I opened them, glaring green fire at her.
“That’s my soon-to-be-scaly boy.”
What is she babbling? I will kill her.Anna seized hold, her mental presence riding me hard, fighting with Xumi for my awareness. I felt fractured, torn between the real world and that of my mind, but both carrying me closer and closer—I arched my hips into Anna/Xumi, and the Dragona let go of my face. My head fell back, my entire focus on the velvet slide of wet, tight flesh. Over my body. Inside my mind.
And then Anna squeezed...
My cry echoed through the chamber as I thrust hard, and my world shattered. Xumi clenched around me, but I barely felt it—it was Anna that came apart with me, and for that moment, nothing else existed.
As Xumi licked the side of my face, Anna’s fury surged along the link.
You. Are. Mine.The words were both a statement and a promise.And she will die for messing with you.
I took a deep breath as the Dragona slid off me, and my eyes met Talakai’s from across the room. His were so dark I could barely read them, but I now understood his horror. And his shame.
Because even though I knew he hated her, he was rigid, and quivering, from watching us.
It isn’t for me that she needs to die. She’s seriously messed up our Dragon.
Xumi approached Talakai, reached out, and sank her talons into his thigh.
Anna’s rage flooded me.She will die for him too. Just hold on, you guys. We are on our way.
Her final words snarled through my mind.And then—she will rue the day she messed with what is mine.
15
Anna
As I walked the streets of Sentis beside Lucas, I experienced a sense of déjà vu.
There were marked similarities to our training exercise. It was dark. The buildings were predominantly stone. But this realm had two moons, and the streets looked way seedier than the other location.
Debris gathered in every corner and the residents of this non-virgin realm had their hoods pulled high. They scanned us like vultures. This was a hard city, and these were hard people.
Xumi fits right in.
Matt was now a continual presence in my mind, and a welcome one—most of the time. Although the Dire did like to gab.
I had told him what Galeran had done to Sebastian. It silenced him for a time, while he wrestled with what was happening to Talakai, as well as what had been done to the Bellati.
Then, he’d sent me a promise.When I am out of here, we will find him.
Brave words, considering Cara and the others had been searching for Galeran for months. But it did give me a much-needed boost. Because when Matt and I were together, anything seemed possible.
I called on that positive energy now. To those we walked by, Lucas and I appeared alone. We were cloaked and hooded, and he’d donned dark clothes rather than use his Dragon scale bodysuit—because Dragons noticed Dragons. The rest of us wore our Night Games gear beneath our cloaks.
Maddy strode behind us, hiding Cody and Logan, just like before. There were subtle differences. Lucas, Cody, and Logan were arranged upwind from me. I had showered and scrubbed well before donning my bodysuit beneath the cloak, but when I’d suggested a perfume, Cody had drawn the line.
“That might be worse,” he stated. “Shifter noses are powerful things. But if they haven’t scented anything like you before, it will keep them guessing. Among other things.”
The way he waggled his brows mystified me. Matt growled through the link.
What is your issue?I asked.
I’m the only one allowed to think you smell good. Well, me and the Dragon, maybe.
Is that what it’s doing to Cody and Lucas and Logan?I didn’t want my suspicions confirmed.
