Chapter 12 Elijah
ELIJAH
Iended yet another frustrating phone call and went in search of my quadmates. George slithered along next to me, doing his best to radiate soothing contentment. He’d rather be with my dove, and I greatly empathized, but I appreciated his willingness to split his time between us nonetheless.
We found Heath, Wyatt, and Aiden, along with dozens of other campers, sunning themselves on the rocky sands of the small beach on the lake’s north shore. We were allotted a couple of hours of recreational time before the dinner bell would ring, and it appeared the lake was the popular choice.
“Any news?” Heath asked me. He’d managed to snag a beach chair from the supply hut and had set it up in ankle-deep water.
His golden tan put everyone at this lake to shame, but his sunglasses did little to hide his dark mood.
Even the wolf head tattooed across his chest looked angry.
“It would be awesome if something went right today.”
“Sadly, no,” I replied. I toed off my shoes, shucked my shirt, and flopped onto an empty beach towel next to Aiden. George curled into a glittering purple pile at Aiden’s feet. “Uncle Horatio’s people are hitting dead end after dead end on this ‘Lunar Heritage’ nonsense.”
“Probably because they’re used to investigating companies that commit run-of-the-mill financial crimes,” Aiden said, ignoring George’s friendly sniff of his leg.
He lay on his towel, staring up at the sky like it might give him some answers to our problems if he waited long enough.
He wore navy swim trunks and had a tan nearly—but not quite—as impressive as his brother’s.
“Whatever the hell was going on with these mysterious Primes and their targeted attack on your mother wasn’t anything like that.
We’re on the cusp of uncovering something dark and insidious, I can feel it. ”
He was right. I could feel it too.
My beast salivated for blood.
“Would be nice if we had a name or location for these fucks,” Wyatt muttered.
He’d gotten a hold of a paddleboard and was straddling it, floating in waist-deep water a few feet away from Heath.
Hopefully he’d put on sunscreen—he certainly did not have a tan and was wearing nothing but tiny board shorts.
“I haven’t beaten the shit out of nearly enough people today. ”
I arched a brow at him. “You’re the only one of us who’s gotten to beat the shit out of anyone. Consider yourself lucky.”
“Not exactly true,” Aiden murmured distractedly. “Heath almost melted Teegan’s brain in the infirmary.”
I flashed Heath a smile full of teeth. “Good.”
He sent me a half-hearted salute, still staring off into the distance behind his sunglasses.
Wyatt let out a pained groan. “Fuck me. Avery in a bikini is going to ruin my fucking life.”
Aiden jerked up to sitting on his towel. George shifted irritably at the sudden movement, his nap disturbed.
The basilisk surged forward. My vision sharpened, acquiring our target.
Mine, the beast said.
Down the way, my dove strolled onto the beach, flanked by her brother and their gaggle of felines from the Support Squadron.
She wore a sporty purple bikini that showed off every line of her long, lean body.
The top teased just enough of her perfect tits to have my fangs threatening to descend, and the bottoms only just covered the round muscle of her ass.
Her blonde hair remained in its braid from earlier, and her dainty feet were bare.
I gritted my teeth, fighting against the pulsating wave of lust that her nearly naked body sent thrumming through my veins and the siren’s call to battle ignited by the sight of the bandages on her torso and arm.
“Fuck,” Aiden said under his breath. “Is she trying to kill us?”
“Probably,” Wyatt replied. “We deserve it.”
“I’m getting tired of your defeatist attitude,” Heath muttered. “If Avery wanted to kill us, we’d be dead. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt a stronger beast. She’d give my dad a run for his money.”
Aiden whipped an alarmed look at his brother. “Truly?”
“Yep.”
“Dad can never find out,” Aiden growled.
Heath clenched his fists around nothing. “You think I don’t know that? Her beast’s appearance is dangerous enough, but add the ball-shriveling level of power she’s packing, and you’ve got Dad’s worst nightmare.”
Avery laid her towel on a large rock and sat gingerly down on it. Brody joined her, and they began chatting happily. The basilisk didn’t mind this—the lynx had only brotherly affection for our dove.
“I think you’re all missing the bright side here,” I said.
“Our mate has been blessed with the substantial power she needs to protect herself in this dangerous world. Not to mention she was also blessed with us—four brutal monsters who would follow her to the ends of the earth. Trust in the wisdom of our deity.”
