We finished the run and headed for Kitani and the twins who had Trix on the beach. We paused to pet my rather wet dog.
Kitani shook her head at me. “Ninety minutes of testosterone-laced beating each other up with hunks of wood.” Her eyes slid to me. “I’d duck if I were you.”
“I don’t bloody need a hunk of wood to do that,” Matt commented with a grin.
I snorted a laugh as we moved off, although Mari’s brows lowered to a frown. The students moved in a group through the building, and our progress should have involved weaving through the masses. But it was completely unhampered because they moved aside for me.
On the Dires’ part, it was a fluid yielding of space to permit me to pass. The Cryptids were both more obvious and less smooth—their eyes widened, and a couple literally stumbled out of my way.
I did my best to ignore it, but by the time we arrived in the back field, I shook inside. That this group—whose members could lift boulders, cause earthquakes, or turn into savage beasts—would be afraid of me, was upsetting as hell.
Matt moved right into my space, put his strong arm around my shoulders, and leaned close. “If they knew you like I do, Angel, they’d be impressed for other reasons.” His warm breath tickled my neck and sent shivers through me. “Speaking of which...”
I sent him a tremulous smile. “Sorry, mate. We’re stuck in dreamland for a while yet.”
I expected him to be as disappointed as me, but my use of the word mate set his eyes on fire, and the strong animal musk coming off his skin enveloped me.
“Say that like you mean it,” he growled in my ear.
I struggled to breathe, and I turned my head into his, my hair the only thing separating us.
“You are mine,” I whispered, “Mymate.”
His arm tightened around me, and a shudder ran through him. We both stood frozen, battling a desire that threatened to overwhelm us.
“There is no way I am going to smite anyone with a sword.”
The deep voice boomed over my head. Mari wasn’t even looking at us—she was staring off in the other direction.
Matt growled, very low and deep. “Never wanted to sleep as much as I do right now,” he complained in a hoarse voice as he released me.
Mari’s head swiveled his way. “Are you tired?”
The big Aussie snorted a laugh and diverted his thoughts with an obvious effort. “I’m sure they won’t give us real swords,” he told the ogress. “They want us alive, for now.”
She frowned at him. “I’m not smiting anyone with a stick either.”
“This is all just practice,” I reminded her. “Knowing how to doesn’t mean you have to.”
Her face twisted. “Sooner or later, I am going to have to decide how far to go,” she lamented.
Now that I wasn’t as distracted by Matt, I sensed a powerful energy. I looked past her to the group of instructors, and my brows rose.
Ryan was there, but Tyrez towered front and center, which I interpreted to mean he was taking the lead in this class. With him was the beautiful woman I’d seen at the gate—her bright red-gold scales glowed in the sunlight. With her hourglass figure and hair as vibrant as her scales, she was clearly another Dragon. But it wasn’t her I sensed.
Sitting on the back steps were two men, both of whom I’d also seen the night we’d rescued the twins. One was slender, clad in black scales. The other was the big guy with the long gray hair of a Bellati.
Seen in daylight, he was striking as hell. Perfection, in that sculpture-like, cold-as-ice way, but the emitting energy elevated him to something almost godlike. And just like before, it terrified me. And yet—somehow it compelled me, too.
I was, in that instant, completely confused.
Matt looked from me to him. “He was there at the gate,” he said. “They all were.” His brows lowered. “He’s a good-looking bloke.”
I swallowed. “He’s a damned scary guy.”
Matt’s brows lifted. “He’s big, even for a Bellati.”
“It’s not that. Or rather, not just that. It’s his energy that’s scary.” I watched a group of students walk right by the two men—they didn’t do more than glance as they went by. “Look at that. They’re scared of me, but they should be terrified of him.”
