by Abigail Owen
“What the fuck?” a masculine voice barked.
Instantly, Skylar levered off her sister, jumping to her feet in a defensive position to find three men crouched low, eyes glittering dangerously, ready to attack.
A quick inventory told her she’d managed to teleport into one of the buildings in the village, a grocer’s shop, perhaps, given the long wooden countertop with built-in shelves behind it stocked with various canned goods. And scorch marks on the walls beside patches of new wood or stone.
A view of narrow streets out the single, thick-glassed window showed more dilapidated buildings, including a few burned to cinders. Hard to tell through all the grime covering the glass, though.
The man at the center of the trio was stocky, all muscle, with a white streak through his rust-colored hair. The one to his right was younger, mid-twenties maybe, and pretty except for a nose that had clearly been broken once. To his left a deeply black man, bald, and with eyes so dark she could drown in them, snarled.
The stocky guy in front pulled back his lips to reveal teeth elongating to sharp edges. Wolf shifters. Holy shit.
Kasia hadn’t told her what to expect, just where to go. With a groan, her sister got to her feet as well.
“Kasia?” The man in front scowled. “You’ve got to give us warning before you pull that shit.”
Rubbing her head with one hand, Kasia aimed a glare at Skylar. “That’s twice. How about I shove you next time?” Not giving Skylar a chance to answer, she held up her other hand in apology and addressed the shifter. “We couldn’t, Rafe. Too risky. Ben Nevis has spies everywhere.”
The three men straightened, the man named Rafe retracting his teeth with a sick slide of bone and flesh. “Please tell me dragons aren’t coming again. We’re still rebuilding from the last time you brought them down on us.”
Kasia clamped her lips so tight, they turned white. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Fuck.”
Kasia closed her eyes, then opened them. “I’m sorry. I need to see Angelika.”
Not taking his eyes from them, he canted his head to address the dark man to his left. “Hunter.”
Without a word, the man prowled from the room. Hell, they even moved like wolves when in human form. Wolf shifters were supposed to be notoriously closed off to outsiders, and unpredictable with how they treated anyone not of their kind. Especially anyone associated with dragon shifters. Why had their mother sent Angelika to them?
Then again, she’d sent Skylar to live with a colony of organized rogue dragon shifters, most of whom were liable to go feral any time they shifted. Not exactly the safest place. Granted, her uncle had been among them, but still…
Hiding her daughters with the exact creatures least likely to help had been damn smart of her mother.
The question was, how had she worked it out?
“Kasia Astarot,” a deep voice boomed, preceding an older gentleman into the room.
“So weird to hear that instead of Amon,” Skylar muttered at Kasia, who raised her eyebrows.
As lean and muscled as his younger compatriots, the man addressing Kasia only showed his age via two gray stripes in his pointed beard. This had to be the alpha of the pack.
“Bleidd.” Kasia moved forward to embrace him.
Skylar watched in silent contemplation. Apparently, her sister had spent enough time here to develop some relationships. Kasia turned, ushering Skylar forward. “This is my sister, Skylar Ormarr.”
Even weirder. Her new name.
No doubt Kasia introduced her that way on purpose, to make a point. They would both always be Amons and Hanyus. Their parents’ legacies lived on in the sisters. But something about Ormarr sat easily with her name.
What if—
She stopped the thought dead. This was not the time or place to be thinking about her mate or her life with him. She’d figure that out later.
“A third little dove to protect,” Bleidd murmured.
“There’s another one?” Rafe exclaimed at the same time. “Fuck. No wonder those scaly bastards keep coming at us.”
For his part, Bleidd paused in holding out his hand to shake, his dark gray eyes flicking back and forth between the two. “I see the resemblance.”
Skylar shook his hand with a grin. “You’re one of the few. None of us looks anything alike.”
“Except for the shape of the face and the eyes,” he said.
Observant. Most couldn’t see past their wide range of coloring and difference in body types.
Already, she liked this Bleidd guy.
