He received a huff of breath against his chest in reply before Ward pulled away. He transformed again, once again back in his human form. Fuck, he was huge. Henry hadn’t really paid much attention before, but the guy made his Uncle Meshaq look small, and Uncle Meshaq was gigantic. Henry had to tilt his head back when Ward walked closer.
“Thank you for your kind words,” Ward said. “I shall try to not be so very sensitive in the future. It is a weakness of mine, I fear.”
Henry grinned up at him. “Me, too. So, um, I don’t want to offend you again or anything, but you probably want to put on some pants. Sawyer gets a little cranky when someone else sees our private bits.”
Ward shook his head with a puzzled frown as they began walking back down the beach. “I do not understand human modesty. Sawyer asked me to cover myself before as well.”
“Yeah, it’s a thing. I mean, I’d prefer you stay like that all the time… uh, if it’s okay for me to say that. Sorry again. I’m kind of used to speaking my mind about these things. I mean, yeah. I’m shutting up now.”
Ward chuckled then stooped down to pick up his abandoned clothes. He pulled them on then looked out across the water at the yacht, which had anchored itself a safe distance away. A couple of the crew members were unloading jet skis from the back of the boat into the water. And how cool was that?
“Dude,” Henry said when they stopped beside Eduard, “Jet skis?”
“You have much to learn about yachting,” Eduard said primly.
Henry pinched his ass, earning a startled yelp out of his griffin. He grinned when Eduard scowled and rubbed his ass.
The crew members climbed aboard the jet skis and began approaching the beach. Both passed through the ward with no problem, earning a sigh of relief from Henry.
“You doubted?” Eduard asked quietly.
“I doubt everything now. All of them need to be able to pass through the wards before we let Sawyer onto the yacht.”
“Agreed,” Eduard said. “Why don’t you go up to the cabin and send Draco out? We’ll have him shift and carry Saeward’s trunk out to the yacht.”
Henry grinned, seeing through Eduard’s ploy quickly. “You’re gonna scare ‘em with the big terrifying dragon, huh?”
“That’s the plan. I’m going to board the ship and send them all to shore while I make a private call to my father. It will get them all within the wards but I will be prepared to shift and assist if there are any problems.”
The whir of the jet skis engines grew closer, so Henry ran back to the house to let Draco in on the plan. Although reluctant to leave Sawyer, Draco quickly agreed. He lifted the trunk and walked out of the cabin. From one moment to the next, he was in his dragon form and in the air. He made a show of blowing a stream of fire out of his mouth as he approached the boat. Andvari followed behind him, walking across the beach while drawing his sword and marching menacingly toward the crew.
Sawyer limped into the living area rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Andvari said our ride is here.”
“They are. We’re taking you home in style.”
“Not home,” Sawyer said with a sigh. “I want to go home, though.”
Henry reached out and grabbed Sawyer’s hand, threading their fingers together. “Then we’ll go to our home. I bet we can get Augustus to find us some fancy private jet to use. Or maybe one of those high speed helicopters. That’d be fun, right?”
Sawyer smiled softly but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He leaned into Henry, touching their heads together as they looked out the door at all of the movement. Crew members were shuttling back and forth from the yacht, dropping them off on shore, and then going back for more. There appeared to be seven of them on board, at least from what Henry could see. He knew Draco and Eduard would check it out thoroughly before they went on board. Henry planned on doing a quick magic check as well.
“I’m scared to go back there,” Sawyer whispered.
“Then we won’t go back,” Henry said. “It’s that simple. We’ve got to use the boat to get out of here, but there are a hundred places we can stop between here and the griffin’s island. We’ll hop off, get our own damn helicopter because you’re loaded and Eduard knows people who know people. And we’ll get Cecil and the crew to bring Pearl with them and get on the road.”
“Pearl,” Sawyer wheezed. “I don’t want to leave her there.”
Henry pulled Sawyer against him, holding him gently as he trembled. “What can I do?”
“I don’t know,” Sawyer said.
Draco landed on the ground in front of the cabin, transforming as he approached them. He wrapped his arms around them both, sending Henry a questioning look.
“He’s scared,” Henry murmured. “And he wants Pearl.”
“It sounds stupid when you say it,” Sawyer complained. He leaned into Draco, though, his body still shaking as their departure grew nearer.
“What do you want, love?” Draco asked quietly.
