She looked at me, doubt written all over her face. “I hope they can teach me.”
“They will.” I actually didn’t have to fake the confidence in my voice. I believed it.
I glanced at the clock. Time to go.
I dropped Trix off with a delighted Kitani and two equally enthusiastic little girls, before joining the recruits assembled in the coliseum.
This time, Mari and I sat with our team members. Mari claimed the aisle seat so she could sprawl her tree-trunk legs out. I took the next one over, then Matt, Talakai, Aaron, and Darius filled the rest of the row.
The team behind us consisted of two beings that looked human—which meant hybrids like me—and four strapping dudes that had to be Dires. I was aware of their eyes fastened on me from the moment I approached our spot on the tiered seats. As I sat down, they were like lasers burning through my back, and one audibly inhaled like a bloodhound on a scent.
Matt twisted to glance behind. I caught a gleam of emerald and a low rumble.
“Hey,” I leaned closer to him to whisper. “Cut it out. I’m sure their dicks are smaller than yours.”
His eyes widened, and he snorted a laugh. “Bloody well right. But we need to draw a line, Angel. You’re onmyteam.”
I twitched a brow at him. Was this really about whose team I was on? His beast flared in his eyes again before he tore his gaze away to the instructors waiting below.
The big Dragonshifter, Tyrez, towered over a slim young woman with a white streak running through her hair. The way they stood, with their bodies so close—were they a couple? Did that make her a Dragon, too?
Cody stepped up to the podium, and the room fell silent. “Welcome, recruits, to your first special abilities class. You will not be working in teams for this, but rather divided up according to your individual talents. The majority of you are shifters. Tyrez and I will be putting you through your paces.” He gestured to the Dragon before continuing. “I will call out the names of those of you with other talents, and if you come down here, we’ll match you up with your instructors.”
He read names from a list. Mari got placed with two other students. One of them was a redheaded guy who was almost big enough to be a Sabre, but I was pretty sure was a Dire. They headed for the elevators, and I wondered just where someone went to practice earthquakes safely.
Cody called my name, and I skittered down to the ground level.
“Anna, this is Dani,” Cody said, gesturing to the striking slim woman with the streak in her hair. “She will teach you and Zeke here how to move things with your minds.”
I was going to move things with my mind? I felt woefully unprepared.
“We’ll go out front,” Dani said, slinging her small bag over her shoulder. “Let’s leave this place to the shifters.”
I sensed Matt’s eyes on me as we followed her out. Or rather, I followed her. Zeke followed me. He was a slender young man with rather remarkably large, deep-brown eyes and thick eyebrows that seemed frozen in a perpetually astonished expression.
At first, I thought it was my imagination that he was locked onto me, but as we moved down the stairs to the front entrance, I took a deviation sideways across the wide steps. And he came with me, staying closer than I was entirely comfortable with. But then, I’d always had a large personal bubble.
I told myself I was being a diva and concentrated instead on Dani. The slim woman looked human but moved with a grace I’d come to associate with shifters. Perhaps it was merely a coincidence? She was teaching us about powers other than teeth and claws. But I was pretty sure, based on her body language, that she was also with Tyrez. Was she a talented Cryptid or a shifter?
I puzzled over it as we passed through the castle’s front door and sat on the steps. The two guards watched us from their stations on each side of the door. I eyed them, but they seemed captivated by me. As I scooted a little farther from Zeke, I contemplated changing my shampoo.
I gestured to the guards and addressed Dani. “Are we going to be doing that?”
She nodded. “Once you have a bit of training under your belt, you’ll be put on a roster. Until then, we’re borrowing Dires from a pack that works for the council. They are part of our advanced class.”
“You’re in the advanced class?” Zeke asked.
Dani nodded. “Yeah. I already have some combat experience, but there are huge holes in my training. There’s a bunch of us that will be sharing the theory classes, as well as doing our own versions of the physical ones. I’m sure my body will want to fold up and die.” She rolled her eyes.
I thought she was quite beautiful, with her dusky skin and long hair. Close up, her form-fitting bodysuit resembled chainmail—overlapping scales so black they gleamed blue.
Talakai and Tyrez both had similar styled clothing. Now, as we sat on the polished stone in the warm morning sunlight, I saw the covering on her arms retract. The scales dropped away to the ground, leaving her arms bare.
I stared. “Your shirt—do yougrowthose scales?”
Dani’s lips twitched. “A fringe benefit of being mated to a Dragon. Or rather, being bitten by one.”
I frowned at her, confused. Zeke asked, “Is Tyrez your mate?”
