Page 8 of Gladiator's Bite

Though, that was hot. I wasn’t sure where that came from. Teddy was empathetic and understanding. Teddy was the guy who got along with everyone.

“He’s also the guy you don’t fuck with apparently,” Laken said, picking up my stray thoughts over the flight link.

“Why’d you call me his boyfriend?” Teddy asked.

“Oh, shit!” Laken laughed. “Umm…”

“What are you doing here?” I asked and hated how uncasual the words sounded as they tumbled off my lips.

“I came to find him!” Teddy said.

“Him?” I asked.

“Me?” Laken asked at the same time.

“Liam had a vision.”

“Who’s Liam?” Laken asked.

“Is there some place private we can take this?” Teddy asked, glancing around. “Don’t want to get folks’ hopes up if we’re all swimming up the wrong creek again.”

“I have an office here,” Laken said.

“I didn’t know gladiators had those,” Teddy said, motioning for him to lead the way.

“I’ve been here the longest and do a lot of community work and organizing too. When you have a platform, you should use it for something good and useful. Mostly, it’s to remind folks to stay healthy. Keep people moving around and exercising. It’s too easy to get comfy and sleep for a hundred years and get out of shape.”

I held tight to Laken’s hand as he led the way out the back door and across the way to a very boring-looking grey, administrative building. I wanted to ask Teddy what he was really doing here and what the hell had gotten into him. I had Selt handled. No one needed to threaten anyone’s life or limbs.

“Eh, mate, he’s fine. Selt’s fine too. Dragons run hot blooded. That was a light warning around this place. Your boyfriend read the room and did the right thing,” Laken said.

“Stop calling him that!” I growled.

“It’s not a very funny joke,” Teddy agreed. “We’ve been friends ---”

“Forever,” I finished afraid what Teddy might say.

Chapter Four

Laken

Inside my office, I sat the Moonys down and told them the truth about my visions.

“I don’t get visions the way some dragons do,” I said after admitting to the bit of seer blood pumping through my veins. “I get feelings and vibes most of the time. I only get visions when I touch people and not normal visions either. Took me FOREVER to understand what I was seeing.”

“What do you see?” Sunny asked, not looking at Teddy.

“The face of the last person they slept with,” I shrugged, spitting out the words before I chickened out. “It’s not very helpful. It’s not even a premonition or anything. It’s something that already happened.”

Teddy nodded and Sunny turned bright red.

“Look, Sunny,” Teddy started and Sunny shook his head.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Sunny said.

“I only came because it was me or the captain. Liam wanted to find Laken. He’d already seen you two. He hasn’t told your parents. I don’t think anyone has yet but if Castor came here he’d have called Medwin in a heartbeat and I was trying to give you some privacy and--- If it wasn’t for Liam I would’ve given you all the space that note said you needed.”

“Do you two need a moment?” I asked, ready to excuse myself and let them talk it out. If there was ever something romantic between them it wasn’t there now.

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