Before Beasts, There Was Light--Book 9

Frost Burn

He woke up with a blanket wrapped about his legs instead of his pants and tucked into the tiny hollowed area beneath the prow and steering of the dingy with two other bodies. The folded up lump that could only be the spare rubber raft served as his pillow. A mixture of something like fresh bread and roses told him Ayah was against his chest, and a not unpleasant, dirty sock musk told him Max was against his back. He tried to move and ended up hissing from the protests of his smarting legs.

"Do us a favor," came Ray's voice at his feet. "Stay in there and keep those two warm and save us the room. It's cramped up here."

"Can I have my pants at least?" Kai grumbled, his voice bouncing back to him from the close walls of the cubby.

"Dude, and have you pass out again?" said Tyson, sounding somehow even closer. "Another reason you should just stay in there. If this water is cold enough to make you pass out..."

Heat pooled into Kai's face. He didn't even want to grace that with an answer.

"I don't know what's the problem," came Tala, who could have been near the back of the tiny dingy, though that wasn't much distance at all. "This feels amazing."

"Stop bragging, not everyone can be some kind of ice wolf."

"Cybernetic enhancements and a furry...hey, China boy, toss me some more of that cracker breadstuff."

"You've already eaten half my supply!"

"Can you at least tell me where we are?" interjected Kai, already beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic. There was hardly any room in here to breathe with three normal people, let alone for two with wings and one with a hardened back of armor.

"About fifty-four miles from shore," said Ray.

"Chugging along at about twenty-five miles an hour," said Tyson proudly.

Suddenly, something clamped tight around Kai's burned ankles and pulled. Even as Kai cried out in pain the hands vanished with shouts from the others.

"What the crap, dude! Back off!"

"Ack—Tala! Wings!"

"He wouldn't dare—AHHH!"

Kai's world gave a violent rock. His gut crashed into Max's feet, and his legs protested at the bodies suddenly jostling around them outside. Tears sprung to his eyes, and with a sudden surge of alarm and rage, he reached down, took hold of the edge of the tiny opening to the hold he now hung half out of, and shoved himself out into the tangle of bodies and feathers.

Three things hit him at once. One, that someone had taken his coat and very, very cold air had sucked to him like iron shavings to a magnet. Two, that Eiden had been the one to reach between Tyson and Ray at the helm and grab his legs. And three, that he had come out at just the right time to throw his blanket covered knees into his gut with the rocking of the dingy that the light bird had caused himself.

Opaque, glass-like feathers shot up into the sky. Three boys clung to the sides of the ship for balance.

Meanwhile, Kai did his best to ignore the sting of ocean drops on his back as he leered down at a dazed Eiden.

"I am sorry," he said in Eiden's favorite slow Russian. "Did you want that space?"

"Stop the boat!" whined Tyson. "I'm gonna be sick, all this rocking."

"Just hold still!" snapped Tala.

"I got the wheel!" Ray had lunged across Eiden and Kai. The boat's motor slowed.

But Kai and Eiden only had eyes for each other. Eiden's lips curled. Kai lowered his chin, furrowing his brow, but carefully backed off of the other man. He had more important things to deal with—like his lack of coat. It hurt!

As though reading his mind, Ray grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back towards the cubby hole, banging his head on the frame in the process.

"Get back in!" Ray shouted angrily above Kai's cursing.

His body gave him no other choice. In pain, seared by cold, trembling so hard his bones shook, Kai crawled back into the tiny, dark space between Ayah and Max and curled in to tend the frazzled heat within him.