As she contemplated all the alarming ramifications of that, a tiny, furred form peeked out from beneath his hair and blinked impossibly blue eyes at her. Aria squinted. “Is that a rodent?”
One big hand reached up toward the little creature, but it withdrew from the touch, squeaking. It sounded annoyed. Or afraid? Aria didn’t speak rodent.
“She’s a shrew,” he said. “Her name is Mai.”
The guy had rodents living in his hair? Aria gave herself a mental shake. She needed to get the hell out of here—but first, she had to find Lucas. “I have a friend here, somewhere,” she said. “We need to find him.”
This seemed to upset the big guy. At least, she caught a pulse of dismay from him, and he flinched, as his gaze skittered away from her. “Here? In the building?”
“Yes. Demeti—he took him. I don’t know where.”
“We’d better find him, then. And be quick about it.”
Aria wondered about the emphasis and the sudden tension in the big guy’s voice and energy, but she pushed past him—a fleeting impression of touching warmth and rock-hard muscles—and through the door.
Why was it suddenly hard to breathe? Her body tingled all over from the briefest of contacts. Who was this guy? And more importantly—what was he?
Then Aria remembered what he’d been in her dream.
A Unicorn.
She had a vague recollection of them being connected in some way to the Watchers that guarded the gates, but her Unicorn lore was sketchy at best. Perhaps they were animal Familiars? Surely if the Watchers were shapeshifters, it would be common knowledge.
He certainly didn’t smell like a horse. Although his scent was musky like a shapeshifter’s. But it was also sharp, and the odor of discharged energy rippled through it.
Just as it had in the dream.
Aria shook the thoughts away. She needed to find Lucas. The hall beyond was lined with doors to each side. As the feeling returned to her legs, Aria pushed herself into a shambling jog, standing on tiptoes to peer through the barred windows.
“Lucas!” she shouted. Had Demeti moved him to another cell? The ones she looked into were empty.
The big man had followed her down the hall, but now he stopped. “Lucas?”
“Yeah. That’s his name.” Aria peered into another room. Empty.
“His energy wasn’t human.”
Another window, another empty cell. “What?” How would he know, if he’d never met Lucas? “No. He’s not human.”
When she glanced at him, he regarded her with an odd expression. “Is he like you? I haven’t sensed your energy before.”
Aria ground her teeth together. These cells hadn’t been used in a long time. Where had Demeti taken Lucas? She answered without thinking. “I’m unique.”
“You are not human.” It was a statement, not a question. Gray eyes regarded her closely.
“Of course not.” When his brows rose, she added. “Well, you’re not, either.”
His brows dropped back down. “So I have been told. As it turns out, seems he was right.”
“Do you live in the human realm?”
He frowned at her. “I was raised among humans.”
“But you aren’t human.”
He sighed. “Apparently not.” He looked into the cell across the hall, bending to peer through the window. “If I know what to look for, I can help. Is this Lucas the same as you?”
She peered into another cell. “No. He’s a Morph, not a Dragon.”
