“You were right about it not being just vampires,” Deryn said.
“I wish I wasn’t right,” I muttered.
“I’m going to take you to the house,” Deryn informed me. “Go inside and hide. There is always one person to guard the house, so you should be safe.”
I nodded and didn’t put up a fight about it. He needed to be able to focus so that he could save his people. He ran me to the door, kissed me deeply, and then shifted and charged at the nearest enemy.
“No!” Madison screamed.
Turning, I caught sight of Madison and Tamara cowering against the side of the building nearest us with an ogre moving towards them.
“Maddy!” I screamed. “Tamara!” Without thinking, I raced towards them. I couldn’t defeat an ogre, but I might be able to distract it long enough to get them away from it. I slid around the ogre’s side and stood between him and the girls.
“Auntie Jolie!” they shrieked at the same time and clutched at my legs.
The ogre growled at me and then roared in my face.
I couldn’t let anything happen to the girls. They were my only nieces.
My stomach and chest were hot, way hotter than usual, but I couldn’t focus on that. I had to protect the girls.
The ogre roared at me again, spittle flying from his mouth.
I opened my mouth to roar back, but instead of sound coming out, fire did. The ogre screamed in pain and ran off.
What the fuck?
I had just breathed fire. How? Now wasn’t the time to think about that. I needed to get them to safety.
“Come on,” I ordered the girls. “We need to get inside the house.”
They nodded their understanding and the three of us ran to the house. The door was locked, so I banged twice on it. “It’s Jolie and the twins, Madison and Tamara!” I screamed as loud as I could.
The door opened and Sharla screamed as the girls tackled her. She hugged them and they all rubbed their faces on each other. I shut and locked the door and she pulled me down to hug me.
“I couldn’t find them,” she told me through her tears. “I was going to go out and search for them. Thank you. Thank you.”
I kissed her cheek. “No need to thank me.”
“Auntie Jolie breathed fire,” Madison told her excitedly.
“Shush,” I ordered them. “That’s not something we need to tell everyone. We need to keep it a secret until I can figure out how the hell it happened and why. Okay? It’s very important that we not discuss it.”
They mimed locking their lips closed and I smiled at them.
“Who is guarding the house?” I asked Sharla.
“Me,” she replied.
“I can’t believe he is doing this,” I told her sadly.
“Who?”
“My father. It’s his army attacking. They’re not only attacking the wolves, but the mages, dragons, and elves as well.”
She gasped and asked, “Are they going to be okay?”
“I hope so. The princes and kings went back to help fight. Deryn is outside fighting right now,” I explained.
She gripped my hand, and we cuddled closer together on the floor of the entryway.
Please be okay. Please let my guards be okay.
There had to be a way to defeat my dad. I knew he wouldn’t be here, he preferred to send his minions to do his bidding instead of coming himself. That way, if they lost, he was still safe. What was he hoping to gain by this attack? Was he really trying to defeat the four main races with his army? There hadn’t seem to be that many attackers here. There were a lot, but not so many that I would think the werewolves would be overrun.
Something else was his goal. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was.
I sat on the floor, huddled with the girls and Sharla, for what felt like hours. We all jumped when someone knocked on the door.
“It’s me, Deryn,” he said through it.
Sharla got up and checked through the peephole before opening it and letting Deryn in.
He rushed over to me and picked me up to hug me when he saw me. “You’re okay?”
“Yes. You?” I asked as I hugged him back.
“I’m fine.”
“The other guards?” I asked nervously.
“No one has been hurt significantly,” he told me.
“Who got hurt?” I asked.
“We’ll find out when we get home,” he said. “Let’s head home.”
The door opened and Martin came in. His family rushed to him, hugging, kissing, and rubbing their scents on each other.
“Do you need me to drive you?” Martin asked from within the arms of his girls.
Deryn shook his head. “Console your girls. I’ll drive us and someone can come pick the car up later.”
Deryn led me outside, to a building I hadn’t gone into before. Dan was there, talking with a few other people. He turned around when we approached and hugged me. “Did you get hurt?”
I shook my head.
“Good. Take the car over there,” he said and indicated a black car. I had zero idea what kind of car it was.
“Send someone to get it later,” Deryn told his dad.
Dan nodded and waved to us, resuming his conversation.
There were bodies all over. Thankfully, I didn’t see any werewolf bodies among them. Blood and body pieces were everywhere, on the walls, the grass, the concrete, hanging from trees. It was disgusting and terrifying.
The entire drive, I felt like I was going to explode with nerves. Someone had been injured. One of my Guards was injured. Deryn wouldn’t tell me who or how bad it was, which was making it even worse. Who was it?
Knowing that they were all alive was a huge relief, but I was still worried about the injury. Others healed so quickly, that injuries were not discussed unless it was serious. Like, an arm being cut off, which they would not be able to grow back.
When Deryn parked, I jumped out of the car and raced to the elevator. It seemed to take twice as long for it to come than it usually did.
