Page 10

We came to the surface, both of us sputtering, but he’d done as he intended. I no longer had a grip on him.

Calen and Theo looked on as if they weren’t sure whether we were playing around or not, but Rafe, Kai and Felix laughed.

Kai jumped back in first, swimming toward us. We both tried to corner Alexei.

“Not fair,” Alexei shouted, splashing both of us.

“Of course he’s going to take her side,” Felix called out. For the first time, he didn’t sound combative, just to the point.

Kai pulled on my arm. He then took my leg and picked me up in the air, forcing my legs on his shoulders. “We got him now, Izzy.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Rafe said. He dove in, not coming up for air. I tried to see him through the water, but it was too difficult.

Alexei yelped and soon, he was sitting atop Rafe’s shoulders looking mighty uncomfortable.

“Stop moving,” Rafe chastised. “I don’t really want your balls on my neck either, but the alternative is letting them win.”

I burst out laughing, one that squeezed my stomach and made my shoulders shake. Kai too was laughing underneath me, which was probably why we missed the attack.

Alexei stopped moving. They leaped toward us. I screamed out, laughing at the same time while locking arms with Alexei. I felt confident having Kai underneath me. He was big and strong, bigger than Rafe. If anything, Alexei should’ve been the base with Rafe on top, but the fact that Rafe could support Alexei’s weight was impressive.

“Secede, Princess,” Alexei said.

I was the only one who was wobbling as Alexei tried to push me. Kai was as strong as a statue and had a death grip on my legs. I wasn’t going to fall. I may be forced down, but Kai wasn’t going to let my legs go for anything. “Nice try, Rajyvik.”

We wrestled back and forth when I decided to take a different approach. I broke away from him. We circled, but then came at one another again. Instead of locking arms with him, I went for his sweet spot. Throughout the years of training with Alexei, I’d learned he was extremely ticklish in the midsection. I grabbed a hold of his waist and squeezed. He jumped and squirmed.

“Chill, Rajyvik,” Rafe shouted.

They were already starting to lean, and I kept going. Alexei stared at me as if he wanted to murder me, but soon, Rafe couldn’t take his fidgeting anymore and they soared backwards into the pond.

I held my hands up in the air, thrusting them high into the sky. “We did it, Kai.”

Kai chuckled beneath me, his shoulders moving against my slick skin. His hands moved up past my knee and squeezed my thigh.

Calen MacDougall’s gravelly laugh sounded from the banks of the pond, along with Felix and even Theo.

“Technically,” Theo said. “That wasn’t fair. Princess Izzy knew Alexei’s weakness.”

Calen laughed harder. “Now we all know Alexei is a wee bit ticklish.”

Alexei splashed us both again, but Rafe swam up and shook Kai’s hand, then my own. Except, he didn’t shake mine. He yanked—hard.

I screamed as I tumbled over Kai’s head and right at Rafe who switched positions and allowed me to cannonball right into the pond. I scrambled to the surface. Rafe had a grin a mile wide on his face while Kai looked sheepish.

I bit my lip. “You…sneaky little jerk,” I said. Laughing.

I lunged at him, but he carefully avoided me. Moving himself out of my grasp by mere inches each time I attempted to try to take him down. It was the water. On land, I could’ve taken him in an instant.

Behind Rafe, I saw Felix slowly wade into the water. He came up behind him as we circled one another. Felix wrapped his arms around Rafe while I lunged at him and finally, I got my hands on him. Felix let go as soon as I had him and then I pushed down, dunking him in the water for a split second.

When he came up, Felix had already run back to the bank as if he’d never been in the water. Rafe looked around, laughing the whole time. “I see how this is going to go. Everyone’s going to always be on Izzy’s side, huh?”

“You bet,” I said. “If you know what’s good for you.”

I winked at him and then wrapped my hands around his shoulders in a piggy back fashion. “Please take me ashore now.”

“What am I? A pack mule?”