Chapter 9 Kaenon
KAENON
My wolf form howls as I rush toward my mate. I can no more stop his sound of excited triumph from escaping me than I can stop all the wind and tides in the world.
But his howl must frighten my mate, for the doe’s white tail flicks in a show of alarm before she turns and darts in a new direction.
This time, despite the wavering, amethyst-toned world around us and the shouting of disoriented, fighting fae, she begins to gain some distance as she runs for a treeline several bowshots away.
She is sleek and graceful in her escape—a swift and lovely doe with a tawny white-spotted coat.
She is faster than my wolf, which excites him. He enjoys a good chase.
But I am eager to catch up with her quickly so that she is not harmed in the mayhem Nivarrah is yet crafting in this place, so I urge my most reliable, fastest beast to take over. My shift is so smooth that when I leap, my wolf’s paws leave the ground only to return as cloven hooves a moment later.
Faster in this form, I draw closer to my fleeing mate. Her scent taunts me, weaving in and out of the false scents Nivarrah is spreading here. I ache to be surrounded by the scent of my mate, somewhere safe where I can calm her spooked animal.
Just before my mate reaches the treeline ahead, there is a shout of alarm from behind us.
A flash of orange magic barrels past me before my mate is suddenly knocked off her hooves—forced to shift back to her two-legged form as she rolls painfully across the barren ground with a pained cry that rips at my soul.
No!
Wrath rips through me, my body shifting in an instant to the next beast who demands control to put a stop to Nivarrah’s magic and protect our mate.
Bones twist and elongate, reshaping themselves as scales surface to armor me.
Obsidian talons sprout as wings rip free from the scales of my back, vast enough to blot out the green sky when I spread them and beat the air, rising quickly so my growing form does not harm my fallen mate ahead.
Heat bursts from the long neck of my black dragon as he finally roars, making our wrath known to all the figures I see below when I arc back around to face them.
For a moment, Nivarrah’s magic ebbs as her surprise makes her look up at my black dragon.
The others who have been fighting amongst themselves shout to one another. Many begin preparing more magical attacks.
I do not know which of these foolish fae harmed my mate, but it is possible they were seeing something else entirely, thanks to the illusory magic of Nivarrah.
I do not wish for Nivarrah to continue creating so much chaos that might harm my mate.
Yet I know she is afflicted by Veld’s meddling and not truly deserving of death.
So instead of setting her ablaze, I let my dragon settle to the ground, shaking it before I whip my long black tail around.
It knocks into Nivarrah, throwing her several long paces before she crashes to the ground, unconscious from the blow.
I would like to knock down Veld, too, but he is nowhere to be seen now.
At once, the world settles. The sky returns to blue, the angry purples fade from everything else, and the ground no longer appears to be moving.
Scents return to normal. Nivarrah’s illusory magic evaporates, leaving a couple of dozen confused fae to stand and blink at their actual reality and the sight of several of their comrades dead or badly injured on the ground.
I crane my long neck to check on my mate—but a male has already run to her, now that Nivarrah’s magic is no longer holding them hostage.
He removes his coat and helps her stand, wrapping it around her quickly.
His face is badly scarred, his entire countenance like a vicious winter as he glares up at my black dragon.
He raises his hand to attack me in some way, but my mate stops him, shouting a plea I do not know.
Some of the fae are shouting to one another once more, their hands held up with the glow of magic curling around their fingers. They are wary and may attack me at any moment, but seeing proof of my mate's concern for me calms my inner beasts.
Far more interested in my mate than I am in these threatened fae, I shift once more into my two-legged form, hurrying toward her. Soon, I can make out her face for the first time, and my heart begins to pound within my aching chest.
She is beautiful. Breathtaking. There is no mistaking the perfect softness of her form, curving and tempting me beneath the fabric of the coat upon her.
"My mate," I whisper as I quicken my pace, though it feels like dragging my throat across hot coals to speak for the first time in so long. "At last."
Her wide brown eyes track my every move as I draw closer. Her hair, like the light reddish-brown fur of her doe's summer coat, falls over her shoulders, stirring in a spring breeze. Her soft pink lips are parted in surprise, promising a glimpse of Paradise from a single kiss.
One of the fae is saying something to me as he tries to catch up with my pace, but I ignore him as I approach my mate, entranced.
It is strange—she is undoubtedly a shifter, despite having no spotted deer markings, hooves, or fur upon her two-legged form.
Perhaps she is like me, born beastless and so lacking the physical traits of her beast that most shifters have.
Then did she manifest her beast through meddling, as I did with mine?
It does not matter. All that matters is whether she will let me bathe her and taste her and tend to her every desire the way I now burn to do.
I have longed so bitterly for my mate—or mates—that I cannot focus on anything but my mate's perfection.
I am filled with a breathtaking array of intensely pleasant emotions as I near her, but it turns to concern when I see her flinch and clutch her stomach.
I slow to a stop, concerned.
She looks as though she feels ill.
Why is she ill? Was she harmed by the spell that was cast at her?
No. It is because she is a Feeling One, the quietest, most attuned of my beasts whispers to me.
Surprise and awe fill me.
Before the great darkness fell upon this land, all shifter clans, fae peoples, and others within this realm revered beings of deep feeling who sensed the heartfelt emotions of others.
