Chapter 25
Sir Keyon
Leofwine breathed out a huge sigh of relief when Foray returned to our hideout under the deceased oak tree.
“Foray, you did well, sex kitten,” Leofwine whispered in her ear. “Remind me to give you a little positive reinforcement when things quiet down, Adelais. My sources reported you have a job for me. I’m happy to send someone in...”
I would have laughed at my friend’s version of dirty talk, but I was about to go out of my fucking mind. Leofwine repeated everything that Adelais had seen as Foray, and it was enough to make me lose my shit at the slightest delay.
“He mentioned killing her, Leof! We’re going now!” I snarled, and he nodded, wrapping some rope around Foray’s abdomen and stashing the odd bands she’d brought back into his bag.
I ran toward the unguarded entrance and walked carefully down the stone hall. The temple was eerily quiet, with only the sound of popping torches filling the air. I jerked in surprise and scowled with impatience when Leofwine spritzed me with his scent remover. I gave him an irritated look, but he just shrugged and pointed ahead of us.
The hall opened into a huge, circular room like Adelais had reported. We were startled by a door slamming, followed by heavy footsteps, and I ducked into the shadows with Leofwine, but Foray raced forward to hide behind the dragon statue. I felt Leofwine tense, and he swore under his breath. I’d never seen Leofwine so shaken, and I put a firm hand on his tense shoulder.
A shifter walked in and nodded to another male who passed him. This must be a changing of the guard for the front entrance. I could see Foray’s haunches shift left and right in anticipation; she was going to attack, damn it. Which one, though? Would she wait until one was out of hearing range? That wasn’t likely to happen because they were both equally near doors. I hoped Leofwine was telling her to let it go because we’d soon have the entire bui—
Leofwine hissed a list of profanities as Foray silently pursued the new guard down the hall. We heard a scuffle, but the other shifter retiring for bed simultaneously released a loud belch, covering up the noise of Foray’s takedown, and exited through a door. Leofwine’s hands slapped over his face, and he staggered from frayed nerves. I placed a hand over my mouth to hold back an incredulous, anxious laugh. Fucking shit!
Foray appeared in the hall and pawed at her face to clean off the blood of her target.
That was lucky. Toast gaped. Let’s go. She’s left… left hall.
Yeah, I feel her there, I agreed and motioned for Leofwine to follow me. We rushed across the large chamber and entered the perpendicular hallway. A bloody door grabbed my attention, not only because it smelled like Gero, but because I also scented Elpis’s blood behind it. It also reeked of rot.
“This was the witch’s room,” Leofwine whispered while scratching Foray under the chin. I didn’t scent anyone around and realized the blood was actually a poorly written message. Some letters were backwards, and some words were missing or spelled wrong. It didn’t look like a human had written it either. It was too… wild looking. It read:
“Digesteen food. This weke witch cant finish job becaz jus oh so weke. Too human, so weke! So sad! Took my weke poshuns an went. Maybe you fine dragon witch? Strong! Not me. So weke. Hahahaha. If Night Jenral show, you kill yourself. I take credit? Too weke. Hahahaha!”
I swallowed some bile that threatened to come up but took comfort in the fact that the witch hadn’t killed Elpis before leaving. I opened the door and saw an empty workroom. There was a drop or two of Elpis’s blood on the central, dusty table, but that was the only part of her in there. The scent was mostly overwhelmed by a large puddle of gore on a side table. I wrinkled my nose and shut the door. Gero was definitely what the witch was digesting. I held back a dry heave and gestured for the others to follow me down the hall. Elpis’s scent was getting closer but so was the smell of dead bodies. This place was disgusting. I wanted her out of here now.
We passed hooks on the wall where Foray had found the bands. I was hoping those were what allowed these dragons to spit King’s Poison. If we’d grabbed them all, we wouldn’t have a problem taking down the rest of the shifters here. I could have even done it by myself, but I was extremely grateful for the help. I was too anxious about Elpis’s safety, and having another keep an eye on her was a huge relief. Having Leofwine at my side was basically overkill at this point. After my last defeat, I welcomed overkill. I needed this to end. I needed her safe.
The hall curved slightly, and there was blood all over the floor as Adelais had also reported. This had been where she’d retreated, and I couldn’t blame her. Seeing one dead body was unnerving, but gazing upon multiple while their gore mixed was a nauseating sight. No one’s mind came back from their first battlefield unscathed.
