the mess hall at the north end of the barracks, but she didn’t want to miss a single second of the broadcast, and she definitely didn’t want to share the find with anyone else.
Arena contests were so up her alley, something she hadn’t known she’d needed until now. Silt vipers—the rock eater snakes’ smaller, meaner cousins—were a challenge, but the mindless, burrowing beasts had stopped being a rewarding quarry ages ago. Fighting other races of shifters, pitting her skills against someone equally matched, sounded more her speed.
Even better if she could fight on a team. Her entire life, she’d craved the camaraderie she saw among the Sandrekar military units, the members of her clan who guarded the boundaries of their system of caves, keeping out the myriad wild subterranean beasties that would otherwise ravage their homes. Joining up as an orphaned young sand dragon, she’d expected to find a special place among them, find friends who would become as close as brothers or sisters. Maybe even find a mate one day too, because the civilian males definitely didn’t know what to do with a woman like her.
But it hadn’t worked out that way. She was big for a female, perhaps a genetic holdover from before the Sandrekar Clan escaped into the tunnels and caves beneath Nova Aurora’s surface. Her tall, bulky stature made her seem more of a threat to the others than she was, but she had no idea how to remedy the issue. And then after one fateful battle with a particularly vicious viper where she’d beat her unit to the beast and slaughtered it in a whirlwind of rage, she’d earned a reputation as a madwoman, causing the other soldiers to give her a wide berth. As a result, she remained an outcast from everyone but her small, tight-knit group of childhood friends.
Not that she didn’t love the guys, her cousin Leo included. They were the closest friends she had, but they all wanted different things.
When the broadcast she was glued to eventually went silent, her heart fell. She flipped to another channel, hoping for the company of new voices for a change. This broadcast sounded like one of the advertisements at first, but without anything better to do, Ksenia lay there in the dark, listening, and soon a new broadcast started.
“Thanks for joining us on Nova Aurora Live. Our guest this evening is none other than the renowned matchmaker Gerri Wilder. Gerri, as the new Arena season is about to begin, I understand you’re a fan of the sport. Any chance you can share your predictions as to the winners this year? I’m sure all our listeners would be eager to hear, considering your legendary foresight.”
The woman laughed, and Ksenia got a strong sense of worldly wisdom from the clever way she dodged the question. Gerri admitted that she liked to make a bet or two, but refused to speculate to the public about who might win or lose. After all, her vocation was matchmaking, not predicting winners.
Ksenia’s mind churned over that revelation, not because she wanted a mate—not exactly—but because what she did want, and desperately, were teammates. Teammates who could match her skill, and who would relish a fight the same way she did. Teammates she could share the glory of winning an arena match with. Could Gerri’s skills extend to finding her something like that?
With a sigh, she lay back and listened, her attention only half on the interview while her mind mulled over a fantasy that grew more and more detailed. One that included her in an arena, hot sand beneath her boots, and one, two, or even three other dragons standing at her sides, ready to dive into combat.
Ksenia wanted that so badly she could taste it, and she fell asleep to dreams of a match that perfect.
The next morning, after enduring yet another breakfast in the mess hall catching wary side-eye from her fellow soldiers, she made her decision. She went back to her room and packed, barely paying attention to what she threw into her bag beyond the bare essentials.
She made her way to the abandoned tunnel in silence, keeping a low profile as she passed other dragons along the way. But when she made it to the exit, she faltered. Santer and Dmitri were striding in from the opposite hall where their families resided. When they heard footsteps approaching from a third direction, she laughed out loud.
“I should’ve known.”
“You too?” Leo asked.
“Of course,” Dmitri responded. “It’s time.”
Demyan nodded