Sabyn and Gredel laughed which caused Daron to look up from the packs on Phroma’s back. She flushed as he gave her a sexy smile, and turned her attention to Rumal whose freaky gold eyes were amused as he observed.
'No, I believe he saw Catherine head for the river and thought to spend a few moments with her to alleviate her concerns.' Rumal gave Sian a polite smile then moved his eyes to Kassie’s face, his expression softening, 'At least that was his intention.'
Alek strode down the path and thought over the assurances he could offer Catherine. Loushka listened in as he mentally rambled away.
‘Why don’t you just see how she’s feeling first and take it from there?’
Alek considered her suggestion.
‘Probably a good idea. Thanks.’
He stopped as he reached the river and spotted Catherine. She lay on her stomach on the bank that leaned out over the river and had one hand dangling down to the water. Her fingertips traced the surface and the ends of her long red hair trailed in it.
Audrey, who’d been paddling, let out a "wooofwoff" in greeting when she caught sight of Alek which caused Catherine to look up.
Audi’s hello snapped me out of my daydream and I looked up to see Alek watching me. My stomach did a flip flop as I stared for a moment. He was dressed in his armor again and damn, he looked good.
Alek saw Catherine’s eyes widen a bit at his outfit.
Drat, she’s probably worried we’re prepared for an attack. He stepped closer to her and after an instant of hesitation, lowered himself beside her.
'Good morning, are you ready for your flight?'
The words I wanted to say froze on my tongue so I lied, 'Good morning yourself. Yes. I’m looking forward to it.'
I could feel his disbelief so changed the subject.
'What’s with the armor? Are we expecting trouble?' At least now I could check him out without seeming rude.
He smiled and leaned back on his hands, arms stretched out behind him.
'No. We always fly in our armor, just in case,' his sapphire eyes watched me. 'It’s best to be prepared.'
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. This was quite different from what he had expected when Elena told him they were to collect four women. Catherine studied his armor 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 others 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 and the air between us was 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 intentness 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 "that" tone of voice, 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 in 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 and pretended 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 as I pushed off and I flew into Loushka’s saddle. She really needn’t have bent down. I scrabbled around for a hold on the saddle 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 and, as 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 as I watched her tuck her wings in. Then whoosh, Loushka sprang off the ground and clear into the sky, snapping her wings open as soon as 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 back-plate 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. And fought 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 back-plate.’
‘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; as if he didn’t know that. Turning and bending, Alek was able 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 ra
ther 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.
How the heck did he do that?
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 as he leaned over me and worked one of the saddle bags open and dragged out my cloak. Holding it tight he flipped the ends out so 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 it was snatched by the wind.
'Shall I show you some of the sights?' he offered.
I attempted an enthusiastic nod and almost convinced myself that I wasn’t entirely terrified.
'Would you like to sit in the front seat? It’ll be easier to show you that way.'
Alek watched as Catherine considered 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 as the skin flared with color again.
'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 was back facing Loushka’s head. I was 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, and Loushka knew it and snorted in amusement.
Alek began to point out some sights, or I guess the correct term would be landmarks. It was 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 had a nice voice. My eyes got heavy as 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 see if she was okay. Her head lolled against his chest and he realized from her breathing that she was asleep.
‘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, and they’ve had a stressful time since their cross-over to our world,’ Loushka thought back. ‘I think it was your voice that made her sleepy in the end. She trusts you a lot more than she realizes.’
Alek asked curiously, ‘Could you sense it when they came through? Like Elena?’
There was a pause as Loushka considered 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 their own 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 as he turned and in a fluid move pulled Catherine into his lap while 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 it was 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 its 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 was of the four women when they had landed around them. He could see their exhausted faces like he had seen that night, but this time, each of them was surrounded by one of the shimmering lights. Catherine’s light was red.
He looked down at her.
She was still out of it, head resting on his chest-plate as she slept. A strange surge of protectiveness came over him as he watched her. She looked so delicate and, well, gentle. It was 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.’
‘Well I’ve heard of women having sword and archery instruction before but they must be very skilled to have survived that long.’ Alek paused as 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. There appeared to be the beginnings of attachments between the other three riders who had the women with them.
Phroma was 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, and 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, and 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 was 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.
'Whhtd?'
'Shuushh,' he whispered in her ear. 'You’re safe, go back to sleep.'
She relaxed back down again.
The rest of the flight was peaceful. Nesha and Kerak ra
n a few races, then Phroma insisted on racing the winner which Audrey thought was great. She yelped at Kerak the whole time Phroma raced him. Tomiar obliged Kerak with a race as well and the men were pleased to see the griffons felt up to strength again. The effects they had felt 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 camp site 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. Alek was enchanted and gently pressed his lips to her forehead.
I sat very still in Alek’s lap 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 was amused. Just imagine what you’d have done if he’d kissed you on the mouth.
The silly voice was all for 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.
The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) Page 11