“It’s okay, we will work on that. By the time we’re done with you, everyone will fear the formidable and magical shifter queen,” he reassures me.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Hunter
Istare with no small amount of shock as Brodie strokes one of the heads of the downed hydra. Holy crap, a six-headed hydra. I don’t think there has ever been a hydra shifter in the past. Dad and Lucas are huddled together, whispering aggressively, but the rest of us ignore it.
A sorrowful yowl that is complex in its musical depths comes from all six heads. You can almost hear the embarrassment from the poor creature.
It was nearly comical how uncoordinated she was, and I know exactly how that feels. My first step as a dragon sent me tumbling to the ground, shaking everything in the nearby area. Thankfully the magic in this room stops that from happening. I can’t refrain from reaching out to one of the other heads, stroking it gently over its eyebrow ridges much like she had done to my dragon earlier. When I look up, both Liam and Gem are doing the same thing. It’s like we are all drawn to her and can’t resist trying to comfort her.
Fuck! I snatch my hand away, knowing getting too close to her is just going to lead to heartbreak. No one may have presented themselves with her marks yet, but it’s only a matter of time. We need to present a united and neutral party, here to protect her but not influence any of her decisions. It will be hard enough for her to pick a mate with her human instincts still riding her hard. Her new shifter instincts should point her in the right direction though.
Stop stroking the new queen. Have some respect, I snap telepathically to my bond mates.
Liam is quick to listen, scowling at the hydra like she lured him in, but Brodie glares at me. Gem doesn’t listen one little bit, but I see flames surrounding his hand, so I’m assuming he’s healing her somehow, and I don’t berate him.
“Has there ever been a hydra shifter before?” I ask as the queens and Mom approach us carefully. Colbie doesn’t move. It’s like she’s exhausted. Her eyelids on all six heads barely flutter. I’m not sure why, but maybe Gem can get to the bottom of it.
“None recently,” my mother answers. She is one of the shifter knowledge keepers and has a wealth of information about the past. “I can’t think of any since the war, to be honest. They were one of the first shifters targeted by the humans. They took out a lot of the mythical families because they figured they were the most dangerous.” She’s staring at our new queen with awe on her face. My mother is basically shockproof, because raising three dragon children fortifies a person against most disasters, so to see her ruffled is slightly amusing.
“What are the hydra’s powers?” Queen Layla asks my mother as Gem steps back, removing his hand from the hydra’s head.
He is standing at the far one, so he makes his way back over to us. We’ve all gathered in a little group off to the side. I kind offeel bad talking about Colbie like she’s not even here, but I don’t think she even notices.
“Is she okay?” King Lucas asks before my mother can answer the queen.
“Colbie is fine. I get the feeling she’s embarrassed, and she got a little battered and bruised when she fell. That’s a lot of body weight, but she’s also exhausted. Don’t you remember how draining that first shift is? It’s not fair to ask her to shift back just yet. Give her a moment to rest and recharge,” he says, his attention on the hydra. He has a contemplative look on his face.
What is it?I ask him telepathically, but instead of answering, he just gives me a small shake of his head. Okay, he doesn’t want to talk about it here.
“A hydra’s powers are quite impressive. They are virtually unkillable in this form” —Mom waves a hand at Colbie— “which is why the humans targeted them in their two-legged form. To start with, her claws and blood are poisonous, and then there is the ability to breathe acid, which has no neutralizing agent. It can eat through any substance, including metal and armor. Then there’s the regeneration, which makes them virtually immortal. On top of all that, there are her fangs. She can bite someone and transfer her venom, which will give them the ability to regenerate, even from death.”
“Holy fuck.” Dad looks at the new queen with respect.
“There is also one last ability that was a secret only shared amongst other hydras. I’ve searched everywhere to find what it is, but as far as I know, it died with the last one. It was never written down.” Mom sounds frustrated. She always says that no mystery remains unsolved as long as you try hard enough to solve it.
“I think I might know what it is,” Gem says, drawing his attention back to the group.
“Did you see something when you were healing her?” Mia pushes impatiently.
“Kind of. Didn’t really see something, but I brushed across something inside her psyche—something I don’t think she even realizes is there. It was a ball of magic that isn’t like any other I’ve felt before.”
The king huffs, and the queens wear expressions of disappointment. “It’s probably just the royal power your feeling,” Layla reminds him gently, and he shakes his head vehemently.
“No, I don’t think it is. Remember when Gryffin sliced Lucas open during that sparring match and I had to heal him? He has also been hit on the head and had a slight concussion,” Gem reminds us. We were fighting as a bond group against Lucas and Dad. It was our assessment to join the night watch. “I felt Lucas’s royal magic then, and this is not like that at all.”
“Okay, so something new. What do you think it is? Was it similar to anyone else’s magic you’ve felt before?” Mom sounds excited.
“Yes and no.” Gem’s eyes shift to look at me, Brodie, and Liam, and he frowns before returning his attention to our parents. “I think that maybe Colbie is a dual shifter. I think I can feel another creature inside her.”
The gasps and exclamations of surprise echo through the room. “A dual shifter? That hasn’t happened since before the war either.” My mom rubs her hands together with glee. “This is wonderful.”
One of the hydra’s heads lifts, like she was listening the whole time. She uses her front legs, which are very much like my dragon’s, to push herself upright, gathering her back ones underneath her and lifting her huge body so she towers above us. With her long, elegant necks, she is easily taller than my ormy dad’s dragons, but her body is more streamlined and not as large as ours.
One of the heads drops down and nudges Gem in the belly, and he stumbles backward and laughs. “She asks that we all move out of the way in case this goes wrong. She’s going to try to shift again.”
