“Do humans gather here?” she asked.
Lucas shrugged. “In the summer, yeah, probably. They lie out in the sun.”
Aria frowned. “But there aren’t any good sunning stones.”
Lucas tweaked a brow at her. “Humans don’t need stones to sun themselves.”
“Oh.” Aria shook her head. How hard would it have been to move in a few stones?
As they approached the park, she noticed someone emerging from a vehicle. She thought it was odd that the blocky beige transport was not so much parked beneath, as crashed into, the nearby tree.
It didn’t appear to be dented. A tall, muscular figure emerged from the passenger side and stalked to where the metal pressed against the wood, where he threw his hands in the air.
Lucas stopped dead. “Isn’t that Cody?”
ItwasCody. There was no mistaking that lean, graceful, gorgeous body. What was the Sabre doing here?
Another figure walked around from the driver’s side to stand with Cody. About the same height as Lucas, and just as whipcord lean, with rather remarkable golden hair that fell to his waist. His close-fitting clothing had a distinctive metallic glitter.
Aria stopped dead. She’d never seen a golden Dragon shifter before, but she had no doubt that was what he was.
Cody glowered at the slim man. “How is it that you did not see the tree?” His voice carried clearly to them as he pointed to the specimen in question. With a two-foot diameter and forty-foot height, it was a splendid tree and therefore highly visible.
“I did see it.” The other man’s voice remained remarkably calm. “If you look closely, you will notice that I missed it completely. There isn’t a mark on the van.”
Cody stared incredulously at him and then leaned over to peer at where the van nestled against the tree. “You’d better be right, or Kitani is going to have my hide.”
The slim man leaned against the undented fender. “I assure you I would warn you if that were the case.”
“I would most certainly hope so.” The Sabre ran his hands through his dark hair.
The side door to the van slid open, and a third figure emerged, glancing over to where Aria and Lucas paused on the edges of the drama. She was slender, with a vivid-white streak through her long dark hair. But her energy and scent confused the hell out of Aria—not quite Dragon, nor Dire, but a combination of both? Her bodysuit glittered with the scales of a Dragon shifter; only they were jet-black. She wasn’t built like a Dragona, much less curvy. No less beautiful, but it was a lean, predatory kind of beauty.
Part of a tattoo was visible where the scales had pulled away from her throat. She wore intricate metal ear cuffs, plus a stud in her nose. And although she kept her stance loose, her eyes remained wary and missed little.
She ignored the men and nodded to Aria and Lucas. “Hello. I’m Dani. You must be who we’ve come here to meet.”
The last few words were spoken very loudly as she glanced toward the two men. Both looked up from their perusal of the van’s front end.
“You came here to meet us?” Lucas’s voice dripped with suspicion.
Aria slipped a hand beneath her cloak to rest her fingers on the butt of the knife Lucas had given her. Although she’d taken care to keep her movements smooth, Dani’s eyes tracked them. She squared up to Aria, keeping her hands loose at her sides. It told the Dragona much—the woman was no fool. And she tingled with a power that Aria hadn’t sensed before.
The slim man stepped closer to her, his gleaming silver gaze fastened on Lucas as he held his hands away from his body. “My name is Ash. This is Dani. I think you’ve already met Cody?”
Lucas’s suspicion hadn’t abated one iota. “I’m Lucas. This is Aria.”
Ash extended his hand.
Cody spoke from the front of the van. “You know he’s a Morph, right?”
Ash grinned, revealing white teeth with well developed canines. “Oh, yes.”
Lucas hesitated before accepting the handshake.
Cody shook his head. “Great. All we need is two Oracles flying around.”
Oracle? Aria had heard about this guy. A powerful Seer, he could foresee not only the future, but also the past. That explained how they knew where Lucas and Aria were.
