Impressive, I thought, bet that took lots of practice.
ALEK SETTLED INTO the front seat and reached back to pat Catherine’s knee. 'Okay?'
Two arms encircled his waist and he felt her press her forehead against his armor, mid back. She sighed. 'I’ll do. Are we ready to go?'
'Almost, Gredel is finishing strapping Audrey in.'
'Where’s Lucky?'
Loushka informed Alek that Kassandra had her in her bag. Just when he told Catherine this, they saw Lucky poke her head out the top of the pack and give a pitiful meow. Gredel then looked to Alek and nodded. Alek called out, 'All ready then? Let’s go.'
I FELT LOUSHKA’S muscles bunch and kept a tight hold on Alek’s waist while I watched the griffon tuck her wings in. Then whoosh, Loushka sprang off the ground and clear into the sky, snapping her wings open the moment we cleared the canopy.
Holy COW! Breathe, breathe!
My stomach felt like it shot to my feet. I pressed my head firmly against Alek’s backplate and held on tight. I heard the other griffons burst through like Loushka had and for a couple of minutes we just stayed there, in the air, like someone treading water. I kept my eyes squeezed shut, fighting that ridiculous urge to grin and giggle. Focus on your breathing; I counted my breaths in and out, mind intent on the numbers. Then Loushka started to move and the wind rushed past my ears.
ABOUT AN HOUR into the flight Loushka spoke to Alek, ‘How’s she handling it?’
‘She appears to be better. The death grip she had on my waist has eased up.’
‘Is she looking around yet?’
‘Nope, not yet. I can still feel her forehead against my backplate.’
‘Then why don’t you start pointing out things for her to look at Alek? That way she can get more confident. Remember, we have several days of flying ahead of us.’
He rolled his eyes, like he didn’t know that. Turning and bending, Alek managed to get his mouth close to Catherine’s ear. 'Catherine, are you alright?'
ALEK SPOKE CLOSE to my ear and even then it wasn’t easy to hear him with the wind. I sat up and he offered me his ear. 'I’m okay, but it’s rather cold. I can see why you wear the armor. Is my cloak in one of the side bags?'
Alek made an abrupt move that suddenly had him facing me.
LOUSHKA REGISTERED HIS swivel. ‘What? What’s wrong?’
‘She’s cold.’ Alek growled, ‘I didn’t even think about it. Let the others know to make sure their women aren’t cold.’
‘Their women…?’ Loushka smirked at Alek’s flustered response.
‘You know what I mean.’
‘Yes, of course, Alek.’ Loushka relayed the message to the other griffons.
ALEK FROWNED AND leaned over me, working one of the saddle bags open then dragged out my cloak. Holding it tight, he flipped the ends out so that they caught the wind and wrapped it snugly around me. I beamed up at him; warmth! So good.
CATHERINE GAVE ALEK a huge smile when he wrapped her up in her red cloak. He gave her arms a brisk rub through the cloak and leaned toward her ear again. 'I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about the cold.'
ALEK’S LIPS BRUSHED my ear when he spoke and the skin flared hot. I looked up at him wide-eyed. Oops, hope he didn’t notice that.
'It’s okay, I’m a big girl I should have thought of it myself,' I said as I clutched the cloak around me. He tucked a couple of strands of my hair back behind my ear, which was totally ineffectual—the wind whipped them straight out again. Alek laughed and I caught a whisper of the noise before the wind snatched it away.
'Shall I show you some of the sights?' he offered.
I attempted an enthusiastic nod.
'WOULD YOU LIKE to sit in the front seat? It’ll be easier to show you that way.'
Alek watched while Catherine considered that for a moment then bit her lip and looked up at him.
'Tomorrow' she mouthed.
He leaned to her ear again. 'I’ll still point out the sights. Sit close.' Alek intentionally brushed his lips past her cheek again and watched the skin flare with color. 'Are you over heating?'
I NARROWED MY eyes at Alek. So the lip brush wasn’t accidental. I assumed a nonchalant look. 'I’m good thanks.'
He did that annoyingly sexy smirk and turned so he faced Loushka’s head. I scowled, tempted to stay put, but concluded that would only make me look like a child so scooted forward again and hunched against his back.
‘STOP TEASING HER, Alek,’ Loushka thought reprovingly. ‘Honestly, how old are you?’
He had to resist the urge to retort. Loushka knew it and snorted in amuseme
nt.
