Of course, there was no time to speculate on the matter, considering she was headed to start a battle with a stubborn woman who refused to admit that she was wrong. Yeah, it probably wasn’t a very good time.
“We’re here,” Allie announced, transforming back to her human form so they’d all be able to understand her. “Don’t be surprised if they know we are coming.” To Betty, who also transformed beside her, she added in a whisper, “Since I can sense where he is, and he can also sense me. He even asked me why I was here, but I haven’t answered him.”
“So he’s probably already got who knows how many lions set anywhere he wants in there waiting for us, and probably with the order to stop us at all costs,” Betty pointed out. “Good plan.”
“Get a grip, Betty,” Allie scoffed. “He isn’t going to order us killed or he wouldn’t be able to get what he wants. He’s going to demand that I bring the artifact in exchange for Crystal.”
“Or—and this is off the top of my head, here—maybe he had figured out that the two of you share a daughter together that you never told him about, and he has no intention to give her back at all.”
“What!” Allie gasped. “You think he would do something like that?”
“I think that it’s not really the Raven he’s fishing for here,” Betty pointed out into her ear. “If he’s been inside your head but didn’t tell you to bring it yet, it’s obviously not at the top of his list, is it?”
“Unless he’s hoping to gather up a few more hostages first,” Allie pointed out, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they were still being quiet enough. The other bears had politely turned away from them.
“Why would he bother, when you’re already here?” Betty scoffed. “All he needs to do is capture you, and then he’ll be the one in charge, won’t he? Your best solution right now is to come clean about everything and become his ally. Allie the ally—has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“We’re going in right now,” said Allie angrily. “I’m getting Crystal back and he is not getting that artifact, and that’s an end to this whole conversation. Now are you going to lead the army in or aren’t you?”
“I am,” Betty scowled, then raised her voice as she turned back to the others. “Everyone, we’re going inside. You need to go in waves of five or ten since there’s many more lions than there are of us. Don’t let them pin you to the walls, that’s a sure way to get trapped. We suspect they’re more interested in capturing than killing at this time, but that’s no reason to offer yourselves up as a sacrifice. Fight to subdue whenever you can, as usual if possible, but do whatever it takes to win the day.”
Orders now given, there was no more need for the two women to remain human, so they also turned and each joined one of the first groups that moved inside. Allie went in because she wanted to be able to direct the battle, while Betty went in to lead the way.
It didn’t take long for about forty lions to show up and engage them all in battle. A group of six bears rallied around Allie, keeping her safe while Betty and the other bears surged ahead to meet their foes head on. As usual, Betty was up front, and fought fiercely. She gave her opponents no quarter, biting at them, ripping at their flesh, and leaving them running away again.
Ted was noticeably absent from this part of the battle. So Betty was sure he’d only sent them out as a distraction. He must be trying to buy more time, she thought. Eventually, the lions had all fallen back out of sight, leaving the bears free to fully enter the cave and proceed to where they had all gathered within a huge cavern, waiting for them.
Caius was seated on a stone throne in his lion form, very much the way he had been the first time they met. His two children were both seated to either side of him. Crystal looked like she was having the time of her life in her new dress and tiara.
“What on earth?” Allie snarled as she stepped forward and turned human as well. Hands on her hips, she glared at Crystal and asked, “Do you really think that this is any time for you to be playing dress-up, young lady?”
“Sure it is, Mom,” she sneered. “I’ve just learned who I really am. And I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me to forgive you for not letting me know, either.”
“That goes double for me,” Caius added, becoming human again himself.
“You’re the reason she doesn’t know,” Allie pointed out. “You and your dictatorial, my way or the highway attitude. Did you really think I’d be stupid enough to admit that our affair brought forth a new life? Then you would only have behaved worse than ever, wouldn’t you?”
“I hope you realize that you’ve just led all your women into a trap,” Caius smirked. “There’s plenty more lions closing you all in, now that you have arrived.”
“Undoubtedly,” Allie shrugged. “But there’s just one thing.”
Caius blinked. “You’re making demands?”
“I don’t want a bloody battle here today,” she told him then. “I think we should settle things on the field of battle, don’t you? I say we send forth one champion each, Caius. My best fighter pitted against yours. And the winner gets to keep the Raven for their people forever.”
“Stop calling it that,” he grumbled. “I don’t see why you could possibly think the damned bird looks like a Raven. It’s clearly some sort of mythical creature, not some common beast.”
“To you, it was a mythical creature, and the man who touched it believed so enough that his champion creature was mythological as well,” said Betty as she stepped forward. “However, when that same statue was recognized as a more common bird, and the person who touched it chose a champion, the resulting creature received both her gender and her idea of what was the most powerful animal to be. Don’t you see?”
“Well, that’s all very interesting, but it still doesn’t solve the dilemma,” Caius pointed out. “We need to establish ownership once and for all. And you must be her. My son and your best shall fight. Go. Now!”
“As you wish, father,” Ted agreed as he moved off of his perch on the bench.
“But you can’t fight with her, Ted,” Crystal protested in his ear.
