by C. M. Owens
Dice sneezes, and we all look at him. When he sneezes again, he starts dancing in place, excitement lighting up his features. “You sneezed then ran off because you turned into me!”
Kya groans. “Noo, I didn’t want to disinfect you, damn it.”
He continues to sneeze over and over, and he runs up the stairs. “I need a mirror!” he shouts. “I’ll come with the group to see Alyssa and Karma if it works, and I don’t even have to lose my balls!”
“Even if we do this,” Thad goes on, “how do you plan to make two kings listen to a princess when they wouldn’t hear a king? Dragonites, from what Kya has observed so far, are a male dominant species. What happens if they turn out to be stronger than us?”
“They’d be crazy to start a species war, because our numbers far outweigh theirs. Prejudice has always rallied more soldiers in a time of war,” Kya interjects. “Slade did the math on the chances, and since survival is primary above all else in shifters, he decided to focus solely on Hannah.”
“But that doesn’t mean they’ll listen to a princess over a king,” Thad continues, his eyes searching mine. “Why would they listen?”
“Because they shift,” is my only answer.
Chaz groans. “I feel left out of this conversation.”
Thad and Roslyn continue to stare at me. “Let Alyssa decide,” Thad finally says. “I can’t be trusted to weigh in because you feel stronger than usual.”
“Possibly because she’s had Slade’s blood,” Kya says, then her eyes widen when I glare at her.
“That explains so much,” Chaz grumbles under his breath.
“Kya!” Dice shouts, and since she typically ignores him, I know she’s running up those stairs after the beckoning to get away from my glare.
“It’s not his blood that makes me want to—”
“Act dominant and take on the dragonites against your father’s orders?” Chaz finishes, completely different from how I planned on finishing that statement.
“She’s not acting dominant,” Thad tells him. “Trust me when I say that comes with all its own issues, and to be honest, I should have thought of it before.”
Kya materializes in the room, heaving out a frustrated breath. “Sometimes I wonder how this became my life so fast,” she says before snapping her fingers to a beat.
The lights start flickering in time with her snaps, and we all look at each other when ACDC starts blasting throughout the house.
Our eyes all flit to the stairs as the lights continue to flicker with the beat of the music, Kya’s power being put to odd use.
Dice comes down the stairs, singing every single word, and steps into view just as Back in Black gets to the chorus. Dressed in all black leather as he runs a hair through his black hair, he pushes his black sunglasses up on his nose after looking over the rim at us.
He air-guitars his way down the rest of the stairs while also head-banging.
Then he does a little moonwalking across the kitchen floor.
Kya finally stops flicking her fingers, and dematerializes from the room. The music cuts out, and my ears continue ringing.
“Ah, you couldn’t give me my moment?” Dice gripes.
She rematerializes in the room, flipping him off as she walks on. “Someone tell me when I’m needed. Since this is all vague to me, I’m going to go check in with Slade.”
Just hearing his name makes it hard to resist going with her. Clearly I really have spent too much time with him, or maybe it’s because his blood is so fresh in my veins.
I filled him with my blood, and he walked away. Then again, he did spend time basically cuddling with me in bed, so…that’s a new development.
“While you’re at it, ask him what he’d do, and I bet he gives you the same answer Ella just gave us,” Chaz says, laughing humorlessly. “Did he do this on purpose?”
Kya hesitates, looking over at me, and I huff out a breath. It’s Thad who finally snaps.
“She’s saying she’s terrified of Alyssa disagreeing with her, because right now, Alyssa is queen. And all our animal senses are on hyper-drive since that portal unleashed a stream of unresolved conflict with unapologetic enemies.”
Chaz’s brow furrows.
“He’s saying I’m worried I’ll end up challenging my mother if/when she disagrees with me,” I say quietly, clearing my throat. “Hence the reason I wanted to avoid her and ask my father for forgiveness rather than permission, because I don’t trust myself.”
Dice drops to the counter in a lean, his eyes blanking a little as tension coats the room.
“It’s not like I want to go behind their backs, but…”
My words trail off.
“But between whatever takes over when you use too much power and the animal clawing at you from the inside to stop being so inactive, you’re worried you won’t be in control,” Thad finishes, looking away.
“Good. So we’re going with the ask for forgiveness thing instead. I’m on board now. Should have just led with that instead of the urine bit,” Dice says, clapping his hand on the counter. “Someone give me a lift to Karma before we do this.”
“I’ll take him. I need to speak with Alyssa myself and see what she says,” Chaz grumbles.
“Don’t tell her what’s going on with me, please. She’ll try to find me—”
“Because her instincts are more witch, especially right now since so much time has elapsed from her last shift,” Roslyn states like she understands perfectly, then her eyes meet mine. “No one understands losing touch with your animal more than I do, even though I only have a wolf. My wolf tore out of me when I lost my connection, and I’m still not completely whole.”
“Crazy girl gets even worse when the one piece of you that works properly starts getting taken over by the pacing, suppressed, restless monsters inside you, got it,” Dice says. “We’ve accepted the mutinous course of action and have moved on to Chaz and I going off to do very different things for at least thirty minutes—”
“Ten minutes,” Chaz interjects.
