The Warrior's Assault

by Kristen Banet

  “I’m going to be fine once my stupid husbands get their fucking act together. I need…” Senri waved at herself with her free hand. “I need them.”

  “Clean hands,” Mave commented, trying to find words for what Senri was saying.

  “What?” her friend didn’t get it.

  “I say that Mat and Bryn have clean hands. They don’t carry my blood on them. They don’t hurt me. You want clean hands.”

  “Yes. I like that. I want clean hands. I want them to wash away…everything that happened. They’re going to try and coddle me now.”

  “Just don’t kill them for it,” Mave said, a smile forming. “Should I warn them you’ll try before they come for you?”

  “Nope. I want them to be stupid, so I can remind them what type of female they joined with.” Senri’s grin was vicious. “Now, let go of me and go find your males, Mave. There’s no reason to dote on me.”

  “You doted on me,” Mave reminded her. Senri pulled her hand out of Mave’s elbow and reached up, cupping both of Mave’s cheeks.

  “I did because you needed it, and I may always. You’re a different female today than you were last year, and I hope I was part of that. A year ago, you would have never comforted me. You stiffened under a hug.” Her thumbs ran over Mave’s cheekbones as if they were wiping away invisible tears. “But I think I need to walk alone for a little while.”

  “I walked alone for a long time, Senri.” Mave didn’t want that for her. She didn’t want to see Senri bottle it all up and hide. She couldn’t tolerate that.

  “I’m not young and alone like you were. I have all of you around me. I just want some time to my own thoughts, and it’ll give my males an opening to come talk to me.”

  Before Mave pulled away, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the damn flute she carried everywhere. “This is yours.”

  Senri gasped but started to shake her head. “No. No, Mave, that’s yours. Why do you have it out here?”

  “I play it when I’m alone to comfort me. You were taken, and I was angry. I was so angry.”

  “Keep it. Play it for me later. I want to see how much you’ve practiced.” Senri pushed her away after that. “Go on. We both know Kian will never crawl back to me if it’s something you could witness.”

  Mave stepped back, letting Senri walk ahead of her. She fell back in the group, looking over the injured males as they passed, meeting the eyes of the tired, dirty females. The children danced around their parents, awake for a new day. They seemed to understand better than anyone they were free, and it was supposed to be celebrated.

  Finally, she saw Rain lumbering at the back of the group, still in his wyvern form. She waited on him, knowing her males were probably with Kian, who wouldn’t want to see her. He probably didn’t want to see a female for the rest of the morning.

  “Little brother,” she greeted softly as he walked up to her. His big head lowered, and he bumped his nose to her. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

  Air blew across her face with the distinct touch of snot. He didn’t appreciate her apology.

  “Fine. Be stubborn and get hurt without caring how it makes us feel.”

  He bumped her harder and lowered his head more, sniffing her thighs and hip.

  “I think he’s trying to say don’t be a hypocrite,” someone said from behind the large beast. She watched as Alchan walked into view. “But you’re female, and you claimed him as a brother, so he’ll learn to get over it.”

  “I am not…” She bared her teeth, growling, but the king only smiled wearily at her, exhaustion written all over his face. He didn’t seem to care he’d pissed her off. That made her lose the bluster she felt. “How are you?” she asked, realizing she hadn’t spoken much to him since the night before.

  “Relatively uninjured. Thinking a lot. It’s why I’m hiding back here. The males who aren’t like me can handle helping the freed Andinna better than I could, anyway.” He shrugged innocently like he didn’t seem suspicious.

  “Will you tell me what you’re thinking about?”

  “The future of the Andinna,” he answered enigmatically. It was both straightforward and elusive, telling her everything and nothing. His amber eyes gave her the rest of the answer. They told her he expected her to understand.

  She nodded slowly. She did. She was just waiting on him now. They understood better than the others, for some reason. Maybe it was the life she grew up with and his position, but they understood. Whatever happened over the last four months led to this.

  “Who do you think will be upset?” he asked after a moment of silence.

  “Luykas,” she said immediately. “He just strikes me that way.”

