Free Finding the Wolf(The Dragon's Hoard #1) by Mell Eight Page A

not fair," she added with a pout.
    Nyle blushed and was quick to find and pull on his pants even if he had to wait for Leon to tie them because of his injury.
    "Hatch-mother," Nyle said, trying to keep embarrassment from his voice.
    Gail shrugged and readjusted the map case she was holding in one paw. "Bah, I've never actually wished I was a male dragon before. But then Toel wouldn't be so nice to me so I actually don't wish I was male." She paused in her rambling to shake her head sadly. "Well, you two will just have to show me that other thing you were doing in the water the other day. I really do want to try that with Toel sometime."
    Nyle's blush grew and Leon shifted awkwardly at his side
    "Anyway," Gail chirped. "I have maps to memorize for tomorrow!" She ambled off, completely unaware of the total embarrassment she had just caused.
    Only once her tail was out of sight did Nyle groan and cover his face with one hand. Then he wished he hadn't touched his face, because his hand was not at all clean.
    "I need a bath," Nyle grumbled, before remembering what his mother had just said and wincing.
    "Or just a quick wash," Leon agreed with his own wince.
    They curled up together in bed for what was left of the night, just holding on as tightly as they could. Neither of them slept.
    When false dawn began to light the mountain halls, Nyle and Leon got up and dressed in peasant style clothing. They slipped out one of the less used exits to the caves and into the city. By the time the sun rose fully, Nyle and Leon had gotten themselves lost amid the early morning crowd of humans.
    Nyle kept his head down and his back stooped. As long as no one saw his eyes, he could pass as a regular human. Leon had bound his vibrant hair beneath a workman's scarf and walked with apparent weariness towards his job location for the day.
    It almost seemed like a coincidence that both Nyle and Leon were walking in the same direction, but they didn't take the chance that one of the guard stations on the busier street corners would become suspicious so they often walked on opposite sides of the street from each other.
    They had another hour before the decided on start time of the battle when they reached the outskirts of the nicest part of the city: a place that didn't welcome people dressed as they were.
    Leon grinned at Nyle for the first time since they had woken up that morning and walked down a side alley to their right. Nyle followed. They entered what seemed like a maze of interconnected back alleys, but Leon knew the way so Nyle wasn't worried.
    "The rich families who own these properties don't like to see their servants walking along the same streets as them," Leon explained as he guided them around other people walking through the maze to their own early morning jobs. They headed down yet another back alley that apparently led between the walls that surrounded each compound of land. "Since it's usually the servants who work on keeping the walls standing, new corners have a habit of being put in a little crooked," he said, indicating a corner that looked oddly rounded to Nyle's eyes, but because of the odd shape was able to connect them to the next pathway where a straight corner would have blocked it off entirely.
    "You learned this how?" Nyle asked. He checked the sun quickly and saw that they still had a half hour to get through the maze of alleys and to the castle wall just on the other side.
    Leon laughed. "You remember the district you found me in, right?" he asked. "Whores aren't the only people who work those streets. I have plenty of friends who are thieves too, and they love these back entrances into the rich manors."
    They reached the end of the maze before Nyle could answer. They stayed hidden in the darkened alley to survey the street. There were guards patrolling along the wall. The road that ran in a circle around the foot of the wall was fairly busy in the early morning as callers on the king and court as well as merchant