“I can work with ten,” Dice automatically says. “Let’s get going then before you slash it to five, because I don’t think Karma will be good with five.”
Chapter 18
SLADE
“You’re not even affiliated with the royal family,” Darius says as he gauges me warily.
“Technically, neither are you. Dragonites traditionally had one ruler.”
“Old ways,” he says dismissively, shrugging a shoulder as he leans back in his chair and starts drinking wine.
We’re outside, having this conversation for all to hear, if anyone else was around. It’s just us in the middle of a wide-open field, next to an infuriatingly loud waterfall. At a table with two chairs, sitting amongst the wilderness, like two civilized animals.
I can feel his beast just as he can feel all of mine, and the playing fields are a little more level than I had hoped. I can sense it just as he can.
“The princess plans to offer you less, but sitting across from you, I know it won’t go over well, and trust me, you don’t want to deal with the backlash. She doesn’t have much control right now, and that could get messy for everyone.”
He sits back, lips twitching.
“Why’d you come to me instead of the red with yellow?” he asks.
“Because you have the most to gain with an alliance, and the red and yellow, as you call them, will quickly follow suit to prevent you from having us as your allies and not theirs as well,” I explain. “You and I both know I only need one of you to bend the other, but I’ll like you more if you side with us first.”
Obviously I won’t like him at all, and we both know that, but he also knows the magnitude of being the pioneer when loyalties are involved.
“And your princess won’t mind?” he muses.
“She’ll be irate,” I say with my own shrug.
He leans forward, his eyes getting more serious. “These people did this to your body,” he says, gesturing to my
arms and my face.
“Ah, this is mild compared to what they actually did to cause it. Different methods for whoever was running the show at the time. Your people will be next if the Queen’s rule falls. It’s a different dynamic than you’re used to. And that’s just until Hannah returns with a fresh new Lokie army under her sole control and unlimited power we’ll never stand a chance against.”
He clasps his fingers together. “If my people had been in there, I would have gotten them out,” he points out.
“She’s only been queen for a couple of decades, and the rings collapsed under her rule for the first time in its very long history. She has people tracking down any stragglers even now. Trust me, I wish I didn’t have to admit any of this, and I might actually kill you if you ever tell any of them the things I’ve said.”
His grin outright grows. “Well, then. As long as you can make your princess see reason, I see no reason we can’t adhere to the new terms, for the sake of peace.”
“And you’ll show up when the time comes?” I ensure, leaning toward him this time since he’s been slimming the space, testing my own dominance to meet his subtle challenge.
His eyes spark to life, but his smirk stays fixed.
“Make sure you plant those damn, stupid flowers,” he says, pointing at the bouquet on the desk.
All those centuries I spent plotting revenge, I never once considered gardening to be on the docket of things I’d have to do.
Damn Ella.
“Trust me, you painted a vivid picture of what happens. I can’t ensure they’ll continue to grow, but they’ll be planted.”
“Oh, they certainly won’t last for longer than a month or two. That part of the earth is too polluted. Hence the reason we’re all here, instead of on opposite sides of the world from each other.”
Such a weird little flower to be so powerful. Parts of my mind want to dissect it, find out what about it keeps their fire from destroying the earth.
It’s an old habit, one I used to share with my brother.
Clearing my throat and looking back at him, I stick my hand out.
“So we have a deal?”
“I want it in writing from the queen,” he says.
“At least one of the others should be able to aide in convincing her of that,” I say, no real deception there for him to read.
“Then we have a deal.”
He clasps my forearm, and his eyes hold mine. “I rarely make deals with devils who plan to die. Don’t make me regret it.”
He pulls his hand back, and he uses a knife from the table to slice his wrist. The scent of his blood is weirdly not the charred ash I expected it to smell like. He lets his wrist drain over the jar.
“Tell no one of this,” he says quietly. “It’s disgraceful for one of ours to offer our blood to one of yours.”
“If I get that list, trust me, you’ll be anything but disgraced. How do you think I know what your blood is capable of, dragon?” I ask him.
His pupils dilate into reptilian slits.
“They had one of our kind?” he asks.
“Only for a brief time,” I assure him. “He didn’t make it long in the cages before he died from the imprisonment alone.”
“What the fucking hell kind of world have I brought my people to?” he mutters under his breath.
“It’s not like you guys came in peacefully the last time,” I remind him as I stand.
His wound seals, and I screw the lid on the jar, tightening it until no air can enter, then I grab the flowers and spell them both so that they disappear.
Then I vanish from the table, and reappear outside the perimeter he set, closing my eyes. Shit. She’s already here.
She couldn’t have traveled that fast without the abomination Kya has claimed as her own mate.
I dematerialize and head south to intercept, knowing where they’ll be going as a starting point. Damn dragonites are even more paranoid than I am, and that says a lot.
I prop up on a tree, hearing them talking, per the usual, as they approach, and I pull out my journal, glancing over the words I wrote so long ago—the exact plan I laid out.
