I obeyed.
“Focus on Deryn. You should be able to focus on him through your mate bond,” she explained.
I opened my bond with Deryn more than it already was, narrowing my bonds with the others, to focus on him. “Okay,” I whispered.
“Think of something that really pisses you off. Something that makes you want to tear people’s heads off,” she said.
That was easy. I thought about internet lag causing me to lose my connection to the Ghost 2 servers, and causing the team to wipe during the last step of the hard raid boss’s fight. That bastard had had only a tick of health left. All we had to do was hit him once, and we would have won. Unfortunately, I was the last one alive, and right when I was about to hit him, my internet gave out, wiping us, and making us start over.
The anger built in me.
“Channel that anger to Deryn. Think of it like pushing the feeling down your mate bond,” she said.
I imagined the anger as a red aura, and slid that red glow down our bond, coating it, and sending a wave at Deryn.
We heard a roar inside, and something shattered.
My eyes flew open, and Deryn marched outside, eyes glowing. “What are you doing?” he demanded. His hands were bleeding.
I started to stand, but Leona put a hand on my shoulder. “She’s working on her powers.”
“Warn me next time,” he growled.
“What happened to your hands?”
“I was holding a glass vase, and suddenly, got so mad that I just smashed it in my hands,” he said. He started to pick out the pieces of glass, not even wincing.
“Sorry,” Leona said, wincing for Deryn.
“She did it though, right?” he asked.
Nico teleported to us. “I’ve got an idea.”
“Okay,” Leona said.
“I’m going to bring the others out, and we are going to spar. I want you to randomly send emotions to us,” Nico said. “I want to see how it effects our fighting.”
Leona nodded. “Then, I want you to send one emotion to all of them at once. So, we can see how effective it is when you send to multiple people.”
“Got it,” I said, and shifted my butt on the ground to get a bit more comfortable. Our grass was incredibly soft and lush, though. So, I didn’t have to shift much.
“Let us change, and then we’ll be out,” Nico said.
“Food?” I requested.
He smirked, bent to kiss my lips, and whispered, “As my queen orders.”
I sat still, trying my best to meditate before my next attempt.
The guys returned, and Leona whispered, “Do not open your eyes.”
“Why not?” I asked, but obeyed.
“Just, don’t,” she said.
“Is it bad?”
She sighed. “Are we friends?”
“Duh,” I said with a closed eyes eye roll.
“Then keep your eyes shut, and don’t open them until we finish this test,” she ordered me.
“Fine,” I grumbled, wondering what she saw that she thought might hinder my ability to focus.
“Ready,” Deryn called from somewhere behind me.
“Begin sparring,” Leona instructed them. “Then, I’ll instruct her to start.
Leona sat next to me, leaning her shoulder against mine, but facing the opposite direction as me. I assumed she was facing the guys, but I didn’t bother asking.
I could hear the guys sparring behind me, their feet shuffled along the grass, and there were smacks of flesh against flesh.
“Enrage Fox,” she whispered.
I opened Fox’s bond, remembered the game killing me for no reason, telling me I was killed by the “architects”, and wiping the team. Anger built in me, and I sent the red aura down Fox’s bond.
Instantly, Fox snarled, and the movements behind me increased.
“Enrage Deryn,” she said, her voice just loud enough for me to hear.
I repeated the steps, but kept Fox’s link open and some of the anger sliding down his bond as well.
Deryn growled, and the fighting intensified behind me.
“Now, all of them,” she said. “At the same time. I want you to pull all of the anger back, form it into a tight ball of rage, and then send it down all four bonds at once.”
I gritted my teeth, opened all four bonds, drew the anger back from Deryn and Fox, and built the anger up until the red ball almost filled me up. Then, I sent it down all four links.
All four roared, and I heard Deryn shift and Rhys shift as well. Then, I felt the ground moving, and fire behind me.
“Holy shit!” Deryn roared.
