Chapter 5
jesper
. . .
Humans finally decided to strike with Rune’s power.
The mission call came through my comms in the middle of a reconnaissance sweep in Fate Hollow, near the border. I barely listened to the full briefing before I was moving, muscles already shifting and my bones stretching.
I shifted into my dragon form, scales rippling over my skin, lungs expanding, and the world snapping into sharper focus.
Wings tore free from my back with a familiar burn, catching the air in a single, powerful sweep as the ground fell away beneath me.
I shot toward the Bizarre, where my squad had been dispatched.
Wind roared against my scales as I soared. Below me, the land blurred by in streaks of forest, stone, villages, and the distant shimmer of the fae portals. Smoke curled on the horizon ahead.
From what Sabine had said, an entire village at the edge of the Bizarre had been wiped out throughout the night. The village had been home to imps, trolls, and centaurs. All of them had been torn apart by a human strike team.
And the one who’d done most of the killing was a human with Rune’s stolen DNA pumping through his veins.
I bared my teeth into the wind, a low growl rumbling out of my chest. The humans’ threat hadn’t been empty. They were attempting to start a war, not just with their own council, but with us, too.
As I flew closer, the air carried the wretched copper tang of blood, the sharp sting of burned magic, and the acrid stench of human gunpowder. The Bizarre’s usual serene nature was eerily silent. The stalls nearest the outer village were broken and abandoned.
I angled my wings, dropping lower until the village came into full view.
Cottages and carved stone burrows lay smashed open. Bodies sprawled in the streets, limbs twisted, torsos cut down the middle or changed to an odd color from whatever venom the human had used.
My squad was already there, dressed and waiting.
I caught sight of them in the center part of the village, holding a defensive line against what had been a retreating human unit.
The humans hadn’t left.
I tucked my wings and dove. I hit the ground hard enough to crack stone, folding into myself as the shift rolled back in a practiced wave. My scales retracted, talons shortening to hands, wings drawing into my spine, and muscle and bone shrinking until I was back in my normal form.
Rage overtook me.
The first thing I saw was Tobias.
My brother-by-mating stood on the front line with the other enforcers, flames coiled around his fists. His black hair, streaked with green lowlights, glinted as he pivoted to shield an opening. His green eyes were narrowed, and his jaw was clenched.
April stood at his side, fangs bared. Her curly brown hair was pulled back, and her brown eyes locked on her target as she drove a vamp-fast punch into a human’s face.
Jesse burned bright to her left, his phoenix flames an efficient deterrent.
Kyle was on Tobias’s right, using his vampiric speed and brutal efficiency to take out a human that tried to strike.
They were struggling with one specific human, avoiding him at all costs. He was a tall figure, slick with what looked like sweat, moving both like a drunk man and a predator. His bare hands glistened wet with something that smoked when it spattered onto the stone.
It was Rune’s venom.
My stomach twisted.
Every time one of my enforcers got close, he snarled and lunged, trying to touch their skin. The air around him stank of corrosive poison.
Behind the enforcers, my spies worked the edges to protect the others. All agents knew how to fight, but it was best for the enforcers and spies to take the brunt of an attack.
Cassie darted in and out with grace, using her pheromones to misdirect human strikes.
Bradley moved in complementary rhythm with her, his pheromones doing the same thing.
Dimitri slid through an attempted strike, catching a human’s gaze and using his compulsion to force the humans to turn on each other.
Rune, my vicious mate, stood in the middle of it all, hair tied up in a practical bun, green strands escaping to frame her furious expression.
She was focused on the DNA-enhanced human, every line of her body tight and ready to strike.
On the flanks, magic cracked and flared.
Kane’s dark purple hair made him easy to find in the chaos, and he stood with one hand braced on the earth, drawing magic from it to call upon barriers and hurl bolt after bolt of compressed magical force into the humans.
Beside him, Sylver moved layered protections around the group with the enchanted dagger that gave her the ability to do so, her blue eyes constantly scanning for any attack that could come their way.
On a high rock outcropping near the edge of the square, Lysa hovered with her tablet, platinum hair braided back, green eyes narrowing as she called out positions, movements, and patterns.
Corin and Slater crouched nearby. Corin’s phantom-gray eyes were distant as he interfaced with the local tech grid, and Slater’s red eyes glowed as he hacked human comms, rerouted drone feeds, and shut down their signals and pleas for backup.