  “He’ll have good reasons to worry.” Alchan didn’t seem surprised by her answer.

  “Um…not Bryn or Mat. They’ll follow me if I follow you.” She shrugged this time. “Not Nevyn but maybe Varon.”

  “No, I don’t think Varon will be an issue. Zayden?”

  “Oh, definitely Zayden,” she agreed, daring to chuckle.

  She and Alchan didn’t say any more. They didn’t try to guess about Kian. They wouldn’t until they knew what was going on with him.

  The sun rose higher over them as mid-day approached.

  “When?” she asked softly.

  “When we reach the mountains.”

  And together, they kept the secret. Mave wasn’t as angry today as she was the night before, but it was still there. Just as long as Alchan eventually gave her another target, she would be fine with whatever decision he made in the end.

  She walked with her little brother and king until she saw her loves, then moved up to them. She didn’t tell them what she had been talking to Alchan about. Instead, she took Bryn’s hand and hooked her tail with Mat.

  “Change is coming,” she warned them.

  “We can tell. You’re talking to Alchan,” Mat teased softly.

  “Ya would think the friendship with Luykas was the first sign,” Bryn mumbled. She side-eyed him until he continued. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to see ya having a better workin’ relationship with one of our commanders. It’s just a sign of change.” He nodded past her and Mat, toward deeper in the trees. Luykas was walking out with Zayden. Both males looked up and caught her gaze. Zayden averted his quickly and walked on to speak to someone else, but Luykas kept staring at her.

  Their bond beat between them, double heartbeats and a tug. She was so used to it now that it didn’t disturb her. Maybe she would ask him to finally even it out between them—after what was to come, after they made it to the Dragon Spine.

  She waved, making him jump a little. He walked to them quickly, ending up at the back of the group with them, walking backward in front of them.

  “Kian’s going to talk to his female. She hit him with something hard, too fast.”

  “She knows,” Mave informed him. “Can I help you with something or did you come to tell us that?”

  “Ah…” He didn’t have anything to say. Mave could see it written on his face. He was walking backward awkwardly as if he wanted to have a conversation, but she wanted to enjoy the rest of the day with her males. “Just that. Where’s my brother?”

  “With Rain behind us.”

  He let them pass. Mave didn’t look back at him, shaking her head as they kept walking. That seemed strangely uncomfortable.

  “Do you know what that was?” she asked her males.

  “No. Do you know what’s going to happen when we get to the Dragon Spine?” Matesh sounded too innocent.

  “No,” she answered half-truthfully. She and Alchan hadn’t truly talked about it, kept it vague as if saying it made it real. That was the only reason she didn’t tell Mat the complete truth.

  “We’ll find out when we get there,” Bryn said as they walked.

  “We will,” she agreed.

  37

  Mave

  On the dawn of the sixth day, Mave saw mountains. Even taller than the ones of Olost, they dominated
the sky.

  “We’re moving fast,” Mat commented softly, yawning at the end. “We’ll be on a trail in the mountains by nightfall.”

  “Yeah…” They loomed over her. For four months, she’d drawn closer to the Empire in the name of rage and revenge, and that had motivated her, kept her focused. Now, she was on track to enter her homeland for the first time in over a thousand years.

  This wasn’t the journey she had been expecting when spring came.

  “Mave, Mat!” Zayden called out. “Can I get a hand?”

  “What do you need?” She turned from the view to see the father coming for them. Mat reached out, and they shook hands, a very male greeting.

  “I think it’s time to get Rain shifted back into his Andinna form. We need to get it done before we’re in the mountains and the wild wyverns catch his scent. They might consider him a trespasser, and that could bring us more trouble than we want.”

  Mave waved him to lead the way. She had no idea where Bryn was, or she would have invited him along as well. He’d disappeared the night before when they settled down to camp, saying something about Alchan and Luykas wanting him to scout back, just to make sure they were free of the Elvasi.

  For the six days since they left Ellantia, the Elvasi hadn’t shown any signs of following. It was probably the most interesting turn of events of the last week. If she didn’t hate them so much, she would have thanked the gods for looking out for them.

