“Good boy.”
I grin at her. She’s so good with me, and it’s because she loves me so much. I feed her again, and when we take the nimpins for health checks with zookeeper Rick, Blair and Blade and I pluck some flowers from the gardens for our reginas. The cheetah twins pick some for Raquel and Stacey as well to make sure they’re not left out, and I approve. They are good surrogate mates.
But it’s when it starts to get dark that I notice my regina is glancing up at the sky and to the north. She rubs her arms as if she’s warming up her wings and stretches out her pretty neck. There’s lots of thoughts behind those perfect blue eyes, and I want to know all of them.
“Are you staring at me, wolf man?” she says quietly as we eat dinner in the TV room of our floor. My bond-brothers are in the gym, and she’s been playing with her broccoli for the last minute.
“I can’t help it,” I sigh, sitting my chin on my fists. “You’re far too interesting and beautiful and talented.” She presses her lips together, trying not to smile. “I want to know what it’s like to be you.”
My regina rolls her eyes. “Well, it’s shit half the time and great the other half.”
“I have a lot of questions,” I say, getting out my notebook where I’ve been writing things down about my regina.
“Really?” she asks, cutely trying to read my notes upside down.
I hold the book closer to my chest. “Hey, be careful! My new song is in there.”
“What’s it about?”
“It’s a secret until it’s finished.”
She laughs and scoots her chair back, and I see that she’s more than ready for her secret mission. “Okay, well, you be ready with your questions tomorrow, and we’ll go through them.”
“Thanks,” I say. “Are you going on patrol now?”
“Yep.”
Gods, she lies so prettily. I beam at her. “Okay! See you later, regina.”
She leans in to kiss me gently on the mouth, and I inhale her in, barely staying in my seat.
As soon as her long mane of black hair disappears into the stairwell that’ll take her up to the roof, I leap up from my seat.“Xander, it’s go time.”
We meet outside, under the shadow of the animus dorm. Xander is watching Lia when I arrive, as she does a lap around the school borders before disappearing into the clouds. There is a silent sound that presses at my skin and brushes at the loose strands of my hair. Xanders swears under his breath. “She’s used a phoenix sonic boom.”
I turn to him. “How fast can you fly?”
“Pretty fucking fast when I want to, you know that. But—” I whip something out of my pocket. Something red and lacey with the supreme, godly scent of my regina’s pussy all over it. Xander swears again. “Let’s go.”
He shifts right on the lawn, and I jog towards his face, holding up the thong to his nose.
“Wait,”he says into my head, tossing his head back.“Take my earphones.”
I grin. “Are you sure?”
“Make sure you put them back in when we get there.”
His earphones come flying out towards me, and I catch both tiny black pieces in one hand. Xander’s glowing eyes turn scary black, and he starts vibrating like the world’s biggest phone. “Here!” I cry, waving the thong like a flag of peace.
His big dragon’s head clocks me, going predator-still. Nostrils flare as he catches the scent before leaning down and snatching them right out of my fingers. I cuss really loudly before scrambling up his fat leg and up onto his back. It’s just in time too, because Xander gives an almighty leap and we’re shooting into the sky like a rocket.
I have just enough time to put Xander’s earphones into my own ears before the breath is snatched from my lungs.
Caribbean Blue – Enya
We charge through the air at an insane speed, all the while this strange song plays in my ears. I wonder why Xander was listening to it before we left, but it might be a stress management thing he learned from one of our classes since twerking therapy isn’t going to work for him. My skin is plastered to the bones of my face as we ascend into the chilly night, and I’m crouched low on his back from the G-force, but I refuse to close my eyes. I don’t want to miss any second of this chase.
Once Xander reaches his favourite height, he sweeps his mighty wings forward and then snaps them back. I get to take a deep breath before a speed I’veneverknown takes Xander. We rocket through the sky?—
