Chapter 11 #2
I quashed the urge as I soared, my yellow eyes locked onto the horizon. It had been a mistake to allow my existence to fade into mere myth for hundreds of those residing in my own territory. One of several I seemed to have made while I’d been locked away enjoying my peaceful existence with Alina.
It’s not a crime to be happy.
Isn’t it? I shot back. ‘Happiness’ didn’t secure the borders. It didn’t keep intruders from eyeing what was mine, or rebellions from springing up under my nose. And I didn’t think that the rebellion Gaheris had spoken of could have reached this far, but there was only one way to be sure.
My path carried me directly over the packlands, and I swept low, relishing the gasps and shouts that rose up in my wake.
I opened my mouth and bellowed a roar as I passed over the center of their town, letting my momentum take me clear of their settlement before I swung around and made for it again, this time locking eyes onto the grassy clearing where I’d collected my Tribute just days ago. The pack’s meeting place. Perfect.
I arched my neck as I approached it again, then opened my mouth and breathed out a stream of flames.
The ground was damp, but that was no hinderance to my dragon fire.
Somewhere, a scream went up—fear, not pain—and I ignored it as I thudded to the ground amidst my flames.
My scaled legs effortlessly trampled out those nearest to me, but the rest licked at the trampled grasses in the meadow, burning them to ash before greedily reaching for more fuel.
I threw my head back and bellowed a challenge as I looked around me in satisfaction.
They wouldn’t be meeting here without thinking of me for some time. Myth, my scaled ass.
Several figures came racing towards me, but drew up short as I snaked my head towards them, snapping my jaws in warning. There was only one person I wanted to see right now, and he better not have the fucking audacity to send his underlings.
One of the shifters raced away, and more gathered, hanging back and chattering anxiously as they watched the flames devouring their meeting spot. The taste of their fear was intoxicating, swirling in my palate like the finest wine.
I made eye contact with the closest shifter—a young male, perhaps my Tribute’s age, watching me with a potent mix of disbelief, fear, and awe painted across his visage.
One of the ones who’d imagined me a myth until recently, no doubt.
He held my eye—fool, there was a time I’d have killed someone for such an insult—and I curled one front claw, gouging the soft earth beneath me, each claw mark large enough to bury one of his limbs.
He paled as he watched and a flicker of satisfaction rushed through me.
Movement in my periphery caught my attention, but I didn’t take my eye from the young shifter.
The ‘alpha’ was here. Finally. He hurried to the wolf ensnared in my gaze, and whispered rapidly in his ear.
At once, the young man dropped his gaze from mine, and I grunted in satisfaction.
Perhaps I wouldn’t incinerate him. This time.
I shifted back to my human form as the alpha came forward to greet me, keeping his eyes carefully on me, and not the flames still flickering around the meadow.
“Lord Rook. We weren’t expecting a visit.”
“Do I need to schedule an appointment to visit my own lands, wolf?” I growled.
“No, of course not,” he said quickly, flicking an anxious glance back at the shifters gathered just beyond the meadow, all still watching us. I grunted irritably, and his eyes snapped back to me.
“I don’t give a fuck if you’re worried about losing face in front of your pack, or about this shithole you call a home burning down. If I’m here, I’d better be the center of your fucking attention, is that clear?”
“Yes, of course. I meant no offence.”
“Well bad news, I’m offended. You know what happens to people who offend me?”
The shifter drew in a careful breath. He wasn’t used to bowing to others, even his betters.
He’ll learn, my dragon rumbled inside my head, his voice laced with satisfaction. The man’s fear was like nectar to him. To us both.
“I apologize, Lord Rook. You have my full attention. How may my pack and I serve you?”
“I wish to discuss the Tribute you sent me.”
Unease flashed through his eyes, and I felt the emotion echoed in my skull.
Why are you speaking of Kaylee? We will not return her.
They sent us a shifter who can’t shift. She’s an insult. Insults will not be allowed to stand. Especially with Uther looking for weaknesses.
We will not return her, he snarled again. She’s ours.
We’re not returning her. But we’re going to make sure this asshole knows his place.
The dragon settled at that, his anger turning to savage anticipation as we redirected our attention to the wolf shifter waiting patiently, uneasily, in front of us.
“We will discuss this in private,” I told him. “Dismiss your pack. I don’t care to be gawked at.”
“Of course. At once.” He turned and gestured to the gathered shifters, and they started to withdraw.
“Stop,” I commanded, my voice ringing across the clearing, and they froze as one. I singled out the youth who’d dared to meet my eye. “You. You will remain. Approach.”
The rest melted away as the youth hesitantly came closer, working so hard to avoid looking directly at me that he almost fell over his own feet.
“You think yourself worthy of meeting my eye?”
“I—I’m sorry,” he said quickly, staring at the ground in front of him.
“This is my son, Dean. I apologize for his lack of etiquette, he’s young.”
“The same age as my defective Tribute, yes?”
The alpha hesitated, no doubt trying to work out where I was going with this. His fear was palpable—clearly, he valued this son of his, though as alpha I doubted it was his only one. They really had been breeding like rabbits down here.
“Yes, Lord Rook. If she has proved inadequate—”
Inadequate?!
“You sent me a fucking null and thought I wouldn’t notice,” I snarled. “You dare to insult me?”