Heath rumbled a noise of agreement. “And I’ve told her we’re not fucking going anywhere, no matter how hard she fights us.”
“Bet that went great,” Wyatt muttered.
“Sure did.”
I leaned back onto my elbows, the sharpened gaze of my beast never leaving Avery. We’d certainly all had some setbacks since camp began, but it was only the first day.
A small kernel of hope was buried under the despair—Avery had been falling for us before our ill-conceived plan destroyed it all.
She’d admitted it to me and to Aiden. I still had dreams about the way she’d softened in my hold when I’d taken what I wanted and kissed her in the school hallway, and you couldn’t remove the memories of how lost she’d been in Wyatt during their tryst in the laundry room even if you took a blow torch to my brain.
But her prior feelings for us only amplified the hurt we caused her. My precious dove had her heart broken, and now she was using the pieces to slice the flesh from our hides, cut after devastating cut.
“And there they go,” Heath growled. “Circling her like horny fucking sharks.”
Kellan Crimson and the rest of his quad strutted down the beach, big torsos and tanned skin on display. Each one of them not-so-casually strolled by Avery’s perch on the rock, all smiles and waves for my mate.
Hank and Ari set their towels down on a patch of sand ten feet from Avery and then jogged off to dive into the lake.
Teegan, who it appeared had recovered from Heath’s assault on his brain, placed a hand on the rock next to Avery’s sleek, bare thigh and leaned in close.
I couldn’t read lips, but he wore the serious, concerned expression of an Alpha checking on the welfare of someone he cared for.
Avery’s smile for him was warm, polite, and devoid of the curious interest or low-smoldering heat she used to have for me and each of my brothers.
Still.
A growl ripped from Heath’s chest. He surged to his feet in the water.
“Don’t do it,” Aiden said, sounding exasperated. “Heath, I’m serious. It’ll only make things worse.”
Heath dropped back into his chair with a defeated groan.
Teegan finally moved on after Ian weaseled his way onto Avery’s rock and took up the extra space Teegan had needed to get so close to my dove.
That left Kellan.
He glanced over his shoulder in our direction and smirked at our exile from Avery’s general vicinity. His amber eyes lingered a bit longer on me, and an orange glow sparked in them. He’d activated his beast’s long-range vision, as I had mine.
I smiled at him, letting my fangs elongate just enough that he wouldn’t miss them.
His smirk widened, and he turned back to Avery, engaging her in what I was certain was polite but flirtatious conversation.
Kellan was a unique mythic. We were notoriously violent, erratic, and struggled with control. It was why, even though most of us would lead any quad we decided to join in raw power, we were rarely the quad leader.
My beast versus Heath’s wolf one-on-one would result in Heath’s death nine times out of ten, but Heath had superior control, and his wolf’s dominance was an unwavering and impressive force that gave even my basilisk pause.
He was a natural leader, and the basilisk submitted to his command without protest. It was good for us.
Kellan, like the few griffins on record before him, had the temperament and control of an extra-powerful lion.
He was more of a super-Prime than an off-the-charts mythic, which meant he had no trouble leading his quad.
His grandfather, Jeremiah Crimson, was also a griffin and one of the few mythics to ever sit on a regional council.
The Crimsons were also richer than even the Blackwells.
It was all these things that made Kellan who he was—a shifter who truly believed that there was nothing in the world that could stop him from getting whatever he desired.
But that was where he was wrong.
Because if Avery was what he desired, there was one thing in this world that would stop him from having her.
Me.
George sensed the direction of my thoughts and slowly unfurled from his spot at Aiden’s feet. He set off across the beach, winding swiftly through the sand, alarming beachgoers along the way, until he reached the base of the rock where Avery was sitting.
He reared up and hissed violently at Kellan, who startled and danced away, a stream of expletives flying from his mouth.
George then slithered his way up the rock while Avery squealed with delight at his arrival.
He curled himself loosely around her and then flopped his head into her lap like he was the most exhausted snake in the world.
Kellen slunk away to join Teegan on their towels.
Aiden chuckled, and Heath grunted a satisfied noise.
“Well, thank fuck for that,” Wyatt said, still bobbing in the water on his board. “That snake has really been pulling his weight around here lately.”
Avery stroked George’s scales and chatted with her brother and the felines for the rest of our hour at the lake while the Crimson Quad was relegated to sulking on their towels nearby.