Chapter 27 Aurelia
Aurelia
We come upon the Crocodylus property at sunset, orange and pink bleeding across the sky at my left shoulder.
A pretty day to die.
Darkness gathers on my right, and it’s the perfect amount of light to begin.
I fly high so my wing beats don’t create turbulence on the ground, alerting the many guards who patrol the barbed wire fence that surrounds the entire property.
New guard towers have been hastily constructed out of the same metal scaffolding that still holds up the back part of the house—devastation caused by another dragon; that one black, not blue.
I shiver as I recall that day. Most of it is a blur of pain. My life narrowed down to nothing more than pure instinct and survival. My mates walk that narrow precipice now.
The animas on my back poke each other as they get their first real look at the area, muttering at the two manufactured long rivers on either side, like parallel highways.
Even this late in the day, no fewer than twenty salties lie on the banks, their mouths open as they regulate the temperature of their cold blood.
“It’s time,” I tell my friends.
Plastic crinkles at my back as Hyacinth brings out the drawn-up syringes of oestrous-inducing medication.
She injects Sifa and Teylani, then Minnie and Sabrina.
I refused to let Stacey be dosed, given her recent compromised state.
We needed a level head on the ground in any case, so our lioness and hyena regina are going to be the designated wranglers.
Two minutes later, Sabrina’s voice grunts in my ear. “Oh wow. Yeah, I feel it coming on.”
“Same,” Minnie says. They’ve all experienced heats before, but a manufactured heat carries a heavier signature. I’ve warned them as much as I could, and it’s going to be up to Stacey and Hyacinth to keep them in line.
“Then let us begin,” Hyacinth says.
I begin my descent as the sun finally disappears below the horizon, leaving a purpling edge along the seam of the world. I needed the visibility of the light to make sure we weren’t flying into a trap, but we need night to prepare our ambush.
I see them before anyone else, but it takes the others only seconds to notice.
“Oh look,” Sabrina mutters. “It’s the lion, the witch and the cunt.”
My eyes catch on three figures walking out of the house. Connor, Katerina, and the Lady Hyena are leaving the house and walking, not to the vehicles but to the side of the house towards the river.
“We weren’t expecting her to be here,” Hyacinth says. “She’s been AWOL since your appearance at the Jewel.”
“She’s come to see if the skin curse can be reversed,” Sifa whispers. “Clearly, the serpents couldn’t help her.” Or wouldn’t, if what I suspected is true. My father’s only real ally is himself. I’d known that long before entering Halfeather House that fateful day so long ago.
Regardless of the trio walking towards the crocodile fence, I maintain a slow-moving spiral downwards until I’m just out of detectable range.
Minnie and Stacey work together to bring down Hyacinth and her pack safely.
Enveloped in my invisibility bubble, they are levitated down like assassins on climbing ropes.
We can’t see them, being in the shield, but Minnie’s always been the strongest and most precise telekinetic of us all.
Regardless, I monitor for their safe landing in the gathering dark, feeling the slight weights of the three remaining felines.
Minnie’s whisper sounds in my ear. “See you soon, Lia.”
“Remember, if you leave my line of sight, you’ll lose invisibility,” I warn.
“Roger that.”
Something wholly primitive calls to me. It’s not a roar, not a screech, not a pounding in my head.
It’s a regina’s hunting silence. And it settles into every artery, every vein, stretching alongside the shadows that follow the sunset.
My senses become alive, become linked to my nerves, the spaces in my brain meant to strategise.
Blood will flow tonight.
Mid-air, I shift into eagle form, exchanging webbed wings for feathers and light bones, a snout for a beak. My eyesight shifts, not as violently detailed as the dragon’s, but eagle eyes are something that I’ve always been used to. “Let’s make a lap,” I say.
I shift into a cobra, removing my own invisibility so my friends can see me, and slither towards the guard towers. Low to the ground, the world looks bigger, but I know I hold these moments in the palm of my hand.
It’s fully dark now, and big floodlights are turned on, aimed at the road before the front fence.
There are two lighthouse-style rotating beams aimed at the sky.
As Hyacinth leads her pack towards the gate, I monitor my feline animas as they levitate beside me.
My forked tongue sneaks out to taste the air, and I scent them.
Feminine, sweet, lusty. Like dripping honey, it coats the air, lustful and longing.
This scent is made to travel. Made to attract, draw attention, and drive males into a frenzy.
It’s a weapon that bypasses order powers, intellect, and military strategy.
I suffered for the privilege of that information and now I use it as a weapon against the very enemies who sought to use it against me.
My friends pant under the force of its power, their heat signatures bright and hot to my serpent eyes. Minnie taps Hyacinth on the shoulder before driving all six of them up the first guard tower, where two guards hold automatic rifles.
“What’s that smell?” a burly roo says, twisting around to scent the air. “It smells so fucking good.”
“Are there any animas here?” another replies, unconsciously tugging at the collar of his uniform. “If she has Connor on that stuff again, I’m gonna be so…Yeah, someone’s in heat.” He rubs his dick because he can’t help it. These roos are unmated, and it shows in the pants now tenting.
