Quiet Burn (Discordia University #2)

Protector

Slash

I n the many years we’ve known one another, I have never seen Jasper so out of control without his father present. I have tried my usual basic tricks to coax him back to sense, but they are not working. It is time for more drastic measures to prevent him from getting banned from campus. Lucian will have a difficult time convincing the King, but if enough demons are harmed, my father will advise him that thinning the ranks that should fill our armies is ill-advised. The King will do what he always does—pretend he thought of the plan, take credit, and boast as he drags my brother home to be punished in ways that are best left unsaid.

I will not allow that to happen.

Holding on his scales tightly, I push forward up the enormous dragon until I reach its head. It takes a moment to get close enough to reach his tympanum, but once I do, I speak loudly. “Jasper, you have to get control of the dragon and the demon. You’re flying over the stadium in a rage, and you haven’t destroyed anything yet . Now is the time to grab the reins before their fury is not able to be contained. Your caliphate needs you.”

The glass-shattering roar isn’t comforting, so I take a deep breath. I cannot shift to my animal in this environment, but fuck, do I want to bite the living shit out of this stubborn asshole. Harnessing my demon tightly, I let the shark out just enough to shift my features so I have a frightening visage and rows of sharp teeth to make my point. This time, I don’t use my words—no, I dart forward and bite into the dragon’s flesh hard.

My teeth are sharper when I mix the two, so I’m able to catch some of the tender skin between his scales and that makes him roar and buck in pain. Pulling back with his black blood on my lips, I shot again. “Get your shit together, Prince! You are not your father. The danger you’re reacting to is being handled by our brothers. We need you to calm down so you can stay here to lead.”

There’s a pause in his frantic attempts to shake me off, and I have to hold back a relieved sound. It means somewhere in there, Jasper is hearing my words. I can only hope he’s working to soothe his wrathful sides slowly so he doesn’t shift abruptly and send us tumbling to the earth like rocks. My hands grip his hide hard, waiting to see what he will do next.

Please let it be something not involving fire and brimstone.

I’m able to breathe again when the huge serpent tosses its head with a snort, making an annoyed growling sound. My old friend is getting through to his animal and I have to capitalize on it. So I pat its horns lightly, then lean in to speak. “That’s it, Prince. Take us to the ground before you take full control back. We will find our brothers and ensure their safety together.”

That earns me another irritated snort, but the dragon turns about, then angles its wings back to descent. As we get closer to the grass of the arena, I note the red mist Anton and Oriel charged into subsiding slowly. There are bodies of the injured strewn about amongst unmoving ones that might be dead. I have no idea what the fuck happened here before I arrived, but the decimation is sobering. We got lucky that Jasper’s dragon couldn’t see the field of prone demons clearly until the Prince got him to back off.

“Bring us down over by the cloud of magic. I believe we will find them there.” Our descent speeds up and by the time we land with a ground shaking thud, I’m itching to find the rest of our caliphate. I can’t leave Jasper, though, so I hop off and face the beast. “It’s time. Come back so we can tend to the wounded and call for the medics.”

His dragon blinks at me with an expression I’m fairly certain is saying ‘fuck off,’ but I don’t relent until the enormous serpent fades to the form of the man I know. I allow my own visage to shift back, but I don’t go completely human just in case I need to defend my charge. We don’t know what’s lurking in the dissipating mist, so I’d rather be prepared than fail at my duty.

“Fuck,” Jasper pants as he puts his hands on his knees to get his bearings. “That was a rough one.”

I nod, trying to wait patiently for him to clear the animal and the demon out of his mind enough to follow me into the fray. “It was very close, old friend. You need more meditation.”

He gives me a dirty look, but I simply shrug. I’m not wrong, nor am I here to stroke his giant fucking ego. Being a general is, at times, about informing your leader of their inability to see a tactical error before it’s made. Jasper needs to work on harnessing his extremely powerful and dominant supernatural sides more often. If he does not, he will definitely turn into his dickhead father.

“Fine. I’ll… work on it.” His muttered assent is all I need, so I jerk my head at the disaster zone ahead.

“We need to find them. Can you handle it?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s move.”

By the time we wade through the crowd of downed and actively fighting demons, I’m ready to rip something to pieces myself. I was keeping my distress harnessed to help get Jasper back to equilibrium, but my anger is rising. Darkstar orchestrated this mess, even if he didn’t predict the outlandish outcome correctly, and I want to make a slow fucking meal of him.

But I can’t and it chafes hard enough to earn him a permanent spot on my ‘to eat’ list in the future.

“There they are! I see the shrimp,” Jasper says and I’m surprised to hear the amount of relief in his voice.

My eyes follow the direction of his gesture, noting that the little demon is sitting upright. That is good; I’m not quite stable enough internally today to handle another trip to the doctor with him unconscious. Salem is standing off to the side in his bear shift, and Oriel is also perched high as the bird. They are likely healing from whatever injuries they had, so my eyes flick to the golden glow on the ground with a grunt. That’s Anton and he’d never be on the filthy ground unless?—

“Xerxes is injured,” Jasper growls. “There’s no other explanation.”

