Isi walked in the center of the group, her golden braid swinging across her back.
I’d commissioned that armor to keep her alive. I hadn’t expected to notice how it hugged her body in a way that made my throat go dry. Looking at her face didn’t help. Even streaked with dirt, she seemed to catch the light. I couldn’t forget the silky feel of her hair that night I’d slipped the herbs into her pocket.
She shouldn’t have survived. And yet...here she was.
The beasts stirred. The female great cat watched from her position near the wall, her copper eyes passing across one recruit after another before drifting away.
A dragon with scales the color of twilight leaped off the floor and flew at the group. They shuddered but remained in place. The large male landed delicately on the stones and lowered its massive head toward Lexie. She gasped but then grinned, looking at Isi, who nudged her forward. When Lexie touched the beast’s lowered snout, the air shimmered around them.
Shouts rang out from those watching, some smiling and nudging each other. Remembering the moment when they bonded too.
After striding around to the side of the dragon with joy transfusing her face, Lexie stopped by the dragon’s left forelimb. The beast dropped onto his belly, and she scampered up his leg and leaped, landing squarely on his back. After she’d settled between the beast’s spine spikes, the dragon erupted from the floor, his wings snapping out. He soared up and through the open ceiling hatch.
The crowd cheered, their voices echoing off the crystal walls.
Maddox stepped forward, pretty much swaggering out into thecenter of the arena. He stopped, his posture defiant, as if he was daring any beast to approach him. To accept him or kill him.
The audience tensed, a few covering their eyes with their hands, others leaning forward in horrified anticipation.
A hybrid creature with the body of a mountain cat and the head of a direwolf eyed him warily before leaving the group to circle him. This species was notoriously selective, rarely bonding more than once in a generation.
Kira stiffened, an almost gleeful expression on her face. She enjoyed watching the fatal side of the selection process a bit too much.
The wolf-cat stopped in front of Maddox and bowed its head.
As gasps echoed through the arena, including one from Grayson on my left, their bond formed.
His fist lifted, Maddox rode the creature from the arena to well-wishes from the crowd.
Derren, Lexie’s muscular boyfriend, stepped forward, his sharp gaze scanning the beasts. A towering black bull with molten cracks across its horns snorted and approached him. Steam rose from its nostrils as it lowered its huge head. Derren placed his palm between the bull’s eyes, and the air shimmered around them as the bond solidified. The bull led him from the arena.
Kerralyn, the scholar with the journal, drew the attention of a serpentine avian half the size of a dragon. It swooped down from where it had been hovering above and landed in front of her with a graceful flutter of scaled wings.
The creature’s rows of intelligent black eyes assessed every detail of the woman before it tipped its head back and shot flames toward the roof of the arena.
Kerralyn reached out, barely touching its brow, and the bond formed around them. She walked beside it from the arena, already deep in conversation with her new companion.
Only Bryson, the former commander, and Isi remained. Brysonwhispered something to her, his face creased with concern. She nodded, and he squeezed her shoulder before stepping forward.
A thickly furred, antlered bear strode over to him, studying the man with ancient eyes. They regarded each other for a long moment, silent understanding passing between them. Then Bryson placed his hand on the creature’s massive forehead, and the bond locked into place. The bear nudged him with his snout, and they left the arena together.
The crowd murmured in growing astonishment.
“Will all six bond?”
“It’s impossible!”
Isi remained partway across the arena, studying the beasts who watched her in return. This went on long enough that people started shifting in their seats.
“Is she being rejected?” someone whispered nearby.
“It could be too late. These beasts may not want her.”
I scanned the assembled creatures, my pulse throbbing in my throat.
The female firecat no longer stood by the wall. She’d vanished.
I stiffened against the pang in my chest. It didn’t matter. I’d been wrong about?—
