“Yes, you did,” Justin said to Shane. “You saved me.”

“And me,” Catalina added.

“Roland, you saved people too,” said Merlin. “All of us. Just now. When you became a phoenix to burn the hydra—”

Suspiciously, Pete inquired, “Exactly how do you know what all these weird creatures are, anyway?”

Merlin smiled brightly. “Once I was the guest host for a quiz show in Moldava where the topic was mythology.”

“Yeah, right,” Pete snorted.

“Let’s get out of here. We can catch up on everything later.” Rafa again looked from Nick’s little dragon to Justin’s baby Cerberus to the winged kittens. “Grace is going to be so disappointed that I arrived too late to get her a weird little pet.”

“Maybe there’s more in some other room,” Catalina said hopefully.

Lucas glanced up from the floor where he’d been kneeling. “I don’t believe so. Fiona and Rafa and I checked the base very thoroughly. We saw some Apex workers loading sedated dinosaurs into a plane with a forklift—”

“I hope you recorded its flight path so I can avoid it when they wake up mid-flight,” Carter remarked.

“—but no mythical animals. You see this?” With one long, elegant finger, Lucas indicated a patch of the floor that was very faintly shimmering. “That’s the trace of a portal.”

“I remember now!” Destiny exclaimed. “There was a flash of light, and Lamorat said they’d gone through a portal.”

Lucas stood up and dusted off the knees of his pants. “Yes, a very few magical beasts have that ability. One of them must have been imprisoned here, and once it was freed, it created a portal to allow the rest to escape.”

“But where did they go?” Destiny asked, reluctant to give up on the idea of her very own winged kitten.

“I assume back to their places of origin, where they must have been captured. There are still a few secret, hidden, protected places in the world where magical animals live.” Indicating Nick’s blue dragon, Lucas said, “We have dragonettes in some parts of my own country. They rarely bond with humans. You should feel very lucky, Nick.”

The dragonette trilled and delicately plucked something from Nick’s shoulder. Leaning closer, Destiny saw that it was a long, shining silver hair.

Lucas chuckled. “I should say, you and Raluca should feel very lucky. I believe your dragonette intends to bond with you both. Just like the Cerberus pup has chosen two pack leaders.”

Justin and Fiona, who were on the floor playing with the three-headed puppy, glanced up. She said, “I want to name him.”

Justin spread his hands. “All yours.”

“Trio,” she said. “It means trio in Italian.”

“Perfecto,” Justin replied, grinning.

Trio barked as if in pleased acknowledgment. Once per head.

“I’ll wait for Raluca,” Nick said.

“Got a name for yours?” Shane asked Catalina.

“Carol.” She scritched the butterfly kitten behind the wings. Carol stretched luxuriously and purred. “For Carol Danvers. You know, Captain Marvel.”

“I know.” Shane smiled at his mate. His moth kitten lay draped across his shoulder, claws dug in to keep its hold, but Shane obviously didn’t mind. “Mine’s Shadow.”

“Shadowcat? Like Kitty Pryde from the X-Men?” Catalina asked.

“Just Shadow.”

“That’s a good name too.” Catalina noticed the look of envy that Destiny had obviously failed to suppress, and patted her on the back. “You’ll get your flying kitten. When Carol and Shadow grow up, they’ll have kittens and then everyone can have one!”

“That will require some patience,” said Lucas. “Mythic animals have a very lengthy childhood. Those kittens will still be kittens for years to come.”

Tags: Zoe Chant Protection, Inc Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net