Page 42 of Centaur Bolt

“So you can shoot it down?” I growled.

“No. So I can help. If I connect my power to yours, I might be able to yank you back if it looks like you are going nowhere.”

Oh. Well, that sounded more reasonable. I took a deep breath. “Okay.”

She pulled her hands away, but kept her gaze locked on mine. “You promise?”

I handed her the bowl of well-beaten eggs. “Yes.”

I leaned against the counter as the Watcher poured them into another pan. It was hot enough they cooked almost too fast. She scraped with quick, sure motions, and barely had time to sprinkle cheese on them.

Her brows had lowered as she did so. “We have got to find that woman. And stop her.” She turned off the grill.

Everything smelled amazing as she carried the platters to the table. Vali moved to join us there and started stabbing sausages to transfer them to her plate.

“You haven’t dreamed of any other men, have you?” Cara asked.

I opened my mouth to say no, but then remembered. “I dreamed of a Dragon. A big red one with copper-colored eyes.”

Vali dropped her sausage on the table. It left a smear on the cloth. “Sorry,” she said as she scooped it back up.

“Only once?” Cara raised her eyebrows.

“A couple of times. He was a huge scary dude with anger control issues.”

The Dragona had transferred the sausage to her plate and now regarded Cara. “Was that dream real too?”

The Watcher met her gaze. “Maybe.”

“I think it was just a dream,” I protested.

Vali stood so suddenly she bumped the table and two sausages rolled onto the floor. She bent to retrieve them, plunking them back on her plate. “Thanks for the breakfast. I thought I’d spend the first class in the library, since I can’t shift yet, anyway.”

“But—you haven’t eaten anything,” Kiko objected.

“I had a sausage. I’m not that hungry.” She sketched a smile at Cara and almost bolted to the door.

Kiko stared at the door closing behind the shifter and shook her head. “Dragons can be so strange.” She reached over to snag one of Vali’s discarded sausages.

Cara tweaked a brow. “There are others.”

The Satyr shrugged. “You have clean floors.” She turned to me. “So… How would you rank your dream Dragon?” She took a bite.

I shook my head at her. “I never kiss and tell.”

15

Marcus

My inky-black scales were still there, but they reflected blue and purple in the cave’s phosphorescent light. A protrusion in the very center glowed white.

Unlike the brown and gold ones on my legs that provided inadequate cuppage, the black ones were only on the backs of my wrists, but it was a sign that things were not going well. It had taken Iskar an inordinately long time to restrict them to that location. To distract me from any non-useful thoughts, Iskar had me engaged in a project.

Because I’d come too close to losing it altogether.

Even dreams have a cost, right now,he stated.No more Riley until we have this thing under control.

I put the last stone in place and sat down on the boulder. That likely meant no more Riley at all.

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