Dragon Soul(19)

"Oh, that's all right," May said, lurching forward awkwardly. "I'll sit on Gabriel. He doesn't mind."

"Far from it," he said with a look that I felt was intended for her eyes only.

"But … " I glanced back at Rowan, not wanting to be outright rude in  throwing out these interlopers, but at the same time, I had been looking  forward to spending some time with him since we hadn't been able to  talk at all during the flight from Munich to Cairo.

Rowan finished his text and tucked his phone into his pocket, looking at me expectantly.

I rolled my eyes toward the car in an attempt to get him to notice the  occupants and, hopefully, have some advice about how to deal with them.  Perhaps we could take a separate taxi? A glance down the taxi row left  that idea dead at the start. Swarms of tourists were four deep on the  sidewalk, all fighting over the available vehicles.

"Go ahead," he said, gesturing toward the car.

Akbar hovered behind me, adding, "Yes, yes, there is much room, plenty  of room for all. Your friends wish to see the pyramids, too? I shall  take you to them and you will have a most excellent experience."         

     



 

Resigned, I sighed and slid into the backseat. Rowan followed, giving  May and Gabriel a little nod before smooshing himself in next to me.

I had to admit that I didn't mind being pressed up against him,  especially since his hand was resting casually on my thigh, but after a  few moments of enjoying that, I had to remind myself that even if I was  now technically a merry widow, it didn't mean I had to make obvious the  fact that I wanted to jump Rowan's bones right that very second.

Dignity would be my watchword, I decided, covertly sliding my hand up Rowan's thigh. Dignity and circumspection.

"I understand you had a visit from our friends at the tea shop," Gabriel  said as Akbar pulled into traffic and immediately slammed on the brakes  to avoid hitting a car that cut him off. He muttered under his breath,  shot a look to the side where Mrs. P sat, and we started forward again.

"Yes, we did. They were more obnoxious than ever, but we took care of the matter," Rowan answered in a distracted tone.

I stopped wondering how I could cop a quick grope of Rowan without the  other two (unwanted) occupants seeing and leaned forward to say in a low  tone, "I will ask Akbar to pull over if you continue such shenanigans,  Mrs. P."

She shot me an injured look that melted into a high-pitched cackle. "Your man wouldn't like that at all."

"This isn't about Rowan. It's about you behaving yourself when we are in  a moving vehicle capable of killing us or others. No shenanigans,  please."

"Shenanigans," she repeated, rolling the word around in her mouth. "I  like that. Would you care to engage in some shenanigans later, young  man?"

Akbar, luckily, was too focused on the hellish nightmare that was  traffic streaming from the airport into Cairo proper and didn't answer.

"Hands to yourself," I reminded her and sat back in my seat, smooshing  myself against Rowan. I tried to tell myself it was silly to get so  worked up over a little innocent contact, but the girly part of my mind  was squealing softly to itself, and wondering if it was too soon to ask  him to spend the night in my hotel room.

"There were three others who arrived in the small hours of the morning,  but we handled them, as well," Gabriel said, pulling my attention from  the pleasant (if smutty) thoughts about Rowan.

"Three other who?" I asked, throwing grammar to the wind. "Or should I say what?"

Gabriel glanced toward the driver, but as Akbar was now providing a  running commentary to Mrs. P on the various buildings we were passing,  Gabriel evidently felt it was safe to speak. "Our friends from Bael are  more what than who, but as they were once our kin, I shall refrain from  saying more."

Rowan's hand brushed my leg again, causing heat to pool low inside of  me. Just how long was this cab ride going to take? I began to speculate  how much time it would take to get Mrs. P settled before I could pounce  on Rowan.

"We should be safe enough for a few hours," Gabriel continued.

That pulled my attention from my plan to seduce Rowan. "Really? Rowan  said that the …  uh …  guys who attacked us weren't really …  you know …  but  that they just had to re-form, so to speak."

"He's correct," Gabriel said with a little nod.