My animas say nothing, letting the scents wrap around the tower before Minnie draws them away. The guards sniff the air and frown to themselves before the first leaps right off the tower and lands on the dirt, kicking it up in a cloud. The second follows.
We continue on to the second and third guard towers, collecting three croc guards patrolling on foot along the way.
The guards become distracted, losing their patrol formation and leaving their posts to track the scents of the animas.
Two of my friends are reginas, and they’re powerful, sweet treats for unmated animuses.
It’s Sabrina, with a small knife, wielding it with the precision she’s known for, who’s responsible for the deaths of the two animuses who don’t respond to the scents, likely because they are a part of a mated group.
The rest make up a group of twelve big, rifled males, and when Minnie flies the animas right over the main gate, the males have no choice but to unlock the gate and follow. Hyacinth and her pack lead them out into the night, while my felines jog back to me.
I don’t know these creatures, but I know they guard The Collector so she can execute the most heinous crimes of our kind. It’s not just Lorian. Who else has she got tortured and starved in the dark under her house?
Sabrina stumbles back to me, and there are tiny flecks of crimson on her cheeks. “Let’s go,” she whispers. “Hyacinth is taking them out on the west side.” She retrieves the last syringe from her pocket and offers it to me.
I shift into human form and take it with a nod, jogging ahead of them towards the main house.
The syringe cap comes off with the aid of my teeth, and I spit it into the dirt before stabbing myself in the left deltoid.
There’s a familiar sting as it goes in, and suddenly, the flash of bright halogens and white walls, lab coats and serpent sweat fills my nose.
But I’m not in Drakos Estate. I am free.
My feline sisters and I keep a fast pace as we jog up the long road to the house.
I keep our invisibility around us all, with me being able to make out who’s who by their heat signatures.
About halfway, emerge a group of five guards in a Jeep, purposefully moving in the opposite direction.
In the back seat is none other than the hyena queen.
I only have a split second to make the decision, but I do it.
My telekinetic power lashes out, and I halt the truck. It screeches to a stop, the wheels stuck in place. The driver revs the engine, but Sabrina must know a thing or two about cars because her power zooms past me and something blows in the engine, making smoke stream out from under the hood.
After multiple curse words, they jump out of the vehicle. Silently, we move in around them, and it takes less than three seconds for them to notice the scent. Except something unexpected happens when the group halts, sniffing the air like predators.
Stacey lets out a choked sound and stumbles into me. I grab her, but she violently shoves me away, barrelling past me and into the soldiers. “My rex!” the lioness gasps, gripping one of the males. “You’re my rex!”
“No fucking way,” Sabrina mutters.
Minnie clutches my arm. The male rears back, unable to see his assailant, and I have no choice but to uncloak Stacey.
When she’s revealed, we all see Stacey clutching onto the arms of the tall male, peering into his eyes.
He stares down at her as if he’s seen a ghost, and I’m sure he’s looking at her neck and the mating mark they both share.
She reaches up with slender, trembling fingers, but he snatches them up.
“Why are you here?” he frowns. “How are you here?”
The hyena queen stands from the Jeep. “If she’s here, the others are scuttling around here too. Just like mice.”
One of the guards closer to us raises a walkie-talkie to his mouth. Without warning, Sabrina ducks out from behind me, and I suppress a cry, keeping the invisibility around her.
“Take the front two,” I tell Minnie. “I’ll get the middle two.”
As Sabrina leaps onto the guard, knocking the walkie-talkie out of his hand and making him stumble, Minnie’s power lashes out, telekinetically wrapping around the front guards.
The males struggle to see the invisible assailant, and I charge my power into the chests of the two in the middle row, gripping their hearts and squeezing until they lose consciousness.
Blood spurts from the throat of the man Sabrina has, while the front three have their feet swept out from under them, falling hard as if thrown and knocking the backs of their heads hard on the ground.
Stacey whimpers as her rex pushes her away and swings his gun around blindly, aiming for the rest of us. “Where are they?” he shouts.
“Are they dead?” the lioness whimpers, looking out at the rest of the guards.
“Yes,” the hyena queen says, before calling out into the dark. “Finally got some backbone, did you, Boneweaver girl?” she cackles. “You won’t leave this compound, and neither will your little lioness friend.”
“You guys need to get Stacey out of here,” I quickly tell Minnie and Sabrina, rolling my neck as I feel the heat dancing in my veins. “Find the keys from the dead guards and keep an eye on the front gate in case she calls for reinforcements. I’ll come and get you.”
“Like fuck!” Stacey shouts at me, fully hearing my conversation.
“They’re here!” comes a shrill voice through the walkie-talkie on the ground. “Shoot them on sight!” The soldier swings his gun around and shoots Stacey right in the arm. Everyone screams.
Before anyone can stop her, Sabrina bounds towards the hyena matriarch, a fresh needle and syringe high in the air. Before I register what she’s about to do, she stabs the hyena matriarch right through her dress sleeve.