ALEK BEGAN TO point out some sights, or I guess the correct term would be landmarks. It seemed strange to only see forests, small (tiny) towns, lakes and rivers. I half expected a proper city with skyscrapers to pop out somewhere, but it didn’t. I began to relax more. At least while I held on to him, I didn’t have vertigo.
Alek has a nice voice. My eyes got heavy while I leaned against his back, trying to pay attention to what he said. Bleah, can’t pay attention, I thought, and dozed off.
ALEK FELT CATHERINE slump behind and twisted to check on her. Her head lolled against his chest and he realized from her breathing that she slept.
‘Look at that,’ he thought in astonishment to Loushka. ‘She’s managed to fall asleep mid-flight? And I thought she was terrified of flying.’
‘Her aura is a lot calmer now, Alek, they’ve had a stressful time since their cross-over to our world,’ Loushka thought. ‘I think it was your voice that made her sleepy in the end. She trusts you a lot more than she realizes.’
Alek thought curiously, ‘Could you sense it when they came through? Like Elena?’
Loushka paused while considering whether or not to share that information with her friend. She decided as Elena hadn’t asked her not to, there shouldn’t be any issues. ‘Yes, of course. You know griffons have a form of magick; we can sense others who do too. And these four women have a kind of magick I haven’t seen before and Elena hasn’t seen for centuries. That’s why she was so insistent we rescue them.’
Alek thought about her words while he turned and lifted Catherine onto his lap, shifting himself to the back seat on the saddle. I really hope she doesn’t wake up all of a sudden, he thought, concerned for a moment. But Catherine’s breathing didn’t change so he leaned her head on his chest and adjusted his seat slightly until comfortable.
‘Have the women used their magick since entering our world? Is that how they managed to hold off the gragnolls for so long?’
‘Yes and no. They haven’t deliberately used their powers but I do think that’s what kept them going for so long.’ Loushka paused, ‘And it’s how we spotted them.’
‘What do you mean?’
She sent him an image of what she’d seen that night. Alek could see through the rain that pelted down and even through the heavy canopy of trees, four shimmering lights could be seen; yellow, red, green and blue. The next image showed the four women when they had landed around them. He could see their exhausted faces like he had seen that night, but this time a shimmering light surrounded each of them. Catherine’s light was red.
He looked down at her. She still slept, head resting on his breastplate. A strange feeling of protectiveness came over him while he watched her. She looked so delicate and gentle, it felt hard to imagine that the four of them had fought off so many gragnolls.
Curious now, Alek asked, ‘Loushka, how many gragnolls did they hold off?’
She thought about it for a moment. ‘I would guess about twenty. It was a good sized group that moved away when they heard us coming.’
‘How the heck did they learn to fight like that?’ Alek wondered.
‘Perhaps it’s normal for such instruction in their world,’ suggested Loushka. ‘It’s not unheard of here.’
‘I’ve heard of women having sword and archery instruction before but they must be very skilled to have survived that long.’ Alek paused while he considered. ‘How long did you say you thought they’d been fighting before we reached them?’
‘A good two hours.’
ALEK FELL SILENT, lost in his thoughts and Loushka let him be. She knew where he’d like to set up camp for the night so continued on while chatting with the other griffons. The conversation stayed firmly on their four guests, with each griffon voicing different theories as to why Elena wanted them, and where they came from.
Phroma felt grateful that Gredel had his lovely wife to go home to and a little concerned at the intensity already being expressed between some of the couples.
'After all' she reasoned to Nesha 'We only met them the other day. We still don’t know what their powers are. For Elena to be so interested they must be either very valuable, or very dangerous.'
Nesha politely acknowledged Phroma’s concerns, though personally felt the women weren’t dangerous to them.
Kerak butted in, furious that Phroma would insult Kassandra. ‘I think the women are really nice—I like Kassandra.’
‘Settle down, Kerak’, admonished Tomiar gently. ‘Phroma’s not saying Kassandra or the others aren’t nice, just that we don’t know much about them yet.’
Nesha moved positions so he flew closer to the young griffon. ‘C’mon, Kerak, I’ll race you to the next town sighting. I could do with a good stretch.’ Nesha and Kerak shot ahead of the others, eliciting surprised whoops from Sian and Kassie.
CATHERINE STIRRED IN Alek’s arms when shouts from the others rang out around them. 'Whhtd?'
'Shuushh,' he whispered in her ear. 'You’re safe, go back to sleep.' She relaxed back down again.
Chapter Eleven
THE REST OF the flight was peaceful. Nesha and Kerak ran a few races and then Phroma insisted on racing the winner which Audrey thoroughly enjoyed. She yelped at Kerak the whole time Phroma raced him. Tomiar obliged Kerak with a race too and the men were pleased to see the griffons felt up to strength again. The effects from their leap appeared to have faded fast.