  She followed Zayden away from camp, listening to her lover and the grouchy father talk about what might be needed for Rain. His injuries were healing as well as any Andinna, but there were some concerning holes in his wings. As a wyvern, they wouldn’t impede his ability to fly, but they didn’t know how he would look when he shifted back.

  “We’ll get him back in the air,” Mat promised. “You know we wouldn’t let him stay grounded.”

  “I know. I’m worried about him, that’s all.” Zayden patted Mat’s shoulder before looking back at her again. “I wanted to ask you to be ready to catch him when he’s done shifting. I’ll be there with you.”

  “I can do that.” She stepped up next to him, rubbing his back as she did. “He’ll be fine. He’ll have a few more scars, just like the rest of us.”

  “Yeah, and if he gets a hard time for those, he’ll just tell everyone he was the hero of the Ellantia assault, and they’ll leave him be.” Mat was grinning. “I’ve never been so proud of him.”

  “Yeah…” Zayden sighed. “Alchan has been watching him carefully too. I was told once I got my son to shift back, Rain was to report to him for inspection. Our good Alchan Andini wants to make sure he didn’t permanently damage my son beyond repair, and if he did, make reparations for it.”

  “By the Skies,” Mat chuckled. “He’s taking it hard, being the king who nearly got Rain killed. You know he won’t like it—Rain. He hated being doted on by us, and now, he’s drawn the king’s attention?”

  “He did it to himself,” Zayden reminded them.

  “He did. He’s the one who went to Alchan for training and not anyone else.” Mave shrugged. “He’ll get over the doting. He’ll heal and grow stronger. I don’t expect any less of my little brother.”

  They found Rain right as she finished saying that. He yawned at the sight of them. He didn’t sleep close to the main camp, always finding a small clearing to sleep in where he had more space. Alchan and Luykas were normally nearby as well, preferring to spend their nights away from the camp which grew too loud with the sounds of reunion sex and long talks about what had happened.

  “You ready?” Zayden asked loudly. Rain got up, and Mave saw the holes in his wings.

  “Are those fixable when he shifts back?” One was as big as her head. Sure, the size of wyvern wings made the hole small in comparison, but for an Andinna, a hole that size took them out of the air.

  Leshaun walked up as well. “If it’s the same size, we’ll have to recut his flesh on the edges and slowly stretch the skin to meet and sew it up in phases. Because there’s only so much flesh, the process would have to be repeated, or it’ll just tear back open. I’m here to make that decision.”

  “Oh.” She reached out and ran a hand over Rain’s wing. He sat up higher, watching all of them.

  “Over here.” Zayden gestured for her to stand with him under Rain. If he decided to fall on them in this form, they would be crushed. She mimicked Zayden, keeping her palms flat on the giant barrel chest in front of them. “We’re ready!”

  It was the slowest she’d ever seen Rain shift. She felt it happening under her hands. When her adopted little brother was finally in front of her, he sagged, exhausted, in her arms. Zayden was right there as well, holding Rain up the best he could, his arms around his son’s waist and chest.

  “Let’s sit you down,” Zayden whispered. He paled, looking at her over his son’s head. “He never stays in wyvern form that long. We don’t know what sort of repercussions it could have.”

  “Okay.” Together, they got Rain to a log and lowered him. When he started to lean, she reached out and held him. Zayden sat on his opposite side.

  “We’ll get looking,” Mat said softly. Between him and his uncle, they would be able to look over Rain’s wings and injuries quickly.

  “Is he…?” Rain seemed unconscious again.

  “The wyvern and the Andinna are two souls, or so the Clans of Zira say. Rain can’t always control the beast, and the beast has no power over the Andinna. You can see it sometimes when he’s angry. He’s never been a wyvern for so long, so there’s a chance we’ve been hanging out with the beast for days and not known it. Who knows what that could have done to him?” Zayden reached up and ran his hand over his son’s horn, then his hair. “Thank you for coming out here.”

  “He’s my family,” she reminded the worried male. “You know that.”

