Too late. Ash disappeared in a swirl of fire. The Phoenix soared up from where he had been standing, arcing over the iron gates. It swooped once around the building, trailing flame, and then landed on the front steps. Shifting back to human form, Ash pushed open the door, and walked in—without even the slightest attempt at stealth.
“Uh…” Dai looked from the closing door to his colleagues. “Won’t he be spotted?”
Griff chuckled. “Not if he doesn’t want to be. Don’t look so worried, Dai. Ash has his ways. I’ve seen him walk through an entire crowd of curious mundanes without anyone so much as glancing at him.”
“But…how?”
Griff shrugged. “No idea. Never had the nerve to ask. Private kind of man, our Commander.”
“Do you know who he called?” Chase asked.
“Nope.” Griff jerked his chin in the direction of the street. ”But I think we’re all about to find out.”
A man was heading in their direction, stalking along as if the entire neighborhood had personally insulted his mother. From his bright silver hair, Dai assumed the man was elderly—until he
drew closer, revealing unlined, startlingly handsome features.
The man stopped a little way off, his perfect brow knotting in a frown. His icy blue gaze swept over them.
Somewhere in Dai’s chest, his dragon stirred, rousing. To Dai’s surprise, his animal didn’t growl or bare fangs in challenge, as it usually did when sensing the presence of another powerful shifter. It just stared at the man with intense focus, as though he was a bright, glittering jewel in another dragon’s hoard. Something rare and precious…and not to be touched.
The man’s eyes narrowed a little, as though his own animal had sensed the dragon’s curious attention. He treated Dai to a lingering, suspicious stare before scanning the rest of the group. He sniffed.
“Typical,” the man said, in a cut-glass English accent that screamed generations of noble ancestors. “The man insists I sprint here as a matter of utmost urgency, and then buggers off himself. Where’s the Phoenix?”
“Off being mysterious,” Griff said, lips quirking. He held out a hand. “Griff MacCormick. And you are?”
“Hugh. Hugh Argent.” The man made no move to take Griff’s hand. “I’m a…medic.”
“A…medic?” Chase repeated, with exactly the same momentary hesitation. “Not sure I’d want to be treated by someone who seems a little unsure about his qualifications.”
Hugh glared at him. “If you want to wait for someone with a full license rather than someone who was merely top of his class for six years running of medical school before electing to leave for personal reasons, then I will cheerfully let you bleed to death.”
Chase cast an exaggerated look down at his own body. “I’m not bleeding.”
Hugh folded his arms. “Yet.”
Dai stepped forward, elbowing Chase aside before he could do any more damage. “The joker here is Chase. I’m Dai.” He hesitated, then added, “I’m a red dragon.”
“How nice for you,” Hugh replied. He didn’t offer his own animal in return. “And what exactly am I doing here? I can’t help but note that there seems to be a distinct lack of trauma victims present.”
Griff spread his hands. “Sorry. The Commander didn’t tell us why he called you. But I assume it was for a good reason. He said we should wait here until he returns.”
Hugh huffed, looking even more disgruntled. “As if I don’t have better things to do than hang around street corners with a group of firefighters.”
Nonetheless, he stayed.
They stood there in uncomfortable silence, waiting. Dai couldn’t help sneaking glances at Hugh. He was just about bursting with curiosity about the man’s animal, but he held his tongue. It was beyond rude to ask a shifter directly about their nature.
Chase caught his eye, and lifted an eyebrow. The pegasus shifter’s mental voice spoke inside Dai’s head. *Care to place a bet? Prickly, defensive, surly…I’m thinking hedgehog.*
Dai snorted, and hastily covered it with a fake sneeze as Hugh glanced at him. *We really shouldn’t be speculating about this. Especially not behind his back.*
*Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you’re not a little bit curious.* Chase gave him a kind of telepathic poke. *I saw the way you were staring. Either you’re considerably more flexible in sexual orientation than you admit, or your dragon thinks there’s something odd about him. So does my pegasus, in fact.*
Dai noticed Hugh’s ice blue eyes flick from himself to Chase. Could he tell that they were silently communicating? Normally only another mythic shifter would be sensitive to their telepathy…
His chain of thought was cut short by Ash returning. The Phoenix shifted back to human form, straightening his uniform shirt.