The Magna Mortalitas
Rez
We walk into the campsite, and I’m shocked to find a few different fires set up. Our family is off to the left within the treeline, while some of the other students have decided to stay close to a clearing. Apparently, two groups have chosen to continue on, even after being advised not to. Levi had relayed Devinyx’s message to them as a warning, and a few took it to heart, but the others snubbed his advice in favor of taking advantage of us stopping.
‘We tried to help warn them, along with the one called Levi, but they said they don’t trust the natives,’Devinyx says, grooming herself by one of the fires.
“Do you get a lot of visitors?” Moni asks, sipping some water.Yeah, I’m shocked too. But she said something about trying to sleep tonight.
‘No. But if we do, we do not make ourselves known,’she comments. The way she says it has me looking around at the trees and noticing that our campsite isn’t really a normal spot we would typically choose for us to camp, not really.
If I had to pick, I would look for an open area, where the ground was flat, dry, and a place where our fire couldn’t spread. Kinda like where the other campers are.
It finally dawns on me.
“That’s why we’re camping here, right? We’re out of sight of the cameras, and it’s safer for you not to be seen.”
‘Yes, Golden One. It is. We have not been in the eye of the technology since it has surfaced, and we would like to keep it that way.”
‘Then why risk it at all? Why come to help us?” Chester asks, snuggling into Moni, pulling up their sleeping bag.
‘Simple,’a dark reddish brown netherwraith joins the conversation as it plops down by the fire.‘Magna Mortalitas called. We can’t say no.’He winks, and in the next second, there’s a man in the netherwraith’s spot.
The man in front of us is only wrapped in brown cloth pants, leaving his chest and feet bare. The blaze of the fire highlights every chiseled muscle of his chest as he stretches before standing and walking over to me.
“Who?” Lynx asks, and I’m in the same boat.
“Who are you?” Chester calls out.
“Oh, sorry. I’m Axton.” His deep baritone voice comes out with a cocky swagger. He plops down next to me and gives me a wink.
“Now to answer your question.” He looks directly at me, even though I wasn’t the one asking anything, and my stomach sours from his unwanted attention. I need to look elsewhere, so I look up, and my jaw drops. On top of his head, two fluffy red ears peek through his long auburn hair, twitching slightly as a tail comes up and wraps around his forearm.
Oh my god, he’s a furry!
“Magna Mortalitas. We grow up hearing the stories and believing he’s a myth. Hell, I personally thought he wasn’t real.”Axton shakes his head, and I notice tiny spikes around the base of his neck that move like octopus legs, and sound like tiny bells twinkle slightly. “But hearing that whoomping call today sent my heart leaping out of my chest.”
His fluffy ears start changing a bright red color as his eyes look me up and down, and a faint smell of cinnamon sours my stomach. “We are honored to fight with and amongst Black Death’s friends.”
“What did we miss?” Levi asks, carrying over two bowls. He, JP, Knox, and Zeke went to bring back food from the communal pot tonight. A group of three Seven Seductive Sins students that came through the portal pretty banged up listened to our warning to stay here for the night, and asked if we were down to making stew with them. How could we say no to that? JP even read their thoughts and vouched that they had no nefarious thoughts. While the bowls of food get passed around, Knox hands me mine and sits down. When he sees Axton on the other side of me, he freezes and sniffs.
“What’s the matter?” Lynx asks, pausing and whispers, “Did I miss a pissing contest somewhere?” loud enough for Lucifer to hear him from the moon.
There’s no reaction on his face, but Ifeelthe fire roaring to life through our link, and I shift in discomfort. I try to send calming thoughts in return, but his feelings are so strong that I can barely think.Okay, so apparently I’m in the crossfire here between these shifters, but I have no idea why. Is it something simple that we can work through in a few hours?
When I signed on for mates, being a family therapist wasnoton the job description. I need my own therapist to make it through the day. Reaching over, I grab his hand and squeeze it instead, and that seems to break him out of his anger.
“Axton was telling us you’re a myth to them,” Moni explains, taking her bowl.
“Yeah, Magna Mortalitas,” Chester repeats their name for him.
“He goes by Slayer now,” Knox growls, still giving Axton the evil eye, not even bothering to hide his distaste for him and allowing his food to go cold.
‘Well, it turns out, someone didn’t want to call me God,’Slayer grumbles.
“That’s because that name is reserved for me.” Lynx gives me a sexy nod, and I almost choke on my food.
“So what’s the deal with netherwraiths?” Zeke asks, leaning back against a log and studying some of the ones lounging in the trees above us.
