Kade let out a long breath and stalked closer to us. “They’re right,” he said in that growly voice of his. “You don’t need to worry.”
I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. I hated this. Hated standing around waiting and doing nothing. “You’ve seen what those creatures can do,” I replied in exasperation.
“We have, and that’s exactly why Locke didn’t want you goin’ anywhere near ’em,” Asher pointed out, his expression hard and at odds with his usually easy-going nature. “Aside from Locke, you’re the only other one who can fly. Locke wasn’t lettin’ you near the outliers, and neither were we.”
“Not until you’ve learned how to properly use that incredible new creature of yours,” Darian added, stopping me before I could voice my protest.
I folded my arms across my chest. “Yes, I can fly, and if I had to, I could have dropped you three off, so you could have helped Locke. Then I could have flown to safety until you needed me. He didn’t have to go alone.”
Asher’s expression was sympathetic, but his lips twitched upward. “And you would have left us there to battle against the outliers without you?” His eyes sparkled with amusement, and when I didn’t answer, the demon’s grin grew wider.
I narrowed my eyes at him, annoyed that he knew I was lying through my teeth. I mean, of course, I wouldn’t have just left my monsters to fight the outliers without me. Even if the old me found a way to agree to that, which was unlikely, my dragon side sure as hell wasn’t going to let me. These males were my mates, my treasures, and I wasn’t about to simply drop them into a fight without providing some backup. Turns out that becoming a dragon made me as possessive and obsessive as my monsters.Huh. How ’bout that.
“Locke and Garan have a complicated history,” Kade added with a stony expression, interrupting the stare-off I was having with Asher. “He wouldn’t have left unless he thought the situation was dire.”
I still wanted to argue, but Darian had hold of my shoulders again, and he’d redoubled his efforts to dig his fingers in and loosen my muscles. The male had serious talent when it came to working his fingers, and even though I still wanted to curse Locke, it was an effort to keep from moaning.
Not that Darian could take all the credit for the way my body was reacting. Now that I had dragon shifter abilities my sense of smell was better than it was, and the scents of my males had my mouth watering to the point there had already been one instance when I’d actually drooled. Thankfully, no one had seemed to notice before I’d swiped the spit from my chin, but it was only a matter of time.
My males smelled ridiculously delicious, and I could have sworn their scents were getting more irresistible every day. It was almost like my monsters were subconsciously taunting my dragon and making their scents more powerful because I hadn’t given in and marked them yet. I tried to focus on the sensation of my siren massaging me rather than thinking about how my vampire was likely getting his ass kicked by Warrick’s outliers.
Kade and Asher watched intently as I tipped my head back, resting against Darian, and my eyes were almost closed when I was yanked forward and crushed against Kade’s hard chest. “Hey!” I protested, sad to be away from Darian’s magical fingers, but then Kade spun me around and began digging his thumbs into my shoulders instead. The wolf shifter’s fingers pressed in so hard it was almost painful, but pleasure still worked down my spine.
“I warned you about making that face while I’m around, Mahare,” he growled, and I shivered, a slow grin creeping across my face. “At least I might be able to concentrate if it’s my hands that are on you.”
Darian shook his head at the possessive wolf, but a smile curved his lips. No doubt, Kade was as worried as I was about Locke, but for him, I was the distraction keeping him sane. Asher looked like he was considering pulling me from Kade just as the wolf had done to Darian, but he didn’t. Instead, he only gave us that lop-sided grin of his, content to let Kade have me for the moment.
“What we should be considering, is how Losak and the other monsters are going to react to the news that we’re here,” Darian said, bringing the conversation back to our current situation. “Lyr was right to suggest we didn’t join the welcome party. We have no idea whether they believe the rumors that we’re traitors who sided with the fae.”
I thought of Losak and his shifters. If what Nic said was true, Warrick had attacked the House of Silat because Losak had refused to ally with him. That simple fact had me liking the shifter alpha just a little bit.
“Lyr said she would speak to Losak and get clarity on their situation before she’d retrieve us,” Kade growled. “She’ll warn us if we should expect trouble.”