“Where’s Angelika?” Kasia asked. “I hate to ambush you, but this is urgent.”
Skylar studied her sister. Would Kasia be able to teleport again before nightfall? She’d barely held on that time.
“She’s coming,” Bleidd said. Then he lifted a single eyebrow at Skylar. “Ormarr? As in the Blood—”
“Yeah,” she cut him off.
“Interesting.”
You’re telling me.
Rather than bother with idle chitchat, the room fell silent as they waited. The patter of rapid footsteps heralded Angelika’s arrival. “Where is she?” she called up the stairs before bursting into the room.
Angelika stopped at seeing them both there, her lips parting in a gasp, before she squealed her delight and barreled into them, wrapping an arm around each sister.
Behind her a tall man with his dark hair cropped short, military style, and an air that shouted warrior, appeared at the top of the stairs, watching Angelika with a proprietary light in his hazel eyes.
“You’re both here. I can’t believe it. Have you come to get me?” she babbled while clutching them both tightly.
“No,” Skylar said. “We came to warn you.”
Angelika pulled back, her brows, darker than her white-blond hair, drawing down in a fierce frown. “Warn me? Why aren’t you coming to get me? You’re obviously together now.”
“No one knows about you except our mates.”
“Mates,” Angelika echoed glancing rapidly between them. “Both of you now?”
Skylar grimaced. “I sort of expected to kill mine, but…” She shrugged.
Behind her, one of the men snorted a laugh. “Would’ve loved to see that,” a male voice muttered. Rafe again, she’d guess, based on the rough voice.
Bleidd gave a miniscule shake of his head at whoever had spoken.
“We can’t stay,” Kasia said.
Angelika’s expression fell momentarily, but then she took a deep breath and pulled her shoulders back. “What warning?”
Skylar squeezed her arm. “Pytheios knows you’re here. He’s coming for you.”
“Gods be damned. We barely survived the Gold Clan hitting us. Pytheios—” Bleidd shook his head, visage grim.
“Based on my vision, he doesn’t come until tonight,” Kasia said. “Run. Hide.”
“Excuse me if we don’t entirely trust your visions,” Rafe snapped. For the second time his canines elongated, giving him a fierce scowl.
Skylar glanced at her sister, eyebrows raised in question. Kasia twitched a shoulder. “When they were attacked last time, I saw it at a different time of day. So, we got ready based on that and were ambushed.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” Rafe turned to his pack leader. “We could call up the Federation of Packs.”
Bleidd shook his head. “No time.”
Kasia cleared her throat. “You should also know that Ladon and Brand have joined forces with Gorgon, King of the Black Clan, and we are going to take the Gold Throne for Brand. They are on the way there now.”
The tall dude still standing by the stairs stepped forward. “That leaves Ben Nevis vulnerable.”
“As well as Mount Ararat to the southeast,” Bleidd agreed.
“And we’re r
ight fucking between them, with three phoenixes to bring Pytheios down on top of us,” Rafe grumbled. “Perfect.”
Angelika’s eyes darkened. She turned to Bleidd. “You’ve already risked enough for me. Your vow to my mother is fulfilled.”
“Vow?” Kasia asked.
“Mother saved his life,” Angelika tossed at them distractedly, her gaze on Bleidd, who was shaking his head.
“No,” Bleidd shook his head. “I promised to keep you safe.”
“Enough wolves have died for me. My sisters’ mates can keep me safe now. You can’t stop me from going with them.”
“Uh…Houston, we have a problem. You can’t come with us,” Skylar piped up, thinking fast.
“What?” Angelika swung around, snapping the word in a way the youngest of the four of them had never done in the past.
Skylar went glare for glare. “Hear me out. King Gorgon isn’t mated. So, unless you want to end up hitched, or a target for black dragons if you try and it goes badly, I suggest you stay with the wolves. Is there anywhere safe you can go?”
