Whistling low, Ian stared at Jessica, his expression plainly showing his shock. “So she has a submissive tiger and a dominant dragon inside her? Not just that, but she was born from magic?”
“That sums it up. The Drako are her people and they want her back. I thought I told you most of this, but I guess I didn’t.”
“You told me there was a magical clan coming after you and her, but not why. That’s… well, there aren’t really words for it.”
“No, there aren’t,” Kian replied.
He gazed around the lawn at all the shifters willing to lay down their lives to fight for them. War Cats, Enforcers, Rocky River fighters. He was man enough to admit that the thought of losing any of them terrified him, but he also felt like they already won.
The Drako were coming to Durga with the intent of tearing down, destroying and taking, with murder and hate in their hearts. Yet, the shifters gathered in Durga had come together with love in theirs. Shifters who, a couple of years ago, hated each other, were now united in protecting each other. Just look at Zane and Seth. Kian had no doubt that they’d have each other’s backs.
And because of that, no matter what happened tomorrow, Kian felt like they already won.
Chapter Fifteen
Jessica took a deep breath, nerves assaulting her. It was almost time for the Drako to arrive, and they were all gathered on the lawn, about to move to the gates. Her hands trembled, and she clenched them into fists, trying to hide the show of nerves.
If ever there were a time to be strong and brave, it was that moment. But at the same time, if there were ever a time to be an absolute mess, it was then, too.
She was leaning more toward the side of being a mess, but she knew she needed to get it together. Nerves weren’t allowed. She had to stand strong and keep a cool head, not lose it and wreck everything.
Her dragon said she was the one who had to defeat the Drako’s queen. Which meant the fate of the battle rested on her shoulders. All the shifters gathered to join them in the battle—their lives depended on her.
No pressure though, right?
“Hey,” Kian said, coming up next to her and taking her hands. “It’s going to be okay. We can do this. You can do this. I believe in you, in us. We got this.”
Her nose stung with the urge to cry as she smiled shakily at him. “I love you, Kian. So much.”
Leaning down, he kissed her softly, his goatee tickling her skin in the way she loved. “I love you too, baby. More than you could ever know.”
Except she thought she did know. Because if he felt for her like she did for him—and she knew he did—then it was more than life itself.
“It’s almost time to make our way to the gates,” he said softly.
Nodding, she drew in a stuttering breath, squaring her shoulders and reaching for her dragon. She knew now that she could do some things on her own, but the upcoming battle definitely wasn’t one of them. But her dragon was still barely there, and her brow furrowed. She knew the animal had been doing her own sort of research, but they were out of time for that.
A gasp came from the side, and she looked to over to find Alex standing with his body stiff and vibrating, eyes wide. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but Kian rushed to his side and she followed, arriving just as Alex sucked in a breath, body relaxing.
“What? What did you see?”
Holding up a finger, Alex sucked in breath for a few moments. “The battle happens here, in this spot. They’re almost here.”
Kian cursed and Jessica looked at him with confusion. “How does he know that?”
“It’s his gift. He gets visions of the future. What else did you see, Alex?”
Alex hesitated, his eyes flicking to Jessica for a split second. “I can’t tell you. Don’t look like that, Kian. I can’t. If I do, it could change the outcome. And then things get harder. You need to get everyone organized. They’re close.”
“Fuck,” Kian spat, turning and whistling, motioning everyone over. “I knew they weren’t going to play by the rules they set down.”
“No, we never were,” came the same hissing voice that was on the phone the other night. Jessica whipped toward it, finding a man walking in a mist that covered only his feet. “But then, you were never going to surrender our princess, so I think that makes us even.”
More people, shifters, witches, Jessica didn’t know what to call them, followed behind them. Her eyes darted over them, trying to count them all. The War Cats outnumbered them, but it wasn’t much of a consolation, since the Drako had magic.
Eyes narrowed, she focused on the women. There were only five, but they were all the same—unassuming and so normal looking. How did she know which was the queen?
I’ll know, her dragon said, suddenly becoming strong inside her.
You left that down to the last second, didn’t you, Jessica snapped back. How will you know?
It’s part of why they want you, part of why you’re so powerful. Why you’re their princess. All of their knowledge is inside of me. Every bit of their history, every spell, every incantation, everything. I know it all. That’s why I’ve been quiet. I’ve been pulling it all out to see what I can use against them.
She blinked, stunned. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Right now, you should feel grateful. It’s how we’ll defeat them. That’s the other reason why they want you back so badly. Because they know you have everything needed to destroy them forever inside of you. Just give me your body when the time comes. I know what to do.
“You can’t hope to win, you know,” the man said, bringing her attention back to the moment. “So I’ll give Alessa one more chance to come with us. This, us, the Drako—we’re your destiny, Alessa. You must know that. You’ll never be happy here because you belong with us.”
“I belong here, in Durga Valley. These are my people. I will never belong with you, and we will win.”
Kian glanced at her in surprise, and she knew why. She felt it, too. Her voice had been so confident, so powerful. She’d never sounded that way before.
