I raised a brow at Eli. Sometimes I wondered if some other blood had somehow sneaked into his ancestry. He be uncommonly demonstrative for a Bellati.
At that moment, he offered his mate a significant look.
Cass snorted and crossed his powerful arms. “I am not sparring with a Dragon just to garner scars you find sexy.” He regarded me with mild exasperation. “He also wants me to get a tattoo.”
“There’s an artist in town that does incredible work,” Eli said with enthusiasm, showing me his arm. His bicep now featured a tattooed band of running Unicorns.
“You be not a Dragon,” I objected. Unlike the big winged shifters, Bellatis seldom went in for body art. But then, we hadn’t been off our home realm for over a thousand years. Perhaps we be stunted.
“Do you see Dragons?” Eli asked. “No. I am a Unicorn. I want Unicorn tattoos.” He grinned at Cass. “Preferably all over you.”
Cass rolled his eyes and focused on me. “So what brings you here, Sebastian?”
I hesitated. Now that I be here with them, I be unsure. But I had grown up with these two Bellati. We’d been friends for many years. And more importantly, they be in a situation that might provide me with some clarity.
“I have a personal matter that you might help with,” I began.
Both of Cass’s brows rose, and Eli said, “Personal? You?”
Maybe this be not the best idea.
But Cass said, “If we can help, Sebastian, we will.”
I gritted my teeth and continued. “Before you and Eli be mated, did you dream of each other?”
“Oh yeah,” Eli exclaimed, his eyes lighting silver.
“Yes,” Cass said at almost the same time. “We experienced living dreams, if that is what you are asking.”
“Did we ever.” Eli’s eyes were flashing like mad, as were Cass’s.
I rubbed a hand over my face. They’d been just friends until puberty, but they’d mated very young. “How did you know they be living dreams?” I asked.
“We didn’t,” Cass answered. “Not at first. But then the telepathy started, and that clinched it.”
My interest sharpened. “It just started on its own? No triggers?”
“In the beginning, it be just a word here or there. Nothing coherent. But it grew from there.”
Just a word here or there.I swallowed.
Cass’s eyes narrowed. “Are you experiencing dreams?” he asked.
I looked away. “One of my students be having them,” I replied evasively.
“Talk to Cara,” Eli suggested, having finally dragged himself from his debauched memories. “She’s the expert on those things.”
“She’s been rather busy here,” I pointed out. Cara be the last person I wanted involved in this. She believed in Fate.
I no longer did.
Cass watched me closely—I didn’t think he’d been entirely fooled. But he said, “She had Nikolai up at the reservoir for a few days. You should go and see what they’ve done up there. It is nothing short of miraculous.” He shook his head. “You watch that guy work, and you believe we can make a difference for places like this.”
“Maybe I will.” I hadn’t intended to do so. But suddenly, I wanted to. I believed in what Cara be trying to do. And Nikolai gave her the power to do it.
Cass measured me with his wise gaze, while Eli thumped me again. “It’s good to see you, Sebastian. Or do we call you Augusti?”
“I have yet to earn that title,” I objected.