“Maybe what we should really be asking is whether the shifters are seriously injured,” I said softly, reflecting again on the information we’d received. “Nic said there weren’t many of them, and shifters don’t heal as fast as demons.”
“Monsters are the most dangerous when they’re wounded,” Kade warned, and as if to punctuate his point, a piercing wail came from the other side of the door. Startled, I went to take a step forward, but Kade held me in place, his large hands gripping my shoulders.
My mates all stared at me for a long moment, then Darian grabbed a sword from the wall and strolled toward the door. Asher followed on his heels, brandishing his ax, but before Darian could grab the doorknob, the door swung open and Lyr appeared in the doorway. Black blood was smeared up her forearms and across her flushed face, and I straightened, my chest squeezing at the sight of her.
“We need all of you.Now,“ the tiger shifter barked, her blue eyes flashing.
It was all I needed to know. Slipping from Kade’s grip, I started for the door. Kade moved close behind me, and Asher and Darian led the way. As eager as I was to leave the confines of the training room, I wasn’t prepared for what lay beyond the door. Monsters crowded the great hall, some collapsed on chairs, others bleeding on the floor while they nursed grievous wounds, and a few were motionless and covered in cloth near the far wall. The groans and cries of agony from the shifters sounded in my ears, and it was only then that I realized how effective the thick walls of the training room had been at keeping out the noise.
Lyr didn’t slow her stride as she led us to where Nic was holding down Losak, his thick arms straining with the effort. Losak, the alpha of the House of Silat, lay on a low cot, naked except for his undershorts. A deep bite wound on his neck had been smeared with blue paste, but black blood still seeped out, trickling onto the cot. The snake shifter snapped his head up, his long fangs aimed at Nic’s shoulder, but the wraith twisted his body, avoiding the monster’s mouth. Losak snarled, his eyes flickering from black to reptilian slits and then to black again. His body convulsed violently like he was stuck in an unnatural stage of transformation, not completely in either his human or snake forms.
“What’s happening to him?” Kade growled, his assessing gaze sweeping over Losak and then the wounded shifters on either side of the alpha.
To our left, Soren strained to hold down the boar shifter, Cassar. Grunting with the effort, Soren’s red wings flared wide as he flapped, using his wings to help keep his balance and place all his weight on the shifter. Dean, Lyr’s other mate, was bent over, holding down Losak’s second-in-command, Quinn. Thick vines came from Dean, curling around Quinn’s arms and legs, but the shifter kept changing form, tearing and slipping through the restraints. More vines had been extended out to Losak and Cassar, but they lay shredded at the sides of the cots.
“They weren’t like this when they arrived,” Lyr explained, her expression strained. “Wounded, yes, but in the past hour it’s as if they’ve been infected by something. I can only guess they were poisoned before coming here and it’s only now taking effect.”
“Poisoned?” I swallowed hard as I stared in horror at the shifters and the way individual parts of their bodies kept changing before returning to human form. Asher gripped his ax tighter, and my monsters moved protectively closer to me. Like they were ready to take down any of the shifters if they managed to break free and tried to attack me.
“It’s only the ones who have been bitten,” Lyr continued, looking around the room to where a handful of other shifters were also being restrained. She moved closer to Dean. “I can only theorize that they were targeted by outliers with venomous fangs. That somehow, it’s making them sick, though they seem physically stronger. These three are proving to be the strongest.” As she said it, Quinn let out an animalistic bark, and fangs speared from between his lips. He lifted his hand as it transformed into a clawed paw, and Lyr darted forward with the intention of helping Dean to hold the shifter down. Before her hands could clasp his arm, Quinn jerked violently, lashing out and throwing both Lyr and Dean backward. Dean’s hand shot out, greenery sprouting around them, and Lyr landed on a thick bed of moss that appeared on the floor. Kade and Darian moved to restrain Quinn, and Dean was on his feet in an instant, taking the position again from Darian.
Cassar grunted and thrashed, and Asher gave me a look before going to help a struggling Soren.
“Stay back, lovely,” Darian told me before going to help Nic with Losak instead.
