Mari materialized beside us—how someone that huge could be not there one minute, and there the next, was beyond me. She held the other end of the rope attached to Trix.
The clearing was full of people. The crew that had gone after the Galeran guy had returned, and I even saw Amadeus standing with Constance. Constance was wringing her hands—I’d never seen anyone actually do that before—and Amadeus’s eyes were flaring yellow.
Then my dog got a whiff of what Kitani and Cody carried, and went ballistic. She yanked the rope clear out of Mari’s formidable fist, and bounded over to plant feet on Kitani, wiggling like mad and licking the feet of the twin she carried.
The little girl giggled, and Kitani exchanged a look with Cody, eyes flashing. The twin in his arms reached for the dog, and both parents set them down. I noticed the reluctance in their movements as they released them, and my heart twisted.
The twins were more resilient, shifting immediately to beast, and heading off up the path with my silly dog dragging her rope and wrestling all the way. Kitani and Cody hurried to catch up.
I started to follow, but then Matt said, “Who is that bloody big bloke?”
Cara and Tyrez were speaking with a group standing beneath the trees. Dani stood beside a slim young man with golden hair and the scales of a Dragon. But there was no mistaking which one had riveted Matt. He towered above everyone except Tyrez, and stood with two others—both Dragons, by the look of their scales. A red-scaled woman, and a slim young man clad in black scales.
“The “bloody big bloke,” as Matt called him, had Sebastian’s long, gray hair and silver eyes, although he was more heavily muscled. But it was what radiated from him that caused every hair on my body to stand on end.
I now knew that Cara and Sebastian had an energy to them. Cara’s was calm and tranquil—Sebastian’s often reflected controlled violence. This guy was like them combined, only on steroids. Energy radiated off his skin, and I imagined black fog drifting around him.
“He’s powerful,” I whispered.
Matt shot me a look. “How the bleedin’ hell do you know that?”
I shivered. “I can feel it.”
Dani came toward us, bringing with her the golden-scaled Dragon shifter and Tyrez. All three remained in such close body contact that I realized the third man must be the mate I hadn’t yet met. Why did I think both Dani and Tyrez were protecting him?
When they drew close, Dani gestured to the golden-scaled man. Her movements were abrupt, and I was suddenly uneasy. “Matt, Anna, I’d like you to meet Ash. My other mate.”
I met his golden eyes, and another reflexive shiver ran through me. They were anguished, as though the man was tortured.
“Anna, I’m so sorry,” Ash said. “This is my fault.”
I could only stare at him.
Matt was equally confused. “What’s your fault, mate?”
Tyrez’s mouth pulled straight as he shook his head, his turquoise eyes gleaming. “No, it is not his fault.”
I met Dani’s gaze, and she sighed before providing clarity.
“Ash is an Oracle. He can see all past, present, and future timelines. And he blames himself when he can’t interpret them properly. Even though he almost drives himself mad trying.”
Ash’s metallic Dragon eyes glowed, but they weren’t one color—more a mix of many, with silver and gold predominating. I found them mesmerizing as he blurted, “I should have recognized that the one with the twins getting grabbed was on the same line as the Galeran thing.”
I groped through the concepts. “There is more than one possible timeline?”
“There are many,” Tyrez rumbled. “And they interconnect at random intervals.”
“Sounds damned dodgy to sort,” Matt offered.
Tyrez grimaced. “There are always multiple possibilities that he insists on trying to decipher, when in fact, it is almost impossible to do so.”
“What is the point of me having this talent if we can’t use it?” Ash hugged himself, and Dani put an arm around his waist.
His torment was a palpable thing. I couldn’t imagine being able to see into multiple futures, and then trying to interpret them.
“Strewth, mate. That would drive me bonkers.” Matt summed it up well.
“Precisely,” Dani stated. The way her eyes were flashing, there was more going on telepathically than what we could hear. “This is not your fault,” she told Ash aloud.
