Page 130 of Phoenix Rise

Time to stop being a bloody baby.

“Okay,” I said to Lucas. “Show me how to re-box this beast. And then I need to find me some bleeding crystal dust.”

37

Anna

Matt waited for us as we came through the gate.

Trix ran to him, but I eyed his new shirt with interest. He wore his sweatpants slung low over his hips, but he sported a new scaly muscle shirt. Well, sort of scaly. Stretches of naked skin showed through in places.

“Nice shirt,” I stated, appreciating the way they hugged his muscles. Or rather, left them open to view.

He pulled on the cloak he’d held in one hand and waggled his brows. “Not quite ready for the full bodysuit. Has a tendency to leave things exposed.”

“I don’t have an issue with that.”

“You don’t?” His eyes gleamed. They were different, and now I understood why. The irises took up more of the whites of his eyes, and there were hints of metallic gold amid the green.

“Nope,” I added, suddenly breathless.

“Okay, kids.” Cara appeared next to us, waving her hands. “Enough drooling over each other. We have things to do.”

“Do you have any crystal dust?” Matt asked her. He draped an arm over my shoulders, and my fingers traced the tiny golden scales on his wrist. Dragon scales.

She reached into a pocket and handed him a packet of white dust.

“That iscrystaldust, right?” Matt asked.

“Oh, yes.” She pulled out another. “I always have some handy.”

Our Watcher, the drug dealer,he sent along the link.

Just take it, Toothless.

He grinned at me and tore open the packet with a sharp canine.

“That was a zip-top bag,” Cara pointed out. “Guess that one will be recycled rather than reused.”

“Oh,” he commented. “Sorry.” He upended the packets into his mouth and swallowed before handing them back to her.

She re-pocketed them. Did she have one pocket for recycled items, and another for reusable? We followed her down the path. Trix bounced around us, tail waving.

I’d glimpsed bits of Matt’s session with Lucas. So I wasn’t entirely surprised to see the Morph sitting on the academy’s back steps. But he wasn’t alone. Aria and Nikolai sat with him.

They stood as we approached. Nikolai towered over all of us, and in my mind, I saw black fog laced with red lightning.

“I was sorry to hear about Sebastian,” he said. His voice would have done Darth Vader proud. “Galeran is a monster.”

Galeran was also his father. I looked up into his pale eyes, andpowerswirled around me. Time effectively stopped. His energy reached for me, and the thing inside me uncoiled to bask in it, drinking in what he so freely offered.

“Shards, you two. Break it off.”

I became aware of Aria waving her hands between us. I blinked, and so did Nikolai.

“Wow, that was odd,” he said.

What the bleeding hell, Angel?Matt had gone completely rigid.

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