Chapter 36
Savage
My strong regina carries us over the land and far, far away where the rest of the world can’t hurt us. Scythe and Hyacinth organised everything with the captives so they can get to a safe place, but when Scythe started frowning into the dark, I knew it was time to leave and herded everyone up.
We ride into the sunrise, and it feels like Aurelia’s flying us to heaven, which is very, very different to what we had in the last few weeks.
Each of my bones feels sore, and my skin is all itchy and gross, like I haven’t showered in months.
Have I showered? Everything I remember of The Collector’s house is all blurry. I shake myself out.
“I need you to kiss each body part,” I say to my regina. “Many kisses on each one to make them better.”
“Yes,” her voice is all dragony in my mind-ears. “Each one, my wolf.”
I swing my legs in happiness, making Lyle grumble behind me. I’m riding shotgun at the front and centre. Scythe is behind Lyle, and Xander is behind him, but The Collector’s head is riding in Aurelia’s front claw because she’s refusing to let it go.
At one point, I lie down on her warm, hard shoulders, wanting to be close and skin to scales. I love her so fucking much, and if the treasure haze means she’ll love on me even more, I’m so excited and ready for it.
By the time daylight is bright in my eyes, Aurelia cloaks us in her special invisibility shield. Too tired to talk to my brothers, I snuggle into Lyle’s arms for the rest of the ride.
I smell the sea, and my eyes fly open as we arrive on the coast. Aurelia tilts her pretty snout down, and we veer toward the ocean itself.
Putting my arms up in the air, I enjoy the rush of the wind on my skin, the feeling of infinite freedom after being cooped up so long like a battery hen.
Aurelia’s claws skim the water’s surface, and her wings snap out in a paraglide across the water as we head a little out to sea where humans won’t accidentally see us.
She flicks her wings up like a sail, and we slow down. “Are we—” Lyle asks before Aurelia levels out as we breach the ocean’s surface, the droplets of sea spray sprinkling on my cheeks.
“Yes!” I cry as she settles on the ocean, and I imagine her little legs paddling like a duck under the water’s surface. There’s a splash on my right, and I see the soles of Scythe’s feet disappearing into the water. I too get to my feet and dive in after him, and I feel Lyle doing the same.
I swim to wash the night’s sweat and blood off my skin, but the problem is that I immediately miss my regina’s touch and I have to swim right back to her, gasping for breath at the surface right near her side.
Pressing my cheek against her wet scales, I breathe in her smoky scent. “I hated it, regina,” I tell her. “Hated every second not being near you.”
“Me too, precious wolf,” she says, making my heart swell to the size of the moon.
A black blob, which is Xander’s body against the sun, still sits on Aurelia’s back, staring at the water as if it might hurt him. I catch my regina’s eye. “He may start to smell, regina.”
She snorts before a ‘gust of wind’ knocks Xander right off her back into the water. I cackle with happiness, diving under again, only this time, I come face to face with the mighty ol’ shark that’s Scythe. I boop him right on the nose before following the mass of bubbles to Xander’s flailing body.
We break the surface at the same time as he gasps dramatically for air and I thump him on the back. Lyle appears out of nowhere, his blonde hair plastered to his face, looking happier than I’ve seen him in ages.
Our regina paddles around us, suspiciously surveying the water for enemies. “We must go soon,” she says. “But I will not leave Scythe. Lyle, hold this for me.”
The Collector’s head flies out from under the water, and Lyle catches it with his telekinesis.
Aurelia shifts, shrinking until she’s only a grey dorsal fin above the water.
I dive under again, only to see the two sharks circling around us like hungry predators.
Above the surface, there’s just two fins chasing each other.
“So cute!” I say to Lyle. “Remind me to get a fin for next time.”
Xander is floating on his back, looking sort of glum and over the entire situation.
He was awake the whole time and The Collector made him do all sorts of awful things, and I think it’s affecting him now.
