Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I feel the same. Your weight is nothing. I can carry you. He is merely being polite.
If you think you can make it, I trust you, I tell him. But if not, you tell me. We’ll just figure out something on the ground.
I can make it. You must hold on tightly, though.
No girl will ever grip so hard with her thighs, I assure you.
He rumbles low in his chest. Save those promises for later.
Flirt.
A brief moment later, Claudia and Kael take to the air and fly up to their home. I watch them go, shielding my eyes with my hand to see where they land. Definitely the top floor. Ugh.
Hold tightly, my mate, Zohr warns me.
I press my sweaty hands against his scales, lean in against his body, and close my eyes. I can feel the moment he spreads his wings, feel them stretch, and then he flings his body into the air and the world jolts around me. Strangely enough, I’m not scared he’s going to drop me—I worry he won’t have the strength to get up there himself. It seems impossibly far and I know he’s tired.
I feel his wings labor, feel his thoughts strain. You can do this, I send to him fiercely. You got this shit! Just a little higher!
I…know…he struggles, and then his big body slams against the wall of the skyscraper.
I gasp as I lift out of my seat and then slam back down against his scaly shoulders.
Tighter, my mate, he warns me. We climb the rest of the way. I can feel his claws dig into the metal, and I’m grateful that he’s so strong.
I almost regret the claw I bit off, he tells me. Almost.
Oh my god, don’t be thinking dirty thoughts right now, chacho. Just climb!
I can feel the rumble of his amusement through his big body. I climb, he reassures me. I climb.
I don’t dare open my eyes because I’m afraid of what I’ll see. I also don’t dare move a muscle. I’m too afraid of tipping over the side of him and then sliding to the ground. The wind is high, ripping at my hair and pushing it into my face.
Zohr gives a determined heave of his big body, and then the world tilts around me. I squeeze him even tighter with my legs, holding my breath. We are up, my mate. You can breathe again. He sends me caressing thoughts. I have kept you safe.
I knew you would, booboo.
You had doubts, he tells me with amusement. It is all right. I had doubts, as well.
Don’t tell me that! I press a quick kiss to his scales before I lift my head and open my eyes. The dawn’s just now breaking, and I can see we’re just above the weirdest sort of apartment ever. The ceiling’s open on one end, with patio furniture directly underneath, like it’s some sort of strange skylight. Below, underneath where the roof is intact, I can see real furniture, along with bookshelves and cooking utensils. There’s a big rug on the ground. It looks oddly homey, which is weird considering this also looks like it used to be an office building.
Kael has landed below in the open area, and as I watch, Claudia works on unbuckling all the straps holding her into the makeshift saddle perched on her dragon’s shoulders. She’s strapped in like she’s riding a really, really big horse. How interesting. I need to learn how to set up a rig like that. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.
We will get it later, Zohr promises me. Kael says that Sasha and Dakh have the same set-up and it makes riding much safer and easier.
Perfect. Of course, we don’t need it yet, since we won’t be doing much flying for a while yet.
Claudia flings her leg over Kael’s back and slides to the ground. She strips her goggles and helmet off and tosses them down on the table, then gazes up at me brightly. “It’s early. You want some coffee?”
I’m still not a hundred percent into trust-mode, but I can be polite. “Sounds good.”
“I’ll put some on. Kael says that Dakh says that Sasha’s just now waking up and they’ll be here shortly.” She shakes her head. “Not sure how she slept through fireworks, but hey.” She bustles away into the apartment. Kael flies back up out of the apartment and onto the next floor above the broken ceiling, across from where we perch. He tucks his wings against his sides and rests on his haunches, watching us with whirling, interested eyes.
Go and follow her and talk, Zohr tells me. I will wait here for you.
In battle-form? I ask, even as he bounds to the floor below so I can dismount. I slide off his side—less gracefully than Claudia—and stumble to my feet.