The fury roils inside of me, but I clamp down on it hard. It is not the time for bleeding my anger—no, we must take control of this mess and get our brother to the doctor. “I will call for Doctor D if you alert the medics at the infirmary.”

Jasper’s jaw tightens, but he knows it’s his responsibility to get the clean-up crew and the medical staff here. “Make certain you find out who is injured and how badly so the Doctor is prepared.”

Leaving him to find his clothes and tech, I stomp over to our brothers. In my head, I’m reciting the dark alphabet backwards as I try to calm myself. My worry for Xerxes is high, but since Anton hasn’t gone nuclear, they are likely going to be okay. Salem and Oriel will be fine if they’ve retreated to their animal forms to heal. The real clawing at my gut is for the small guy sitting on the bench looking wrung out, even from here.

I need to make sure that the little demon is not more injured than he seems from here; it’s essential.

“Tell me what happened immediately,” I demand when I’m close enough that they can all hear me.

Kit looks up at me and my entire body freezes in place when I see the rips and tears in his baggy uniform. There’s blood on him, though I am unsure if it is his, and he looks completely drained as he hefts a long sigh. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

My eyes widen as I look to Anton for confirmation. He nods a little from where he’s kneeling next to X, and I have to take a moment to let it sink in. Once I assimilate that information, I turn to walk over to him, sitting on the bench and putting my arm around him. He doesn’t shrink away and my shark is very pleased. Looking down at his tired, confused eyes, I say, “Whether you intended to or not, we should keep that information to ourselves for now. I do not believe it is a good idea to give those who are plotting against us this kind of information.”

A loud caw precedes Oriel shifting back to human form, his body looking remarkably unharmed. Kit squeaks and buries his face into my side, and I chuckle deeply. “O, please find your clothing. You’re making the little demon turn into a tomato. I think.”

“Sorry,” the little guy says, his voice muffled by my chest. “I’ll get used to it eventually; I promise.”

Oriel grins and I see the wickedness glittering in his gaze, even if Kit cannot. “Oh, you will, Kit Kat, but today is not the day for that conversation.”

Anton snorts, shaking his head. “Stuff it, Oriel. Not the time for that shit.”

He’s not wrong, but Kit is not curling smaller, so he must be okay. Otherwise, I’d smack the crow myself.

“We need to call Doctor D,” I announce. “Does anyone have their phone? Mine is probably somewhere in this stadium, but reining Jasper in was not as easy as I hoped when I arrived.”

A hand holds a phone up from the ground and I chuckle. Of course Xerxes is prone on the grass with a stab wound but managed to keep his phone safe. I should have known before I even asked. I lean forward and grab the device, frowning at the small size. My phone is at least twice the size of this thing; I am not a small demon.

“Give it here,” Kit says and I sigh in relief. He scoots closer to me, then looks at it for a second. “How do I open it, X?”

“Code is 26866548 ,” Xerxes says. His voice is thready and I am concerned that he is more injured than he is letting on.

I look at Anton, who frowns, and then turn back to the little demon. “Hurry. I believe our brother is misleading us about how injured he is. That will be addressed later, but it is more urgent to get the doctor here.”

His eyes widen and he hurries to unlock the screen, then fumbles around until he finds the contacts. Luckily, the Doc’s number is programmed in—as it is in all of our phones—so he’s able to get the line ringing quickly. Pushing the speaker button, he waits for the raspy voice of the elder demon to answer and then speaks. “Dank, something bad went on at the stadium. I can’t talk about it on speakerphone, but Xerxes is injured. I’m… I have issues, too, but um… yeah. Oriel and Salem shifted to help but maybe they need checking and…”

I shake my head as he babbles on for another minute, relaying everything in a high, anxious tone at light speed. He’s still going when a dark green portal opens up in front of us and the masked doctor strolls out with a phone to his head. It’s clear Kit has never seen him do this before, so once again, he shrinks into my side reflexively. Frowning as I feel him tremble, I pick him up and sit him on my lap so I am able to comfort him better.

“It is okay, little demon. The doctor is here and we will take care of everything in time. Do not be afraid.”

His head turns and I’m worried he will jump up, but instead, he nods as he bites his lip. I pull him close and sit my chin on his head, letting him feel the safety he obviously needs as Dr. D immediately heads for Xerxes. The old demon makes an annoyed sound behind his mask, then looks at me.

“We will need to adjourn to my office. I will handle the snake if you will help Kit.” The doctor looks at Anton, then at Oriel as he returns. “Bring the bear and the crow with you. One at a time, I will help you. Is the Prince secure?”

Nodding, I shift so I can stand up with the little demon in my arms. “Jasper is handling the other injured demons and the dead. His dragon is under control now, so he can find us when he has been released.”

“Dottie!”

Blinking, I remember the tiny creature when Kit tugs on my collar as he yells. “Oriel, please locate the kinkajou. The portal will close behind us once we are all inside, yes?”

The plague masked doctor nods, waving his hand to magic X off the ground and heads for the shortcut to his office. Anton follows, and I bring up the rear with the little demon in my arms. He must be very worried about his stadium antics because he’s shivering now, and I think perhaps he’s in shock.

That is okay. I will keep him safe until our brothers and the doctor are all together—it’s my duty, after all.