I pick out a group of expensive-looking cars—Mercs, two custom-painted Lambos, and a sleek limousine. Only when I’m twenty feet from the ground, do I reveal myself, throwing off the invisibility shield and extending my feet. Male shouts sound from the Jewel’s entrance, but they’re quickly swamped by theCRASHof metal collapsing under my heavy dragon legs.
It sends a twinge up my new leg, but I let out a roar of annoyance and that seems to make everything better. There’s a metallic shriek as I climb off the now-tangled mess of metal, my claws scratching against the steel, but my eyes are on the multiple beasts sprinting towards me, their mouths dropping open.
“Keep back,”I spit into their minds, throwing out a band of telekinesis to shove them all backward. It’s really annoying that I didn’t think about bringing clothes. The last time I’d entered the Jewel, it had been on a leash, also naked. At that time, being naked had been a power move of Xander’s. Now, I’m going to have to make this a power move of my own.
Huffing in warning at the males gaping at me, I shift into my human form. The first time I shifted down from my dragon form, I’d felt vulnerable, a little less powerful assuming my human skin. Right now, I forget about all that and sink into mydragon’s brain further as I shrink. My tough hide disappears, but I lower my head into a predator’s posture, focusing my attention on the enemies at the perimeter. A cool wind brushes over my flaming hot skin, but I don’t cover my body with my hands and instead sink into a stalk right past my audience. My power floods the carpark so I can feel for anyone coming up behind me, at the same time giving warning to every beast in the vicinity:
The strongest regina in the city has arrived, and she’s in the mood to kill.
I let my power flood into my new leg, making sure I don’t show any sort of hobble or weakness there. The scars on my stomach might show, and eagles might be able to tell my legs are different, but it doesn’t matter.
Making my way towards the entrance, I let the leers of the males bounce off me. I’m not in the mood to entertain this fuckery tonight. With my heart pounding the beat of a war drum, I clear the carpark and follow the path up to the guarded entrance. The beasts follow behind me, two of them running up ahead with great urgency. Every step heats my blood. Every breath I exhale is black smoke.
There are four guards at the entrance, none of whom are hyenas or tigers. There is one croc, to my surprise, a bear, and two serpents. “Looking good for a little?—”
The serpent has no time to react as I throw out a whip of telekinesis and lash it around his throat, constricting it so hard he starts flailing in silence. I don’t give up until he’s crumpled on the ground like old clothes. Without a second glance, I continue inside.
And it feels different this time. The Jewel of the Jungle always had this sense of latent danger. A place where the wrong look, the wrong word between parties could end in a massacre. Indeed, both times I’d been herehadended in bloodshed.
That scent of lifesblood never goes away. It’s just mixed with alcohol, ferality, and sex. My power builds around me like unfurling wings, and I let it brush against the walls, the ceiling, the floor. I send my awareness out to the entire space and the creatures that lie within it, letting my steady heart beat set the tempo of my stalk.
An anima in gold lingerie halts when she feels my power, her tray of drinks trembling before she slowly turns around in the way of prey, swivelling on a stiletto in a smooth, predictable motion. Finally seeing me, she inclines her head and steps back to indicate she’s not a threat. I don’t acknowledge her because my prey lies elsewhere in this watering hole. Gentle light touches my face as I step onto the main floor. The bar lies on the far right, lined with beasts, and it’s packed like a theatre in here.
The low couches and tables are grouped into claimed order sections. Everyone keeps to their own company here unless there is a specific reason to interact. My blood sizzles as I stalk down the main aisle, immediately catching the combined scent of my mates. My heart nearly stops when I see them. A shriek resounds in my head.
The crocodile has come out of the water, presenting herself as if on show for the world to see. Her claimed area is against the wall, where she sits like a queen on a low-back chair. Nothing I’ve been through, nothing I’ve endured, barring the death of my mother, has been worse than this.
She has…undone them. Like a child tearing off the wings of butterfly for their own amusement.
They are on leashes in human form, kneeling before her chair like dogs. Xander’s eyes are lowered to the floor. Savage has a heavy black muzzle and is covered in lacerations and bruises, telling me his beating was recent. Lyle has his white teeth bared in much the same way his shifted form is wont to do, and hetoo has recent signs of injury. It makes me wonder if they had shifted and then been beaten back into human form.
Scythe sits on the floor by The Collector’s knee, and her hand strokes his silver hair. In this heightened state, I see everything. Every drop of blood, every marking…including Ghoul sitting in the next lounge area over, the serpent’s corner. There is something about his presence here that focuses me. His eyes on my face, the faint lethal red flaring through the shadows as if to warn me. I can almost hear him saying, “Control,snakelet.”
The Collector raises her chin, red lips curved as her eyes flick to slitted and back again. Her voice drips with mockery. “They kneel for me, as they never did for you.”I would never have made them.Savage for fun, Xander out of revenge, but never like this. “Aworthyregina,” she drawls, blowing out smoke in lazy rings.
I’ve questioned my own worth many times. In my own head, in my own actions. But not anymore. Not when I’ve seen the consequences of it. I had been born to face beasts like this. I had been born tethered to five of the most dangerous monsters, and today, they rely upon me to be theirapexmonster. This creature is nothing.
I level Katerina with a look. She smiles at me. I don’t return it. Nor do I blink as I mark her. The particular shade of hazel in her eyes is a mixture of mouldy green and rotten brown—the colour of life bleeding away. Her heartbeat, fast when I’d entered her area, now settles. The pulse at her pale neck flutters, the vein thick with lifesblood.
She thought I’d attack her here.
The crocodile within me lifts her eyes above the waters of my consciousness. I know when my pupils change. I see her own dilate as she notes it with some surprise. Savage whines. That’s what sets me off. The ground beneath us shakes. Then the walls.It extends to the ceiling. Somebody behind me yelps as glass smashes and liquid spills.
Out of all the beings in this terrible world, it’s Xander who saves me.“Not now,”his voice is almost smoke in my brain.“Not now, regina. You are outnumbered. Did you come alone? Fuck. Not now, Aurelia.”
I clench my jaw, and the power surge recedes.
“Struggling with control, Lady Boneweaver?” Katerina drawls.
How little her mind is that she doesn’t understand she walks on a knife’s edge. It takes a deep breath for me to centre myself, another to be able to speak. My voice emerges steady and deep, with a strange gravelly edge that makes all the predators in the room pay attention. “When I’m out of control, Lady Crocodylus, it’ll be too late by the time you notice it.”
It’s Scythe who draws my eyes. It’s an imperceptible change, but my psychic senses come alive in that moment. He blinks. His pupils move from his mistress to me. My heart all but leaps out of my ribs.
“Yes,” Katerina drawls, pulling my attention back to her. “I’ve heard of your…instability. It’s a shame you can’t get any help for that, what with the Lily Institutegoneand all.”
“Oh yes,” I say without hesitation. “In the same way you haven’t yet been able to get help for the unicorn you keep beneath your house. Beautiful creature that Lorian. Such a shame.”
Her eyes flash with rage as every beast in the Jewel of the Jungle goes still.
