by Silver Milan
She looked up at those big, almond-shaped eyes, glowing with gold fire in concern for her, and she sighed, averting her gaze. “If I don’t do this now, I never will. If I want to rid myself of this beast, I have to stay. I belong here, at least for the time being. I wish I was a dragon, but I’m not. Go back to your kingdom, Jett. Go back to your people. They need you.” But I need you more.
She glanced up at him bravely, and the two merely stared at one another for several seconds, unsure of how to say goodbye. This was always the hardest part. Ariel promised herself that she wouldn’t cry.
This is why I usually run. Because of moments like these. Moments I hate.
“Well.” She extended a hand. “Wish me luck.”
Jett glanced at her hand, but then wrapped his arms around her and swept her off her feet instead. One hand pressed into the small of her back, the other cradled her nape. He pulled her to him, planting his lips against hers, and her stomach fluttered with joy, though it was tempered with sadness.
She wrapped her arms around his head, threading her fingers through his luxuriant hair, and held him close. She wanted to hold him there forever. Didn’t want this kiss to end. Because when it did, it meant her life with him was over.
She pressed her lips against his like a thirsty woman who’d crossed a desert and arrived upon an oasis. She drank greedily from that well-spring, opening and closing her lips in time to his own as if the two were a single entity.
How long they remained like that, wrapped in each other’s arms, surrounded by their mutual scents, lips joined in passion, Ariel didn’t know. But then Jett began to pull away; she gripped harder, her lips lingering on his own. She felt a tear streak down her cheek as he finally extricated himself. So much for not crying.
“Something to remember me by,” Jett said, his voice full of sadness.
With that, he turned around and walked into the forest.
Ariel watched him. She told herself that if he looked back, she would leave these lions behind. She would go with him to Midnight City and forget about taming her inner beast. She would make this sacrifice for him.
She watched, waiting, her inner lioness growling just below the surface, hoping for the sign she needed.
But Jett didn’t look back.
17
Jett sat in his study, staring at his satellite-capable smartphone, willing a message from Cliff to arrive via the Wi-Fi routers scattered throughout Midnight City. The wireless signal strength was high, so that wasn’t the problem. Cliff just didn’t have anything new to report, apparently.
A whole week had passed since Jett had returned to the subterranean city he’d called home for so long. Once, he could have never imagined living anywhere but here, surrounded by his treasure hoards, and people that would follow him to hell and back if he commanded it. But the place held no charm for him anymore.
Something had changed the day he met Ariel. Something had broken inside of him. Or perhaps a better way of looking at it was that something had been set right. He’d told her he had never loved any of the women he had been with before, not even his wives. But he was starting to think he might have such feelings for her. It didn’t seem possible, given the short amount of time they’d spent together, but how else could he explain the ache he felt inside of himself at her absence, the gaping hole in his being? He certainly liked her. That much he knew.
He rubbed his neck. At least he was free of the infernal collar. When he had returned, the first thing he’d done was visit Ephephany. She removed it, and he hightailed it to The Hooded Dale and released his inner dragon. He had soared for many hours above that secret valley, relishing in his freedom, forgetting all of his troubles.
But when he landed and assumed human form once again, he felt the weight of his kingly burden all too keenly on his shoulders. That, and the loneliness weighing heavily on his heart.
The price of freedom from that collar was high.
Very high.
He hadn’t heard from Cliff in a couple of days. In his last message, Cliff reported that Ariel seemed to be gaining some semblance of control over her beast. He explained he had tried letting her out into the camp for good behavior, but then she had promptly transformed, evaded her guards, and raced out into the woods. He’d sent five members of the pride to bring her back; they tracked her to the clearing where Jett had spent that fateful night in the woods with her. They found her beside the abandoned tent, caterwauling loudly.
Her lioness was looking for him. Trying to find him.
The thought tore at his heartstrings.
The members of the lion search party had packed up the tent and chased her back to the camp, where she was captured and confined to her cabin once more. Cliff had a talk with her when she returned to human form, and she told him she hadn’t been able to keep her lioness from running there. She told him that it was like the beast had taken over.
Jett found the news troubling. He’d warned her not to consider herself a separate entity from her inner beast, as he thought that might be a contributing factor to the manifestation of such behavior in her animal. Then again, he had limited knowledge of other shifters. Dragons didn’t experience such dualities, but maybe such things were natural with lions.
Cliff also reported that he hadn’t discovered any signs of the Orions yet, but he seemed confident the hunters were still somewhere in Blue Hurricane or Starry Oak territory.
Jett hadn’t told him, but he agreed with that assessment. The hidden cameras the dragon security forces had installed throughout the border territories were slowly going offline, likely destroyed by the witch among the Orions, her powers allowing her to sense the electromagnetic fields emitted by the devices.
Jett considered dispatching the small camera drones he sometimes used to scout the border territories, but the damn things were noisy, and the Orions would hear them a mile away. More than enough time to take cover. Their witch might choose to eliminate the drones, too, but he was more worried it would spook the hunters: when they realized the dragons were looking for them, they might run, bringing Logan with them before the traitor could face justice.