“This is amazing!” Fox screamed.
“Turn around,” she said, “but keep those bonds filled with rage.”
I opened my eyes, and turned, looking at my four mates in their most dangerous forms, fighting each other.
Damn, they were gorgeous. They wore only sweatpants, and their bodies were covered in sweat as they fought each other.
“Close your eyes, draw it all back, then send them all the love you can,” she instructed me.
“Love?” I asked.
She nodded.
I closed my eyes, and obeyed. I drew the red back into me, and let it drown in a ball of silver. I thought of how much I loved them, and how happy they made me.
When I opened my eyes, the guys stood perfectly still, looking at me with tears in their eyes.
“Girl, that is amazing,” Leona whispered.
The guys came to me, dropped to their knees, and took turns hugging me.
“We love you, too,” Nico whispered in my ear.
“Well, it looks like that was a success,” Andras said behind me.
“Ah, just who I wanted to find,” Leona said.
I pulled away from Nico to look at Andras and Leona.
Andras arched a brow. “Me?”
She nodded, an evil smirk on her face. “I need you to spar with Rhys.”
Andras walked to the spot they used for sparring, tossed his shirt to the ground, and took a fighting stance. “Ready.”
“Damn, that is one fine male,” Leona whispered.
“You’re dating Thor,” Fox whispered with a chuckle.
“I can appreciate the way another male looks. I just can’t touch,” She said. She looked at me. “Right?”
I raised my hands. “I’m not touching that conversation with a ten-foot pole.”
“Traitor,” she muttered.
Rhys walked to Andras, stood a few feet away, and took a fighting stance. “Ready,” he called out to me.
“Use your bond with Rhys, and then the dragon’s bond to find Andras,” she instructed me.
“Shouldn’t she rest first?” Fox asked, folding his legs beneath him next to me.
“No. I need to see what she can do,” Leona said.
“Okay,” I agreed.
I closed my eyes, and focused. I opened Rhys’s bond, and then used our bond to travel down the dragon’s bond to Andras. I found him, easily enough. “Got him.”
“On my mark, send the fury to Rhys, and then to Andras,” she said.
I nodded to let her know I understood.
“Start sparring,” Leona called out to Rhys and Andras.
They began.
“Focus on Andras,” Leona whispered. “Don’t let it go anywhere else.”
Right.
“Now,” she whispered.
I obeyed and heard Andras roar and shift.
“Holy crap,” Rhys said. “You shifted into warrior form.”
Andras responded by roaring, and continuing his attack.
“Draw it back,” Leona whispered.
I obeyed, but couldn’t get all of it. “I can’t get it all,” I choked.
“Calm down,” she whispered, and a cool wind wrapped around me, easing my worry. “Try again.”
I took a deep breath, and then imagined breathing in all of the red anger. Slowly, it pulled away from Andras, and back into me, where I smothered it with
love again, but this time, I didn’t send that out to Andras.
I heard Andras gasping, and opened my eyes to find him laying on the ground on his back with Rhys beside him.
“Is he alright?” I asked. “Are you alright?” I called to Andras.
Andras raised a hand with one thumb up.
I exhaled in relief and sagged against Leona’s side. “No more,” I begged. “I’m exhausted.”
“That was amazing!” Andras roared, fists raised.
“He’s never been able to take a warrior form before,” Rhys said as they walked towards us.
“How many people could she do that to?” Andras asked.
“I’m not sure,” Leona admitted. “Or how long she could hold it for.”
“How does anger affect the elves?” I asked Fox.
“Similar to the others, but we don’t have a form to shift into. Your rage did give me an extra boost of my earth affinity, though.”
“I thought I’d felt the ground rumbling,” I said. I lay on my back, and took several deep breaths.
“This is good,” Nico said with a nod. “This is very good.”
“Water,” I requested.
Nico teleported away, and then returned the next moment with a bottle of water.
