I'd be damned if I let them have all the fun.
Owls swooped down, their cries echoing around us. Magic blasted forth in bright ribbons, lions roared, a werewolf howled, and Death swung his scythe. The man in leather climbed in the window, tossed the crowbar aside, and joined the melee. He was built like Kirill—muscular but not brutish—and had hair in the same shade of black. It went only to mid-back on him, not past his hips like Kirill's, but it was still lovely—glossy, thick, and straight. That's where the similarities to my black lion ended. This man's skin was tinted terracotta and his eyes were as dark as his hair.
He did as much damage as his owls, tearing out throats with curled fingers tipped in claws, striking downward instead of across as I did. Frankly, I didn't care how he fought as long as the throats he went after only belonged to the enemy snakes. And so far, they had been. He and his owls focused completely on the snake-shifters, not a single stray claw hitting one of us. But the snakes soon realized that they were hemmed in and on the losing side. They dropped to the floor and made for the window.
We gave chase—all of us. I got knocked into a couple of times by swooping birds and snarled at them absently as I tried to kill as many snakes as I could get my hands on. But the reptiles flowed like water, slipping past us and over the window ledge. En masse like that, several took damage but most managed to escape. The owls went shooting out the window after them, but I paused and looked back at the freezer.
“We'll take it from here,” the man in leather said to me.
I got a better look at his face then: strong lines, high cheekbones, and firm lips. Definitely Native American. But it was only a glimpse. Seconds after his declaration, he shifted. His body became hazy as it drew in on itself, condensing into the shape of an enormous owl. With the shift, his clothing transformed as well—shrinking into a leather and bone collar like the ones the other owls wore. That was a trick I was damn envious of and had never seen before. Magic clothing that transformed along with you? Where did I get me some?
The giant owl pushed off the cement floor, leaving scratches from his talons, and flew through the window, screeching as if warning us not to follow.
“Should we go after him?” Trevor's voice rumbled out of his werewolf throat.
“You can if you want to, but I'm not.” I ran to the freezer.
No one left. Instead, they gathered around me as I unlatched the freezer doors and cast them open. There, on the frosted metal floor, laid a giant, lime-green snake covered in ice crystals. I reached for him, but Odin grabbed my hand.
“You could shatter him,” Odin warned me. “We need to get his temperature up first.”
The whirring sound suddenly stopped, as did the influx of cold air. I glanced over to see Trevor with the freezer's plug in his werewolf hand. I nodded to him and then to Odin as I lifted my hand and called forth my fire.
“I think perhaps my magic would be better suited for this job,” Re suggested as he stepped up beside me.
I squinted at him as he started to glow with the heat of the sun. “Okay, just hurry.”
Now that Viper was before me, I could acknowledge how wrong I'd been. He hadn't left me. Well, he had, but he hadn't meant to stay away so long and completely ignore me. We could work this out. We could get past our argument. We just had to defrost him first.
The rest of us stepped back as Re's heat started to make us sweat. It wasn't burning, as it could have been, just the warmth of a summer's day. Under that magical sunlight, the ice melted from Viper's scales and water began to drip out of the freezer and onto the floor. The tip of Viper's tail twitched. I held my breath. His scales brightened. His eyelids fluttered. Finally, Viper lethargically lifted his head.
I jumped forward and yanked him out of the freezer, trying to gather his heavy coils so I could hold all of him. Viper's snake head draped over my shoulder as his body slipped through my hands and I ended up on the floor with him, his long body draped and curled around mine like a kitten with a ball of yarn—post playtime.
“You found me,” Viper whispered, his tongue tickling my neck.
I brought his head forward and cradled it like a baby. Snake eyes the color of fresh grass blinked up at me. Nearby, Re continued to shine—both palms held toward us. Sweat rolled down my back but I didn't care. I stroked that slick face and thanked fate for being kind today.
“It took awhile,” I was finally able to speak past the tightness in my throat. “But yeah, we found you. Can you shift?”
“Shift?” He blinked. “Oh.”
Viper's body shivered, the green brightening into a cloud of light. I felt him thicken and writhe in my arms, though I couldn't see all of his transformation. The breadth of his shoulders extended beyond my grasp but his neck remained in the cradle of my arm. The light faded and revealed Viper's naked body, lying across my lap. He gasped deeply, as if surfacing from a dive, and focused more intently on my face.
“Vervain.” Viper turned toward me as he slid off my lap and pulled me into an embrace. “I thought I was dead again.”
“Just asleep,” I said gently.
I felt the men around us back away, giving us some privacy without leaving us vulnerable. I was grateful for that, but I couldn't look at them—couldn't take my eyes from Viper's.
“I'm so sorry, Viper.”
Viper sat up and pulled me onto his lap. “No, I got embarrassed and behaved like an idiot.”
“But I lectured you like a child. That was wrong of me. Do you really feel like I run your life?”
“Baby, you gave me life, then gave it purpose.” He briefly pressed his forehead against mine. “I'm sorry I said those things. I'm sorry I called you the Dark Star. You're not that woman. You'll never be her again.”
“I'm sorry I yelled at you in front of everyone and hit you like a girl.”