At the edge of the village, under the meager cover of a half-standing wall, Rhyse and Zuko had a human on his knees.
Rhyse’s dark brown hair fell across his face as he leaned in, shadow magic coiling around his shoulders.
Zuko’s orange eyes were hidden behind the bandage, but he regarded the human with a calculated expression.
Arban and Eleanor stood a little further back with the healers, observing.
Arban looked ready to intervene if this turned into a diplomatic mess, while Eleanor held a comms device, no doubt already queuing our report to Sabine.
Morgan and Koa stayed behind the line with them.
Morgan’s jet-black hair was pulled into a tight braid, and her blue eyes were focused as she darted forward to heal any injuries our enforcers and spies received.
Koa’s dark brown hair had fallen loose, brown ember-flecked eyes hard as he worked at her side.
I took in everyone’s position in the span of a breath.
“Rune! Take down the one infected with your venom!” I bellowed my orders. “Everyone else, focus on the others!”
My squad reacted instantly.
Tobias and April shifted their focus, turning away from the toxic bastard using my mate’s power and slamming into a cluster of standard humans instead. Jesse and Kyle followed suit, creating a wedge that punched through their lines.
Rune looked over her shoulder at me, and she nodded before locking onto her target. Rage funneled down the matebond, and I knew then how deep her hatred for this human was.
He grinned at her, lips cracked and teeth stained dark. His skin was blotched with sickly blue veins. He probably looked so bad because of Rune’s power burning through him. A human body was never meant to hold it.
He lifted his hand, venom dripping from his fingers, and lunged for her throat.
She didn’t dodge.
His palm slammed into the side of her neck. Venom smeared across her skin, sizzling.
My heart stopped, but Rune’s expression barely flickered as amusement trickled down the bond.
“Oh,” she said flatly, grabbing his arm in a bruising grip. “You really thought that would work on me.”
She twisted, snapping his forearm in half.
He howled, dropping to one knee. She stepped behind him, grabbed his chin with her free hand, and yanked. His neck broke with a wet crack.
He collapsed in a boneless heap, venom still seeping from his pores.
Rune shook out her hand, green eyes dark. “This is my power,” she muttered, wiping the fluid off on his shirt. “You are not worthy of it.”
Her chaos manifestation appeared, the little serpent with wings flying around her before perching on her shoulder. “Worthy!”
She turned and petted his head. “Thanks, Worthy.”
He hissed in admiration.
Some humans faltered as they realized she’d taken down their warrior, fear twisting their expressions.
I turned my attention to the nearest cluster and moved.
I didn’t have flashy magic like icedrakes or firedrakes, but I still held draconic strength. I was stronger than the average dragon, so taking a group of humans down was simple.
The first human came at me with an electric baton. I caught his wrist mid-swing and squeezed, feeling his bones crunch under my fingers.
He screamed.
I yanked him forward and drove my fist into the side of his head. I broke through his skull and drove into his mushy brain.
He fell to the ground with his head broken and brains leaking onto the ground.
Another tried to flank me.
I pivoted, grabbed his shirtfront with one hand, and hurled him into a wall hard enough to crack the stone. His dead body slid down it, leaving a smear of blood.
A third fired a rifle at me.
I ducked under the shot, closed the distance, and slammed my elbow into his jaw. Teeth flew, and his jaw dislocated; the skin ripped as it barely hung on. His eyes rolled back before he even hit the ground.
My squad and I cut through the regular humans as if they were poorly trained recruits. Clearly, they’d over-estimated their venom-laced warrior and didn’t bring along proper weapons. Rune had removed the only real threat they'd brought in under a minute.
My gaze snagged behind Tobias as a human somehow slipped through the front lines.
“Tibby!” Rune shouted, but it was too late.
The dart hit Tobias in the side of his neck, and we didn’t know what was in it.
“Tobias!” The sound of sheer terror ripped from Sylver’s throat as she ran toward him.
Tobias staggered, eyes going wide. His phoenix fire sputtered and faded, power collapsing in on itself as his skin turned pale.
Immediately, I knew he’d been dosed with Tourmalyke Type II.
Relief swept through me because we could fix that.
Rage detonated through Rune’s bond, hotter than before.
She was on the shooter in a heartbeat, a snarl ripping from her throat. She slammed her hand into the human’s chest, tearing through the fabric and meeting his skin before pouring venom into him.