Kissed by Ice(6)

"When I throw you up, take hold of one of his scales," Finn snapped. "Get your fingers underneath it and use it as a handhold."

Without waiting to see if I was ready, he tossed me up again. This time I grabbed hold of one of Drago's plate-like scales, barely managing to avoid sliding off the other side and onto the cobblestone courtyard, possibly landing on my head.

I glared down at Finn. "Next time give me a warning, why don't you?" He shrugged again and ambled back inside the castle. With a sigh, I heaved myself up and onto Drago's back, using his scales to pull myself along. I seated myself just behind his shoulder ridge. Someone had threaded a tether through the scales. Once I snapped myself in, I hollered down at Drago. "Okay. Ready when you are."

If it had been Inigo, he'd have been able to mind speak, but either Drago couldn't do it with me or didn't want to. He let out a large grunt and gathered his haunches beneath him. I felt the thick muscles gather beneath my thighs, the shift and slide of scales, and then in one leap, he was in the air, wings spreading to catch the updraft off the mountainside.

Up he surged, higher and higher into the atmosphere until we were so far above the earth, the thin air turned nearly to ice. Or at least it seemed so to me. Despite my borrowed riding gear, I was turning numb from the cold. Even the thick, fur-lined gloves did little to dispel the chill. I was pretty sure my ears were going to fall off at any moment.

And then the chill was gone, replaced with a tingling warmth. The air grew thicker, easier to breath. I glanced around to see that both Drago and I were surrounded by a shimmering bubble. Inigo had thrown up one of those bubbles, too. Not only did it keep us warm and help us breathe, though Drago didn't need it nearly as much as I did, but it prevented pesky things like airplanes and radar from seeing us. The last thing we needed was the Royal Air Force freaking out about a giant dragon invading their air space. I couldn't even imagine the tabloid response to such a thing.

The other thing the bubble did was allow him to travel at full speed without turning me into a blender full of goo. The flight that should have taken something like fifteen hours by plane only took about two by dragon. My butt was just getting numb when Drago began circling, spiraling down slowly toward the sparkling blue ocean below. As we flew lower, the air grew increasingly humid and hot until I was sweating like a pig under my heavy layers of clothing.

At first I wasn't sure where Drago was headed, but then I saw the tiny little speck of white in the middle of the vast ocean between two tiny green islands. As we drew closer, the ship got bigger and bigger until I could clearly see the helo pad beneath us, rushing up fast. I opened my mouth to warn Drago, but it was too late. He landed with a thump hard enough to send me sliding off his side. Only the tether kept me from slamming into the deck. I dangled in midair for a moment before managing to unclip the tether. I fell the rest of the way to the deck, hitting hard enough to jar bone.

"Holy shit, Drago." I glanced around to see if anyone had seen us. Apparently no one had noticed a giant dragon landing on the ship as everyone was going about their business. I guess Drago still had the bubble up. I staggered to my feet, expecting to find a massive dragon on the deck. Instead he was standing there in human form, dressed in the jeans and cable knit sweater he'd been wearing at the castle.

"Damn, it's warm here," he said, pulling off the sweater to reveal a tight, black T-shirt beneath. Poor thing was stretched to the limit trying to contain his rippling chest muscles. I was kind of glad Inigo hadn't inherited his brother's size. I liked my men on the lean side.

"I thought you liked it warm," I said, shucking my flight clothes. I wished I'd had shorts or something. Boots and jeans weren't exactly meant for the tropics.

"Warm and dry. This humidity is bullshit."

Couldn't argue with him there. "We need to find Kabita, if she's here, and Eddie." I pulled out my cell phone.

He laid his hand on mine. "Won't work until I lower my shields."

What was he? A freaking starship? "Uh, okay. So lower them."

"Not here. Don't you think people would be a bit surprised to suddenly find two strangers standing in their midst?"

Frankly, I doubted it. Most people couldn't see two feet in front of their noses. "Fine." I tucked the heavy flight clothes under my arm, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into a stairwell. "Okay, this ought to be safe enough."

He nodded. There was a slight shimmer in the air. "We can be seen and heard now."

I glanced at my phone, selecting Kabita's number first. There was no answer.

"She may still be on her way," Drago pointed out. "After all, it would have taken her awhile to convince someone to give her the ship's location and then find a means of transport."