‘In this form. Yes,’Zareen says, just before I suddenly drop to my knees as my lower ribs burst outward, knocking what little air I have out of my lungs. My arms and legs twist and pop as they rearrange. Paws stretch, flexing the sharp claws at the end as my body elongates, and golden fur covers me from head to toe.
My mouth widens and stretches to accommodate new, sharpened teeth and fangs, while my ear and tailbone stretch and lengthen. It finally dawns on me that I’m shifting. Yes, I know. I’m not the brightest. I’ve seen Lynx and Knox do it plenty of times, but never did I believe I would be doing it myself. And now that I am, it’s easy to expect a tail, but what I’m not ready for is nine of them.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
‘What the fuck are we, Zareen?’My heart is pounding a thousand miles a minute, and I swear I’m going to cause us to have a heart attack in the Blood Match and die if I don’t get some answers.
‘First of all, Rez, calm down. We are a Kitsune—the only one, if you must know. And I’ve been with you always, but didn’t stir until the Road of Worth, where Dusky felt me. We need to get back to your Vengeance lesson now.’
‘We’re a fucking fox?’I ask, and anger rolls off Zareen.‘I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about shifters and what is what,’I hurry to apologize.
‘I forgive your naivety for now,’she hisses.‘But we are more than a mere fox. Can a simplefoxaccess their mates' powers through their tails?’she growls, not giving me a chance to answer.‘Now serve vengeance NOW!’
There’s a pause in the ring before Captain Brooks turns to face me and opens his mouth wide, bearing his fangs and roaring. His power ripples through the air as gravel slightly shifts beneath my paws, but it doesn’t even touch me to ruffle my fur. He might have a powerful roar that can shake the ground, but his animals aren’t powerful enough to heal Ryker’s poison-tipped blades.
Blood still seeps from the wound on his face and drips down onto his chest, covering his knuckles as he beats on his leather torso before running at me. As he charges, he swings his arm, but I side step him and whip out my yellow tail, watching in fascination as it leaves a large slash across his chest. The bright red blood intertwines with poison-laced blood now matting his fur.
‘What does the yellow tail do?’I ask, curious about how this body works.
‘Each tail you have represents your mates and the power they can share with you in this form. Yellow is Knots, your angel, and you just used his sword to cut into your enemy.’I’m left in awe as she explains.
The Silverback bellows in anger before he faces me and claps his hands together, then throws them open, producing a fireball that comes hurling towards me. Unbothered, we calmly raise our light-brown tail and wave it in a circle, creating a water shield.
JP,I tell myself.
Once the fire is consumed, instead of letting the water fall to the ground, Zareen reshapes it and sends the mass flying back as an arrow into Brooks’ shoulder.
‘True happiness is only reacting to his violence,’Zareen tells me as she starts moving around the circle.
‘This coming from the same woman who had to slaughter everything in sight in Hell, what? A few weeks ago?’I call her out.
‘Why are you bringing up past things?’she huffs. ‘Plus, that was our first meeting. I didn’t know how crazy you were.’
Now it’s me who is about to tell her off, but instead, we have been distracted enough that Captain Brooks actually picks us up and starts to squeeze us.
‘Close combat?’Zareen chuckles.‘Now that’s a mistake you won’t make again.’She lays a black tail against the gorilla’s unmarked cheek, and mentally, I visualize a golden muzzle laughing.‘Let’s see what this leatherbound ass thinks about this power.’The color suddenly rushes from his face, turning it black and ashy, and his skin sinks in, becoming dry and flaking away. Brooks screams and throws us down and away from him as he backs up and covers his sunken face. Black flakes poof into the air on contact, leaving only the exposed bone as his skin continues to flake away.
Horror fills me as this sight seems so familiar, but with Zareen prancing around, she jars me back to the problem at hand.
‘Zareen. I would love to sit here and play with this dead meat all day, but we do have the Gauntlet to finish. And see all of those shifters? I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have to either run or fight our way out of here,’I tell her, still trying to stay on her good side.
‘Hmm. Well, you have a good point. Since you might still need my help, we are capable of pulling the half-shift,’she offers.‘Let’s practice on the dead meat before truly needing it.’
‘Um, okay?’
My bones crackle and pop, but I don’t feel any of the pain I would think a shifter would feel during this process.
‘Zareen? Where’s the pain I’m supposed to feel during these shifts?’
‘You have a lot of mates, I’m spreading it out to all of them so we don’t feel any of it,’she admits.
‘You what?’I ask, flabbergasted.‘Ugh, we will talk about this later.’
‘As you wish.’
As soon as I stand up on two feet, I reach for my glaives, deciding to end this on my terms, when something catches my eye.
‘Is this what you meant by half-shift?’I ask, as a couple of tails curl over my shoulder.
