Cloud Riders(46)

It was over and as if she had suddenly broken out of a trance Cassie’s memory returned. She lurched forward and snapped her head around to face him, her angry eyes glaring at Kayden. He was grinning as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth and he held his hands up in a protective position. ‘Please don’t hit me! I promise I’ll shut up now,’ he chuckled.

‘That was such a dirty trick, Kayden. Don’t think you’re getting off that easy. That was really, really mean and now everyone knows about Alex. Couldn’t you have just spoken the words instead of relaying it by telepathy? And I did not sleep with Alex or call out his name. Damn you, Kayden. Shit, you made me so angry, I still feel like I want to slap you.’

Her body shook, she was so infuriated. In one quick movement, Kayden spun her around into his arms and was kissing her. Cassie struggled against him until the passion of his kisses calmed her and his love was all she could feel. Her mind was now torn, wanting his lips to stay on hers forever but still angry that he had said all that in front of the team. Finally he lifted his mouth from hers and she lay helpless in his arms.

‘Nobody else heard what I said to you, my lovely but I needed you to think they were all listening. That was a bad attack, honey and without you here today some of us may not have made it back alive,’ he said with a serious tone.

She frowned and searched for his reasoning for picking that topic to make her angry.

He seemed to read her thoughts and smiled. ‘I know you love only me, princess. I watched Alex kiss you and even though it nearly broke my heart, it confirmed your feelings for me when you didn’t respond to him. Will you forgive me?’ he said as he laid little kisses over her face until her frown turned into a smile. ‘Am I forgiven, sweetheart?’ He looked at her lovingly.

Cassie touched his face; it felt like touching soft petals. He was magical up here in the sky, and spellbinding. She didn’t know he could select who he could talk to and now it was just between them, she forgave him with a stunning smile.

‘That’s my girl,’ he whispered in her ear, kissing the lobe, making her shudder and giggle. ‘I promise to make up for every mean word I spoke when we get home,’ he said, sitting her up as the guys approached.

Yes, my love, and man, am I going to make you keep that promise! Cassie grinned at the thought and settled back against him.

Back in formation, they headed back to Adora’s star, the eldest of the Three Sisters. As soon as they stopped, Woody grabbed Cassie off the horse and swung her around. ‘You go, girl.’ He laughed as the others came over as well for a group hug.

Kayden moved in when they finished making a fuss and rescued her from them. ‘That’s enough, guys, she’s only little. You’re going to squash her.’

Woody slapped him on the back. ‘She may be little but she sure packs a punch and knows how to make a big entrance. Zoren’s going to be blown away with what just went down.’

Jason was a bit vocal and aired his concern to Kayden. ‘We could’ve been in deep shit out there without Cassie. I know Zoren has other battles going on but he should get his facts straight before he sends us out next time. We could have left earlier and cleaned them out of the sky before they even became a problem. That was too close this time, K man.’

‘I’ll talk to him when he gets here. I just had a message through Zoltan that he watched it all on the satellite link and is pleased and impressed with our new addition. He wants to meet her personally. Let’s just enjoy our victory and smooth out the wrinkles later.’

Ethan looked up and his blue eyes looked anxious as a shadow came over their heads. Cassie swung around to see what had struck him speechless and spotted a straggler meteor. She knew as well as Ethan did it was too late for them to get back on their rides or even to get out the way. She had to come up with something to make her mad and quick, so she thought of her dad swiping her across the cheek. Using the anger of this memory of her burning cheek, she threw her hands up and forced the meteor back. When she had moved it far enough away, she smashed it into dust.

Dropping her eyes back down, she looked straight at Ethan. She sensed he could tell if anything more was out there. He closed his eyes as if looking far out into the universe then shook his head. She watched his look of concern turn into a smile. ‘I’m positive that was the last of them.’

‘Good work.’ Cassie grinned at him. ‘None of us saw that one coming.’

He looked so much younger—even adorable—with the expression he wore after she praised him. He put his head down and a blond curl hung on his forehead; at that moment she could feel something so vulnerable about him. Maybe he felt he had let them down, not concentrating enough to pick it up sooner. That wasn’t how she saw it. They were all fairly depleted of power and it would have been hard to pick up. She wanted to cheer him up so she nudged him. ‘You deserve a drink for that one. Shall we radar?’ she teased him, gesturing a hand and a small bow towards the castle.