Finally, I’m empty, and he pulls away, his arms sliding down my thighs and onto the armrests on the chair. He sits like a king, watching me with no small amount of pleasure sitting there, panting, horny out of my mind. But I’m not in heat, so I can control myself. I climb off him.
“I enjoy our little visits,” Ghoul says, wiping the side of his mouth with a thumb. “The Clawsons are up to no good, snakelet. Don’t go tomorrow.”
“I’m not taking your advice.”
He shrugs. “Yeah? And what happened the last time I warned you not to do something?”
With that, the monster disappears into the dark.
Chapter 9
Aurelia
The next morning, I wake up with that feeling of emptiness yawning just a bit wider. My power claws under my skin, keen to get going. But there is much to do before we leave for Clawson House tonight.
We meet at Raquel’s hospital room. We’ve all been feeling their absence, and I want them to feel included while we plan. Our wolf anim lies quietly breathing, and I watch their lashes twitch.
“Raquel,”I call into their mind.“You’re safe now. Come back to us.”
Guilt oozes in my chest as I’m met with silence. The doctors are saying that we just need to wait. That it’s only a matter of time, and Raquel’s mind just needs to rest from the trauma of being split from their body for so long. It only makes me more antsy. It was my fault to start with, and I need to be smarter in my attempts to fix things.
“We’ve been to Clawson House before,” Minnie says evenly. “And…”
“And I’ve been in their prison,” Sabrina finishes from her spot in the corner, Blair and Blade hovering protectively over her hooded form.
“She’s not going back there,” Blair says firmly before looking down at Sabrina and saying more softly, “And you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Blade nods and clutches the bag of cakes she likes. It makes me smile to see them protective of her. She deserves that.
My hand fists the edge of Raquel’s sheet where it hangs over the bed. “No one’s doing anything they don’t want to,” I say in a low voice. “But we need some clarity on what’s inside the property.”
Marduk unrolls the poster onto the rolling table. “I have the blueprints, Lady Boneweaver.”
“How you source these things, I’ll never understand,” Minnie says under her breath. It’s true. Marduk had somehow been able to find the blueprints to Naga House as well, which should have been impossible. The twins, Stacey, Eugene, Henry, Yeti, and Minnie crowd around the table, looking over the house. Beak shows me a bird’s-eye view using maps on his phone, pointing out important landmarks on the way so I’ll know exactly where to land.
“And you’ll be able to cover all of us?” Yeti asks.
I nod, ignoring the creeping feeling suddenly winding its way through my stomach. This reminds me of the time my mates and I had planned to sneak into Naga House to retrieve my mother. I’d used a bubble shield to cover all of us to get in all the way until we’d reached the underground portion of the house. Then we’d come across Uncle Ben.
I squeeze Raquel’s hand. It’s thankfully warm. “As long as I can see you,” I tell the Devi pack, “you’ll be covered. After that, you’re alone.”
Marduk nods, a new light in his dark eyes.
We gather at the top of the animus dorms as night falls.
I’m not sure if shifting into a dragon is something I’ll get used to. I don’t have Xander to ask, but it’s a strange thing. There’s no other form that feels like smoke and fire and yet has weapon-like scales and aeroplane-sized wings. It feels like power and does little to sate my growing bloodlust.
“Are you okay?” Minnie whispers where she’s levitating next to my head. “You’ve been so quiet today.”
“I want to kill people, Min,”I reply into her mind. Something worse than simply killing, but I won’t mention it now.“I have to hold all of that inside, and it’s…”
She nods, stroking my brow. “Driving you nuts.”
“Something like that.”
I have a feeling that if Ghoul had not taken my venom yesterday, I’d be in a real state tonight. He had no intention of ‘helping’ me in that way; it was for his own personal benefit, of course, but he’d unknowingly done me and my overactive Boneweaver power a favour while my mates are not here. The tigers climb on at the front, and Beak takes up the back position, cuddling onto Marduk.
I can’t help it, really. It roars out of me—the fire, the sound of pure animal rage. Minnie’s shrieks are drowned out, and I envelop them in a protective bubble before I jump up into the air. There’s no more hiding. Not anymore.