“That wasn’t my intention, I assure you. I will gladly—”
“Silence,” I snapped. “I’m not interested in your excuses.”
He fell silent, the alpha watching me uneasily and his offspring darting looks at me and away again like he thought I wouldn’t notice.
“Like father, like son,” I said. “You both have the gall to stand in my territory insulting me and think you can talk your way out of it with pretenses of not intending offense?” The alpha opened his mouth but my glare had him snapping it shut again.
“You will speak when I fucking give you permission, do I make myself clear?”
He nodded sharply.
“Good. Make no mistake, if you insult me again, I will burn this pathetic settlement to the ground and shit on the ashes. Then I’ll round up whatever unfortunates have survived—and rest assured, that won’t include you—and sell them into whatever fucking brothel will take them.
So I suggest you think very carefully before you answer my next question, alpha. ”
The alpha nodded again, and the stench of terror wafting from the youth doubled. Good. Things were just starting to get interesting.
“How, exactly, do you intend to atone for your insult?”
“What would you have me do, Lord Rook?”
I snorted derisively. Fucking sheep, incapable of thinking for himself.
“Your predecessor, Alpha Cerdic, led an uprising against me and my kind when our existence was first revealed to the humans. He was a thorn in my side for most of the war, and a worthy opponent. I burned him to cinders on the battlefield, and made a deal with his sniveling beta. He would be fucking disgusted to see you pissing on his memory, you pitiful, spineless wretch.”
His jaw clenched and anger flashed through his eyes. Savage satisfaction stirred in my gut. Finally. I was starting to think the man was afraid of his own shadow.
Entertaining as this is, we should pick a fight with someone worth our time. Incinerating this miserable excuse of a wolf would take barely longer than a heartbeat.
Since when aren’t you interested in a fight?
Fight? Fight implies he’d offer some kind of challenge.
I snarled and stalked forward, towering over the alpha as I grabbed his shirt over his chest, letting him feel my strength.
“I could crush you right now, and your pack would be stronger for it.” Abruptly, I released him, shoving him back a step.
“But that wouldn’t address the matter of my Tribute, would it? ”
“I’ll gather the pack,” he blurted. “You can have your pick of the females.”
“And if I’d rather your son?”
He paled, shooting a panicked glance at the young man beside him, who stood frozen to the spot.
“But… Your preference is for…”
“You dare tell me what my preference is?”
“Surely you would prefer a pretty female, as you always have before? Or… Two. I will find you two females to tend to your needs.”
“So quick to barter with your pack’s lives,” I sneered. “Let me make it easy for you. Your son…or you.”
The alpha’s mouth popped open, and he swung a frantic look between me and his son, and back again.
“I grow impatient. Choose, alpha.”
“My son! Take my son.”
“Dad?”
The son turned to him, horror etched into his face. I threw my head back and laughed.
“At least I know that your loyalty to yourself runs deeper than to your pack. But you’re right. My preference lies with females. Your son is not to my tastes.”
The son, Dean, turned crimson with anger as he stared at his father, whose face was also taking on an interesting color.
“I—”
“Still speaking without permission. You should look to that. But I suspect this will be the last time I see you, alpha.”
“My pack will mourn your absence.”
I couldn’t quite decide if that was sarcasm, or worse, an attempt at flattery. Little fucker. I smiled coldly, letting a touch of my reptilian nature shine through my eyes.
“Oh, I suspect it won’t be my absence that prevents our meeting, but yours.”
He stared at me dumbly.
“I doubt there’s any place here for an alpha who would sell out his pack so readily.”
I shot a glance at the son, whose carefully averted eyes were darting rapidly as he processed my words—and, no doubt, his father’s betrayal. Maybe I’d come back this way in a year or two, just to see how this cluster fuck plays out.
“Unless you want to be crushed, I suggest you move,” I told them both mildly. “My shifted form, as you may recall, is quite substantial.”
They scurried back to the edge of the clearing as I turned and strode to its center. I threw a final disdainful look in their direction, gesturing to the fire still licking at the perimeter.
“Oh, and get someone to put out these flames. I don’t want the rest of my territory damaged.”
My transformation rushed over me before the smirk could form on my lips, and without paying the two shifters any further attention, I spread my wings and took to the skies, letting the settlement fall away to nothing below me. Time to head to our actual destination.
What was that about? my dragon demanded as the wind rushed past our huge form.
What? I thought you’d enjoy making lesser mortals squirm.
I enjoy a challenge. And so do you. We have no conflict with the wolves. Unless…
Unless what? I demanded, banking slightly to set us on course for Gaheris’s demesne.
Unless you were feeling the need to punish Kaylee’s tormentors.
The girl? I laughed, the sound rumbling from my throat and echoing through the air. Ridiculous. The packlands were in our path and I wanted some entertainment.
Right.
Don’t right me in that tone, lizard. You’re reading too much into it.
Right.
I huffed out a breath of steam that evaporated almost at once, my good mood evaporating with it. Since when couldn’t I antagonize some cowardly wolves for no reason other than I wanted to?
You can. You just didn’t.
I shook my head. There was no point arguing with him. He’d only see what he wanted to see—which, in this case, bore absolutely no resemblance to reality.
Stubborn beast.