Chapter 5 #2
Diablos, who hasn’t shifted from the couch but has his mate in his lap, shakes his head. He points at her. “Earth omega.”
“That’s not an Earth dragon.”
“But it’s on Earth now, so Earth omega.”
“Nope. You are the emissary and guide-”
“You’re the queen.”
She shuts her mouth with a snap and glowers at him. He glowers right back.
They turn towards us and smile widely. “We bestow on you, the privilege of-”
“-Being the guardians of the Monster known as Mei and the creature known as Leviathan-”
“-Leaf.” The rough and harsh growl explodes out of the dragon, silencing the room.
I gape at the stupid beastie. It’s never spoken before. Not in all these years. It has a fucking name? Are you shitting me?
“My name is Leaf.”
“You are a leafy sea dragon?” I ask with a helpless scoff.
A coil of silver and black shiny scales slams into my face with the velocity of a truck.
“IF YOU DO THAT ONE MORE TIME, I SWEAR TO ALL THAT’S FAE INSIDE ME-” I howl at him, shoving the coil off me.
“Ooh, does he yell like this often?” Hartley asks as he wanders over to stand beside Lirin, who looks the least homicidal of all of us. “Just curious if it’s a monster thing or a result of the shenanigans.”
I do a double take, glaring at the human male as he leans into Lirin, asking with curiosity that is very unwise in such a breakable body.
“I thought it was a demon thing,” Lirin says, his eyes dancing. If he pokes his tongue out at me, I will cut it the fuck off.
“It seems to extend to Fae, too,” Hartley notes, folding his arms across his chest. “And monsters. Is he normally so emotional?”
“Oh, yes, Reed’s got rage problems,” Lirin says blandly, giving me up without hesitation.
“We should start a support group for carers.”
Lirin claps his hands. “That is a brilliant idea, Hartley. We could have cake and wallow.”
“Discuss strategies for calming them down. Chamomile tea, soothing music, hypnosis.”
The two look at each other.
“Are you done bonding yet?” I snarl.
Canto has circled the room to stand with Ronit on the opposite side of Leaf. Oh, god, what a stupid fucking name for a dragon. I can’t even say it in my head without cringing.
Leaf just watches me with a curious blend of rage and amusement. I glare back at him, because at least I’m not named after a sea horse.
The witch cocks her head to the side and inhales deeply before she shoves our pet off her. Her sudden movement catches him by surprise.
“You tried to eat me.” The quivering anger in her voice as she finally recognises him makes me much happier. “How dare you!”
“Oh, now this is a familiar song,” Diablos says with interest, sitting up and staring at the two of them.
Leaf growls at everyone, his scales flashing azure and shifting in an almost silent rustle.
“Change back,” Ronit snaps, “and stay in human form.”
The dragon hesitates, but then he does as he’s told, which is downright alarming. He never does as he’s told. Canto and I exchange unhappy looks, and I adjust my stance, ready to react to his next attempt.
Leaf turns to the witch, but she slams a rune to his chest and sends him across the room.
“You tried to eat me!” she says in a louder and more strident voice.
“Oh, wow, I can see why it was entertaining,” Becky murmurs.
Puppy stalks our pet, but he is oblivious to the Grim, or he simply doesn’t care. Leaf gets up, his eyes fixed on her. He really does make our toned bodies look small. His skin shimmers with the blues and greens of the ocean.
I glare at him, my fingers twitching with the need to pull him up.
The air crackles around her, and she turns, inhaling deeply.
I abruptly forget the dragon and focus on the witch.
Her hair floats out behind her in long, silver-blond wisps that make her look like someone who comes from my world, not the monster one she was born from.
It takes a moment too long. I get the slow blooming realisation that she’s about to run again.
“Nope! None of that.”
Diablos takes hold of her wrist; a massive gold circlet glows there before it disappears.
I hiss at a burning sensation in my wrist and look down to find I’ve got one, too, right behind the black tattoo that I hate so much.
It throbs painfully and then eases. But my gaze is caught because the intricate knots of the black tattoo are more vibrant now, and I can see the outline of a skull.
The deal we made to be able to walk this Earth is running out of time.
Soon, we’ll have to return to the Black Death Oceans as slaves.
I look up, stricken, as Canto slides his large hand up and wraps long fingers over the tattoo we all wear, hiding it from sight. He’s silent. Not here, not now whispers across our bond.
“What did you just do?” Ronit growls.