I scowl at the black mark on his neck because it’s not even shining like the rest of his wet skin is.
Like it sucks all the light from outside and swallows it.
Lyle treads water next to me, also staring at the floating dragon. We exchange a look and leave him alone.
An hour later, Scythe is calm, and Aurelia paddles the rest of us to the beach.
There are a few tourists here, so we stay invisible as we climb onto the shore.
Nakedness, the humans can deal with, but the severed head maybe not so much.
Rufus is waiting for us in the carpark with a black Jeep and bags of supplies.
Aurelia snaps her teeth at him and possessively draws Scythe away when he tries to speak with our jaguar manager.
“Home,” she snarls. “We go home now.”
I love her so much.
Aurelia blocks Lyle when he goes to take the driver’s seat. “No,” she scowls, grabbing his hand and pointing to the sky. “We fly again where it’s safe.”
“Sweetheart,” Lyle says, cupping her salty cheeks. “We need to go to a safe building for today where we can eat and shower.”
Her face lights up in the most adorable way. “I can get food! Lots of it for my big mates.”
“We can get it together,” I offer, stepping forward and taking her hand. “All of us.”
She shakes me off and crosses her arms. “No, I’m getting it.”
“Regina,” Scythe’s rasp gets her attention as he pushes me aside and tries to talk to her. “We have an apartment here. It will be safe for all of us.”
“No,” she says firmly. “We go back to the nest where it is surely safe, then I get food, we feast, then I clean my mates. End of story.”
“Step aside,” Xander drawls. “Aurelia, going to the academy nest will take too long, and I feel unwell. We have a closer nest here that we can use. I need healing.” We all turn to stare at him. Xander runs a hand through his wet hair, flexing a bicep as he does.
“What?” Aurelia says sharply, shoving past me and pressing her nose against Xander’s chest and rapidly sniffing all over his body. “You’re unwell?”
“Yes,” Xander says fakely. He even presses a hand to his forehead like he’s going to faint. “I feel ill. I think I’m going to pass out.”
“No!” She reaches up to his face and kisses him on the cheek. Now this isn’t so fun anymore. “Okay,” she says sharply to me as if it’s my fault. “Where is the closer nest?”
“I’ll take us,” Lyle says, catching on and playing pretend too. “Put the ill one in the car.”
“Yes.” My regina, my regina, takes Xander’s hand and gently leads him to the car as if he’s elderly! I gape at Scythe, but he just shakes his head and nudges me into the back seat with them.
“I was wondering what the smell was this whole time,” I announce as I slide in next to Aurelia, who takes the middle. “Xander must have gastro.”
“What!” Xander and Lia say at the same time, which makes me more annoyed.
“Actually, I think I’ve caught it too, blah!” I pretend to retch, and my regina cups her hands in front of me as if she’s going to catch my vomit. “You’re the best regina ever,” I say, copying Xander’s voice. “I’m running a fever, I just know it.”
Xander and I enjoy Aurelia fussing over the both of us as Lyle drives to one of our beachside apartments.
When we get there, Aurelia demands to inspect the property first so she can assess for predators.
I follow her closely around the three-bedroom apartment, and she sniffs better than any wolf I know, checking every surface, every curtain, and tests all the windows.
Then, she finds some antibacterial wipes and runs them over every surface, including the light switches.
She makes me and Xander sit side by side, and she takes our temperature with the measuring device from the medical kit she hunted out in the bathroom.
Then she assigns Xander and me one ‘contamination’ toilet and the rest of them get the other.
Then she checks over Scythe and Lyle. She tuts over Lyle’s matted hair, and her eyes glisten when she sees what remains of the healing wound on Scythe’s cheek.
She gently eases her power into his skin, kissing him better, leaving his skin unmarked like it was before.
She runs her fingers over the rest of his body, healing every little wound and scratch The Collector made.
After that, she tries to shove us all into the big shower together.
Lyle’s cock is pressed up against my ass, which is all well and good until Xander’s cock comes swinging my way.