“Your dragon has convinced you of that, but she will fail you. Just like your parents’ animals failed them. You haven’t seen them since they dropped you off, have you? That’s because they dared to try to take you from us, and we couldn’t let that go. And now you’re giving that same fate to the people here. So selfish of you, my dear.”
Her body froze in shock and she felt Kian take her hand as he leaned in close. “He’s trying to rattle you. Don’t let him. You’re not giving us that fate, because we’ll win. And we’ll avenge your parents while we do it.”
His voice was borderline false on the statement about winning, and she knew his unwavering optimism was wavering just a bit now that the fight was upon them. And it was then that she knew she had to pull it together. It was her job as his mate to lend him her strength when he needed it. She’d never thought she had any, but she could feel it flowing through her now, and her back straightened as she gazed haughtily at the man.
“You won’t shake me with words. What you did to my parents was murder, plain and simple. Because they loved me enough to try to save me from a lifetime with your clan. This isn’t me being selfish. This is me, as well as the shifters at my side, standing strong in the face of evil. And we won’t let evil win.”
“Pretty words, but you just resigned everyone here to dying. So be it, Princess Alessa.”
He flicked his hand and before she could blink, most of the Drako were in the middle of the War Cats, already shifted into jewel toned animals, engaging them in battle. Shit, shit, shit. Kian immediately shifted beside her, engaging the male Drako next to him.
Okay, it was time. Do or die. She called on her dragon, panicking when she didn’t shift. She watched with horror as Arya barely avoided a killing bite from a blood red grizzly, trying again to shift. But still, nothing happened.
An eagle, one of the fighters, dive-bombed through the air, and she jumped back as it attacked the ja
de green lion stalking her. Shit, she was going to get taken if she didn’t shift soon.
All around her, pandemonium was breaking loose, and the man was standing with his arms crossed, a smirk on his face while he watched her. He’d known she wouldn’t be able to shift. That was why he’d been so confident.
She searched for the queen, assuming she wouldn’t be fighting, but all the women were battling. A ball of energy flew past her, leaving a bright yellow gorilla, and she watched, tears pressing against her eyes, as it slammed into a tiger. The tiger screeched, a brown stain appearing on its side as it staggered, falling to the ground.
Dragon, she screamed inside herself. Where are you? I’m giving you my body. Take it!
I’m trying. I can’t for some reason, her animal replied, voice panicked. She paused and Jessica could practically feel the knowledge slam into her. You have to be mated to unlock me. That’s why he knew you couldn’t shift. He knew you weren’t claimed yet. Kian has to claim you!
Jessica’s head whipped around, looking frantically for her mate. There were battling shifters everywhere, the Drako all oddly colored, but it wasn’t hard to find Kian. He was still the largest animal there, other than the grizzly and the—wait, where were Cammie and Alex? They were dragons. They were huge.
She found them, frowning in confusion. They were still as statues, the only part of them moving their eyes, and she saw in an instant that one of the Drako was the cause. She had to end this now, or they were as good as dead. There was a bright blue snake slithering toward them, and she knew it would kill them. She hadn’t even known snake shifters existed.
Shaking her head of her thoughts, she locked her eyes on her mate. “Kian! Claim me, now!”
Kian’s head whipped toward her at the same time the man’s did, and she knew he realized she’d figured it out. He flicked his hand and two of the Drako left their battles and turned toward Kian, instantly charging him.
Kian didn’t slow, just continued barreling toward her, and he was almost to her when the Drako reached him. He turned to battle one and the other raked its claws down his side. She began going to him, unsure what she could do. Her tiger was hiding deep inside her where she couldn’t access her, but she had to do something.
Then another tiger with neon green eyes rushed the other Drako and she let out a breath of relief. Zane. Maybe that was why she’d felt like he needed to stay and fight.
A moment later, Kian broke free of his fight and lunged for her, mouth open. She flinched as his teeth sank into her shoulder, pain ripping through her body. Usually, when shifters claimed each other, there was pain, but also pleasure. Claimings usually happened at the height of an orgasm, but without that pleasure, the pain was almost unbearable.
But as soon as he removed his teeth from her, she felt her dragon take over. Her bones broke and reformed more painfully than shifting into her tiger ever did, and it felt like it took longer than usual. She wasn’t sure if it really did or not—it could have just been the pain making it seem like it—but finally, she was in her dragon form.
She was huge, her head higher than the trees around her. She immediately looked for the women, frowning when she still couldn’t tell which one was the queen. She’d been sure she’d know.
And then she caught sight of the man. He had a blue glow around him, and she knew in an instant, that was her. She was wearing a man’s glamour, but it was definitely the queen. She turned to flee, knowing Jessica had the upper hand, and the glamour left her, exposing an older woman with snow white hair.
The dragon lunged after her, opening her mouth as fire ripped through her throat. Jessica panicked a little inside her dragon, realizing she was going to burn the queen alive. She’d thought the queen might have to die, but not like that. Still, if it saved her people, then it had to happen, and she had to be okay with it.
