Page 77 of Her Dragon Daddy Disaster
“Hold him tight to you,” I ordered. “This won’t be pleasant.”
Sarah did as ordered without asking questions. I brought them to the window and then, taking Sarah by the shoulders, carefully eased the two of them out into open space four stories above the ground.
“What now?” she asked, looking down nervously.
“Hold even tighter,” I said. “I’m going to toss you up, and then catch you again as I come out the window.”
“You’rewhat?”Even Sarah’s composure cracked. “Levi. No, that’s too dangerous there has to—oh, shit!”
I threw them up in the air, climbed onto the ledge, and leaped outward for them, arms outstretched to catch the pair as they fell.
My wings snapped open, exploding from my shoulders as I caught them, and we swiftly descended toward the street below.
“Told you I’d get you,” I said, allowing a smile to cross my face as we escaped Malakai’s trap. “You’re safe. I’ve got y—”
Something heavy landed between my shoulder blades, and we plummeted toward the street below. Frantically, I tried to twist. To put my body between the ground and Sarah.
I had to protect them. Had to keep them safe. It was the only thing I—
We hit the ground, and darkness swallowed me up.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Levi
Water sleeted across my face, waking me with a start.
“So, you’re alive,” a voice observed from nearby as I sputtered and worked to come to my senses. “For a while there, I wasn’t sure you would come back to us.”
Blinking the sheets of water from my face, I struggled to place the voice. Opening my eyes was too painful, so I screwed them shut again, using my other senses as best I could.
My hands rested on something cool and hard beneath the water. The air around me was damp with chill. No wind or noise other than water slowly dripping from me reached my ears.
“W-w-where am I?” I stammered woozily, pain lancing into my head with each other. “W-hat happe-n-ed?”
Getting the words out was a struggle. But I gritted my teeth and forced the pain away, gathering it under control. Irecognized its presence, but one by one, I yanked its teeth free of me, freeing myself back from its grip.
Silence greeted my question.
“Levi,” a different voice called to me. “Are you okay?”
I knew that voice. Recognized it.
“Sarah!”
“Yes, it’s me.” She sounded far more subdued than normal. And distant. Why wasn’t she coming to me?
“It didn’t have to come to this.”
I frowned. “Malakai?”
“Yes, yes, it’s me. I jumped on you, and you hit your head on the street and gave yourself a nasty boo-boo. Get over it already. You’re a dragon. You shouldn’t be showing your weakness like this. It’s pathetic.”
A hint of anger cleared some of the brain fog. “Screw you.”
Malakai laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound. The sarcasm dripped from it, enraging me further.
My eyes snapped open, fixating on the location. Malakai stood several feet in front of me … on the other side of several thick steel bars. I glanced around. I was in a cell of some sort. Sarah wasn’t with me, but she must be close by. A second cell.
