Page 105 of Centaur Bolt

“Glad he’s on our side,” Kiko breathed in my ear. “So sad he’s mated. He’s rather scrumptious.”

That wasn’t the word I’d use, but I did agree with her assessment. If you like the dark, dangerous kind. “He’s mated?” I seemed to remember… “To that blonde woman?”

She nodded. “Team Phoenix consists of that woman, her three mates, and the ogre.”

Threemates?

We followed Ash out of the alley. Vali seemed determined to keep us between her and the big Dragon. Something confirmed when we moved into the aisles between the booths, and she hurried to reposition herself as well away from him as possible.

History. We all had it. I got the feeling the Dragona’s was darker than most.

Ash moved closer to me. His eyes could be described as both beautiful and eerie, a pale silvery gold that mesmerized me.

“I must ask that you do not tell anyone what happened here tonight,” he said. “The timeline must be preserved, and speaking of it may prevent that from happening.”

I raised my eyebrows. “So if Cara asks how it went—”

“Just tell her you had a good time shopping,” the Oracle suggested.

“And fucking,” Kiko added with a sigh.

Vali added her usual eye roll.

Talakai had sheathed the sword, but when I dropped my gaze, I noticed he’d retained the talons from his fingertips. I had little doubt the sword could be drawn in a hurry if needed.

It was now really dark out, and many of the booths had closed for the night. But enough were still open that I found my eyes wandering…

“Keep your eyes on the customers, not the wares.” Talakai’s whisper was a rumble that carried to every one of us.

Ash led us through the maze of booths. I made an effort to ignore the shiny things and pay attention to the living ones instead. Once I did so, I discovered there were a surprising number of them. And a lot seemed to be lurking rather than shopping.

I moved closer to Talakai’s looming presence. Ash had stopped stalking ahead and dropped back to us. Kiko clung to my arm, her gaze scanning the shadows.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we left the market behind and entered a familiar alley. Ahead of us lay the gate. We were almost home.

The thought gave me pause. Was the academy home? The word was something I hadn’t attributed to many places in my life. Well, only one, actually. The farm.

But now I was enrolled in the academy, and I had a roomie who was annoying as hell and had just about got me enslaved tonight—yet somehow, I trusted her.

And Vali—to my surprise, I trusted her, too.

There were others that I was cautiously optimistic about. Cara, for one. Jacques, another. There were other instructors that might fit the bill. And Talakai and Ash had just risked their skins to help us.

My hand closed around Marcus’s ring suspended from my neck. These people were becoming more than mere acquaintances. Friends, maybe. But for this next journey, I needed to fly solo.

As Kiko took one arm, Vali moved up and took the other. Her long fingers were cool against my bare skin.

The Satyr sighed. “Let’s go home.”

* * *

It turns out getting private time wasn’t going to be easy.

Ash and Talakai hung back at the gate, sending us through first. “We arrive with you, and Cara will know we were up to something,” Ash stated. “So we’ll hang here for a bit.”

I glanced at Kiko. Her eyes were alight with excitement. What were the chances she could keep all this a secret?

With our arms linked, we stepped through the gate. The energy danced over my skin, and every hair on my body stood on end. As soon as our feet landed on the path running through the meadow, I extricated myself from my two female friends. Vali hung on a little longer than I expected—she seemed a little wobbly on her feet.

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