“Alive,” I said with a grin.
The Unicorn slid to a halt before us, eyes sparking silver fire. In seconds, Sebastian was human, clutching his horn as a sword.
His gaze promised mayhem as it veered from me to Haki. “You know this shifter?”
“Yes,” I affirmed. “He’s a friend.”
“Why be you here?” Sebastian asked Haki, as Alex and Neil came up behind us. The Bellati’s voice dripped with suspicion.
“Just to visit,” Haki replied. “I thought I’d drop in and see how my friend is settling in to the academy.”
“So you two be close?”
I tensed. These guys had their suspicions about me—Haki shot me a glance, and I gave the minutest sideways movement of my chin.
“My mate is an Empire Dragon, and yes, we are all good friends,” he said. “Haven’t seen him in a while, though. Jacques told me he was here, thought we could catch up.”
Sebastian’s brows were so low they cast his eyes in shadow, and he bristled with less than hospitable energy. Haki’s response stretched the truth, but none of it was an outright lie, which the Bellati could have picked up on. “Your mate be an Empire Dragon?”
Haki nodded. “Yeah. Her family wasn’t impressed she mated me, but Fate has her own ideas.”
“You be a friend of Jacques, too?” Sebastian asked.
I swallowed. We knew Jacques well—information was vital in the underworld. But it was a connection that the Bellati could check up on, so I hoped Haki knew what he was doing.
“Yes, I know Jacques well.” Haki bowed a little to the Bellati. “I apologize for arriving unannounced, but it seems the official notification channels are not yet operational. Jacques offered to send Sparkle. I didn’t take him up on it, as I wasn’t sure exactly when I would be coming. But I can certainly leave if my presence is not convenient at this time.”
Sebastian’s frown eased slightly at mention of the Satyr’s pet. But I regarded my friend closely. Haki never did anything without a reason. Anyone tracking me would likely be keeping an eye on Haki’s activities—he’d been both my working partner and my only true friend at the Guild. Why would he come at all when my safety here relied on my presence being a secret for as long as possible?
Sebastian made an impatient gesture. “They be slow to get the communication system in place.” He hesitated, no doubt scanning Haki’s energy for honesty as closely as he scanned his features. Finally, he said, “Let us know before you leave—it will save us a race to the gate.” He worded it as a request, but his tone implied otherwise.
He and the other two shifters turned away and left us to it.
“He’ll send someone to check your story with the Satyr,” I noted.
Haki shrugged. “Good luck with that. Jacques is rather busy right now.” His wings sprouted from his back. “Let’s see if you’ve lost your edge,” he taunted.
I supposed Jacques was the likely source of the Galeran intel. So I shelved my worry and accepted the challenge. “You’re on.”
I pushed my own transformation. Haki had always been faster.
Just.
But as I sprang into the air after him, my mind raced. I’d bet my scales that Haki wasn’t here merely to visit. Would his reason for coming provide me with the answers I sought?
It already had me thinking along more practical lines. With the two of us, we could easily overcome whatever defenses the Sabres had left with their offspring.
The problem with a practical mind is that it didn’t always listen to the conscience.
* * *
Haki dove through a cloud, and I followed him.
He was stronger, but lighter framed than me. He’d always been faster. Not smarter, though. I spread my wings and soared level with the cloud, using it to disguise myself, while mentally calculating where Haki would end up—I knew his patterns well.
Then I folded my wings and dove.
It was a blind dive, but I erupted from the belly of the cloud almost right on top of him. He laughed as I tangled his wings with my own. We dropped a thousand feet in a heartbeat, and for just an instant, memory flashed—of the two of us, entangled as Dragons. Of friendship translated to lust. Of trust.