“I stopped her from disappearing,” Diablos says and walks to the painting on the wall. It’s of home. Canto did it. I hate it. I hate the forests and the villages. I hated the courts and meadows. Every time I look at the painting I want to break it into a million pieces.
“How?” Canto speaks slowly, as if he’s speaking to a child.
Diablos blinks. “Well, that’s the fun part. The Queen and I discussed it.”
“Did we? I don’t remember that conversation,” Becky whispers to Stix.
“Don’t worry, Poppet, I can kill him for you later,” Stix soothes and strokes abnormally long fingers down her brown hair.
“And we’ve decided,” Diablos continues as if the pack that is bristling are nothing but harmless birds. “That you’re going to work together.”
“Oh, no, now wait a minute, Diablos, that seems like a terrible idea,” Becky protests.
“I’m with her, Di,” Hartley says in alarm.
Di, this giant asshole demon, snorts a plume of smoke out of his nostrils as he huffs a laugh. “Ahh, no, see I made it perfect. Listen to this. They will be bound together. All seven of them.”
“Seven?” Brio asks sharply. “What do you mean, seven?”
“They won’t be able to hurt each other without the curse enacting and making them feel like they are dying. It is perfection,” he says gleefully.
“WHAT?” I roar.
My temper explodes out of me, and waves slam down onto the beach, giving voice to my rage.
“So they can’t hurt each other, they are stuck with each other, and the beauty of it is, we can stop them from any stupidi-”
A blue-teal coil of dragon sends Diablos hurtling through the wall of the house.
“Ouch!” Diablos says from the debris. “Not cool, Leaf. You can’t go around destroying this planet.
So they are,” he points at us with one black tipped claw, “going to teach you and Miss Causing-Destruction-Everywhere-She-Goes how to behave on the realm, and you are all going to learn or you are getting the fuck off our world.”
I glance at Ronit, who motions with his hand for us to back down.
“How are we to teach them?”
Diablos presses his lips together and then smiles widely. “Hartley, you know all those survivalist shows you are obsessed with.”
Hartley winces. “Those were reruns. On TV. I like TV because it's, you know, TV.”
He looks nervous.
“We’re busy for the next twelve months!” Becky says and then gasps. “Um, guys, what is that?”
I turn my head and see it and wish to all the gods that ever existed that I didn’t. It looks like a cat.
It’s totally not a cat.
“It’s so cute and fluffy,” Puppy purrs.
It opens its mouth and lets out an adorable little meow. And then explodes with writhing tentacles.
Diablos jumps back, slamming into the wall. Stix grabs Becky and yanks her behind him. Puppy hisses, all his scales rattling violently as he retreats.
Ronit grabs the bridge of his nose and mutters a prayer.
Fucking shit.
“You brought your fucking pet with you?” I swear at the ridiculous dragon.
He just gives it a goofy grin and meows back at it.
I spot the gold band on his wrist and turn to Diablos in horror.
“What have you done? Seriously, what the hell have you done?”
He looks between us, but his eyes keep returning to the cat with all its tentacles waving in the air.
“Uh…boot camp?” Diablos whispers.
“Baby, no,” Hartley says softly. “No, bad idea.”
“Umm,” Diablos perks up and scurries forward, getting down on his hands and knees to stare at it. “Oh, you are pretty. Are those your babies? I’d love to talk to you about potential career options.”
Kit stares at him.
“Do you want to play with the Sirens?”
The cat’s damn tail swishes. “Meow.”
“Oh, I like you. Okay. Boot camp it is, Kit has spoken.”
“How do you know his name?” Becky shrieks, throwing her arms wide.
“He told me,” Diablos says blankly. “How else would I know it? I’m not a mind reader, Becky.”
“Queen Becky,” Puppy snarls.
The witch walks past us all, opens a cupboard, climbs inside, and pulls the door shut. My temper spikes, and I pace towards it, wanting nothing more than to yank it open and hurl her out.
“What’s she doing?” Diablos asks.
“Sleeping,” Lirin says with a bored flick of his fingers at the rest of us. Without another word, he walks out to the water and swims off.
“Sleeping?” Diablos says. He scratches his head and opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but he can’t think of what to say.
Leaf creeps towards the door and crouches in front of it, staring intently. The cat joins him.
“Well, this is…” Wilder scratches his head. “Creepy is the only word that is coming to mind.”
Yes. Yes, it is.