Feeling Ones were considered holy—rare but capable of ending hostile skirmishes and unifying peoples with their ability to understand and soothe the feelings of those around them.
Did the gods really bless me with a mate so precious?
The white-haired male has been watching my approach warily. When he sees how I am marveling at my mate, he steps in front of her, protective.
He is her kin, my most sharp-eyed beast decides after studying them.
An elemental soul, another beast chirps in agreement.
It pleases me to know my mate has another here to guard her from any further harm, but the fae who was following me now steps in front of me. He is less fear-filled than the others here, and unlike the other fae, he has no magic prepared to attack me.
This one is pale with blood-red irises, the marks of a blood fae.
"You must calm," he tells me.
Though he has an odd accent and his pronunciation is clumsy, I am relieved that he speaks even a little of the fae tongue I learned before that long sleep.
"I am calm. I will harm no one, so long as my mate is unharmed. Let me go to her,” I add, looking at her again.
I am surprised and strangely pleased to see how I tower over my petite mate. I do not notice or care about my naked body until my mate's eyes widen, her entire face and neck filling with a delicious, rosy glow as her gaze takes in my extremely excited state.
But I cannot help the way I so eagerly devour this beautiful woman with my eyes now that I know she is mine. I want to bite the blush staining her skin and lick the sting away.
I want to run with her in our freed forms beneath the full moon.
Ours, the wolf within me growls.
The blood fae’s understanding of my words must be incomplete, for he appears confused before trying, "They must check you to find if your safety is being."
He gestures at the fae in the distance who are watching our disjointed conversation.
One of them is placing a sleeping spell on Nivarrah, locking her back into one of the sarcophagi.
Is this blood fae saying they must check on my welfare after that long sleep?
Or do they believe I endanger their safety, after seeing the anger of one of my beasts?
"I will harm no one," I repeat, motioning toward my Feeling One. "I only want my mate."
The blood fae's eyes narrow. He is still struggling to converse with me, but there is no mistaking the protective tone in his voice.
"You want to keep your life, you will not mate with her."
No, not mate with her. Not in the way he seems to mean, as if he thinks I merely want to pounce upon her and fuck her day and night.
That will likely prove true once she and I are acquainted, but he misses my true meaning. I scowl, trying to restructure my words to match his fragmented translations.
"No, her is mate unto me. Mine. Fated scent," I point to my nose and then at her. "Mate."
The blood fae processes my new wording. Realization and surprise begin to dawn on his face. But when I try to step past him again, he holds up an arm, shaking his head.
"Perhaps not right is your nose. They check you first. You behold her again if seeking show it proven. Seeking," he emphasizes as if that word should mean something to me.
Damn this to the Beyond, I do not know what he is trying to tell me—but my attention is drawn away from him when another fae with a markedly hooked nose finally shakes off the shock of Nivarrah’s magic and begins shouting.
Fresh anger fills my veins when I see that he is marching toward my mate and her kin, clearly yelling at my precious Feeling One.
He threatens our mate, my wolf snarls.
He must burn, my black dragon decides.
Is my mate feeling his anger? Is that why she ducks her head and goes so still at the sound of his screams directed toward her?
Her white-haired kin is snarling something back at the hooked-nose fae, but I must show my precious mate that I will protect her, too. From this moment on, it is my privilege to defend her.
Using my great speed, I weave around the blood fae, but he calls after me in warning.
“No, Seeking will prove. Calm and still you must, or these fae harm if threatened you they.”
I'm barely hearing his broken translation as I rush toward my unduly berated mate. I wish to rip the throat out of the hooked-nose fae, for I see how his raised voice disturbs my Feeling One.
Before I can defend the one I am meant for, one of the other fae calls out an order. Several bright flashes surround me. All at once, another sleeping enchantment drags me under, silencing my inner beasts as I descend once more into a slumber I cannot resist.
I resist anyway, desperate to tear out of this spell holding me prisoner and reunite with my mate. I thought that endless sea of dreams was torment, but now that I know that Athanis was right and my fate was in this place, waiting for me, I must be at her side.
Despite my fury, the spell holds fast, trapping me within my own mind once more.
Yet I'm not alone in this sleep.
“Don’t worry, beloved warrior,” Veld's voice croons mockingly in my head.
The incubus calls forth a dreamy memory—my memory of the glimpse of my mate I just got.
My heart nearly halts in my chest when I see her again.
Those beautiful dark eyes, wide with curiosity.
Her breathtaking face and pink lips and cheeks, and the way the daylight caught in the strands of her warm hair that I long to run my fingers through…
Veld hums. “She is just as I remember from tampering in her dreams, when she slept far above us. I envisioned her differently, but she's not unpleasant to look upon. Such a lush body. Altogether…soft. Vulnerable."
Anger heats my chest as I realize this freed incubus is using my memory of my mate to lust after her, even as his remaining fated one is trapped in slumber nearby.
"Stop looking at her," I snarl in the darkness of my mind.
“What harm is there in looking?”
"You are yet bonded," I remind him. "She will never be yours to look upon. In all ways, she is mine."
Veld’s echoing voice is amused. “Your jealousy is almost as amusing as Nivarrah’s. I wonder what she will do to my pretty Feeling One."
Protective rage envelops me.
I will not have his putrid history repeating itself with my mate.
I just have to escape this slumber and reach her before this monster does, or kill him first.