36
Lucas cradled Mai in his hands.
Even though the evening air had cooled, he still sweated. He folded his arms over top of his cloak and stared out at the jungle. He could take it off, but he was alone in the cave with Aria.
Best to leave it on, for now.
He petted Mai as the sinking sun sent fingerling rays through the long shadows cast by the trees. The entire place was alive with sound and movement. Lucas flinched at the fierce rustling in a nearby tree—a small, round, primate face peered at him for an instant before vanishing. Mai squeaked, unimpressed but also not alarmed.
The life here moved to a rhythm Lucas didn’t understand. The eternal balance between life and death, so much a part of the Liberi experience, smacked of cosmic implications on a massive scale. Lucas’s focus had always been on the individual. Namely him. Even though the civilizations he roamed were populated by many species, the basics never changed—underworld cities revolved around desperation, greed, and the scrabbling struggle to survive.
Yet standing here on this ledge, with Mai relaxed in his hands and the forest humming as it made the transition from day to night, he grasped how every tiny living thing was part of the much greater whole. In each instant, creatures died and were born. The give and take of life energy, sometimes swung one way, or the other, but always sought the point of balance.
He shook his head. He had enough worries, without blowing his mind considering such things.
Nikolai. The big guy was in serious trouble. They’d been eating fried chicken when Lucas suddenly felt as though he were being grabbed, and chained. He’d fled to the bathroom to stand, shaking, as the images crashed through his brain. Bearing silent witness as Nikolai fought them with all his might. But it did no good. He was a prisoner, held against his will.
Lucas knew what that was like. Despite himself, and all the angst he had tangled up in the Perditor, his heart ached for the big guy.
When he returned to the group in the kitchen, Aria gave him a funny look. But he hadn’t responded to her lifted brow. Mostly because he hadn’t known what to say.
He’d come out to the ledge with the hope that he’d sense that Nikolai was okay... but there was nothing further from the Liberi.
Something large crashed through the foliage. This time, Mai stiffened, and Lucas decided he’d had enough of communing with nature. He held her close as he stepped back into the cave and pushed the heavy wooden door closed.
Lucas padded down the tunnel in search of Aria. The other two Dragon shifters had returned to their home to await Ash. Without them, the cave seemed far too quiet.
He’d left Aria taking a shower, but the bathroom door stood open. Steam wafted from it. Had she run out of hot water? Both the water heater and the pump pulling from the underground river ran on solar panels, and Dani had warned them as to the limited amount available.
Two rooms he passed had beds, but they were both empty. Lucas continued toward the end of the hall.
Cara’s meditation cave had a library.
Only a small one—the atmosphere inside was too damp to keep books of any value. But the shelves offered a selection of paperbacks. Mostly, as Lucas had already determined, epic fantasy novels, but others as well.
Aria had bent over to examine the lower shelves, her hair curling wetly as it fell forward around her face. Lucas found himself staring at the luscious curves of her butt.
Again.
He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. He supposed a must-wear-cloak-around-the-Morph dress code would be out of the question. Maybe it was just as well she’d drained the hot water.
He was alone in this cave with the woman of his dreams. His pulse had been erratic as hell ever since Dani and Tyrez had flown the coop. But Lucas suffered no illusions—Nikolai didn’t have to be physically present to stand between them.
Aria spoke as he entered, shattering any illusions that he could sneak up on her. “Cara likes urban fantasy? Who knew?” She turned and held up a book. He read the title—Night Shifterby L.E. Horn.
“Do you read human English?” he asked.
She nodded as she paged through. “Oh, yeah. Humans write great fiction. My mentors brought me reading material from this realm all the time.”
“Well, I’ve read that series. I enjoyed them. The author writes decent shifter stories.”
Aria nodded and pulled all five books off the shelf. Lucas’s eyes widened. “You planning to read all those tonight?”
“I speed read,” she said, “and I don’t feel like sleeping.”
He offered her Mai. “We were out jungle gazing, but something moved.”
One brow arched. “Something big?”