So that was that. He had returned to govern a kingdom he had no interest in ruling anymore. He had been awake for a hundred years. With Ariel, he felt young, full of energy. Without her? Tired and old. The only way to get rid of the pain he felt was to go to sleep once more. If he couldn’t have Ariel, what was the point of remaining awake? He could return to the peaceful oblivion of sleep and let the world pass him by while he slept. Perhaps when he awakened, Ariel would be able to control her beast. Perhaps she would be living in a human city, away from prides that wouldn’t tolerate his presence, and he could be with her finally. Or perhaps he would awaken to find her married to a lion, raising five of his cubs. Or maybe she would be dead.
The last two thoughts filled him with rage, and he had to release the phone before he broke it. He squeezed his hands into fists, imagining his fingers crushing the windpipe of the man who did this to her. Logan Kane.
He breathed deeply, recalling the trick Ephephany had taught him long ago to calm himself. Three long, deep inhales. Three equally long exhales.
He sat back, closing his eyes. He supposed Logan was partially to thank for all of this, since without him Jett would have never met Ariel. But the strictures were clear. Those who would bite and forcibly convert a human to a shifter against his or her will must be executed. The fact that Logan had allied himself with the Orions only further demonstrated his need to die.
Jett’s mind drifted to Ariel once more, and he thought of their last kiss. She had tasted so good. He had had a screaming erection, and it had been all he could do to pull away from her without taking her right there in front of the lions. Having her in his arms like that, joined to her lips, felt so right. Like that was where he was meant to be. Not seated on some lonely dragon throne.
He shook his head. He should have never slept with her. That only solidified the bond he had originally fe
lt with her.
Jett picked up the phone. Still no messages, of course. He twirled the device contemplatively between his fingers.
Sleep. Sleep. An escape from this pain…
But he knew that was the easy way out. Besides, what if Ariel needed him? Cliff said she already tried to run back to that fateful clearing in the woods. What if she tried again?
Hmm. Maybe that was a way for Jett to see her again. Even if his senses weren’t as attuned to the earth as Ariel’s apparently were—his mind was designed more to navigate the skies rather than the twists and turns of a forest—his sat-phone had a GPS log that kept track of everywhere he went. Using the log, he could retrace his steps to the clearing without too much issue. The pride didn’t want him staying in their camp, so maybe he’d board out there in the woods instead. Well, that wouldn’t really work, because technically he would still be in their territory. They would take offense if he camped out there.
Jett sighed. If he went back there, it would just make things worse.
Let her go.
Soon she would forget about him, as he must forget her. He just wasn’t sure that he could.
“The Council of Seven is about to convene,” Dan intoned from a speaker in the ceiling, startling Jett slightly.
Ah yes. He had forgotten the weekly council meetings.
Jett swiveled to face the computer monitor. “Connect me.”
The seven windows activated on his ultra-wide-screen monitor as the video conference began. In each of those windows resided the face of one of the seven kings and queens who ruled the world in secret.
“We’ve detected a disturbance in the Strength, located in the forested region immediately surrounding Midnight,” Yvonne said without preamble. She was the queen of the witches, or Wayfarers as they called themselves, and presided over Russia and Eastern Europe. “None of our Wayfarers are in that region. Be wary.”
Gregor frowned. “I haven’t sensed anything.” The dragon king of Western Europe, he was the only one among the council who was also a witch. He had trained at the Steel Tower.
“The disturbance isn’t strong enough to be detected on the other side of the world,” Yvonne said. “It was reported by eyes and ears I have in the nearby human city.”
Like ordinary shifters, Jett allowed local Wayfarers to reside in his domain, as long as they followed the rules.
“Why wasn’t it reported by Jett’s own Wayfarer adviser?” Lanfen said. She was the dragon queen of the Far East.
“What kind of disturbance are we talking about?” Jett asked in concern.
“A high concentration of Dark and Death affinities,” Yvonne answered.
“That explains it,” Jett said, his concern deepening. “Ephephany has no affinity to either.” Her disciplines were Life, Light, and of course Fire.
“Nonetheless, it appears a Strengthworker with extensive command of both is in your midst,” Yvonne said.
“I have some lion vassals in the nearby forest,” Jett said. “They’ve reported Orions in the area.”
“There are no Death users among the Orions,” Raquel, queen of the African vampire coven, said. Though like all vampires she could retract her canines, Jett had never seen her hide them. She wanted to remind the Council of who she was. What she was.
Jett nodded, considering her words. While some witches among the hunters could wield the Dark, there were no Death users among them because the Orions actively hunted and killed those with that affinity: Death was a perversion of the Life affinity, and could only be used by vampires and other undead, which was why he hadn’t mentioned it to Ariel when he’d explained the affinities to her.
Sometimes Wayfarer advisers sent to the vampires allowed themselves to be turned to the undead, which not only perverted their affinities, but broke their bonds to the witches; it was why the Steel Tower was loath to send advisers to the big vampire covens.
