Page 20 of Gladiator's Bite

“How will a ritual give me a vision?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Teddy shrugged. “I’ve tried contacting my carrier to see if she knew this woman.”

“What? I thought ---”

“She is. I got a spirit board and everything,” he said and then glanced at Sunny. “Don’t tell my dad. You know how Fred is.”

“He’d freak out that you were bothering her, yeah,” Sunny nodded.

“Not that it worked,” Teddy frowned, and I had a feeling that he was trying for more than just to find out who this nameless lady’s relatives might be.

Sunny and Teddy fell into what I guessed was their normal chit chat and I sat on the sofa trying to get a vibe of who this woman might be. I watched the Moony healer on the television like the rest of the flight. I heard what happened while he tripped on mushie pizza. I hadn’t heard of anyone like that before. That sorta magic sounded like it probably sucked. Imagine having to give up your name to give up your magic to save your people and then you die. Magic was always a fucker when you really needed it.

“I’m going to take the blankets and stuff back and clear out my locker for now. Some stuff in there I’d miss if I’m not going to be here for weeks.”

“Okay,” Sunny frowned.

“I’ll be back,” I laughed as he reached out to pull me into a kiss.

I kissed him because how could I say no? For a moment, I almost didn’t go. I could survive without everything inside my locker but then I remembered my real plan. I’d give him and Teddy a few minutes to square things out before we talked to Liam and I hogged Sunny all to myself for the next few weeks.

Chapter Nine

Sunny

“Are we good? Really?” Teddy asked as soon as the sounds of Laken’s footsteps fell away.

“I knew you’d bring that up,” I teased him, trying to break the tension.

“We don’t need to talk about the other night. Idoneed to know we’re okay and if we’re not how we get back to okay.”

“We’re okay and in the spirit of getting back to normal, I’m only going to say all of this once. As cliché as it is, it was a me thing. It was a good night. It was fun. Maybe it had to happen in some form for us to know where we stood on that whole closeness spectrum all the Starscale psychology books talk about. I had to figure out if I saw myself differently afterwards and if I did why and if that was okay.”

“I figured that’s why you were experimenting,” Teddy shrugged. “No one knows we messed around except for Laken unless you told someone else. Not even Liam seems to know. It’s not like I broadcast my sexual history on a billboard. I figured that’s why we hooked up that way. No one wants to try something new with someone who’s going to freak out if they don’t like it or tell the world if they do. I’m going to tell you what my dad told me about sex.”

“Do you have to?” I laughed.

“Not all of it,” he shook his head. “If everyone consents it’s good sex. It’s your body and your choice – not only when you say no but also when you say yes.”

“Can I ask a weird question?” I asked, opening a box of doughnuts and examining the sprinkles so I didn’t have to look at him.

“You were good at it,” he said, as if he read my mind. “Don’t worry about that. Like you said, it was a good night.”

“Do you have a setup to call Liam?” I changed the subject.

Relief flooded Teddy’s scent. There was a fine line between talking about it enough and going into details that were better left to that night. We’d reached the line and both stopped there. By the time Laken came back with a duffel bag over his shoulder we already had Liam up on Teddy’s tablet. The seer looked tired but content. He was pregnant again and Bobby was fussing over how much his frequent visions were taking out of him. He stood in the background flashing us all dirty looks as if we gave Liam the Omega Sight instead of his genetics.

“You can’t do it yet,” Liam yawned as soon as Laken sat down next to me. “In my vision you had claimed each other already and it sorta looked like you were going to sacrifice someone. He was all tied up to this big slab of stone that looked like an altar.”

“Was he blonde?” I asked.

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Because the only person who has pissed me off enough to sacrifice recently has been blonde,” I laughed, and Teddy nodded.

“Guys, we don’t believe in dragon sacrifice here,” Laken pointed out.

“I didn’t say you would sacrifice him. I said it looked like it was set up for that,” Liam sighed, and Bobby stepped closer to rub his shoulders.

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