Angelika, stubbornness written all over her, opened her mouth to protest, then paused, speculation entering her gaze. “Does Gorgon seem like a good king? A good man?” she asked tentatively.
“No.” The tall, possessive guy jerked forward with the word.
“You’re not mating anyone you don’t want to.” This from Rafe.
Skylar raised her eyebrows, reassessing the brash shifter. Though she shouldn’t be surprised. Everyone who knew her loved Angelika.
“He might not want me,” Angelika said slowly.
Skylar scoffed. “Of course he will—”
“I didn’t inherit any powers.” Angelika’s words dropped into a moat of silence.
Kasia blinked. “Wait. Are you sure?”
Angelika nodded and put on the brave smile she’d always used as a kid when she couldn’t do something Kasia or Skylar could. Meira was the quiet one who never cared if she could do the same things, finding her own way. Despite the smile, Angelika had always cared.
“Maybe it’s subtle? Or you’ll find it later?” Kasia tried.
Angelika crossed her arms, a sure sign she was done with the conversation. “I don’t want to talk about it. Anyway, I doubt Gorgon will want me when he finds out I’m not useful to him.”
“Perhaps,” Skylar said slowly. “But let’s not add that complication to the mix. Wait until they’ve fought this battle to the finish?”
“That doesn’t solve the Pytheios issue,” Bleidd said. “Dragons took out most of our town. They know we’ve allied with Ladon and Brand. We’re still rebuilding, and we can get only so far in twelve hours.”
Damn.
If she’d known that, Skylar would’ve dragged Angelika’s whereabouts from Kasia and come even without the threat of the red king. How could the dragon shifters have not considered the impact on anyone but themselves? How could she not have asked? Was their myopic focus on only themselves rubbing off?
“Come to Ben Nevis,” Skylar offered.
Kasia swung sharply around to stare at her. “Skylar…”
She ignored her sister. “I’m the queen there now.” Technically. “As our allies, we owe you our protection if our actions endanger you and your people.”
“But if Angelika goes there, people will find out,” Kasia pointed out through a forced smile.
Skylar waved that away. “Gorgon’s already departed with all of his men, so he won’t hear until later.”
“What if we disguise her as one of ours?” Military Man said.
“Jedd—” Angelika went to protest but stopped when he held up a hand.
“You don’t smell like your sisters…like smoke. We dress you in clothes worn by wolf shifters. Keep one of us with you any time you’re among the dragons. They don’t need to see you shift to assume you’re one of us.”
“That could work,” Skylar said. Was it selfish that an eager buzz ran through her? The need to have all four of them together again was a powerful draw.
“We’ll have to pretend like we don’t know each other,” Kasia said. “But we’ll be at the battle, so that shouldn’t be hard at first.”
Bleidd crossed his arms, contemplating the logistics. “Except we’d still have to go by foot. That will leave us vulnerable for several days’ journey with Pytheios on our trail.”
“Actually…” Skylar grinned. “I can help with that.”
…
“Your mate is a bad influence on mine,” Brand grumbled beside Ladon as they stood inside the large, hangar-like space inside Ben Nevis.
The message relayed via Kasia through Hershel informing them of a unilateral decision, this one to offer the wolves sanctuary, had meant turning the fuck around and returning to Ben Nevis while his warriors moved ahead with the plan to fly to Norway, so he could be here for the arrival of the wolves. The opposite fucking direction of his army.
The bustle inside the main city beyond the large opening into that space remained about the same as any day, except with a different intent. Getting ready for their plan—both parts of it.
So many of his own people to protect. Bringing wolf shifters to his mountain—creatures most dragon shifters considered about as trustworthy as cobras—plus another phoenix they intended to hide put him in an untenable position.
Not that he had any choice.
Ladon contained a growl. “They both have minds of their own.”
“That’s for damn sure, but Kasia is swayed by Skylar in a way I haven’t felt from her before. Not that we’ve been mated long, but…”
“Skylar’s decisions aren’t bad ones,” Ladon pointed out with a thread of warning in the tone. Not that she needed him to stick up for her. “We should’ve offered the wolves sanctuary. They are allies now, and our actions put them in direct danger.”
