“Not unheard of, though,” Cara pointed out. “And only one of you is a Dragon shifter.”
“But a triad?” Aria’s hands twisted together, her fingers turning white.
Lucas had started to tremble. Aria had suspected it. But could it be true?
Aria seemed to be struggling with the concept as well. “I am taking herbs—I might have been secreting pheromones that were attracting the two of them.”
Cara considered, tilting her head. “It is possible. I am not certain I could detect the difference between something structured to be a temporary mating bond and a long-term thing. But I have sensed no such link between you and any other male.”
“The other shifter males I have been around lately were mated,” Aria stated.
Could it just be pheromones? Lucas rubbed a hand over his face, before offering, “She’s been attracting humans.”
“I have not,” protested Aria.
Lucas grimaced. “You were. The whole time we walked through downtown, the guys were drooling.”
“Well, she is beautiful,” Cara mused. “Dragonas don’t frequent this realm often. I’m sure if they did, they would receive similar attention. Did any of the men do more than just ogle?”
“No. But there were seriously glazed stares.” Lucas affirmed. “They were definitely not thinking with their upstairs brains.”
Cara took a sip of her tea. “It could be pre-mating pheromones. But that is not usually associated with living dreams.”
“How do you know that is what the dreams are?” Aria asked.
Cara shrugged. “I don’t, not yet. Not for sure. But I have my suspicions.” She regarded Lucas with her steady gaze. “And it doesn’t explain what is going on between Lucas and Nikolai.”
“It is weird that Lucas dreamed of Nikolai,” Aria admitted, misunderstanding Cara’s point.
For Lucas, it was as though the world grew very still. He hung on a precipice of uncertainty. Relationships were so not his thing, and what might be between him and Aria was alarming enough. But whatever was going on between him and Nikolai was even worse. The man was inside his head, and he really didn’t want Cara digging into it.
In his desperation to redirect the conversation, he heard a voice say, “I dreamed of Aria before I met her.”
He couldn’t quite believe he’d said that aloud. Aria stared at him like he’d grown antlers. Which he had, once, although not in her presence.
He refused to meet her gaze as he continued. “I recognized her when I saw her in Udo’s stronghold.” He finally met her astonished amber eyes. “That was why I followed you through the gate.”
Aria’s mouth opened, and closed again, before she confessed, “When I was unconscious in Demeti’s dungeon, I saw Nikolai in a dream. I couldn’t believe it when he showed up there.”
Cara smiled. “You three are connected. The dreams are not something the pheromones could explain.”
Lucas leaned his elbows on his knees. “But even if what we’ve experienced aren’t simple dreams, how can they help Nikolai?”
“You already have,” Cara pointed out, “By showing him he is not powerless.”
Aria's stare shifted to a glower. “But heispowerless. You guys made him that way.”
Cara’s mouth straightened. “Yes, he is bound by the runes.”
Lucas frowned. “But if they cut Nikolai off from his power, how is his father accessing it?”
Cara shook her head. “According to the Elders, Galeran has managed to corrupt a Watcher. She was involved in tying Nikolai to his animal form, and we suspect that a rune she created was not as it seemed.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “None of us recognized that the Bellatis might take matters into their own hands. From what I sensed, Galeran’s neither negotiating nor teaching the residents how to keep the balance. He’s using Nikolai’s power like a sledgehammer to clean the slate and start again.”
Yes. That dovetailed with what had crashed through Lucas’s brain. His heart hammered. There were layers to this that he hadn’t contemplated—the big guy was at the heart of a Bellatis mutiny. He swallowed, and said, “The thought of someone else in control of Nikolai is terrifying.”
The Watcher nodded. “Yes. It is. We have to disable the runes and give Nikolai back his control. It is the only way to stop Galeran from abusing that power.”
Lucas’s eyes couldn’t get any wider. “How are we going to do that?”
