Chapter 9
Aurelia
The next morning, I wake up with that feeling of emptiness yawning just a bit wider. My power claws under my skin, keen to get going. But there is much to do before we leave for Clawson House tonight.
We meet at Raquel’s hospital room. We’ve all been feeling their absence, and I want them to feel included while we plan. Our wolf anim lies quietly breathing, and I watch their lashes twitch.
“Raquel,” I call into their mind. “You’re safe now. Come back to us.”
Guilt oozes in my chest as I’m met with silence.
The doctors are saying that we just need to wait.
That it’s only a matter of time, and Raquel’s mind just needs to rest from the trauma of being split from their body for so long.
It only makes me more antsy. It was my fault to start with, and I need to be smarter in my attempts to fix things.
“We’ve been to Clawson House before,” Minnie says evenly. “And…”
“And I’ve been in their prison,” Sabrina finishes from her spot in the corner, Blair and Blade hovering protectively over her hooded form.
“She’s not going back there,” Blair says firmly before looking down at Sabrina and saying more softly, “And you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Blade nods and clutches the bag of cakes she likes. It makes me smile to see them protective of her. She deserves that.
My hand fists the edge of Raquel’s sheet where it hangs over the bed. “No one’s doing anything they don’t want to,” I say in a low voice. “But we need some clarity on what’s inside the property.”
Marduk unrolls the poster onto the rolling table. “I have the blueprints, Lady Boneweaver.”
“How you source these things, I’ll never understand,” Minnie says under her breath.
It’s true. Marduk had somehow been able to find the blueprints to Naga House as well, which should have been impossible.
The twins, Stacey, Eugene, Henry, Yeti, and Minnie crowd around the table, looking over the house.
Beak shows me a bird’s-eye view using maps on his phone, pointing out important landmarks on the way so I’ll know exactly where to land.
“And you’ll be able to cover all of us?” Yeti asks.
I nod, ignoring the creeping feeling suddenly winding its way through my stomach.
This reminds me of the time my mates and I had planned to sneak into Naga House to retrieve my mother.
I’d used a bubble shield to cover all of us to get in all the way until we’d reached the underground portion of the house. Then we’d come across Uncle Ben.
I squeeze Raquel’s hand. It’s thankfully warm. “As long as I can see you,” I tell the Devi pack, “you’ll be covered. After that, you’re alone.”
Marduk nods, a new light in his dark eyes.
We gather at the top of the animus dorms as night falls.
I’m not sure if shifting into a dragon is something I’ll get used to.
I don’t have Xander to ask, but it’s a strange thing.
There’s no other form that feels like smoke and fire and yet has weapon-like scales and aeroplane-sized wings.
It feels like power and does little to sate my growing bloodlust.
“Are you okay?” Minnie whispers where she’s levitating next to my head. “You’ve been so quiet today.”
“I want to kill people, Min,” I reply into her mind. Something worse than simply killing, but I won’t mention it now. “I have to hold all of that inside, and it’s…”
She nods, stroking my brow. “Driving you nuts.”
“Something like that.”
I have a feeling that if Ghoul had not taken my venom yesterday, I’d be in a real state tonight.
He had no intention of ‘helping’ me in that way; it was for his own personal benefit, of course, but he’d unknowingly done me and my overactive Boneweaver power a favour while my mates are not here.
The tigers climb on at the front, and Beak takes up the back position, cuddling onto Marduk.
I can’t help it, really. It roars out of me—the fire, the sound of pure animal rage. Minnie’s shrieks are drowned out, and I envelop them in a protective bubble before I jump up into the air. There’s no more hiding. Not anymore.
I don’t soar up as fast as I want to, not with one of my legs hurting so much when I leap. But the wings and the force provided by my other limbs are enough to have us levelling out in the night sky above the clouds.
An eagle’s cry registers, and I realise Beak has shifted and is gripping onto my scales with his claws.
He can’t keep up with dragon wings, of course, so I slow down just enough and he’s able to fly up my body to my neck where he clutches on.
I think he just wants to see the view, the feeling of flying at this velocity and altitude.
“It’s something else, isn’t it?” I tell him. “Seeing the clouds like a blanket beneath you and nothing but stars above.” He calls his agreement.
