Wait. Diablos is looking for omegas? I’m very careful not to move, but I listen very intently to everything they say and don’t say.
“I am looking for omegas. They alone can help balance the packs of alphas that are coming through. We’ve found lots. They just keep waking up, but there are some packs that need someone a bit stronger.”
There is a fire in my scent that has been growing. One that I have been trying to suppress. Because I think I know what’s happening to me, and if I’m right, there is no way to stop it.
And now I’m trapped to them.
I trace a rune to break bones and throw it at Lirin.
He swears, but I don’t hear bones break. I don’t hear anything over my screams. The curse flared to life like a wicked bitch, snapping back; the bracelet burning around my wrist, sending molten lava into my bones and melting them. I’m on the ground, curled up in a sweaty ball, when the pain ends.
Leaf is curled up around me, in dragon form again, hissing and growling.
“Get that thing away from me!” Hartley screams.
“Hey, you! Leave it!” Diablos snarls. “Bad cat. Bad, bad kitty. Oi! Stop it. Leaf, call off your pet!”
I sit up and shrug the pain away as if it never happened, along with the dragon’s coils, freezing into my natural stillness as his strange magic pulses in the air. His presence shrinks in on itself as he changes back into a human shape. Just because he’s more contained doesn’t make him any less intense.
Something I need to be aware of. He’s like the Sirens; they lull you into a false sense of security with their less aggressive natures, but I’ve heard them sing, and they can damn near take a continent full of people under the waves if they wanted to.
Ronit approaches like a great white through the water, silent, so very, very dangerous. I can feel him moving; his intensity is impossible to ignore.
“What is this boot camp?”
His voice is deep, like the rolling waves; he contains all the power and depth that the oceans possess.
Canto joins him, a strength as vicious as Ronit’s, but deceptive. He’s the still water, the currents that barely move, until suddenly, there’s a rip under you, sucking you out to the depths of the ocean.
“I’m going to offer you something you all need, and you’re going to do something for me.” Diablos is so confident we’ll agree he’s not even hiding his triumph.
With an internal curse to have found myself in this situation, I turn away from them and prowl the room, searching for answers that aren’t coming. I take a step, and the dragon makes an indistinct sound. I step sideways, and he makes a higher, happier sound. Huh.
Is he helping me see?
That’s interesting.
Puppy hisses.
I’m suddenly yanked back and spun around. My temper sizzles as I try to work out who I’m about to rip apart. Coconut hits me, and I go still. Why is Canto holding me? One large hand sits on my waist where the torn shreds of the clothes I stole barely covers me. My skin crawls, and I wish it was because I want him to get off me. I should make him let me go. I will in just one moment.
“Okay, just stop, stop. Enough!” Diablos roars, his voice deepening and sounding like infernal bells peeling in the deep. “Becky, if you’re not going to help, take them and go.”
Becky hums. “Okay. If you don’t need us?”
“At this point in time, a bucket with no sides is more helpful than you.”
Becky laughs. She’s so light and carefree. A part of me resents her, and that resentment has only grown since coming to this horrible place. Even during the worst times in Nightmare, I could still find food. But here…nothing is food. Or if it is, it doesn’t smell like it is.
Why is this place so hard? Canto lets me go, allowing me to breathe again. I track his almost non-existent steps as he moves away from me.
“Right, we’re going. Good luck, everyone.”
I feel the Nightmare’s intent gaze, but I don’t turn my head in his direction or give any sign that I’ve felt him. I know what he wants to know. Am I going to be a danger here? Am I going to cause trouble?
The answer is yes and yes.
But not until I’m fed.