Lately, I need to be reminded of my priorities more and more, and this journal—the hardest fucking contraband there ever was to get and keep hidden in that damn prison—is the only thing that puts me back on the right path.
Because I forget everything I planned until I finally see the words that make me remember.
“I can’t believe I told you about Alton, but you didn’t tell me about Slade being Ella’s mate,” Kya gripes, snatching her hand away from Chaz.
“Damn it, I thought you already knew, and I sure as hell didn’t want to discuss it.”
“So stop discussing it already,” Ella says on an exasperated breath.
My lips twitch.
“Was he going to mate you when I burst into the room as another Polly?” Kya asks, the color seeming to drain from her face.
“No,” Ella says as Chaz and another male I can’t see yet both groan.
“Why exactly are we meeting this king?” Chaz asks.
“Because he’s the only one of the two who’d speak to a woman about something as sensitive and kingly as this,” Kya growls, causing my lips to twitch again.
Ella is looking in my direction already, as though she senses me for a change, and she stops walking when she sees me from the distance. Instantly, she dematerializes and lands in front of me as a dark shadow passes overhead—Darius off to relay this information to whoever he needs to.
Ella’s eyes follow the shadow, then her eyes come back and narrow on mine.
“What have you done, Slade?”
“Brokered a deal on your behalf,” I answer, smirking when she predictably fists her hands, already getting pissed.
“You had no right to broker any deal! Are you insane?” she snaps at me.
“Had as much right as you to broker an unsanctioned deal, Ella. And your plan to come in and dominate him was as well thought out as Dice’s wardrobe,” I tell her as the incubus creaks around in his leather.
“You really think I’d have learned my lesson the last time I had to sweat in leather, but in my defense, immortals don’t usually sweat,” the incubus rambles.
“You have no idea how well thought—” Her words stop, and she makes a sound of frustration. “This is crossing a line. What do you do when I’m not with you? Just sit around and close your eyes so you can watch my every move?” she shouts.
“Of course not,” I say dismissively, ignoring the others with her as I start guiding her back down the hill, walking so she can yell at me some more before I explain how this benefits her.
“I check in on occasion, see if there’s a conversation worth eavesdropping on, then usually I go right back to doing what I’m doing,” I tell her. “On the rare occasion you’re onto something worth listening to, I simply listen for about ten minutes until you veer off topic, then do something productive for twenty minutes and check in to see if you’re back on topic yet,” I add.
Someone finds that funny, since there’s a muffled snort of laughter. I glance over to see who, for the sake of curiosity. Damn it. I just made the incubus laugh.
This day is now hell.
Annoyed, I look back to see Ella just as she shoves hard at my chest, and my breath blows out in a harsh rush as I’m launched backwards.
Airborne, I flip, barely managing to land on my feet, and slide from the momentum. My eyes narrow on hers this time, because I sure as hell wasn’t expecting that, but that’ll do. I wanted her pissed.
“This was not your decision to make,” she snaps.
“It wasn’t yours either, but you planned to do it anyway, despite your parents’ orders. I met in the middle of weak and arrogant and brokered a deal that actually took.”
Her eyes glow brighter, the silver seeming to crawl in them as the wind starts to stir. Her ire is a little more intense than I planned for. I underestimated just how close those beasts really
are to the surface, but as long as she’s pissed, that’s all that matters.
“It’s not a bad deal, Ella. They get this land, they keep their titles, but they abide by Alyssa’s law, even though they won’t bow to her. And if anyone revolts because of it, they’re her allies—they’ll help her restore order. It’ll be a trifecta of bad decisions from any possible rebels, and they won’t have the support needed to ever succeed. Do you understand? The second king will contact you very shortly, and he’ll be less apprehensive about speaking to a woman when he feels like Darius is getting ambitious.”
“That’s more than I thought we’d talk them into,” Chaz says to her, like he’s trying to calm her down, but her eyes stay trained on me as the wind stirs harder.
“That’s not even the point,” Ella says, a tear hitting her cheek, her eyes not leaving mine as I try to figure out what the hell has a tear falling from her eyes, and also wondering why the hell it feels like someone is stabbing a knife in my chest.
“Then what is the point, Ella? Your beasts should be soothed by this win. They’re even with his dominance. I felt it. You’re supposed to be able to sense me, so sense this,” I tell her dismissively, provoking her.
I’m launched back again, this time slamming into the ground so hard dirt flies up. “You don’t even plan to stick around long enough for it to affect you!” she shouts when she’s suddenly ripping me up from the ground and shoving me against a tree so hard the tree cracks.
I let her, since I can’t bring myself to fight back, and I stare into her eyes as more of her tears start to fall.
“You don’t get to tell me what I can handle or can’t, because you decided centuries ago that I played no part in your decisions.” She shoves away from me, another tear falling from her eye. “You don’t get to play a part in mine when you’ve told me you’d rather die than face any future where you’re tethered to me!”
Her voice cracks, and she holds her hand up when Chaz tries to go to her. “I’m going to go take advantage of all the free space out here, and I’m going to shift.” Her eyes meet mine again. “Be gone before I return.”