Page 4 of Gladiator's Bite

I cocked my head to the side as if I considered what he said and then laughed.

“I have the feeling again. Right above my navel. Had it right before we got the news of the ship landing over on 1. Supposedly they all have stars. That means – minus one of them – all their mates have to be here. The other is the kid of the guy that Hush’s nephew lured here.”

“How many are left of the crew?”

“Alive? All of them last I heard,” I fucked with him. “Two without mates. The diplomat and the one who supposedly took photos for dragons back on Earthside or whatever. That one is the son of the guy Hush’s nephew snagged up.”

“You think it’s one of them?” he asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “Told you before. It’s not about thinking. It doesn’t work that way. It’s a knowing.”

Frey leaned over the railing and squinted down as if he was trying to discern a Moony in the crowd of dragon shifters still pouring in. I spotted him a second before Frey did. He had an orange star on his chest.

“The diplomat,”my dragon said.

The diplomat. He wasn’t the one I expected to show up here. I expected the other one. It was said back on Earthside that his father had a ‘shoot someone for coming back to his territory after one warning’ sort of attitude. Then again, maybe the diplomat’s parents did too. Leaders weren’t all as chill and nonchalant as Hush, Boregi, and Natte. Maybe out there they couldn’t afford to be.

I sniffed the air, trying to catch a whiff of the orange star-scaled diplomat but mostly smelled aftershave, BO, and pheromones of dragons who thought they had more of a chance than they did. I loved that confident scent. The crowd ate it up and genuinely rooted for some of them. Others, they rooted forto have their tails cut off in the arena but that had been outlawed over a century before.

“That one, huh?” Frey laughed, his eyes stopping right on him. “What’s his name again? He’s the diplomat. Can tell by the way he walks he’s used to someone listening to him. Probably not the captain from what I’ve heard but someone, huh?”

“Sunny Moonscale,” I said.

I knew all their names and likenesses. I followed them since they made their flight accounts. Unlike my grandfather, I wasn’t blessed with elaborate visions. I got feelings and vibes. Usually, they were right on the nose, though. My visions were usually short and to the point. I avoided touching most people, if I could help it, without looking obvious about it. That brought about a certain type of vision that I could live without. Took me years to figure out what it even was.

“What a name. The sun and moon all in one,” he shook his head. “He the one – the one?”

“Maybe. Then again any dragon on any world that I’ve not met could be the one, huh?” I smirked.

“Or a wolf or bear or tiger or skunk shifter!” He patted me on the back.

“So, that’s what you’re roleplaying for Herbie, now, huh?” I asked, shaking his mate’s face out of my inner eye.

“Fuck off!” He laughed, and Sunny’s gaze rose to us.

We fell silent like a pair of gawkers at the picking mall. He didn’t wave or nod. He barely acknowledged us, but my dragon sighed when the other man looked away. Yeah. He was probably the one.

“I’ll be back,” I patted Frey on the shoulder. “Gotta talk to the council.”

“Yeah, he’s the one,” Frey laughed. “I’ll send him my condolences at having an omega who can kick his ass.”

“Hey, maybe that’s his kink,” I shrugged.

“Whatcha gonna ask them for, Laken?” he called after me.

“I want to fight him! What else?”

“Your mate?” he hissed, sprinting to catch up with me. “You want to fight your mate, or did I misunderstand the situation?”

“Yeah, I want to fight Sunny Moonscale. Whether or not he’s my mate doesn’t matter. If he is my mate, even better. It’ll let him know who I really am. Besides, if he can’t handle seeing me as his equal, what the fuck chance do we even have? So I’m just gonna pop in and ask them. Besides, who else will they have the Moony diplomat fight? Pairing us together just makes sense. It’ll bring in the crowd.”

“What if he doesn’t test well enough to fight you?” Frey called after me as I sped up.

“Then I’ll just have to go easy on him, huh?” I turned around long enough to grin at him before facing forward to press the lift button.

Chapter Three

Sunny