I burst into Deryn’s apartment and looked over the three inside. Rhys was the only one with a bandage. I rushed to him and he immediately pulled me into his lap.
“I’m fine,” he assured me.
“A shifter with a bandage is not fine,” I accused him.
His right arm was bandaged, at least half of it covered.
“It’s just a scratch,” he said.
“Down to the bone,” Nico muttered.
Rhys growled. “Not helping.”
I rested my fingertips over the bandage, being sure not to let the pressure hurt him. “You’re okay?” I asked softly.
He kissed my cheek and nodded. “I’m okay.”
“The battle isn’t over,” I told them. “This was too easy a win and there weren’t that many beings.”
“You think this was a test?” Nico asked.
I nodded. I had been thinking about it on the way here.
“Also, I need to tell you something,” I mumbled without looking at them.
“What?” Rhys asked and slowly ran his fingers of his good arm up and down my arm.
Getting out of his lap, I stood behind the couch and said, “I, uh, breathed fire.”
Silence was not the reaction I had expected.
“Come again?” Rhys asked quietly.
“When we got to the pack, I heard the twins scream. An ogre was attacking them. I couldn’t let them get hurt, so I ran over and stood in front of them. the ogre screamed at me and my stomach and chest felt really hot. Then, when I tried to scream back at the ogre, fire came out instead.”
“You put yourself in front of an ogre?!” Deryn shouted.
“My nieces were in trouble,” I growled at him. “Should I have left them to die?”
“No, you should have yelled for me,” he growled back.
“You were fighting already.”
“Do you think you can do it again?” Nico asked, stopping our argument.
Rhys walked to me and said, “Picture a volcano. Then, imagine the fire of the volcano erupting, but out of your mouth.”
“You really want me to try?” I asked. “What if I light something on fire?”
“I’ve got it covered,” Nico assured me.
This seemed like a really bad idea.
“Okay,” I conceded.
Closing my eyes, I pictured a volcano like Rhys had instructed. I imagined the fire coming from my belly and erupting from my mouth. My stomach grew hot, just like it had earlier, and when I opened my mouth, fire came out.
Nico used a spell to contain the fire, but all of them were staring at me instead of the fire.
“Her eyes,” Deryn whispered.
Rushing to the bathroom, I looked in the mirror and the blood drained from my face. I gripped the sink to keep from falling.
Dragon’s eyes. I had Dragon’s eyes.
“I’ve never heard of something like this,” Rhys told everyone.
“We should contact the Elders,” Fox said.
“What if it is something bad? They could order her to be contained or they could kill her,” Deryn said.
That sounded like a terrible option.
Nico pried my hands open and turned me to face him. “Breathe,” he ordered me.
A big breath whooshed out of me and I fell into his arms. What was happening?
Nico held me tightly. “It’s going to be okay.”
“It’s the stupid curse,” I whispered and pulled away from him. “You’re all in danger by being with me.”
“Jolie-”
Someone knocked on the door and everyone went silent. Deryn opened it to reveal the apartment manager.
“There you all are!” she exclaimed. “I’ve been going to each of your apartments trying to find you. Great news, Jolie. Your apartment is fixed.”
“Great,” I said with a wide smile, glad that my eyes had apparently returned to normal since she wasn’t freaking out. “Thanks for getting it taken care of for me.”
She waved and left, but before Deryn shut the door, I walked out of it.
“Where are you going?” Deryn demanded.
“My apartment,” I replied without turning back to look at him. I pushed the button for the elevator and waited.
Nico stopped next to me.
“What are you doing?” I asked him.
“Coming with you.”
“I don’t need a guard in my apartment.”
“You were stolen from Deryn’s apartment,” he reminded me.
“Can’t I have some privacy? Some alone time?” I asked angrily. My hands were clenched and felt tingly.
Nico tried to pull me into a hug, but I pushed him back. Or, that had been the plan. Instead, he went flying down the hallway and slammed into Rhys who had just stepped out of Deryn’s apartment.
I looked down and gasped at my glowing hands.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t-”
Booth stood up and shook their heads.
“What was that?” Rhys asked.
“Mage powers,” Nico said. “Somehow, she’s using our powers.”
The elevator opened and I climbed in, mashing the close button as Nico and Rhys raced towards it.
“Wait!” Rhys yelled.
“Jolie!” Nico called.
Instead of going to my apartment, I went to the ground floor and ran outside. Everything was going to shit. Why was I using their powers? I could have killed Nico.
My phone rang and I was surprised to find Martin calling instead of the guys.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Because Deryn called me, upset, because you ran off. What’s going on?”
He was genuinely worried about me. I couldn’t let him come near me.
“I can’t involve you.”
“Just tell me where you are.”
“No. the whole point of me leaving is to stay away from them. You’ll just tell them where I am, so they can find me.”
“They are freaking out,” he said. “Deryn said, ‘please’ to me. Think about that.”
He hung up, which shocked me almost as much as Deryn saying please to Martin.
