“How does this usually work?” Mai’s little nose was quivering. If she was trying to tell them something, it was lost to Aria too.
“Well, Angel usually hooks his claws in and yanks to go right. Wallops me with a paw to turn left.”
Aria stared ahead. “Maybe if we weren’t nose first into a tree?”
“Right.” Cody moved the lever attached to the floor and expertly guided the vehicle into the center of the road.
Aria dug her fingernails into her thighs. She found the movement unnerving. Only Cody’s manipulation of the pedals and the lever reassured her it was simply a machine, and nothing more.
Mai pointed her little nose straight ahead.
“Well, nose pointing is much less painful. If that’s what she’s doing.” He navigated away from the other cars—parked sensibly along the curb—and paused at the next intersection.
Mai turned her fuzzy head, pointing her nose to the right.
Cody grinned. “Think I’ll keep her.”
Aria’s stomach clenched at the van’s slightly bumpy progress. To distract herself, she asked, “Do you visit Cara often?”
The Sabre replied, “She always has food. And she looks after the kids for us.”
It surprised her. She’d heard the Sabres were a dying breed, with very few females and even fewer successful births. “You have kids?”
He nodded and grimaced. “Twins. Why do you think I volunteered for this?” When Aria frowned at him, his expression grew rueful. “Hey, we all drew straws on the driving lessons. The little blighters are highly mobile now. Keeps us on our toes.”
The warmth running beneath the words reassured her. He might have escaped child rearing duties for the moment, but the emotion was real. He loved his family.
Ash’s voice, slightly abstracted, came from behind them. “They are currently asleep. Kitani and Ryan are otherwise occupied.”
“Hey. I know that,” protested Cody. “They live inmyhead. And I don’t want to know how you know.”
Aria glanced back in time to see Ash shrug. “Sometimes these things are clear. But not always.”
“You saw that the twins were asleep?” she asked.
He nodded. His silver eyes swirled with color, and he seemed to look straight through her. A chill shot up Aria’s spine, and she yanked her gaze away to Cody.
“How didyouknow they were asleep?”
“Mates share a telepathic link,” he stated.
Telepathy? She’d heard rumors of such. And Sabres usually mated in triads, so that explained why he had two mates, not just one.
Another intersection, another shrewish nose point. Lucas remained completely silent in the back. When she glanced at him, he was sitting very upright, staring out the window.
Within the van’s confines, Dani’s scent swirled around Aria. Finally, she twisted around to ask.
“Are you a Dragon shifter?”
Dani’s lips twitched. “That is a good question. I am a shifter who can change into a Dragon. But because I was a Dire first, I am kind of an original. A blend, as it were, of the two.”
Aria’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.”
“No one did,” Dani admitted.