We get to Clawson House an hour later, nestled in a wealthy estate of affluent felines.
The cream and gold rendered brick house is king of the hill, enclosed in a fancy golden fence.
The house used to be Ablo Obon’s family house until he sold it and moved to a different suburb.
No one actually knows whether he was blackmailed into moving, or if Tiberius offered him a huge sum for the pretty property.
I’m betting it was the former. We already know he likes to fight dirty.
I switch my shield around the Devi pack to an invisibility one before I touch down as lightly as I can.
Beak gets to the ground first and shifts, catching the bag Marduk tosses to him and getting out his clothes.
I can’t see them, but I feel Minnie, Marduk, and Yeti levitate themselves off my back.
From now on, we’re to act as if they don’t exist.
I shift into human form, and Beak rushes over with my clothes, his hands all over my bra and knickers.
I snatch them from his hands and quickly shove them on before my professional attire.
Sabrina helped me pick them out, of course, and my friends all demanded we go for what they’re calling ‘mob boss chic.’
It’s nothing less than a power suit. A navy-blue blazer trimmed with white, and matching suit pants with golden buttons.
Beak starts wielding my hairbrush, and I narrow my eyes at him.
He backs away with his hands in the air.
Carefully brushing my long tresses out, I slick them back into a high pony, smoothing down the sides.
My anima wants to wear anything other than this. It wants to be naked and in scales and fangs. “How do I look?” I ask, distractedly tugging at the blazer.
When Beak doesn’t reply, I frown up at him through the dark. He’s smiling softly. “You look different from the day I first met you.”
I stare at him. How could I forget the day I’d met my mates? How could I forget the day my life had changed forever? And he’s right; I’d been a different person then.
That Aurelia didn’t know what had happened to her mother. Had never broken a bone. Had never shifted into a wolf, a shark, or a dragon. That Aurelia had run when she’d been told to. And she’d never had her mates taken from her.
I turn my face towards Clawson House. “That Aurelia is gone now.” Because someone darker has taken her place. A beast who craves flesh between her teeth.
Minnie sniffs somewhere to my far right, and I nod in her direction.
With a deep breath, I set my shoulders and begin walking up the hill to the gate.
We are let inside quickly and efficiently.
Beak speaks for me in the way that I’ve seen the beasts of mob bosses do, and when the giant, intimidating guard tigers look me over, I level them an unsmiling look, letting my power fan out unhindered.
Unapologetic. I know they feel it by the sudden defensive set of their shoulders.
One thing about felines is that their telekinesis puts them at a huge advantage over other orders.
With a single thought, one of them can flip you backwards and send you flying out the door.
Couple that with male arrogance and you’ve got a bunch of assholes on your hands.
There needs to be clear communication that I outrank these guys in power.
It’s the only thing felines respect—the Clawsons, most of all.
Minnie, Marduk, and Yeti are careful to follow close by as we are led inside the opulent house, the golden downlights washing the grand entrance hall in deceivingly warm light.
The place smells like feral male tiger, and from what I know about this place, Tiberius encourages his beasts to wander around as feral, and in some cases, as rabid as they like.
Titus had arrived at the academy completely rabid, after all.
We are led into a formal meeting room just off the main hallway, the high ceilings giving the impression of lofty importance.
There’s an alcohol cabinet off to one side, and a rectangular table in the middle takes up most of the space.
It can seat four on each side, and as Beak pulls out a middle seat for me, the guards leave to summon their noble leader.
They haven’t tried to murder or maim me yet, so it’s looking promising, but there is the faint scent of marking urine in the air, so I’m not completely impressed.
That’s definitely from Titus, I’d put money on it.
I imagine him lifting a leg over the table, and my mood improves somewhat.
Beak stands at my right elbow, and I feel Minnie and Marduk station themselves behind us. Yeti is on his own now.
They make us wait, of course. Ten minutes go by, then fifteen, and I try to stop my bristling as a girl in red lingerie, complete with garters, brings us tea in plain white teacups.
Just as I’m contemplating asking for Beak to put me out of my misery and pour me a whisky, the door opens and Tiberius walks in, Titus hunched and stalking at his back.