Something crashes through the jungle behind them, and low, rumbly growls charge the air. Savage shifts on instinct, and I’m shoved behind everyone, multiple hands giving me no choice. My wolf growls at the front of our group, and I peer around Lyle to see two large felines skidding to a stop next to the man and woman. One is a black panther, lithe and muscular, and the second is a feline with a completely white pelt. Night and day, they both shift into human forms and I can’t take my eyes off them as they are revealed to be tall males, both with black dagger earrings in their pierced ears, and similar enough to the first male that they could be related. The dark-haired one, with Boneweaver blue eyes, has tattoos in a delicate line across his nose and cheeks, and the other is a white-haired male with wide eyes that take us all in with a wild sort of curiosity.
“Stand down, you two,” the woman says, flapping her hand at them. “We are finding out what the disturbance was.” To us, she says, “We felt you come through. But considering you came from behind her temple, I’m assuming you weresentby the Wild Mother.”
Xander clears his throat. “It was a task to get here, but my regina needed to find her kind.”
“Regina?” the first Boneweaver asks. He looks unfazed by Savage’s aggressive form growling at him, or my towering males frowning at the newcomers.
“I am the central mate,” I say quickly, stepping out from behind them. “These four males belong to me.” I gesture to them all as a reminder tothemthat I’m in charge here.
Her eyes widen with delight, and she grins at me. “Allfour?My, my, how delightful!” She looks up at her husband. “This ismystar-born mate, just the one, King Ashzale Boneweaver. You are in our domain, Boneweaver Island. My name is Altara.” She gestures to the white-haired male. “This is Lord Kai Bonesong and Lord Raen Boneweaver.” The man with the tattoos inclines his head but doesn’t take his suspicious eyes off us.
Kai points a finger at me. “You should bow to royalty, travellers!”
Savage shifts into human form with a snarl. “My regina bows to no one, feline! This is the Lady Aurelia Boneweaver, the last of her kind! Crocodile-killer andmyregina! Andmyname is Savage.”
Altara smiles as if we’re having a pleasant conversation. “Well met, Savage.” She winks at me, completely unfazed, and I realise she must be used to this type of thing.
Ashzale puts out a hand to placate Kai. “No formalities are required, brother. These people are family, by the sounds of it.”
Altara, who I’m assuming is queen of this place if her husband is king, clasps her hands under her chin and makes a happy sound. “Family!” She gestures at me. “Come with me, Lady Aurelia. You look like someone I want to be friends with.” Ashzale’s head whips down to her, and she says something in their language. Altara nods at me and smiles. “She is kind, Ashzale. You can see it in her eyes.”
“It’s probably just because they remind you of me,” he says darkly.
“Kindis last on the list of words I would use to describeyou.” She waves at him before he can reply.
A memory comes to me, not my own, of another pregnant woman telling a blue-eyed boy his eyes were kind. I glance at Scythe. My great white shark is tense, and his eyes dart, assessing just moments before, catch mine, softening in recognition.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, regina.”
It’s then that Scythe steps out of the shadows of the tomb, his shirt back on, and Kai gasps as he sees him. “What are you, sir?” he asks in a way that makes him seem terribly young.
“I come from the sea,” Scythe says in that striking rasp that makes Altara’s eyes go wide. “I am a great white shark. My regina is polite, but in our world, we are on the eve of battle. Someone is coming to kill us all and take our home.”
“We…are essentially looking for help,” I say quietly. “Well, information that you may have.”
“Wait,” Raen asks. “How do we know she is family? We cannot welcome strangers into our lands simply because of theireyes, my queen.”
“Lookat her, Raen,” Altara says. “Those eyes can’t be from anything but a Boneweaver, right, Zale? And look at that tiny fluffy ball on her shoulder! No one who has a creature like that can be bad!”
Zale has not taken his eyes off me, and it’s been making Lyle bristle. Hell, it’s makingmenervous. “Do you have some type of shield around you?” he asks me. I nod. “Take it off, Lady Aurelia.”
“Absolutely not,” Lyle snarls.
“Look here,” Altara says, stepping forward against the protests of the males. “A fight between our two parties would likely end in great bloodshed, can we agree on that?” Savage shrugs and nods. “So…” Altara goggles her eyes at me. “Plus, I’m pregnant, and I don’t think you’d harm a woman with child, would you?”
“Never,” I say honestly.
She brushes her hands as if to say,that’s that. “As for the other question,” she says to Lord Raen, “I’m guessing Lady Aurelia is from Princess Esha’s lot. She and her mates left these lands for another and never returned. The history books neverdocumented what happened to them. I am descended from her elder sister, Matrika.”
Zale frowns. “Cousins on both sides.”
Altara snorts in an unladylike manner. “The relation isquitedistant, husband.” She scans my mates with narrowed eyes. “Do these four males treat you well, cousin?”
Shit, I think I love her already. I can’t help but break into a smile and step forward, ignoring Savage’s hand brushing my arm. “They have their tantrums now and again, but otherwise they love me.”
She grins again. “Very good, otherwise we would have had a problem.” Her emerald eyes survey them with latent threat before returning to me. “Now, what is this about the eve of battle? Who are we killing?”
