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"The Edge?" I asked. "As in the perimeter of the bubble that keeps the Vault apart from the outside world?"
Kayley looked at me like she forgot I was there. "Yes. We guard a portal to the outside. "By our choice," she added, as though wanting me to know they were guard dogs for no one.
"Right." I felt like I'd stepped into the middle of a hundred year old argument that had nothing to do with me. It seemed like I might be better off staying out of it.
"That's good," I said lamely. "Wouldn't want riffraff getting in."
Her expression suggested I was exactly that riffraff.
I gave a sweet smile in response. I guessed she really didn't like being called anyone's ride. Okay, I got that. Neither would I. But then I wasn't able to take off with someone on my back.
She sniffed and turned her attention back to the guys. "You'll have to split up. We can only take two at a time. It will be a strain even then."
"We'll be in your debt," Bain said. He gave her a bow.
An actualmotherfuckingbow, like she wasn't behaving uppity.
I bit my lip to keep from speaking out. He knew these people and how they operated. If a bow got us back to the city faster, then I was all for it. I had a suspicion Kayley wouldn't lose any sleep if she and her Dragonesque dumped Latika's kids in the dirt and went home.
We couldn't afford for them to do that. Every minute we wasted might be time we could be rescuing Dex before they cut his throat. I refused to believe he was dead. I wouldn't unless I saw his body with my own eyes. Just the idea was enough to make me scream or cry.
It was true what they said. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. My feelings for Dex even surprised me with their intensity. I couldn't lose him, not now. Not when I felt like this.
I would be politeness itself to Kayley and her friends. I would bow and scrape if it got us back home.
Don't get me wrong, I was grateful they'd come to find us. They could have not bothered. Honestly, I wasn't sure why they had, but I suspected there was a favour involved. When they came calling for it, it would be a big one.
Whatever. That wasn't my problem. Dex would handle it. Or Devlin would.
"Bain," Kayley said. "You ride with me." She stripped and shifted before he could say no.
Latika grabbed her sari before it hit the ground and stuffed it back in the bag.
Bain squeezed my hand and led me over to the dragon Aisha sat on.
"You'll be okay," he said in my ear. "The Dragonesque are prickly because they keep to themselves, but they'll keep their word."
The dragon turned his head and eyed Bain and me as though reminding us he could hear.
Bain didn't even look slightly sorry. Not even when he buried his fingers in my hair and pulled my mouth to his.
The kiss sent heat right to my core. For half a second I wondered how the dragon would feel if Bain fucked me up against his scaly body.
My next thought was that he wouldn't appreciate a wet patch from where I sat. Too bad, he was getting one anyway.
Bain dragged his mouth away, leaving my lips and body to ache for more. Fucking tease.
"Aisha will look after you," he said as he made his hands into stirrups.
"Yeah, I will," Aisha agreed. All of about sixteen, she was trained from birth to fight and kill. If I had to trust my life to a kid, it would be her or her sister.
Erin helped Slade climb up behind her. He looked like he was having the time of his life. His whole face was lit up by the biggest grin, maybe in history. One hand wound around Erin, the other held his glasses onto his face. Yeah, losing those mid-flight would suck. I couldn't see Bain or Kayley being willing to go back and hunt for them.
"Hold on to me," Aisha said. "The take off is a little rough."
She sounded as though she'd been riding dragons for years, rather than a matter of hours. It was still more than me, so I wrapped my arms around her slim waist and hung on.
"Why is no one riding him?" I nodded toward the fourth dragon, or Dragonesque. That was a good name for them. Like dragons, as opposed to actuallybeingdragons. Did that make me witchesque? I preferred hemithea; it had one hundred percent less of the word 'witch' in it.
