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She shook her head. “No way. I know what that means. You’ll shield me and then the fall will kill you.”
“It’s my choice.”
She folded her arms over her chest, the ache in her heart palpable. She would not be the reason he didn’t survive. She wouldn’t be able to live with that.
Her eyes burned, partly from the stinging smoke, and partly because she was furious with herself. This was exactly why she didn’t want to get involved with anyone. They always ended up leaving, even if they promised they wouldn’t. Even if they didn’t want to be taken away.
“As much fun as it is to watch you two bicker like my parents,” Rixx said, “we need to focus on escaping. There has to be another way down.”
Tegan took a shallow breath and fought the urge to cough. Gray tendrils of smoke were curling long fingers under the door, and it wouldn’t be long until they couldn’t breathe at all.
Pog let out a stifled roar and gave himself a shake, the scales vanishing as he shrunk and sprouted green, feathery wings.
“Pog!” She threw her arms around his neck. “You’re a genius!”
“You can fly us down?” Rixx ruffled the tuft of feathers on the bird’s head.
Pog ambled to the window and climbed onto the sill. He craned his neck and motioned for Tegan to get on his back. That was a yes.
She climbed on, wrapping her arms around his neck for balance and making a point not to look down or think about her newly discovered fear of heights. She glanced back at Zaandr. “Now you get on behind me.”
He shook his head, exchanging another glance with Rixx. “There isn’t room. Pog won’t be able to hold more than one of us and fly.”
Pog made a chirpy sound that sounded like an agreement. The Dothveks were huge and almost all muscle, so the creature must know that he would drop like a stone if one climbed on with her.
Tegan started to slip from his back. “Then he can transform into a bigger bird.”
Rixx shook his head. “Then he won’t fit out of the window and the sill won’t support him. We have to go one at a time.”
Tegan’s heart sank. She knew they were right, and that there was no time to argue. She needed Pog to fly her down so he could return for the others. But that didn’t change the sick feeling roiling in her gut that told her this was not going to turn out well. She was not going to get her happily ever after with Zaandr, because life wasn’t like that.
She hated that her mind went to the negative, but it was the way she’d protected herself for most of her life. Don’t get attached. Don’t get hurt. The pain in her heart told her it was too late for that. This was going to hurt bad.
Zaandr wrapped her in his arms and murmured in her ear. “I told you I would never let anything hurt you. That is a promise I mean to keep.”
“But,” her voice cracked.
“Do you trust me?” He pinned her with an intense gaze that made her breath hitch in her throat.
Tegan bobbed her head up and down. I do.
He cupped her face with one hand. “We are going to survive this, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you get your happily ever after, if you’ll let me.”
Her throat tightened, as he pulled back and met her gaze. I love you, Tegan.
The shock of his unspoken words made her mouth open. She wanted to say it back to him or think it back to him, but the shock had stunned her into silence.
Zaandr backed up and slapped Pog on the rump. “Go!”
Without hesitation, Pog leapt from the window and unfurled his wings. Tegan was caught between wanting to grasp his neck to stay on him and needing to look back at the window and at Zaandr. Her heart pounded as they soared down through the air, circling the square below until they landed.
Tori rushed up to her, with Vrax close on her heels. “What the fuck? We’ve been searching for you everywhere!”
Tegan slid off Pog’s back, her legs so shaky they almost buckled when she touched the ground. She met the bird’s eyes. “Go get Zaandr and Rixx.”
Pog took off into the air again and soared to the window, which was now emitting white smoke.
“Zaandr? Rixx?” Vrax followed the bird’s flight. “They’re inside the burning building?”
