Instead, Joe played his part perfectly. At the agreed moment, when Zephyr asked everyone to join him in a toast to the future success of Camp Thunderbird, Joe glanced into his paper cup of sparkling wine. He didn’t let out a loud gasp, or boom out a pronouncement in some sonorous, otherworldly voice. He just went still.
“My heart?” Joe’s mate Seren asked, noticing. “What is it?”
Joe didn’t reply. As far as Conleth could tell, he’d even stopped breathing. The only sign of motion was the slight flicker of his eyes, following something only he could see. If Conleth hadn’t known better, he would have thought the sea dragon genuinelywashaving a vision.
Everyone else was certainly convinced. Most of the shifters present knew of Joe’s talent, even if they’d never seen it in actionbefore. An expectant hush fell over the crowd as they all waited for Joe to come out of his trance.
Joe blinked. Seren put a steadying hand on his arm, supporting him as he swayed. Joe gave his mate a grateful nod, dark skin slightly ashen.
“Well.” Joe cleared his throat. “That was unexpected.”
Finley tugged at his father’s shirt. “Did you have a vision, Daddy?”
Joe knocked back half his drink in a single swallow. “Yep.”
“About the camp?” Zephyr asked.
“In a way.” Joe tilted his cup in Conleth’s direction. “But mostly about him.”
Conleth did his best to appear nonplussed as every eye turned his way. “Me?”
“Yes. You.” Joe raised his voice, pitching his words to carry clearly across the dining hall. “Conleth is going to meet his mate right here, at Camp Thunderbird.”
A low, astonished murmur broke out at this pronouncement. As Zephyr’s eyebrows shot up, Conleth let his own expression slide to a pre-prepared mix of delight and dismay.
Inwardly, he breathed a secret sigh of relief. Everything was going exactly as he’d planned?—
And then, blue eyes gleaming with mischief, Joe added, “While wearing a suit.”
Between all the questions, comments, and jokes, it was quite a while before Conleth could get a private word with Joe. This meant that by the time he corralled the sea dragon in a quiet corner, he’d calmed down enough to be able to restrain his desire to throttle the man.
Just.
“Did youhaveto add on the bit about the suit?” he hissed.
Joe swirled the remains of his drink thoughtfully around the bottom of his cup. “Yes. Yes, I really did.”
Only the fact that they were still in public stopped him from shaking the infuriating sea dragon until his royal teeth rattled. “I’m going to have to wear one every day that I’m here, you realize. It’s what I’d do if I actually believed in that bloody so-called prophecy. People will get suspicious otherwise.”
Joe raised his cup to his lips, not quite concealing his smirk. “Guess you’d better order a lot of suits.”
In fact, he already had a lot of suits, though most of them were across the Atlantic in his London penthouse. He’d worn them on a daily basis for his entire adult life.
And secretly hated it, too. Something that Joe must have guessed, though Conleth had no idea how. He’d always taken care to never give any hint of how much his old corporate role had chafed—both literally and figuratively.
And now here he was, being forced back into business formal. It was just as well the prophecy wasn’t true. The absolute worst way to meet his mate would be in the middle of a children’s summer camp while wearing a damn suit.
“I’m going to look an absolute idiot,” he muttered. “Thank you so much for that, Joe.”
“You’re welcome.” Joe looked past him. “Heads up. We’ve got company.”
Conleth didn’t need the warning, thanks to his pegasus. He turned, not needing to feign his disgruntled expression.
“Congratulations.” Zephyr clapped him on the shoulder. “Or possibly condolences. I’m not really sure which one I should be offering.”
“Both,” Conleth replied glumly. “As if it’s not bad enough that I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future, now I’ve got to wear a suit the entire time.”
Zephyr glanced at Joe. “Did you really see the suit?”
