“Just tell me what it is, woman.”
Nikki tilted her head. “Are you sure you don’t want it to be a complete surprise?”
“No. I want to be prepared. For all I know, you could have us going to Ireland to meet the Irish leader and convince her we’d make good allies.”
Nikki snorted. “No, although that’s something I might try later.” She placed her hands on his chest. “As for my surprise, I’ve found Gwendolen Price and we have permission to meet her.”
~~~
A million questions raced through Rafe’s mind, but he could only manage, “How?”
Nikki buffed her nails against her chest and looked at her nails. “I’m brilliant, of course. If you haven’t learned that by now, then you’d better do it soon.”
Tickling her side, Nikki barked out a laugh. He stilled his fingers. “Tell me how, or I won’t stop until your side hurts from laughing.”
She tried to back away, but he tightened his grip on Nikki’s waist. His dragonwoman finally sighed. “I asked for Kai’s help. While you were in London, we set things in motion. Bram only heard back today from Rhydian Griffiths, Snowridge’s leader. Gwen knows someone from Stonefire wants a meeting, but nothing else. I wanted you to surprise her.”
Rafe was happy that he was about to fulfill his promise to his best friend. But also uneasy. “I’m not sure if that’s wise. I wasn’t exactly Mr. Nice Guy when I last saw her. Noah’s death hit me hard, and I took some of it out on her, much like I did on you.”
Cupping his cheek, Nikki leaned against him. “Even if she shouts at you, I know you want to see her, Rafe. And you never know, she might look forward to a link to her dead lover. After all, Gwen never found a mate after Noah’s death, according to Kai’s mother.”
“She must’ve loved Noah.”
“It seems like it.”
Rafe could say he didn’t need to see Gwen or her child. There was the public mating ceremony to prepare for. Not to mention as long as he was still employed by the army, he needed to work on pinning down Simon Bourne’s whereabouts.
But Rafe wasn’t a coward. He also owed it to Noah to see through his promise.
Rafe nodded. “Then we’ll go to see her. When can we leave?”
“Right after you kiss me, we can go. I’ll fly you there.”
“Wales is a long way. Will you be okay?”
She frowned. “Even though I won’t be ill when in dragon form, I haven’t thrown up in a week. Our baby is behaving, I’m strong, and Dr. Sid cleared me for flying last week. I’m more than fine to transport you there.”
Searching her eyes, Rafe saw truth and determination in them. If Nikki said she could handle it, he would take her word for it. He nodded. “Okay, although I’m curious about this new armor. I didn’t think the army had devised anything against the laser guns yet.”
“They haven’t,” Nikki answered. “We’ve had various prototypes ever since Tristan was attacked nearly two years ago. We don’t don them very often because it hinders maneuverability when fighting, but it’s not too bad for someone flying at a steady pace.”
“I somehow can’t see Kai wearing one.”
Nikki smiled. “He probably won’t. I’m only conceding because of my recent attack and your protectiveness of our baby.”
He raised his brows. “So, my growling has finally worked on you then?”
She stuck out her tongue. “Of course not. I made the decision for myself. To protect our child, I’ll even wear ridiculous clunky armor.” She blew out a breath. “The lengths I go to. Next, I might have to give up sparring for a while.”
Pulling her closer, he murmured, “Not until it’s absolutely necessary. I want to win our next match and end the tie.”
Her fingers lightly brushed the back of his neck. “Oh? You’re confident you can beat me next time, huh?”
“Of course. What man wouldn’t want to pin the most beautiful woman in the world under him?”
“Pretty words aren’t going to bring down my guard, just to let you know.”
“And here I thought I was clever,” he answered with a wink.