Page 48 of Captured in Love
By the time I wrestle my thoughts back into submission, they’re ready to leave. Reasonably sure that I’ve gotten my expression under control, I face the trio and force myself to smile a little so as to throw them off. Nora narrows her eyes at me but luckily doesn’t comment. I wonder what she sees and decide I’m better off not knowing.
“Everyone ready?” I ask instead, getting down to business.
Levi gives me a thumbs-up, and Raphaël nods tersely.
I offer my token to Levi. “Can you hold this for me?”
I could carry the medallion in my jaws, but I need to feed on the way to the surface, so I’d rather not lose the thing I nearly died to obtain. Searching for it on the bottom of the sea would be tedious and time-consuming work.
Levi warily takes the token and turns it around in his hand. “I hope the curse they placed on these only holds as long as the tokens are in their box. Or maybe it’s okay if you give it to me voluntarily?”
We all remain still for a moment, as if waiting for the ceiling to come crashing down. But nothing happens, so Levi shrugs and stuffs the medallion into his wetsuit.
Then Nora steps forward, wringing her hands. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
I sit on the lip of the pool and dip my feet into the cold water. It speaks to me, inviting me to shift into my other form and let loose. I resist the call because despite the many advantages of my dragon body, coherent human speech isn’t one of them.
“Yes. I’ll shift, and you’ll climb on my back. Then I’ll swim through the tunnel, let you decompress at the right points, and carry you back to your boat.”
There. Short and simple. The less time we spend agonizing over this, the faster we’ll be done, and I’ll be able to leave before I do anything stupid, like express what’s going on inside my head. I’d love to blame my recent brush with death as the reason for the sensations currently wreaking havoc inside me, but I’m pretty sure that has nothing to do with it. This attraction I’m feeling is why I helped Levi dig out Raphaël in that tunnel, why I stayed to help Nora, why I gave them a ride out of the desert when I should have left them there, and why I kissed Nora on the bank of the Nile.
And it’s why I searched for her here in Iceland and kissed her in her room, even though I should have stayed far, far away.
Nora opens her mouth as if she might object to my plan and moves closer to me. I have no idea what her plan is, exactly, but I can’t have her touching me while I’m still human-shaped and she’s able to read my expression. She already sees too much.
Instead of waiting for her, I push myself forward and sink underwater.
And I let the magic of my species work, allowing my body to stretch and grow. At the first inhale of cold, clean water, my thoughts crystallize, and I exhale in relief. Even though our next destination is the same, I’ll be able to avoid this trio in Greece and get the token without their help.
I just need to last another hour in their company without making a fool of myself.
Finally, I poke my head through the surface and face them. They’re staring at me, hesitating on the edge of the pool, so I swish my tail around them and push them all into the water.
It’s better that they hate me a little. It’ll be easier for everyone if we remember that we’re supposed to be enemies.
If I keep telling myself that, I might even believe it.
Seventeen
Nora
Ice-cold water closesover my head, and I flail, helplessly disoriented. I hadn’t put on my mask before this godsdamned sea serpent knocked me in, and I cough, trying to splash to the surface without inhaling too much seawater.
Then my fingers brush against something warm and slick, and I grasp on, pulling myself up. I blink the salt out of my eyes and wipe my face with my palm. I’m clutching on to Isak’s rear leg, and he’s floating calmly in the pool like he hadn’t just nearly drowned me.
Beside me, Levi spits out a mouthful of water. “Asshole,” he mutters and punches Isak in the flank.
The large sea dragon doesn’t even flinch at the hit. Of course not. He’s too big and scaly for a hit like that to even register. He could squish us right now, and there would be nothing we could do to stop him.
“Ugh.” I shuffle to the side until I reach Isak’s front leg. “If you weren’t impervious to my magic, I’d taser you so hard right now.”
A deep rumble starts in Isak’s chest, and it takes me a moment to realize he’s laughing.
“You can’t talk, but you can laugh at me?” I grumble as I pull myself up. “That’s perfect, really.”
Raphaël is, predictably, the first to reach the top of Isak’s back. He stretches down and helps me climb, then hauls Levi up as well. Isak’s back is slick and smooth, and the long line of bony spikes growing from his neck vertebra stops at his shoulders. We somehow fit ourselves between that and his wings, and I can’t resist running my palm over the leathery, supple membrane stretching out beside me.
Isak quickly turns his head and fixes me with one great golden eye. I drop my hands to my lap. Did I just touch him inappropriately? I haveno ideawhat the etiquette for touching his wings is, let alone his tail, so I should probably keep my hands to myself.