But the fire that left her dragon’s mouth wasn’t orange—it was violet, the same shade her eyes shimmered with when her dragon was near. As it reached the queen, it didn’t burn her. Instead, it slowly sucked away the blue glow that surrounded her. It traveled slowly up her dragon’s fire as the queen arched her back in pain, and Jessica gasped as her dragon breathed in the glow.
It felt like a brick wall of magic just slammed into her, stealing her breath. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the blue glow was gone from the Drako’s queen. Her dragon felt immensely satisfied, but Jessica watched the queen in horror.
She was staring at Jessica with hate-filled eyes, her body aging rapidly, her skin wrinkling, her bones curling in on themselves, withering away until her body turned to ash and there was nothing left.
What the hell had just happened? She had no idea, but she couldn’t concentrate as the magic surged through her body. Then her dragon threw her head back and roared with victory.
Kian exhaled tiredly, leaning back and wincing as the healing claw marks on his side protested the movement. A rumble came from behind him and he looked up into the terrifyingly beautiful face of his dragon.
His. She was his, forever. Claiming her hadn’t happened the way he’d thought it would, but he couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.
He smiled up at her before looking back to what used to be his lawn but was now a recovering battlefield. For whatever reason, Jessica hadn’t shifted back, but he was content to wait until she was ready. He didn’t mind snuggling his tired body next to his mate’s form.
She was something else. Her dragon was huge, and like he’d thought earlier, she was terrifying, but she was beautiful, too. Her scales were light brown with a violet iridescence that shimmered and was hard to explain, but was incredibly gorgeous. Her eyes were a solid violet in that form, and she looked like a typical dragon.
Large horns on the top of her head, spikes going down from her head to her long, powerful tail. The claws that were at least twelve inches long on her hands and feet—were hands and feet the right term?—looked lethally sharp.
Yeah, she was a typical dragon, except she was bigger than any he’d ever seen before. Once she defeated the queen, the hold on Alex and Cammie broke and they immediately shifted. And Jessica’s dragon was twice the size of Cammie’s.
Movement caught his eye, and he glanced over to see Blake throwing his hands in the air. The Enforcers were all surrounding the rest of the Drako, and Blake had been trying to speak to them, but it apparently wasn’t going well.
Kian would do more than speak to the bastards, but the Enforcers said he couldn’t kill them since they gave up the fight. Pity.
As soon as Jessica defeated the queen, they gave up. Just as she’d said they would. Blake insisted that meant the War Cats couldn’t finish them off, but Kian had been tempted to do it anyway.
He looked over at the others, checking to make sure nothing major had changed since he looked last. Noah was the only Enforcer who wasn’t with the Drako, currently crouched over Alex. One of the Drako had been a snake shifter and bit Alex right as he was shifting to his dragon. His leg was discolored and he was weak, but his animal was fighting the venom, and Noah was making sure it all went as it should.
The other major injury was Sai, one of the War Cats. One of the Drako had released a ball of magic that hit him, singeing his side. His tiger wasn’t able to heal the injury like it should, likely because of the magic involved. They weren’t sure if he could even heal as a human, but it was clear, his cat wasn’t going to be able to help. They had no idea what the extent of the injuries would be, or how it would affect him.
There were a few injuries on the Drako’s side as well, but the only casualty of the battle had been their queen. It was a good outcome, but Kian still wanted to finish them all off. Who knew if they were as evil as their queen had been, and he didn’t like the fact that any of his people had been injured.
But he was proud as fuck of them, and he guessed it was time to tell them. He’d never gotten to give them the motivational speech he’d prepared for before the battle, but he could sure as shit give them
the praise they deserved.
Patting the leg he was leaning against, he smiled at Jessica as she swung her huge head around and gazed at him. He stood, clearing his throat and waited until he had everyone’s attention.
“It wasn’t very long ago that I thought we’d never be in a position like this. And I don’t just mean fighting for our lives against magical shifters.” A smatter of laughter, more relieved than truly amused, echoed across the lawn, and he smiled. “Us War Cats have been at odds for a long time. Even before I became Alpha. We were raised to lie, cheat, and steal our ways to the top. We were told our worth was contingent on shit that doesn’t matter. We were told our women and those labeled Other were worthless.
“Then I came home and shook things up even more. I honestly thought that if a war was coming, it would come from us. That we would be fighting each other over what way of life was right. I fully believe that we have the right to make our own decisions, to live our own lives with minimal interference from others, as long as we do the right thing and bother no one. But it seemed like so many of you were hellbent on taking us back to the time when our will and our freedom didn’t matter. I thought the fight would be because of that.”
Many of the War Cats murmured their agreement, some of them looking shamefaced, and he shook his head, trying to figure out the right words to say.
“I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad. We’re all entitled to our feelings, right or wrong. And some of you probably genuinely believed that the old way was the best way. But I’m getting off topic here. I wanted to let you all know how proud I am of you. Each one of you. When it came down to it, each of you decided that being a War Cat was important enough to fight for. That the life we have here, the community we’ve built, was worth it. I didn’t command any of you to fight. You all did so because you wanted to, and that means more to me than I can express.
Kian (War Cats Book 5) Page 19