“How is she talking to you telepathically?” Liam scowls. “That only happens between bond mates.”
“And us. Kings and queens can talk telepathically to all shifters,” he reminds my grumpy bond mate, and that seems to settle him slightly, but he’s still eyeing Colbie suspiciously. “Is she going to shift into something new?” Lucas asks as we all move backward again and stand behind the viewing area with my brother and sister, Violet, and the two princesses. Archie has been chatting excitedly this whole time, and the five of them have been distracting him so we could all talk.
“My future wife… sidepiece, is beautiful,” he announces to no one in particular. He claps his hands and bounces up and down on his mother’s lap. He’s right. She is gorgeous. Her whole body isn’t covered in scales like mine is, but they do cover her long necks, the sensitive areas behind each of her legs, and beneath her belly. The rest of her looks smooth and shiny, like an aquatic creature, and she glimmers under the lights.
One of her heads dips down, and she licks Archie’s cheek. Gracelin pales with worry, but Archie squeals with delight and pushes her away.
“Eww, Colbie, sidepieces don’t lick each other.”
Brodies snorts and mutters, “Want to make a bet?” Liam slaps him upside the head.
“It’s okay, Gracelin, they have to consciously spit their acid. Colbie won’t hurt Archie,” Mom assures the princess. Fuck, I would be worried about the same thing, but my mom’s words seem to ease Gracelin’s concern.
Magic seems to permeate the air as Colbie prepares to shift again. It should be instinctual after the first time, and it feels very much like what other shifters feel like before they shift, just way more powerful. My breath gets caught in my lungs, and everyone around me is also having trouble breathing.
She’s using too much power!Liam shouts inside our minds. My body shakes as I try to hold off my own shift. Everyone around me trembles as their animals try to push forward. Poor Archie has no chance of resisting. His body reshapes, and a small orange and black tiger cub curls up on Gracelin’s lap, whimpering.
Suddenly, the hydra form folds in on herself—there one moment and gone the next. Violet screams, and my brother wraps an arm around her, pulling her into his chest and shielding her eyes. Instead of blood and gore and bits of Colbie spread across the room when the magic clears, there’s a large, jet-black wolf curled in on itself, watching us with lavender eyes.
“Holy shit, that looked nothing like our shifts,” Brodie mutters and takes an unconscious step forward. I bet his wolf is riding him hard at the sight of another one, but does he want to assert his dominance or submit to her?
“Sheisa dual shifter,” Mom says with reverence in her voice.
“Well, this is certainly going to make challenge day interesting,” Mia says with a smirk of satisfaction.
Colbie isn’t done. Her body shifts again, and this time when the magic clears, she throws around a magnificent mane while stomping a hoof, her large, gorgeous wings stretching out wide.
“A pegasus!” my sister shouts with excitement.
“Wow, not one, but two mythical animals and three different forms.” I can’t help but hear the worry in Layla’s voice. “Poor girl, it’s going to take some hard work to get a handle on all those shifts.”
The magic activates again, and we all hold our breaths, waiting to see what will happen next. This time, her small, curvy body is lying in the middle of the floor. She appears to be unconscious, and Gem hurries toward her and scoops her up, releasing his healing magic.
“Just even more exhausted. I’m not surprised. I’ll take her up to her room, but I recommend we up her intake of food over the next few weeks while she practices. She’s going to need all the energy she can get,” he says after assessing her body.
“And the sooner she bonds to her mates, the sooner she can take energy from them. Hopefully they start arriving tomorrow, and it’s an easy pick like it was for us,” Mia says to Lucas, who is watching the new queen with the same kind of worry he has for his own children.
Brodie scowls at her words, but we don’t have any right to say anything, and thankfully, he keeps quiet.
“I think she should wear that pendant that suppresses her animals and stops her from shifting. Control is going to be hard to learn, and we don’t need her shifting into her hydra inside the palace and bringing it down around our heads,” Adam says as he watches his wife stroke a reassuring hand over their son’s body.
“Yes, that’s a great idea.” Gracelin holds out the pouch the pendant is in, and Evie reaches in and pulls it out.
She wrinkles her nose. “Wow, that is powerful. It suppressed my animal by just holding it.” She places it over Colbie’s head then pulls her hair out, and the tension seems to drain out of the unconscious girl.
“Come on, let’s let her rest again. Poor thing has been through so much.” Gem follows the queens and my mother out of the test room, followed by our siblings and Violet, leaving my bond group, Dad, and Lucas behind.
“Whoa, so not what I thought was going to happen,” Lucas admits, nervously running his hand through his hair. “A hydra. Who would have thought?”
“At least no one is going to want to fuck with that,” Dad points out.
“Damn, how is she going to find any mates who aren’t absolutely terrified of her?” Liam smirks meanly. “Let alone six of them.”
Brodie glares at him. “Shut the hell up, man. That isn’t helpful.”
“No, but he’s not wrong,” I agree reluctantly. “Male shifters are notoriously arrogant. It will be a blow to their ego that their mate is so much more powerful than them.”
“Aramis wouldn’t choose partners for her who would be resentful. Trust me, whoever she ends up mated to will be the perfect fit,” Lucas argues, the voice of experience.
