Hidden Mate

11

She opened the door and waved her hand in front of her face. “Dude, you stink.”

The overly strong musky scent floated into the room. He needed to lay off whatever cologne he used.

“I do not.” He rolled his eyes. “I showered at the gym after practice. Are you both ready?”

There went any chance of me finishing this. I stood and glanced at the time. It was five minutes to six. “Yeah, we need to get over there. Egan should be there any second.”

“Egan?” Brock tilted his head and scowled. “Who the hell is that?”

“Oh …” Roxy clapped her hands and ran them down her dress, smoothing it down. “A dragon shifter.”

“What?” He rubbed a finger along his lip. “You’re joking, right?”

“Nope.” It’d been at least fifty years since anyone had seen a dragon or, at least, that I knew of. “I couldn’t believe it myself. He doesn’t seem to know the supernaturals’ ways or laws, so I thought we could help him out.”

“Definitely.” Brock smirked. “Dragons are fierce allies, so good job. Your dad would be proud.”

That wasn’t what mattered to me. I sincerely only wanted to help him out. Of course, Brock would think about it in terms of power and prestige. I merely thought it had been cool to meet one.

“Let’s not keep the man waiting.” Roxy waggled her brows at me. He is sexy, right? At least, I’ll have some eye candy, unlike this morning.

She’d been pouting all day that the gym had shut down for her class, so there had been no one else in there except for the ladies working out.

Yes, he is handsome. Which was strange since he’d had no effect on me whatsoever. You’ll enjoy yourself.

The three of us headed to the Student Center. It wasn’t hard to spot Egan. He towered over everyone, and a few girls surrounded him, trying to catch his attention.

He must have smelled us because his head turned in our direction, and his attention landed right on me. A small smile lit up his face.

Roxy grabbed my arm. Holy s**t. You didn’t tell me he looks like a f*****g god.

Leave it up to her to be all dramatic. Gods don’t exist. I tried not to laugh.

She bumped into me. You know what I mean.

“Sadie,” he said in his low voice. “I see you followed through on your promise to bring friends.” He walked over to us, and the girls pouted.

“Yes.” Humans could be so ridiculous sometimes. “This is my best friend, Roxy, and …” I wasn’t sure what to call Brock. “… an ally, Brock.”

“Ally?” Egan pursed his lips and held his hand out to Brock. “I’m Egan.”

“Nice to meet you.” Brock shook hands with him eagerly. “Sadie told me all about you on the way over here.”

It was crazy that Egan towered over Brock. As a future alpha, Brock was one of the tallest shifters.

“All about me?” Egan chuckled and pointed at me. “I didn’t realize we’d gotten so acquainted.”

“He’s exaggerating.” I didn’t need Egan to think I wanted something from him. “I pretty much told them what you are and how it would be nice to have you as a friend.”

“A friend.” Egan turned to Roxy and shook her hand as well. “I like the sound of that. I don’t have too many of those back home.”

“Speaking of home,” Brock began, jumping right to the point, “where is that, exactly?”

“Not trying to be rude, but I’m not at liberty to say.” He surveyed the area around us and motioned to the humans. “It’s sort of a secret, for reasons I’m sure you know.”

I understood his meaning. Humans had almost wiped out dragons. “No worries at all.” I pointed to the doors. “Why don’t we grab some food and eat somewhere outside, away from eavesdroppers.”

“Now that sounds like a good idea.” Roxy gestured to the gym. “Some tables over there should be vacant. They’re near the woods too. Some of the humans were complaining about the bugs, so we could have a decent shot of being alone.”

Our group split once we got into the cafeteria. Roxy and I grabbed some chicken parmesan and headed outside to wait on the group.

If I’d thought wolf shifters ate a ton, I now stood corrected.

Egan held a tray in each hand, and they were filled with food such as pizza, wings, burgers, and pasta. Pretty much, if you named it, it could be found there.

There was no way he could eat it all. “Got enough?”

“I was worried about that too.” He grimaced and scanned his food. “Should I go back and get some more?”

Roxy lifted a hand. “You didn’t get dessert.”

“Holy shit.” His eyes widened. “You’re right. I knew I liked you for a reason.”

She giggled. He likes me.

Maybe you’ve found your shifter for all the fun things you have planned. Sometimes, I worried about her.

That sobered her up. Yeah … Lord knows I’m not strong enough to date a dragon shifter.

Hey. I hated that we had to worry about stupid s**t like that. If people liked each other, they should be able to date. If the dragon chooses to date you, it’s on him.

Egan glided toward the library. “I’ll go back for dessert later.”

The fact was, gliding wasn’t an exaggeration. The food on his tray didn’t even rattle with his grace. If I tried doing that, I’d trip over my feet, and my pasta would be on top of my head. Envy didn’t even touch how I felt.

Brock, Roxy, and I marched after him.

Behind the huge modern library and gym was a small open area with two wooden picnic tables right next to the woods. The tree line was thick, and the branches stretched out across the clearing, shading it from the sun.

As Roxy had expected, no one was out here. Snakes had to be close by because I clearly heard the rattles.

Brock and Egan sat on one side while Roxy and I sat on the other.

As expected, Brock dove right back into his line of questioning. “Now that we’re away from humans, where does the rest of your clan live?”

Egan took a large bite of his all-meat pizza and chewed slowly. “Because of our dwindling population, we don’t share our location with anyone outside our kind.”

“But we’re shifters.” Brock forced a laugh. “We can trust one another.”