  “I do,” he murmured. “He might just be exhausted. He doesn’t sleep well in his wyvern form because it’s not natural for him. It was a problem when he was young.”

  Sure enough, Rain’s eyes began to open, and he came back to the world. He didn’t seem shocked to have them holding him or Mat and Leshaun pulling at his wings to inspect them.

  “How long?” he asked groggily.

  “As a wyvern, several days. Unconscious? Only a few moments,” his father said quickly and gently. “Leshaun, how are his wings?”

  “He had one hole. It’ll probably take a month to close up and another week to heal completely after that, but he’ll be able to fly again soon enough.” Leshaun sounded optimistic. “It could have been worse. The injuries never translate between the two forms the same way each time. Remember when you broke a leg, Rain? You tried to shift into wyvern form, rebroke it, and when you shifted back, it was a bloody mess.”

  “I was thirty-two. Of course, I remember that idiotic move,” Rain mumbled. “A month out of the air. I wonder how Alchan will feel about that.”

  “He’ll get over it if there’s a problem. You’ll have to discuss that with him, though.” Zayden let his son go and stood up. “Let’s give you a few days of rest in this form before we start cutting you open to sew the wing.”

  “Thank you.” Rain yawned. “Fucking bastard wyvern didn’t want to sleep. That body can stay up for days. I’ve been coming out here and pretending to sleep. He wanted to stand over the others like a fucking guard dog.”

  “You talk about him like he’s not you,” Mave pointed out, curious and wanting to help take his mind off Alchan and not being able to fly.

  “He is and isn’t. He’s primal, instinct-driven. A separate piece of me that encompasses the wild. My Andinna mind and wyvern heart don’t always agree, and it feels like I’m arguing with myself. It’s a war. Sometimes, I can’t control him.” Rain looked away. “Sometimes, I can’t control myself.”

  “You didn’t hurt anyone,” his father whispered, going to a knee in front of his son. “You were a fucking hero. We watched you fall from the sky, defending our retreat.
Damn it. This is what you wanted, and I’m fucking proud of you for sticking to it. Don’t start to regret it now.”

  “Yes, sir.” Rain’s smile was tired.

  “Mave, will you help me walk him to Alchan?” Zayden ignored Mat’s sputter at being passed over.

  “Sure.” She smiled and helped Rain stand with her, making him throw an arm over her shoulder, his father taking the other side.

  As they walked, she could feel how Zayden took a lot of his son’s weight, helping probably more than he should have. He was a cranky man, Zayden, but he loved Rain more than life itself, and something about that made her like him. He was so good at being a father, even if he failed on occasion. There was a deep love in him that couldn’t be contained, and Rain deserved every piece of it. He wasn’t always good at directing or tempering that love, but it was moving, nonetheless. She dared to even think of it as attractive, not that she could ever put up with Zayden.

  When they approached Alchan and Luykas, both stood up. Luykas moved around them to look over Rain while Alchan just waited, seemingly unsure about the protocol. Zayden quickly explained Leshaun’s prognosis, to which Alchan agreed without question. He took Rain from them and sat the young male down near their fire.

  “We’ve got him from here,” the bedru promised. “When we get into the mountains, we’ll start closing up his wing with Leshaun.”

  “Thank you, father,” Rain said as he leaned forward to warm his hands by the fire. Alchan pulled off his cloak and handed it to the young male. When Rain was wrapped up, he looked at her. “Thanks, big sis.”

  “Any time, little brother.” She stepped around the hovering king and kissed the top of his head. When she straightened, she met Alchan’s gaze. “Don’t fuck up his healing. I’ll kill you for it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” He didn’t bristle at her threat, even though they both knew she was serious.

  It was Luykas who grabbed her elbow and pulled her back from his brother. “Zayden, take this with you.”

  She glared at her partner. She didn’t let Zayden grab her, walking away beside him. Leaving Rain there with those two, she was conflicted. She trusted Alchan and Luykas to take care of him, but it felt wrong. She was his big sister. Zayden was his father. Those two were just the king and the advisor.