I drank it all in three gulps, gasping for breath when I was done, and wiped at the water that had dribbled down my chin.
“No more for today,” Nico said, picked me up, and teleported me to our room.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “I’m just tired.”
“Which is why I’m putting you in bed,” he said. “The guys and I have some planning to do, and this will alter our original plan a bit. So, you rest here, while we discuss our strategy.”
“I don’t like that you plan things without me,” I told him, but as I lay on the soft bed with the warm blanket now settled on me, I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.
“Rest, and when you wake up, I’ll explain our plan to you. Okay?” He kissed my forehead, and teleported away before I could respond.
“Fine,” I grumbled, but even though I wanted to argue, I was tired, and a nap sounded amazing.
Chapter 19
Fox
“How many are we going to leave to protect her? And which of us? I’m not leaving her without one of us here,” I said as we stood over the map of Jinla in Deryn’s office.
We had left Jolie to nap, so we could strategize and figure out our plan a, b, c, and d. Just in case. Since things involving our mate often went awry. Not usually because it was her fault, but still, it was better to be prepared.
“Who wants to stay behind?” Rhys asked.
No one spoke up. While we all wanted Jolie protected, we also wanted to be on the front lines, to kill the punk who had tried to erase our mate’s memory.
“I’ll stay,” I said with a sigh. “You all are more powerful and needed on the front lines.”
“You sure?” Rhys asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Just give him a few extra hits from me.”
Deryn bared his teeth. “You got it.”
“Alright. So, we’ll leave Fox, Andras, Martin, Sharla, and Silverowl here,” Rhys said.
We all nodded.
“Thor and Leona will be coming with us,” Rhys continued. “We need Leona on the front lines in case Douche shows up and starts using his siren powers. Nico, I’ll put you in charge of them, so you can teleport them to wherever they’re needed when he shows up.”
Nico nodded. “Understood.”
“Deryn, you and the wolves will need to split up. I want a few wolves on each corner of the city,” Rhys said. He put a few metal pieces around the map of Jinla. “I also want five wolves at the den to protect the kids, and those unable to fight.”
“We’ve got the group for that picked out already,” Deryn said with a nod.
“Fox, have you decided your defenses yet?” Rhys asked.
“Most of our forces are going to the center of the city. We want to be there, ready to be dispatched where necessary. Our healers are going to be stationed here, here, and here,” I said and put markers down on the map. “That way they are centralized and able to heal anyone who needs it.”
“Three guards on each healer,” Rhys said.
“One mage will be with each healer,” Nico said, and put markers next to the ones I’d placed.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Klaus said as he teleported into the room.
Rhys stopped his fist an inch away from Klaus’s face, snarling. “Stop doing that!” Rhys growled.
“What did you change your mind to?” Nico asked.
“I can’t let Jolie or the baby get hurt,” Klaus said, scowling. “He wants to hurt them to get at you, but they’re too precious to be killed.”
“We don’t know you. We can’t trust you,” Rhys said.
“That baby is the first hybrid in over two hundred years,” Klaus said, folding his arms across his chest. “Jolie is unifying our clans, and so quickly that it’s blowing the old males’ minds. They have no way to combat it. She’s unifying not just our clans, but the humans with us. Something not possible before. I will protect her. I will keep her and the baby alive. May I lose my magic, and life, if I fail.”
He was being serious. He was telling the truth.
“I think we should let him stay with Jolie,” I said, meeting Klaus’s eyes. “If he betrays us, he knows we’ll kill him.”
Klaus smiled. “Exactly. And what idiot wants to anger the four princes?”
“Your brother,” I reminded him.
He rolled his eyes. “That’s because he’s always been stupid and full of anger. He thinks this is revenge for not being able to take the siren throne.”
“Fine,” Rhys agreed with a slight snarl. “You stay and protect Jolie.”
“How are we going to contact each other when this starts?” Klaus asked. “This could happen at any moment.”
“Day Star,” Nico said.
