“Exactly.” Cody purred the word. “We will need it to carry the payload.”
Sid spoke up. “I can cart two hundred pounds for a fair distance.”
Cody smiled at him. Or rather, bared his teeth. “We will need you to carry it out of the building to Bree’s equine. And we might need your strength for other things, too.”
Breana bit her lip. “We might need Sid, if I can’t shift to my equine.”
Cody stared at her intently. “Is that a possibility?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. My shifting is not foolproof.”
“That is something we need to work on, then, during training,” Cody stated. “You should attend a few of the shifting classes. I will talk to Cara.”
Breana’s mouth twisted, and I wondered just what was up with her internal guide. I’d thought the shifting thing was his deal. Was the crystal dust not working to strengthen him?
“Okay,” Cody said. “What are your thoughts on gaining entrance?”
“I can fly in and do a recon,” Adilyn hurried to say. “I can also do glamors to help hide our advance, although they do not last for long.”
“Very good.” Cody smiled. “That might help get us to the moat. We’ll have to swim across it.”
Sid snorted. “I don’t so much swim, as sink. But I can hold my breath for a while.”
Breana looked uncomfortable. “I can’t swim,” she said. When Cody glanced at her, she added, “Centaurs can’t swim. And I haven’t yet had an opportunity to learn as a human.”
“One of the reasons we do these Night Games is to determine where our weaknesses are, as well as our strengths,” he told her. “We’ll add swimming classes to your list.”
“I’ll teach her to swim.” Nar backed it up with a leer.
“Nice try, fishbreath,” I said lightly. But I backed it up with a look that made him blink and take a step away.
Cody’s stern eye moved to the Sea Krayt and Leah. “I am well aware of the attraction between mates, but you two push the boundaries. What you do on your own time does not matter to me, but while you are on this mission, you will keep on task and treat your teammates with the respect they are due.”
Nar’s expression was filled with resentment.
“If you cannot comply, both you and Leah can pack up and leave right now. The last thing we need are distractions during a mission.”
Leah poked Nar with her elbow. “We understand, sir,” she said. Her eyes flashed, and Nar subsided.
“Will you comply?” Cody pressed.
Leah gave Nar another poke, and he said, “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Cody crossed his arms. “Because we have two non-swimmers and a moat between us and the target, we are going to need your talents.”
Leah’s chin lifted. “I can help with that…”
Adilyn’s tiny form flew ahead of us as we skulked through the trees.
I noticed that Sid’s eyes had adopted the characteristic flashing that signified telepathic communication between mates. When had that happened? I cast my mind back and assumed they’d been busy while we mixed up cookies and bathed bearing beasts.
Breana moved silently just behind me. I was as aware of her as I was of my own footsteps and had little doubt of where we were headed. It caused a small pang of concern rather than the overwhelming worry of before.
We were in the hands of Fate. Sid and Adilyn were proof that she always got her way.
Nar and Leah, Sid and Adilyn—was Team Dragon going to consist of three mated pairs?
I forced my attention back to the task at hand. In many areas, the trees were mowed to the base. Patches, however, had bushes beneath them, and we stayed to those as much as possible. For the open stretches we were forced to cross, Adilyn spread her faeriedust to glamor us as invisible.
