Fight.
I don’t hesitate another moment, breaking into a run.
Anarchy and Lucian see me coming and increase their speed, racing along the side of the building with the panthers close behind them.
The keeper is a wash of dark energy bringing up the rear, a soothing presence in the face of the unknown we’re facing.
We burst onto the wide, white beach.
The air above us is clear for another second before it fills with streaks of energy.
Fifteen figures shoot through the air, seven of them from the east and the other eight from the west, approaching so fast that their bodies are mere streaks of energy.
Each streak halts so abruptly that multiple cracks sound, each one as sharp as a whip snapping across the sky.
All fifteen figures—eight men and seven women—now hover in the air above us, positioned in a very strategic-looking oval in the air that will allow them to cut us off from every direction.
My strong eyesight allows me to see the details of their features through the gauzy blindfold. They’re wearing clothing similar to ours, but in a variety of colors from blood red to sky blue. Their pants are long, but their short sleeves and V-necks reveal skin that’s dusted in brilliant scales, also of different colors, from cream to sapphire to bronze.
These supernaturals may not have auras, but their dragon scales and wings are unmistakable.
I’m looking at the first dragon shifters I’ve come across since escaping my cell. Well, the first I’ve known about.
We gather in a circle, back to back, facing the threat in the sky.
One of the women tucks her wings and soars a little closer. She has pale-teal scales and wings that are a dark teal at the top merging into glistening ivory at the tips.
Her hair is inky black—in fact, they all have dark hair—but hers has bright-teal streaks running through it.
“We are the Dragon Masters,” she says, as if we should bow down immediately and grovel at her feet. “You’re trespassing on land that rightfully belongs to us and?—”
“Don’t tell me,” I interrupt her. “The penalty for trespassing is death.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Well, you’re a clever one.”
“Used to dealing with stupid supernaturals, are you?”
She shrugs. “In my experience, dark creatures aren’t the smartest.” She gives me a sweet smile. “So to avoid misunderstandings, I’ll spell it out for you: We’re here to kill you.”
I know she’s trying to goad me into reacting recklessly. I tell myself not to fall for it. But, by fuck, her patronizing tone is making me mad. And besides, like she said, they’re here to kill us, so it won’t matter what I say.
We may as well get this fight started.
I allow my claws to descend and my teeth to sharpen, picturing my two sharp, black canines as they reveal themselves.
Directly to my left, Anarchy draws back her lips, showing off her fangs while Lucian, who is onherleft, rolls his shoulders and extends his wings, shadows gathering around his form despite the early morning sunlight.
I’m even more grateful for my blindfold now. I’d be struggling in this light without it.
As for the keeper, who is directly to my right, I’m startled to see that, in the seconds since we reached the beach, his form has changed and he’s now wearing a face I’ve never seen before.
Although he’s still humanoid, his skin has become a dark blue, the hair on his head has disappeared, and his body has increased in size—apparently so fast that his clothing is torn across his chest and thighs.
It’s the smell of death around him that really hits me. I don’t love sunlight, but the scent of darkness clinging to his body seems to make the light disappear, banishing all happiness with it.
I may not have recognized what he was the first time he turned into a demon of smoke and ash, but I recognize the creature he’s become now.
It scares the fuck out of me.