Day Star was a mage spell that sent a huge ball of light in the sky that flashed bright enough to blind you if you looked at it directly. The flash could be seen for hundreds of miles. It was the easiest way to send a signal to everyone. Most high-level mages could perform the spell, so no matter who saw the first attack, everyone would know it had started.
Klaus nodded.
“I have an idea,” Leona said from the doorway.
We all spun, eyes wide since none of us had heard her approach.
“Sorry,” she said and smirked. “Didn’t mean to frighten you boys.”
“What is it?” Rhys asked.
She set two silver cylinders on the table. They were small, and looked familiar.
“These are earplugs,” she said.
“We can’t be deaf while being attacked,” I said.
She rolled her eyes at me. “I swear, you guys act like women are stupid sometimes and it’s just so barbaric. I see why Jolie gets so worked up when discussing battles with you.”
“We don’t—” Deryn started, but she waved his words away.
“Look. These are magic ear plugs. They’re designed to make you deaf to a siren’s call. So, no matter what Trident Douche tries to sing, you won’t be affected,” she explained.
“What about Jolie’s powers?” I asked.
She smiled, joy and pride shining in her eyes. “My girl can still use her powers on you because she’s doing it through the bond, not through sound.”
Well, that was good to know. Also, slightly terrifying.
“Martin and Sharla will be moving in tomorrow,” Rhys told us.
“You didn’t tell Jolie that,” Leona said, eyes wide.
“No, we didn’t,” Nico said and sighed. “We had planned to, but forgot today.”
“She’s going to be mad,” Leona said in a sing-song voice.
“We need Sharla here in case she goes into labor and Kara is unavailable,” Nico explained.
“And, having Martin here to protect her doesn’t hurt either. Sin
ce, we all know he still loves her even if it’s no longer romantic,” she said.
We all cringed slightly. He did still care for her. He loved his mate, but part of him still belonged to Jolie. Just like if she hadn’t taken us as mates, we still would have belonged to her.
“He offered. Plus, we will have several powerful guards here, which makes his mate and daughters safer than just at the werewolf den,” Deryn said.
She smiled. “Don’t try to convince me, wolfie boy. It’s your mate that you have to deal with.”
“She’ll understand,” I said, confident.
“Of course, I will,” Jolie said, leaning her shoulder against the doorjamb. “Although, I would rather be told things before they are decided on.”
“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” Nico grumbled.
“I slept for thirty minutes and then couldn’t stay asleep because someone decided to take up martial arts in my stomach,” she explained, and glanced down.
We all looked at her stomach and saw the baby pressing against her skin from the inside, the perfect outline of a baby’s foot visible through her skin. The foot disappeared, and her entire belly seemed to shift around as it moved. Damn, it was moving around a lot, and was considerably larger.
Deryn was closest, so he bent a sniffed. “Dragon.”
Rhys walked over, knelt, and pressed his forehead to her belly.
The baby kicked him in the forehead.
I let out a bark of laughter and then clamped a hand over my mouth. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
Deryn smirked but had kept his laughter in somehow.
Rhys growled, and the baby instantly stilled.
“Don’t scare the baby!” Jolie snapped, backing away from him and putting her hand to her stomach. The baby kicked her hand, and she scowled. “Fine, scare away.”
“I’m not scaring the baby,” Rhys said, pulling her by the hand so she came back closer to him. “It’s a dominance thing. Our child is an alpha, and we only understand one thing, dominance.”
“Because you’re all so pigheaded and stubborn?” Jolie muttered beneath her breath.
“Yes,” I agreed.
She looked up at me and smiled.
There it was. The most beautiful smile in the world. She glowed, radiating strength and beauty in her pregnancy. I was one lucky male.
“Child, we need you to calm down, so we can talk out how best to protect you and your mother,” Rhys whispered. “Understand?”
Royally Enraged: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Her Royal Harem Book 4) Page 13