Nikolai’s chin twitched upward, almost as though he tossed his head, but the eyes blazed at him. “This Bellati. You think it is me?”
The reaction seemed genuine. Did he not know what he was? “Did he try to capture you?”
The dark brows lowered. “He attacked me. I followed him here, but I don’t know where I am now.” The lips twitched. “But we exchanged points of view, and he ran away.”
Crap and double crap. Demeti had gone after the Bellati, and run into way more critter than he’d bargained for. The Torshin had been a fool.
But that meant that Nikolai was more powerful than Demeti had been. And that was all kinds of bad. Grateful as Lucas was to be out of Demeti’s clutches, he’d literally landed in those of another even worse.
But Demeti had a crapload of Dires with him... “Did the Dires attack you too?”
“The wolf beasts?” Nikolai tilted his head, his eyes darting to Aria and away. “Shapeshifters.”
“Yes. Dires.”
The gray eyes slid back to regard him. “You knew what they were?”
“You didn’t?” Lucas repeated the pertinent question. “You killed them too?”
Again with the nod, and the mouth opened, prepared to add more.
Aria jumped in before he could. “They deserved it. He was only defending himself.”
The note in her voice had Lucas glancing at her. Her skin appeared flushed, as though her own reaction embarrassed her. Why was she defending him? If his dream had half a grain of truth, this big dude had almost killed them both.
His stomach twisted, and he wrenched his gaze away, back to the trees. “Where are we?”
Aria crossed her arms. “We’re in the forest outside the building.”
Lucas slapped at an insect. The wicked things were feasting on his bare, bloodied torso. “If Demeti ran away, why are we in this forest? Are we chasing him? Because if we are, I am going on record to say that is a really dumb idea.”
“We are not chasing the Torshin,” Nikolai stated.
“Okay, well, that is good,” Lucas said.
“We are running away from Nikolai’s people,” Aria cut in as though her statement made it obvious as to why they were standing in an impenetrable forest being feasted upon by insects.
“Nikolai’s people?” Lucas stared at her. “Um... think I mentioned he might be a Bellati. Which is apparently a male Liberi.”
Her eyes widened. “He’s a Liberi?”
Nikolai shot her a look. “What’s a Liberi?”
Now it was Lucas’s turn to be astonished. The big guy really didn’t have a clue. “The most powerful Liberis are the Watchers, who monitor the gateways.” Lucas said.
“Gateways.” Nikolai stared at Lucas. “The doors to other realms?”
Lucas couldn’t believe this guy. He really was clued out. “Yes.”
Aria brought them back on point. “Are you sure he is a Liberi?”
“That’s what Demeti went out to get. He obviously came back trailing Nikolai. He might have found something else, no way to know for sure.” He stared at Nikolai. “Do you really not know what you are?”
The dark brows lowered at the incredulity in Lucas’s voice. “My mother died at birth. I was raised by another.”
“He was raised in the human realm. In a desert,” Aria interjected helpfully.
“A desert,” Lucas echoed.
