My eyes widened. “How old are you?”
One sculpted brow twitched. “Not that old. But I have added wombats to my list of human realm fauna.”
“Awesome,” Matt said, but his voice had a growl to it.
My not-so-veiled attempt to get a compliment for my running style had been completely hijacked by a marsupial. Should have used a tortoise as my comparison.Ah, well.The banter between Matt and the Bellati, edgy as it was, cheered me up.
Then Sebastian stiffened and left us without even a word or backward glance. Matt’s gaze followed him, and his eyes flashed once before returning to mine.
“I’d no doubt go for a row if I was ever stupid enough to tell him so, but he’s a bit of an ass,” he said.
I stuffed “go for a row” in theincomprehensible Matt lingofile, but I had to agree the man was a conundrum. Cold as ice, and yet—not. I sighed, my gaze drifting to where Talakai was throwing his pack into the pile. His indigo eyes flared at me briefly before he turned and stalked away.
The Dragon could give Sebastian a run for his money in the arrogance department.
My team-building efforts certainly had a mountain to climb. Never mind the personal crap I needed to sort.
Of course, first, I had to get through the assessment.
* * *
Our team, such as it was, assembled in the coliseum.
Talakai stood a bit apart as Constance checked the team in. She peered at the handwritten notes on her clipboard.
“Anna, you’ve had your abilities assessment, and Matt, you don’t need the fighting piece. Looks like everyone else needs the full sweep.” She rolled the end of the pencil between her teeth. It was already pretty thoroughly chewed.
“You’ll all switch off for the weapons part. Darius, you’re with Cody for fight assessment and ability.” She gestured to me. “You’ll be with Ryan for weapons assessment. Aaron—Alex will do your fighting and ability.” She pointed to a redheaded individual who I was pretty sure was a Dire, although leaner than most. “Matt—you’ll do ability with Neil. Talakai—Tyrez will do fight and ability for you.” She pointed to an enormous man.
Standing among the Sabres gave me perspective. This guyloomedover them. Tyrez must have stood seven feet, clad in a turquoise body suit that gleamed and hugged every curve. His arms had rather distinctive tattoos, and long black hair fell down to his ass.
As Talakai moved toward the enormous guy, Matt leaned in to confirm my impressions. “Big bloke’s a Dragon.”
Another Dragon. Man, no way they’d blend with any crowd in the human realm.
Constance gestured to the ogress. “Mari, Bess will do your abilities test first.”
A willowy form advanced on us. Her long white braids identified her as a Watcher. “I’ll take Mari through a gate for that test. Can’t risk the infrastructure.” She smiled at the ogress, but Mari looked uncomfortable as she followed Bess out of the coliseum. I swallowed as Darius moved to where Cody loomed.
A heavily muscled man with rugged features smiled at Matt. “Hey, Matt, I’m Neil.”
Matt measured the other man before saying, “G’day, Neil.”
Neil’s brows danced, and he offered an easy smile. “We’ll see if that Aussie spirit translates to doing partials until you pass out.”
Matt trailed after him as they moved to the far end of the coliseum from the sand arena, which was already busy—Darius and Cody were circling each other, and Aaron was squaring up with Alex, who moved with both power and grace.
I was getting much better at pegging shifters. Neil’s heavy musculature and big bones put him firmly in the Ryan and Cody category, so I was pretty sure he was Sabre.
And Tyrez was huge, even bigger than my Dragon.
MyDragon? Where the hell had that come from?
Focus,I coached myself.Ryan led me to the coliseum floor, where weapons awaited us on a table.
“Are you familiar with any of these?” he asked.
I glanced at the neatly-laid-out array. Only one of them was a gun, and it was an odd-looking thing. Not quite a rifle, I didn’t think, but with a longer barrel than a handgun. The remainder were a selection of knives, swords, and a few that looked like crossbows.