My stomach was growling and I was a good distance from the apartment building now, so I went into the first restaurant that I saw. It was a chain diner that offered a variety of food. Usually, the food wasn’t very good, but most of the people who ate there were either old or drunk.
I was neither of those, but I was very hungry and it was really dark now. I hadn’t realized how much time had past since we had seen the Elders. It was definitely past dinner time.
There were only a handful of people seated, half teenagers eating fries and drinking soda, and the other half were clearly drunk.
The waitress looked tired, but she still feigned a smile as she took my order and set a cup of hot chocolate in front of me.
It was childish of me to run away. Maybe it was the curse. The website had said the curse increased my self-sacrificial tendencies. If I could just stop worrying and trying to leave them, our relationship would be better off. I needed to text them.
Me: I’m safe.
Nico: We know.
Me: How?
Deryn: Look behind you.
I turned around and the four waved at me from a booth they were sitting at. Instead of getting mad, I laughed. I had forgotten that they could track me. Dad had mentioned that.
Grabbing my cocoa, I walked to their table. Rhys stood up and let me slide in to sit between him and Nico.
“Did you know that dragons love hot chocolate?” Rhys asked me.
“All of them?” I asked, skeptically.
He nodded. “Yep. We have cupboards full of it and every meeting, all of our scariest and most powerful members, drink cocoa while making important decisions.”
“Will I get to see your clan or your home?” I asked him.
“Once our relationship is official, then you will.”
“Why isn’t it official now?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowed. How did you make it official?
“We don’t want to put you in anymore danger than we already are. Once we find the people responsible for hunting you, then we will make it official,” Rhys explained.
“How did my dad know?” I asked with a frown and shook my head.
“We were trying to figure that out as well,” Fox said, his frown mirrored mine.
“Here’s your sandwich,” the waitress told me as she set it on the table in front of me. “Your orders will be up soon,” she told the guys.
“Thank you,” Deryn replied with a charming smile that would make most girls, me included, melt in their shoes.
She left without even caring. She was the first female I had seen who didn’t care about them.
Rhys reached for one of my fries, and I smacked his hand.
“Mine,” I told him.
I poured ketchup onto my plate and took a bite of my sandwich.
“Feisty,” Rhys teased me.
Ignoring them, I ate my food, cleaning my plate completely.
“I didn’t know you could eat that much,” Fox whispered. “I’m impressed.”
The waitress had to make three trips to bring out all of the food the guys had ordered. I sat back and watched them. Four princes, all different races, that got along like brothers. They were all hot, sweet, and incredibly powerful.
“When I saw you on the TV, walking down the crowd, powers on display, do you know what I was thinking?” I asked them.
They paused eating and turned to me.
“What?” Deryn asked.
“You all looked hot as fuck,” I replied with a wide smile. “Also, Rhys, I had no idea that dragons had a warrior form.”
“You’re teasing us at a restaurant,” Nico chastised. “Not nice.”
“I’m not t
easing you,” I replied defensively.
“Most dragons aren’t powerful enough to have a warrior form,” Rhys explained. “It’s a unique skill.”
The waitress set the bills on the end of the table and before I could grab mine, Rhys did.
“Hey, one is mine,” I said and tried to grab it.
He held it up above my head, high enough that even if I jumped, I couldn’t reach it. “I’ll pay. It’s my turn.”
“Your turn?” I asked. What was he talking about?
“We rotate who pays for food when we go out,” Deryn said and draped an arm across my shoulders.
I snuggled into his side as we walked out of the restaurant. There was no point in arguing with them, they were the most stubborn males I had ever met. We waited for Rhys to pay on the sidewalk with people milling about, going on their ways.
If I was able to use their powers, could I shift into a wolf? Outside the restaurant in the middle of the city was probably not the best place to try.
Rhys came out and we started towards home. We walked by an ice cream shop and I stopped, making Deryn stop walking with me.
“Ice cream?” he asked.
“Please,” I requested. I was abnormally hungry, wanting to eat again, even though I had just eaten a full meal.
We crowded into the already busy shop, and I immediately regretted my decision. There was a swarm of teenage girls inside, who all stood up and squealed when they saw the princes. The girls rushed over, asking to take pictures with them.
One particularly pushy girl, shoved me out of the way so she could take a picture with Deryn. I laughed at her bravado and went to the counter to order my ice cream.
The guy behind the counter was in his mid to late twenties, attractive, and had a ton of tattoos on his forearms. They were gorgeous, well done tattoos and I wanted to ask about them, but didn’t.
He smiled at me, putting on the charm. “What would you like?” he asked, and I realized that he was flirting with me.
Hadn’t he seen me walk in with the guys?
“What do you recommend?” I asked, returning his smile. Flirting was harmless fun, especially with the guys behind me.
“My place, dinner, and dessert.”
Damn he was bold. And his offer reminded me of Rhys when we first met.
“Sorry, I already have plans.”
“Well, then I recommend the Sunny Sundae,” he said, not fazed by my rejection at all.
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