“Don’t worry, sis, it’s only foreplay,” he whispered back, making her suppress a chuckle. Then, as his feet touched the floor, he transformed into his lion form, padding cockily up to the still-human Betty, who stood with her hands on her hips.
If you don’t transform and start fighting, I’ll just bite you anyway, sweetheart, Ted informed her.
Betty strode right up and pressed her forehead to his, glaring into his eyes. She transformed while their foreheads were still touching. Not if I bite you first, she replied. Then, smirking as she did so, she chomped on the end of his nose.
“What the heck was that?” Allie protested. “A love bite? Rip his ears off!”
“Nuts to that!” Caius scoffed. “Pin her to the floor and have done with it. She’s not going to bite you for real.”
Annoyed by this statement, Betty swiped a massive paw in Ted’s direction, knocking him about ten feet across the room. Ears ringing, he managed to get onto his feet again. Hey, that hurt! he complained.
It has to look real, doesn’t it? said Betty. Neither one of them is going to believe it if we just bat each other around a bit. Besides, baby, I thought you liked it rough.
I may like it rough, but only if I’m going to get off at some point, he reminded her.
Betty stalked across the room and roared. Then consider this foreplay…
They started fighting in earnest then, biting, scratching, kicking and shoving. It was obviously a sparring match since neither one of them made any lethal moves. They may have to battle to wait Wayne out, but that didn’t mean they had to mean it.
And then Wayne was there, statue in hands, watching the action with amusement. He called out, “You may as well stop them, you know. Neither of them wants to win anyway.”
Allie gasped with outrage. Still in her human form, she surged forward as if to r
un after the prize. Seeing what she was doing, Caius also began to run. Betty and Ted stopped fighting and laid tiredly wrapped together on the floor instead. By mutual unmentioned agreement, they transformed back into humans as they did so.
Both the lions and the bears all looked on, many of them now returned to human form, with a few notable stragglers not bothering to do so. Each of them cheered excitedly over the turn of events as their two leaders went. And then, a collective gasp stopped everyone short as they stared.
Allie and Caius reached the bird at exactly the same time, each one grabbing a wing. Then, before their very eyes, it transformed into a huge white raven and surged up into the sky. Each of the two held one white feather in their hands. They turned to stare at each other as a bright white light flared up and began to encircle them.
“At last it is time,” said the raven. “Now, I’ll have no more arguments from you two. Do you know how long it has taken for me to find a couple who would be able to work together? You are meant to rule together, not squabble over who is in charge. I expect you can figure all of this out by the time the baby is born.”
“Baby?” Caius scoffed.
“What baby?” Allie wanted to know. “We haven’t even been near each other in years.”
“Not your baby—their baby,” said the raven, pointing out the exhausted couple lying on the floor, both glancing sheepishly in their direction.
“You let her fight that hard while she was pregnant?” Allie grumbled, stomping over to smack Ted upside the head.
“Ow!” he said. “It was her idea!”
“I can see why you’d think the king needs some help, since he can’t even knock some sense into his own son’s head,” said Allie as she crossed her arms.
“But she doesn’t even love me,” Caius protested.
“You know better,” the bird snapped then. “How can you say that, when you know you brought her to the arch?”
“What about the arch?” Betty wanted to know.
“It’s a lion tradition,” said the bird. “They only bring the girl who has stolen their heart.”
“Wait, then you knew even then?” Betty asked softly.
“Of course I knew,” Ted replied, snuggling closer. “So did you.”
“Then, if that’s true, then you mean I did steal your heart?” Allie wanted to know. Her eyes began to mist over with happy tears as Caius slowly stepped up to her. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her closer.
“You are the one who escaped from me, not the other way around,” he complained. “Of course I love you, but how can I find out whether or not you really love me?”
Before he could say another word, Allie plastered her lips to his, more to shut him up before another one of his stupid tirades than anything else. Then she said, “I must love you, if I’m willing to put up with your crap. But one thing—the research is still very important, Caius. Someday, I want to show the world the truth about your past, and about your people. You could even stop hiding in the ground if I did that.”
“I understand,” he nodded, kissing her again.
“One other thing,” said the raven. “You guys get to all be shifters now. No more touching me, since I’m not even a statue anymore. I will begin to come and go as I please, and you will all figure out how to get along.”
“All shifters,” Allie asked with a wrinkled nose. “But what will we become?”
“You can each become anything you like,” the bird told them. “It was never the intention of my creator to divide the men and women, that was something that your warring and divisions did to you all by itself. Now, I’m sure that you two want some time alone, and it looks very much like there are plenty of others in this cave who are feeling the same. What do you say we call it a night? I’d really like to spread my wings for the first time in over two thousand years anyway, thank you very much!”
“Come with me?” Caius asked Allie hopefully.
“Of course,” she agreed, taking his hand and letting him lead her away to the stairs.
Ted cast Betty a grin as he helped her to her feet. “Permanent fixture time?” he teased.
“Yeah,” Betty agreed. “Unless you’d rather sleep in my bed instead?”
“Maybe later,” Ted shrugged. “That foreplay was too good to waste so much time tonight.”