Rowan felt nice and solid next to me. He turned his head to face  Gabriel, which meant his breath teased my hair when he spoke. I might  have leaned a bit into him.

"I've heard that the re-forming takes time," he said, "unless the being in question is summoned to a new form. Is that true?"

"Absolutely," May answered. "Which should give us just enough time to  transact our business once we get to the hotel before the baddies get  themselves back here."

"Business?" I asked somewhat suspiciously. I was getting a bit tired of  being so paranoid as to suspect everyone I met, but given the  experiences that Mrs. P and I had had during the last twenty-four hours,  I figured it was allowed. "What sort of business?"

Gabriel's silver gaze flickered toward the driver, but he said nothing.  Apropos of nothing, I decided that I liked Rowan's eyes better. Rather  than just one color, there was depth to the greenish gray of Rowan's.  One moment they were downright verdant, and the next they looked like  clear water over a mossy rock. Mind you, I liked the dream version best  of all, but that was just a fantasy, and I was more than happy to settle  for reality.

"Wait a minute." A thought intruded on my contemplation of Rowan's eyes.  "Our kin? You're talking about … " I made claw hands and said softly,  "Rawr?"         

     



 

Gabriel looked startled for a moment.

"Gabriel is the wyvern of the silver sept," May said, giving him a look that beamed with pride.

"Are you indeed. How nice." I wondered what the hell a wyvern was, not  to mention a silver sept, and made a mental note to Google both once we  were at the Cairo hotel.

"Yes. Although he doesn't get very …  rawry …  often."

"Only when there is room for a proper chase," he said with a solemnity  that was ruined by a glint in his eyes that had May leaning in to  whisper something in his ear.

I glanced at Rowan to see how he was taking this banter and whether he  might like to do a little whispering of his own, but he was leaning back  in the seat with his eyes closed. I "accidentally" jostled him with my  arm, causing him to jerk and open his eyes.

"Hmm?" he said.

"Didn't you get any sleep?" I asked, concerned for his welfare, and not just because I had plans for him that night.

"Not really, no."

"But it wasn't even midnight when I fetched Mrs. P back from her assignation with the unwilling Edvard."

"He had nice thighs," Mrs. P piped up from the front seat. "Horseman's  thighs. Like your man's. Too bad you interrupted us before Edvard had  time to demonstrate his riding abilities."

"Mrs. P!" I said, scandalized at her innuendo.

She cackled to herself and edged closer to Akbar.

"I'm going to be so glad to hand her over to whoever is here to pick her  up," I told Rowan sotto voce. "And speaking of that, I know we had a  heck of an evening, but the rest of last night was pretty quiet."

"Yes. But I didn't know it was going to be so uneventful, or I would have gone back to my room and gotten some sleep."

I twisted around to look him full in the face, noticing the darkness  under his eyes and the little lines of strain around his mouth. He also  had a light stubble that made my fingers itch to touch it. "What do you  mean? You didn't sleep at all?"

"No." He leaned back and closed his eyes again. "I watched your room all night in case others came to disturb you."

Something inside me warmed at his words. "That …  I had no idea …  oh, Rowan, I wish you'd told me. I would have sat up with you."

The corner of his mouth that I liked so much quirked upward for a few  seconds. "That would have been counterproductive. My goal was to ensure  you two rested uninterrupted, and if you had been with me …  well, I doubt  if you'd have gotten rest."

I cleared my throat in a meaningful manner and slid a look toward May  and Gabriel. They were conversing softly and didn't appear to be  listening, but you never knew. With a neutral voice, I said, "At the  cost of your own sleep. Well, at least you'll be able to sleep well  tonight. Mrs. P is due to get on a river cruise this evening, so you can  relax and not worry about her being pestered by those guys again."

"Mmmhmm." His face softened and I had the worst urge to snuggle into him and keep watch while he took some much-needed rest.

But before he drifted off completely, I leaned into him and whispered very softly, "What's a wyvern?"