I let out a high-pitched feral wolf scream, which has Aurelia jumping a foot in the air, baring her teeth, ready for an enemy.
When she sees I’m pointing at Xander’s dick, she rolls her eyes and yanks me towards her and the soapy loofah she’s swinging like a mace.
“Ow!” I cry as she yanks my head down by the hair and scrubs the back of my ear with the aggression of a pissed-off wolf mum.
“Bad wolf!” she says. “I have to clean you properly.”
She works fast and hard, scrubbing me all over, and I don’t even get to enjoy it because she moves on to Lyle, who grins at me while she attacks him. Scythe has moved into the corner, steadily cleaning himself, and I squeeze past Xander to go look at him.
“Don’t,” he warns me as I open my mouth.
I pout. “Okay.”
He uses a bar of soap and the sink while he waits for the shower head, scrubbing the back of his neck. Even though Aurelia healed him, I know he’s scrubbing more than skin right now.
Back in the shower, Aurelia turns on the spray, and with the removable shower head in one hand, washes down Xander and Lyle like they’re cars. They rotate like good boys when she tells them to, and then they have to wait because she refuses to let them dry themselves.
Xander watches her so closely while she does all of this, a strange, distant look in his eyes.
I think he’s back at Drakos Estate in his head.
My heart feels less hatred towards him these days, and I don’t feel like vomiting when I look at him now, but I still can’t stand that darned black mark on his neck. It gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I shiver, and Aurelia is on me in a flash, dragging me and Scythe into the shower and shoving Xander and Lyle out of the bathroom with strict instructions to wait for her.
Our regina has singular, dedicated focus on rinsing the soap off us, her movements so fast it’s like she thinks we’re running out of time somehow. Maybe she’s making up for lost time.
I’m alarmed when I notice she’s panting a little, a tiny frown between her brows. Scythe notices it too, and pulls the shower head out of her hands when we’re all soap-free. He cups her cheeks and ducks his head, pressing his forehead and nose to hers.
“You felt helpless, didn’t you?” my brother says softly to her. “So did I.”
Her cheeks pinken. “I have to take care of you,” she whispers. “Please don’t stop me.”
My eyes burn, and I scrunch up my face because this hurts so much. “I’m going to make fairy bread,” I announce. “I’m going to…to…do something.”
The biggest surprise ever is when Scythe says, “We should get popcorn and watch a movie.”
“And put pillows on the floor?” I ask hopefully.
Aurelia’s face brightens only a smidge. “Only if Xander and Savage feel better,” she eyes me with the suspicion of a doctor.
I pat my eight-pack. “Yep, I think you fixed it.”
She grabs the towel and starts to dry us. “There’s a lot to do, you know. I don’t know if there’s moisturiser and underwear for you here.”
Scythe yanks a new towel from the shelf beside the shower and dries our regina’s hair. “We only have men’s clothes here; you can wear my clothes until we can get back to the academy nest.”
She nods, chewing her bottom lip because I just know she’s writing a mental list. Then she absently rubs her stomach like it hurts her.
Scythe glances at me. It’s not every day you get to eat a whole human.
The Collector was not a big person, but I think it’s the biggest thing my regina has ever eaten. Bones and all.
“Do you need Gaviscon?” I ask. “Tums?”
She waves a hand, but the frown remains, and she rounds us up like sheep back outside. Xander and Lyle are already dressed and Xander’s found our stash of phones, already ordering a bunch of takeaways.
“And Gaviscon!” I shout at him as Aurelia tries to yank a T-shirt over my head the wrong way around.
Unfortunately, she gets it in her brain that I also need socks and a scarf for my fake illness.
I hate socks, but I let her tug on the white ones she chooses for me anyway, ignoring Xander’s smirk as I wiggle my toes.
After what seems like forever, we gather in the living room, fresh and clean, with our pizza laid out in front of us and Shrek on the TV.
We all need something harmless tonight.