77. Lyle
Chapter 77
Lyle
A urelia doesn’t speak much after we wake tangled in each other’s arms. She’s not her usual attentive, mouthy self. There are no retorts for me, no playful expressions on her face. Her black mane of hair is thinner than before, her human skin papery, those eyes dull.
It speaks of great and terrible suffering.
I want to bundle her up and hide her away from the world, keep her safe in my arms so that none of the motherfuckers can hurt her again. But it also confirms that we did the right thing during her absence. That we murdered and maimed for the right reasons.
Scythe catches my eye, worry bleeding through those once cold icy blues. We both know what was likely done to her. She’s not pregnant—we all knew that straight away, nor has any foreign male forced his way inside of her.
The world was saved from our furore due to that, at least. The things we would have done to the male who’d touched her would have made the devil himself gape in horror.
But we do have one particular male who may get a similar treatment, and to our luck, that bastard presents himself this afternoon, right at our hotel doorstep.
To his credit, he refuses to step inside the property, as relayed by the hotel manager. Scythe sighs when he gets out his phone to look at the security camera footage.
“He couldn’t give her a day of peace,” I mutter. “Just one fucking day.”
“Savage, stay with our regina,” Scythe orders over his shoulder. “Lyle and I will be back.”
I cannot tell what my shark-brother is thinking, but a great cold descends upon him, wafting in a hoarfrost around him.
We take the elevator down in silence, neither of us wanting to leave our regina, but also wanting to wring the neck of the dragon who haunts us.
Exiting into the lobby, we find the security guards milling about, unsettled by the dragon’s arrival. Scythe placates them with his mere presence, having quiet words with the head of security before we stride across the marble tiles towards the main hotel entrance.
I can’t sense Xander like I used to, his volcanic presence missing from a space in my spirit and mind, but every animalia in the lobby knows there’s a dragon outside because Xander is no longer masking.
He’s let his power out, wanting to be known and, no doubt, wanting to be heard.
Scythe exhales heavily through his nose, another tell that he’s troubled by this. I cannot even imagine the level of betrayal he felt the night Xander left.
I narrow my eyes when I see him, my lion letting out a low, threatening growl.
The betrayer waits beyond the revolving glass doors, standing in the middle of the drive through, his arms loosely by his side. His clothing of choice is a pair of track pants and a black T-shirt, unusually casual for him as well as the wind-swept, loose hair. His glowing eyes shine with an otherworldly golden light that makes me scowl. Is this some side-effect of the severing? The human porters have long fled, their scents nothing but weak flutters in the air.
His eyes flicker as he sees us, his face deadly serious, no trace of his usual sneer.
“Scythe. Lyle,” he greets in a tone like flat, packed earth.
To prevent us from enticing our beasts, we stop a distance away. Scythe has stopped breathing, likely to avoid filling his sinuses with the smoky embers of Xander’s scent.
If it’s angering me, Goddess knows what it’s doing to him. A beast who had once been more than a brother.
“You have a death wish, dragon,” I warn, pushing my lion down.
Xander presses his lips together in a moment of irritation, before saying, “I just want to see her.”
“No,” us brothers growl in unison.
“What fucking right do you have?” My voice is nothing but a rumble, hardly decipherable as my lion shoulders forward. “The only right you have is to a space we’ve reserved for you six feet under the Mariana Trench. Curse you, Xander Drakos. And curse your entire family.”
His throat bobs up and down, and for the first time since I’ve known him, Xander has no retort. To my second surprise, the light of his magical eyes falters. “I deserve that. I know I do.”
“Then why the fuck would you even try?” I ask. “In what universe would we ever let you near her after what you did?”
“I have to try,” he replies. “Scythe?—”
“Do not speak to him,” I snap.
Xander ignores me. “Scythe, it’s good to see you’re back.”
Until now, my shark-brother has remained silent this entire time, simply staring at the dragon. But he speaks now, in a low, dangerous voice, his power cyclonic in a cold wind. “The only thing I will permit, Xander Drakos,” Scythe says with full venom, “is your death. Nothing more.”
Xander flinches at that—actually visibly flinches. Scythe and I stare at him in disbelief. At what he’s become.
“I’m sorry.” Xander pauses, seeming to struggle for a moment. “Out of respect for you, I want to inform you that I will be shadowing you. Shadowing Aurelia—” I growl at his audacity to use her name and he puts his hands up. “I have to ensure her safety. I don’t want anything further to happen to her.”
“You…want…to ensure her safety,” I say through clenched teeth. “I can’t believe this.”
“I’ll stay out of sight,” he urges, spreading his hands out as if this is a reasonable thing to say. “You know you can’t stop me.”
Scythe and I go still before Scythe unfreezes himself. “There are many ways to stop a dragon,” Scythe rasps.
Xander blinks at him for a moment, registering the threat. He takes a deep breath. “I deserve everything that comes my way. But I’ll protect her if it’s the last thing I do.” He takes a few steps backwards before turning around, putting his hands in his pockets and strolling down the driveway. His power leaves the vicinity, its dominating presence fading, allowing us to breathe normally again.
Scythe and I exchange a look as we watch him leave down the street until he’s out of magical ear shot.
“What the hell happened to him over there?” I mutter.
“They wanted to break her,” Scythe says, shaking his head. “Instead, they broke him. But Xander made his bed. Now he must lie in it and he knows that.” He looks at me and I turn to face him. “If the time comes. If Aurelia cannot, will you…”
“Help you kill him?” I nod. “Of course, brother.”
We are quick to get Aurelia out of there. Animus Academy is far safer for her, both in its regional location and with the magical protections around it.
I want her to see Minnie, Sabrina, and her friends too. It will be good for her to have female support. As it is, when we get ready to leave, she silently shifts into her eagle form. Savage pouts for a moment before he picks her up and cradles her like a babe, swaying back and forth. She rests her head on his bare chest but keeps her eyes open, flicking around and alert to her surroundings.
We take her through the loading dock again, while Scythe gets the car. I know he’s agitated because he insists on driving, needing to do something with his hands and mind before he gives into the urge to destroy something.
Half way through the trip, I announce that it’s my turn with Aurelia. Scythe stops at the side of the road and I hurry into the back seat, almost tearing the buttons of my shirt off as I get ready for her. I have to prise her out of Savage’s hands, and she makes the smallest, sweetest sound of greeting as she opens her eyes.
My smile feels like a new thing as I settle her on my bare chest. “There you go, my sweetheart,” I murmur.
She snuggles into me, making my heart swell and glow with pride and satisfaction. For the first time in what feels like an age, I feel whole.
“I love you, angel, ” I remind her. “We’ll be home soon. Sabrina and Minnie will be so happy to see you.”
“Sabrina is there too?” she asks softly into my mind.
“Yes. After the attack on The Lily Institute, we had to relocate the survivors.”
“And the twins?”
“Blair and Blade never leave her side.”
“That makes me happy.” After a few seconds of silence, she says hesitantly, “I promised Sabrina I would kill them all. But I didn’t. I didn’t achieve anything over there. If anything, I just made it worse, Lyle. If I never gave myself up, they never would have gone after The Lily Institute.”
“The Clawsons are the only animalia responsible for that, and they’re a whole different problem,” I say firmly. “Don’t worry. We’re dealing with it.”
She sighs, long and sad, and we settle into listening to each other’s breathing. Hours later, under cover of darkness, we drive through the cast iron gates of Animus Academy.
Aurelia feels it immediately. Anyone who approaches the academy can sense the concentration of feral, volatile powers rumbling through the place. It forces the animal in us to go on alert.
I extract myself and my regina out of the car and follow my brothers back to our room. Back home.