The alley itself was littered with debris that I didn’t want to examine too closely. Mostly because it stank of something I was pretty sure was death, and my stomach threatened to rebel. Lucas led us through, pausing at every corner to evaluate before we moved on. Several times he backtracked, not liking whatever his observations showed him.
I got steadily weaker until leaning hard on Rafael wasn’t just a longing, but a necessity. Finally, Lucas stopped and pointed to an alcove.
“I am going to get us a room at a nearby inn, but I need you to wait here. Everyone in these parts sells information, so the fewer people that see you, the better.”
“Do you need your cloak?” Rafael asked. He was still wearing it because his tunic was in shreds.
Lucas was clothed in his scales. “No,” he replied. “Keep it. You look a little too—exotic for this place.”
To my surprise, he then sprouted wings from his shoulders and let them arc over him. With his black scales hugging his lean form, he looked rather dangerous.
He held up a hand, showing wicked hooked talons. “Lots of advantages to being a Dragon.”
“That isn’t exotic?” I asked. With Rafael’s long hair and narrow face, he resembled the fae heroes from some of my favorite stories. But Lucas hadwings.
“Lots of Dragon shifters around here.” His eyes flicked over me, before he added, “I’ll be back for you.”
With that, he turned and left.
I longed to sit, if only the ground didn’t stink of pee. And other things. With any luck, Lucas would be fast. I leaned against the wall while Rafael peered around the stone framing the door. With his hood up, all I could see was the gleam of his eyes.
They locked onto me. “How are you feeling?”
“Like crap. I think the Dragon virus is making me sick.”
He hesitated. “Havoc bit you.”
A statement, not a question. “How did you know that?”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “I’ve been getting glimpses of him. And Marcus. And you. For a while now.” He swallowed. “I saw him bite you.”
I stared at him. Considering that bite had come at a deeply intimate moment, my face flushed. “You saw that?”
His mouth twisted. “I did.”
Maybe he hadn’t really been there in that moment, but just dreamed of it, somehow. But—“I dreamed of you.” The words popped out before I’d considered them.
“These weren’t dreams,” he stated. “They were more—visions. And in one, Havoc bit you.”
“But we were—”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I saw that, too.”
My face couldn’t possibly get any redder. And yet, the thought that Rafael might have been with us in that most intimate of moments resonated with me. Like I would have wanted him there. I swallowed, and admitted, “He did bite me. Which is why I can talk to him in my head. And it’s why I’m so sick.” As if to drive home the point, a chill shot through me, and I shivered.
Rafael tilted his head. I found my feverish gaze tracing the few perfect lines of his face that I could see beneath the hood. He really was a gorgeous man. A photographer’s dream.
His lean body suddenly stiffened, and he turned away from me while pushing me farther back into the shadows. His body blocked the view of the alley.
“What—”
He cut me off by lifting a hand. Irritated, I pushed myself off the cold stone and peered around him.
There were three, and any hope that they didn’t know we were there died when one’s teeth flashed in the dim light, and he said, “Well, boys, which should we try first? I prefer male meat, but she looks tasty.”
Fuck. This wasn’t good. The situation wasn’t improved when Rafael stepped out of the alcove and pulled back his hood.
The leader’s grin broadened. “She looks tasty, but he’ll be delicious.” He pulled a wicked-looking knife from his waist. “Come here, boy. And we’ll show you a good time.”