Except the idea had been to continue to allow Angelika to hide with the shifters. A dumb idea as it turned out.
“Yeah,” Brand muttered. “But what about the other thing?”
The abrupt appearance of two men fifty feet from them put an end to the conversation. Ladon recognized Rafe, the russet-colored wolf shifter with a sarcastic, bitter attitude that rivaled Brand’s. The other wolf shifter with him was Cairn, the one with a major chip on his shoulder when it came to dragons.
“Over here,” he called.
Rafe shook hands. Cairn did not. “Thanks for the offer to put us up,” Rafe said.
“Not exactly our offer,” Brand pointed out.
They all ignored him. “You are welcome in Ben Nevis any time,” Ladon said.
“She’s going to try to send five through on this one. We’ll know Kasia and Skylar are on their way when Bleidd shows. He’ll be last.”
They nodded and waited.
Sure enough, seconds later a larger group appeared, linked by their hands, only they stumbled a bit, twisting up in one another to fall over.
Immediately he went to help, taking a young woman’s hand as she struggled to her feet. With a flick, she tossed her white blond hair back and turned to face him. “Thanks.”
Holy shit. No way could he mistake that heart-shaped face or those frozen eyes. This had to be Angelika. Skylar and Kasia had actually risked exposing their sister to dragons, especially with an unmated king on the loose.
What the hell was his mate thinking? He respected her need to protect everyone around her, but that meant she made no goddamn sense sometimes. At this rate, he’d be an old man well before his time.
Angelika’s scent reached him, swirling around him, and he paused. Wolf, human, but no smoke. Not a phoenix?
“You must be Ladon,” she murmured. “My name is…Angel. I’m—”
“My mate. I’m Jedd.” A tall man, leanly muscled with hard hazel eyes that reminded Ladon of his most battle-tested w
arriors stepped forward, clamping an arm around her waist.
Except the woman calling herself Angel cringed. Barely, but Ladon caught it just the same.
Had she mated this wolf? Unlike dragons, wolf mates didn’t carry a brand. Instead, part of their mating involved mutual bites that turned into a permanent marking. Usually at the neck, and he didn’t see any such mark on either of them.
Regardless, he couldn’t ask them about it here.
The unmistakable howl of a hellhound—part high-pitched scream and part full-bodied roar— cut the air, bloodcurdling enough to have every shifter in the place crouching, ready for attack. Ladon included. Except suddenly Maul poofed right in front of his eyes and pounced on the blonde, knocking her to the ground and making little whining sounds as he attempted to give her a bath with that rancid tongue while making a sound like a cackle, which Ladon was pretty sure was the dog’s version of a laugh.
From the ground, Angel, or Angelika, put a trembling hand to Maul’s face and whispered something that Ladon, even as close as he was, didn’t quite catch.
The dog did, though. He gave a snort of acknowledgment and poofed away again.
With a wary gaze, checking those around her, Angelika got to her feet and brushed off her clothes. “Interesting welcoming committee you’ve got here,” she said a little overloudly.
Ladon played along. “Welcome to Ben Nevis.”
Next, a group of five appeared in the same discombobulated state. Over the next twenty minutes, that continued until his training room was filled with wolf shifters. The entire town was being sent here, apparently.
Bleidd was the last to come through, his lips compressed in a grim line. “She’s losing steam,” he said to Ladon. “And I don’t think Kasia is confident Skylar can get them both this far.”
Beside him, Brand’s hands tightened into fists, but the Rogue King said nothing, merely stood staring at the space where each group had arrived.
Five minutes stretched to ten. Ladon was reaching for the sat phone when a woman appeared. Except only half of her showed. Her legs appeared to float in midair as the rest of her seemed to be trapped by an invisible tunnel. She thrashed and kicked, her feet too high to find purchase on the rock floor.