“My guess is they’re pursuing a rogue vampire witch,” Jett said. “And the hunt just so happened to lead them into shifter territory. That would explain why my vassals haven’t reported any Orion attacks yet. Have any powerful witches been reported missing from the vampire covens?”
The three vampire kings replied in the negative.
“You would think that a vampire with such powerful affinities would be missed,” Yvonne said.
“Are you saying you don’t trust us?” Tritus, the vampire king of South and Central America, asked. Like Raquel, he wore his fangs long.
“Not at all,” Yvonne said. “Only that, you may need to look at your headcount methods.”
“Are you still sensing the Strength disturbance?” Jett asked.
“The disturbance is gone,” Yvonne said. “But that doesn’t mean the vampire has left.”
No, Jett thought. It only means he hasn’t accessed enough of his dark powers for your witches to sense another disturbance.
“Well, I obviously have a vested interest in this matter,” Jett said. “I’ll have my men keep a lookout, and let you know if anything comes up.”
Next the council members spoke of other issues affecting their respective domains, such as a drought in Europe, and unrest in South America, but Jett only half listened. He was troubled by the news that a powerful vampire was on the loose in the woods outside Midnight.
Ariel.
Finally the conference ended.
“Dan, I want Flame and Brazen out there,” Jett said. The security cameras wouldn’t be enough, not if there was a vampire with powerful affinities to Death and Darkness in those woods. “Have them search for those Orions, and the vampire. They are to notify me immediately if they spot anyone. And make sure they stay well away from the lions. I don’t need to get into any autonomy disputes with the shifters right now.”
“Consider it done,” Dan replied from the speaker above.
In the coming days, Jett busied himself with the day-to-day management of the kingdom, becoming more involved than he usually did. He met with his advisers and ministers and those seeking to curry favor. Each night he had dinner with his brother and sister and discussed strategies for dealing with whatever issues had come up that day. He kept in touch with Brazen and Flame twice a day, but they found nothing to indicate the presence of the Orions, let alone a powerful vampire.
As the week slowly passed, Jett had to constantly fight the urge to leave Midnight and go to Ariel. He had to remind himself that she was a powerful shifter in her own right, surrounded by lions, with two of his best White Swords scouring the woods for signs of their common enemy. Still, it was difficult.
Cliff had been quiet since that last message, but on the tenth day since Jett left the pride, he received an urgent text from the Alpha of Blue Hurricane requesting his assistance.
Jett hurried through the woods. Ephephany had secured a fresh collar to his neck, something he was glad to accept. If he was never able to become a dragon again, he didn’t care: seeing Ariel was all that mattered.
Jett arranged for Brazen and Flame to meet him on to the way to the pride. They, too, wore similar collars limiting their powers. Neither of the White Swords had detected any signs of the Orions, or the vampire.
“If they’re here, they’re moving like ghosts,” Flame said.
Flame bore no signs of the physical punishment Jett had inflicted when he’d discovered the man had allowed Gwendoline to take Ariel from his house. The lash marks had completely healed, leaving no scars; Jett was confident the White Sword held no grudges, because it was Flame himself who had begged Jett to punish him.
“It’s also possible the Orions were merely passing through as they chased the vampire, and they’re long gone,” Brazen added.
Jett nodded. “Keep looking.”
When he was almost at the Blue Hurricane camp, he rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt to bare his forearms and the dragon tattoos inked there. He wanted to remind the lions of who he was.
When he arrived, Jett passed by two heavily-maned lions on guard duty, and f
ound Ariel sitting at a picnic table near the center of camp. Others from the pride sat beside her. Ariel was talking quietly with another woman who sat at her side.
When Ariel saw Jett, she stood up and ran to him. He opened his arms as she threw herself at him in a deep embrace.
“Are you all right?” Jett asked. He caressed her shoulder blade with one hand, refusing to break the hug.
“Yes,” Ariel said. It sounded like she was holding back tears. “It’s so good to see you. So so good. I’ve missed you.”
“And I’ve missed you,” Jett said.
He felt her press a hungry kiss to his neck. He ran his hand through her hair, relishing in the smell of her.
Cliff approached.
“Thanks for coming,” Cliff said.
“Of course,” Jett told him. “What can I do to help?”
“She’s been transforming randomly,” Cliff said. “And fighting the guards, injuring some of them badly.”
Jett glanced at the picnic table, and noticed that a couple of the men had bandages: one on his shoulder, another over his chest. A third man kept his arm in a sling.
“When she can get away, which is often,” Cliff continued. “Her lioness always returns to the same spot in the woods. Where you camped for the night that first time on your way here.”
Jett squeezed her tighter. “She keeps looking for me.”
“Yes,” Cliff said. “We tried setting up netting around the camp to act as a deterrent, but she’s figured out how to cut through it before our guards can stop her. It’s getting to be too much. Men from both prides are getting hurt. She’s strong. And I don’t have to mention to you how dangerous it is for her to be running off like that, especially with Orions somewhere in the area.”
And something potentially worse.