A pretty day to die.
Darkness gathers on my right, and it’s the perfect amount of light to begin. I fly high so my wing beats don’t create turbulence on the ground, alerting the many guards who patrol the barbed wire fence that surrounds the entire property. New guard towers have been hastily constructed out of the same metal scaffolding that still holds up the back part of the house—devastation caused by another dragon; that one black, not blue.
I shiver as I recall that day. Most of it is a blur of pain. My life narrowed down to nothing more than pure instinct and survival. My mates walk that narrow precipice now.
The animas on my back poke each other as they get their first real look at the area, muttering at the two manufactured long rivers on either side, like parallel highways. Even this late in the day, no fewer than twenty salties lie on the banks, their mouths open as they regulate the temperature of their cold blood.
“It’s time,”I tell my friends.
Plastic crinkles at my back as Hyacinth brings out the drawn-up syringes of oestrous-inducing medication. She injects Sifa and Teylani, then Minnie and Sabrina. I refused to let Stacey be dosed, given her recent compromised state. We needed a level head on the ground in any case, so our lioness and hyena regina are going to be the designated wranglers.
Two minutes later, Sabrina’s voice grunts in my ear.“Oh wow. Yeah, I feel it coming on.”
“Same,” Minnie says. They’ve all experienced heats before, but a manufactured heat carries a heavier signature. I’ve warned them as much as I could, and it’s going to be up to Stacey and Hyacinth to keep them in line.
“Then let us begin,” Hyacinth says.
I begin my descent as the sun finally disappears below the horizon, leaving a purpling edge along the seam of the world. I needed the visibility of the light to make sure we weren’t flying into a trap, but we need night to prepare our ambush.
I see them before anyone else, but it takes the others only seconds to notice.
“Oh look,” Sabrina mutters. “It’s the lion, the witch and thecunt.”
My eyes catch on three figures walking out of the house. Connor, Katerina, and the Lady Hyena are leaving the house and walking, not to the vehicles but to the side of the house towards the river.
“We weren’t expecting her to be here,” Hyacinth says. “She’s been AWOL since your appearance at the Jewel.”
“She’s come to see if the skin curse can be reversed,” Sifa whispers. “Clearly, the serpents couldn’t help her.” Orwouldn’t, if what I suspected is true. My father’s only real ally is himself. I’d known that long before entering Halfeather House that fateful day so long ago.
Regardless of the trio walking towards the crocodile fence, I maintain a slow-moving spiral downwards until I’m just out of detectable range. Minnie and Stacey work together to bring down Hyacinth and her pack safely. Enveloped in my invisibility bubble, they are levitated down like assassins on climbing ropes. We can’t see them, being in the shield, but Minnie’s always been the strongest and most precise telekinetic of us all.
Regardless, I monitor for their safe landing in the gathering dark, feeling the slight weights of the three remaining felines.
Minnie’s whisper sounds in my ear. “See you soon, Lia.”
“Remember, if you leave my line of sight, you’ll lose invisibility,”I warn.
“Roger that.”
Something wholly primitive calls to me. It’s not a roar, not a screech, not a pounding in my head. It’s a regina’s hunting silence. And it settles into every artery, every vein, stretching alongside the shadows that follow the sunset. My senses become alive, become linked to my nerves, the spaces in my brain meant to strategise.
Blood will flow tonight.
Mid-air, I shift into eagle form, exchanging webbed wings for feathers and light bones, a snout for a beak. My eyesight shifts, not as violently detailed as the dragon’s, but eagle eyes are something that I’ve always been used to.“Let’s make a lap,”I say.
I shift into a cobra, removing my own invisibility so my friends can see me, and slither towards the guard towers. Low to the ground, the world looks bigger, but I know I hold these moments in the palm of my hand.
It’s fully dark now, and big floodlights are turned on, aimed at the road before the front fence. There are two lighthouse-style rotating beams aimed at the sky. As Hyacinth leads her pack towards the gate, I monitor my feline animas as they levitatebeside me. My forked tongue sneaks out to taste the air, and I scent them. Feminine, sweet, lusty. Like dripping honey, it coats the air, lustful and longing.
This scent is made to travel. Made to attract, draw attention, and drive males into a frenzy. It’s a weapon that bypasses order powers, intellect, and military strategy. I suffered for the privilege of that information and now I use it as a weapon against the very enemies who sought to use it against me.
My friends pant under the force of its power, their heat signatures bright and hot to my serpent eyes. Minnie taps Hyacinth on the shoulder before driving all six of them up the first guard tower, where two guards hold automatic rifles.
“What’s that smell?” a burly roo says, twisting around to scent the air. “It smells so fucking good.”
“Are there any animas here?” another replies, unconsciously tugging at the collar of his uniform. “If she has Connor on that stuff again, I’m gonna be so…Yeah, someone’s in heat.” He rubs his dick because he can’t help it. These roos are unmated, and it shows in the pants now tenting.
My animas say nothing, letting the scents wrap around the tower before Minnie draws them away. The guards sniff the air and frown to themselves before the first leaps right off the tower and lands on the dirt, kicking it up in a cloud. The second follows.
