Chapter 117
Aurelia
It had always felt sacrosanct to touch Lorian, so I never had. But somehow, whether it had been Connor or one of the freed captives of The Collector, they had found a single hair from his mane and given it to Xander.
And Xander, thinking he was going to die in the shadow vortex, had thought he was giving me a final, parting gift when he gave it to me tucked inside my necklace.
“Fuck you, Xander!” I shout across the battlefield as I lead our feline forces by the light of my new horn.
Being a unicorn is a whole new experience, and I had instantly known where I wanted to teleport to first. I knew my father would have back-up forces, as I’d followed Ghoul in his recruitment rounds myself, after all.
When Scythe had told me that the Clawson felines had bowed to Minnie back at the warehouse fight, I’d known they’d be keen to support their queen.
Bereft and without a physical leader in Scythe’s safe house , it had taken seconds to convince them to come and help Minnie.
And now, they roar in anger at the enemy that would take their new queen from them.
My horn shines its light like a wizard’s staff across the field, and I send my power out in a sheet of light, blinding the serpents.
They shoot blindly, allowing the felines to barrel into openings and take them out en masse.
“Regina!” four voices rattle in my mind.
“Hello, boys,” I say mildly, teleporting from the back of the enemy lines to the front where my mates are landing. I gallop in a circle around them, noting Ghoul lying unconscious before the remains of his truck. “Let’s go find my father.”
As I complete my circle in front of my mates, I shift again. It’s only appropriate that I become huge and fanged, cloaked in my own shadow. The height gives me a fantastic view in the lessening light, and I turn to take care of the remaining shooters at the front of the academy gates.
That old hum fills the air, and so does the acrid burning of flesh and steel. Death spreads beneath the wall of Animus Academy, and the guards along the wall let out cries of relief before running to attend to the injured.
I swing back around to see what is left of the enemy forces. My eyes fall on a figure standing in shock, looking up at me with a gaping mouth. But he quickly comes to his senses and leaps into the truck behind him, a waiting general gunning the engine.
Not today, Father.
I become shadow and give chase to the truck, kicking up dust as it ploughs down the road.
Next to me, Lyle is flying as fast as he can, yanking on the truck with all of his telekinesis.
The vehicle shudders under his power, the wheels spinning uselessly.
I take advantage of the lag and surge forward.
Scythe and Lyle are close behind me, and my shark-mate takes care of the general in the driver’s seat, who gurgles on his own blood as my father jumps out of the truck.
“Leave him to me,” I tell my mates, shifting into human form to pursue him. But four white wolves leap out of the back of the truck and block my path to Mace. There are obsidian bangles around their ankles, and they snarl as they have their eyes fixed on us.
“Kill them!” Mace commands.
“The Silver Tail pack,” Scythe rasps. “We bear no quarrel with you.”
“And yet,” the leader snarls, her teeth dripping with saliva as she steps towards us, “you are our ally’s enemy.”
A voice rings out, heavy with regus command. “Stand down!” Raquel stands on the roof of Mace’s truck, staring down at the Silver Tail pack. They all go still.
“Your regus’ body is inside the academy,” I say smugly. “We’ve been looking after them while you were off doing fuck-all. I suggest you rethink your priorities.”
Four white heads snap towards me. Raquel floats down and nods at me before speeding away towards the school. Their pack follows Raquel, completely abandoning Mace.
Now it’s just me and my father, his scowl deep and deadly. He has no allies here, no soldiers or generals or guards to help him, and he knows it.
The serpent king gathers his dark power around him, a dark wind flapping at the material of his pants. “You cannot kill me.”
“And you have never been able to kill me.” I smirk. “I wonder why that is, Father?”
“I know you,” he says, stepping to the left. “You couldn’t even bring yourself to kill Ghoul. You don’t have it in you to do this. There is too much of your mother in you.”
I level him with a dark look. “You do not have the cognitive capacity to ever understand me.”
His arm lashes out, and from his hand shoots out his shadow cobra, headed straight for my throat, fangs out. But we’ve been here before, and I’ve learned a thing or two since then.
I catch the cobra in one hand, my fingers like a vise around its throat, its open mouth choking under my harsh grip. I snarl as I squeeze with both hands, my eyes on the beast who sired me. “I have so much of you in me, and I’m just so happy to use it.”
I squeeze harder until Mace calls the creature back to him. My hands don’t give up the fight though, and I smirk at him before letting the shadow go.
Three black hearts gather at my back, their presences powerful and reassuring. There has been nothing more pleasurable in my life than to watch my father turn around and hightail it away from us.