‘Alek,’ Loushka’s voice shook him out of his meditative state. ‘We’re going to locate a suitable campsite shortly. You’d best wake Catherine now.’
Alek shook her gently. 'Catherine, wake up we’re nearly there.'
She mumbled against his chest and sleepily looked around. Then she registered where she sat and her head snapped up. Wide emerald eyes stared up at him in shock.
WHOA! WHEN DID I get to the front of the saddle!? I gripped the sides of it and stared around for a moment, it was a hell of a scary view if you weren’t a fan of heights. I looked back up at Alek and attempted an "I’m cool with this" smile while the silly voice in my head did the insane giggling for me.
Better in than out I guess.
CATHERINE GAVE HIM a tentative smile, her lips pressed together. It made her cheekbones jut out and a tiny dimple in each cheek show. The expression enchanted Alek and he gently pressed his lips to her forehead, unable to resist.
I SAT VERY still while my insides did somersaults.
He just kissed me on the forehead! And that look… That smile…
Well that was the most efficient way to distract you, my rational voice sounded amused. Just imagine what you’d have done if he’d kissed you on the mouth.
The silly voice loved that idea.
I swallowed hard—surely it wasn’t possible to fall for someone this quickly? And really, he was practically taking advantage of me considering the situation. I worked on the indignant feeling while my rational voice laughed at me; why not just go with it?
I considered that. Oh what the heck, let’s just enjoy it—after all it might amount to nothing.
Alek’s voice interrupted my thoughts. 'Catherine.'
I looked up. He did that slow, wide smile again, making my toes curl.
'We’re about to land, so hold on,' Alek continued.
Hold on? To what?
He wrapped one strong arm around my waist and gripped the saddle with his other hand. Then we dropped from the sky.
Still clutching Alek tight while making choked gasping noises, it stunned me when he said. 'That was nice and smooth, well done, Loushka.'
The griffon made an appreciative noise at him.
Nice? Smooth?
I guess he isn’t wrong, my rational voice pointed out. I mean, it’s not like you noticed an almighty bump when we hit the ground and you barely even jolted in your seat.
Yes well, when my stomach returns from squishing my brain I might consider that point of view, my silly voice snapped.
Alek let go of me and I clutched the saddle with both hands w
hile he did his clever trick of sliding down Loushka’s forearm.
On the ground, he called up to me and beckoned. 'Slide down, Catherine.' I stared down at him. I had a very vivid image in my head of me doing a giant belly flop onto the ground in front of him. Not a good look. As I considered my options he stepped closer to Loushka.
'SLIDE DOWN, I promise I’ll catch you,' he coaxed. He could see Catherine wasn’t thrilled with the idea.
‘Maybe you should let me bend down for her,’ Loushka suggested.
‘No.’ Alek thought in a firm tone. ‘We’ll be doing this often. She needs to learn.’
Loushka silently approved.
'Okay,' Catherine called nervously. 'Just make sure you do catch me.'
Alek smirked and she glared.
'I’m not joking!'
He gave a soft laugh. 'Neither am I, now slide down.'
I TOOK A big breath, lined myself up and then forced my fingers to let go of the saddle. I shot down Loushka’s leg and Alek caught me just before I touched the ground. I heard him chuckle.
'Catherine,' he said a little reproachfully. 'Open your eyes. You really need to learn to do this with your eyes open.'
I peeked at him from one eye, making him laugh then before I chickened out gave him a tight hug, made a tad awkward by the breastplate and stretched up to kiss his cheek. He froze and stared. I dropped back to my heels. His astonished look pleased me immensely. Giving an evil little chuckle, I darted off to go see the others.
LOI ARCHED AN eyebrow as Cat came over. Almost skipping, she noted.
'Enjoy the flight?'
Cat looked guilty for a moment. 'Errr, yes,' she gave a sheepish cough. 'It was pleasant.'
They looked knowingly at her.
THE FOUR OF us, with Audrey, had to collect the firewood and I could see the rebellious looks on Sian and Loi’s faces. They didn’t like being delegated the easy work, just because we were women. I was happy to do it. It meant we could talk without being overheard by the guys. The instant we were out of sight the questioning began. Sian seemed certain that Daron could be someone special, and Kassie felt the same about Rumal. Loi appeared to like Sabyn a lot, but didn’t want to commit herself just in case. I knew how she felt.
The Arrival Page 13