Chapter 9
Ted and Betty went to the doctor soon after to begin her prenatal care. They had to use a shifter doctor, of course, because they weren’t exactly human, and what with the new abilities of all the tribe and clan members to shift, he had his hands pretty full figuring out what new changes had come about.
The two of them decided to get married out by the arches, where they had gone on their very first date. It was really romantic, and they asked Raven to hear the vows. That night was the only one they spent in Betty’s bed. Every night after that, she became a permanent fixture in his.
About a month later, Caius and Allie also made their union official, much to the exaltation of the joined masses. The people were so happy that they even got them a pair of crowns that they could wear while they sat on their thrones. The ones that were worn there only one time, and were forever afterwards used in their bedroom instead.
The baby came in early November, and she was every bit as beautiful as they’d dreamed she would be.
*****
It was two years later, on the night of a winter solstice. The last two years in a row, the combined tribe and Raven Clan—now all collectively known as the Raven Kingdom at the insistence of their bird—had learned to work together quite nicely. Some worked and lived at the compound, while some chose to live and work within either the caves of the lions or the ice caves themselves.
They had also taken to celebrating on the night of the solstice in remembrance of their shared traditions. Tonight, the king and queen and their seconds-in-command were all dressed in feathers of white to represent the Raven, and though the ceremony no longer represented a transformation of the children, who were all shifters now, they still brought forth the kids who had become fourteen as a symbol that they were about to begin their adult training as hunters for the Clan.
Baby Teddi, who was playing with a little stuffed toy she’d gotten for her one-year birthday last month, seemed to be in high spirits as she had just discovered how to walk that very morning. Betty suspected that might be some sort of a side effect due to the fact that she’d been pregnant with her at the time the magic had transformed Raven into a living form. Apparently she used to bear the name Sennia when she’d been turned into a statue to begin with, but she didn’t have any great desire to reclaim the name now.
“This celebration thing is really great,” she told them as she fluttered down among them in human form as well. “I’m really pleased with all the changes your people have made over the last two years. I always knew I had chosen the right queen for this stubborn old man.”
“Stop trying to embarrass me,” Allie scolded. “It won’t work. I am very content in my new capacity, as you can see. I never dreamed it would all come together this easily.”
“It probably helped that half of the lions and bears were already secretly mated to one another in the first place,” said Betty with a shrug.
“Including you,” Allie smirked.
“Now when was that ever really a secret?” Betty smirked.
“If it was, you weren’t very good at keeping it, were you?” Ted snickered. “Getting pregnant right away like that. Naughty girl.” He kissed the top of her head as Betty grinned innocently. “Not that I am complaining when our daughter is such a beautiful child. I’ll be beating the boys off of her with a stick someday.”
“Only if I don’t get there first,” Betty told him in all seriousness. “But anyway, I’m getting pretty tired and all the food is gone. Maybe it’s about time we put all these kids to bed so we could head to our own beds as well. I’m sure the servers can get this mess picked up in the mor
ning.”
I hope you don’t believe that going to bed tonight has anything to do with sleep, Ted reminded her with a chuckle. Betty gave his hand a squeeze under the table, but then she surreptitiously moved it just a bit south, right between his legs, and she gave that a squeeze as well.
“Yes, clearly the two of you are in need of a bed,” said Caius wryly, and everyone laughed.
Betty stepped over and caught up her daughter in one arm so her leg and arms were hanging to either side of her hip. The little girl squealed with delight at the pose, making noises like she was a bird as she ‘held out her wings’.
“Such a sweet girl,” Raven chuckled. “Come on then, little one. I believe I was promised to take you for the night. We’ll have a nice bottle of milk for you, and some wine for me to help me relax. This has been a rather stimulating evening, to say the least.”
“You’re not going to put her into your nest again, are you?” Ted wanted to know.
“Of course I am,” Raven insisted. “She absolutely loves it. I wouldn’t even be surprised if her first transform will be into a bird. Could be any time now, too, with her level of intelligence. She’s been watching everyone switch really intently, and I think she’s just been working it out in her mind how they must have done it. Just you wait, it won’t be too long.”
“Great,” he said. “But anyway, I think we’re going to go now, so you two enjoy yourselves.” Then he leaned in and gave Teddi a kiss good-night. Betty gave her one as well as she transferred her from her arms to Raven's, and the girl grinned with delight.
“Raven!” she said happily as she snuggled into her arms and gave her a kiss, making the demi-god in question blush. The two of them wandered off, and after saying good-night to a few other people Ted and Betty did the same.
“This really has been a wonderful year, hasn’t it?” Ted asked as he reached for the zipper at the back of Betty’s feathered dress, making sure not to catch anything in it as he eased it downwards.
“It really has,” she agreed with a satisfied smile. She unzipped the front of his white feathered coat as well, easing it off of his shoulders and hanging it up in their bedroom, in the house before she carefully removed her own garment as well. She didn’t want to ruin them since they were made specifically for tonight’s ceremony, and should be useful for years to come with proper care.
Unbreak My Heart: BWWM Romance (Brother From Money Book 20) Page 21