There was a sweeping noise, and several bodies were pushed into the hall where a dragon we couldn’t see proceeded to cremate them. He released bursts of weak fire in a rhythm, like he was bored.
“I’ll jump in on his next burst and drop him,” I whispered to Leofwine, and he nodded. I crept forward and hovered at the corner of the hall. I sensed that Elpis was also around the corner, so I had to be extremely careful. I skipped an opening because I scented another familiar dragon. What the fuck was Adelmar doing here? I snarled silently, furious at the unknown, and jumped into the dragon’s next jet of fire to rip him apart. The shifter died without a scream. Good.
I stepped over dead bodies as Leofwine and Foray hurried to catch up to me. Quickly now, I followed Elpis’s scent of misted grass and agave to a cell where I stopped breathing. I placed both my hands on the cage bars and stared with a loose jaw, unable to understand what I was seeing. My mate was limp. She’d finally shifted, and she was covered in other people’s blood. She must have fought hard before passing out… if the bodies littered around her cage said anything about the encounter.
“She’s… unconscious. Is… What is she?” Adelais asked. “That’s… Elpis’s beast… but…” I heard a sob escape her lips. “She’s exquisite.”
“I’ve never seen anything like her before…” Leofwine murmured, awestruck.
I squatted by the cage and reached in to pet her white gold hair. Tears formed in my eyes because, like her human form, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen or heard of in my lifetime. Her body reminded me of a horse, though it looked stronger and a bit shapelier. Her four robust, sinewy legs ended in wispy white gold fetlocks that pointed down to wickedly sharp cloven hooves. Her tail was long and short-haired, like her body, with a luscious spray of long, white gold hair at the very end. A wild mane, also of white gold, draped messily across her thick, powerful neck and splayed across the filthy floor. It was matted with sticky blood, and I longed to clean it. She was far too lovely to be left in such an awful state. Two pointed ears, a little longer than a horse’s, rested stock-still in her sleep. Like her neck, her face was very much like a horse’s but seemed sturdier, and I figured it had to do with needing shock absorption… Shock absorption for the long, slightly curved horn that jutted from the center of the beast’s forehead. Underneath the dried blood, the horn looked as sharp as a dragon’s claw, and I guessed it was the main weapon used in her defense.
“These corpses are covered in stabs, lacerations, broken bones, and other high-impact injuries…” Leofwine analyzed, moving a body out of the way. “Those hooves look almost as sharp as that horn, Keyon. Careful waking her,” he warned.
“Yes, it’d be a shame to have her wake up only to find she’d killed her fated mate,” Adelmar’s voice said tiredly from the next cage. I didn’t look at him, and I fumbled around the shifter’s pocket for the cell keys. I unlocked Elpis’s cage and tossed the keys to Leofwine.
“Leof, can you please go deal with that?” I said, gesturing idly to Adelmar’s cell. I had tunnel vision for my mate. Nothing else mattered.
“My pleasure,” my friend said and went over to speak to the caged slaver.
I frowned when I opened the door, realizing that Elpis’s beast would absolutely not be able to fit through the opening. If I had to guess, I’d say that she’d killed every shifter who tried to go into the cell to restrain her. They had to drag out the bodies so more could attempt to get in and subdue her. Perhaps they weren’t done draining her but eventually had to give up once too many of them had died.
“You bought us time... well done, moonflower,” I whispered to her. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I pondered my options as I looked around the cell. I had to either get her to wake up and shift back or melt a section of the iron cage. The latter would take longer, so I squatted by her side and tried to wake her.
“Elpis,” I said, rubbing her beast’s shoulder while keeping a hand safely on her cheek. “Can you hear me? We’re here for you, but you need to wake up, moonflower. Moonflower?” I rubbed her shoulder a little harder, but the beast didn’t move. I could hear the steady thumping of her heart, but her breathing was a little shallow. Had her beast been forced into an early shift? Did she hurt herself or put pressure on her bond with Elpis? I couldn’t tell! “Elpis!” I said urgently and gave her one last push before I surrendered and studied the iron bars.
“This is going to be an awkward exit, Foray,” I said to the black jaguar who turned to look at me from her post at the corner. “I can’t get her to shift back, and it’s too narrow here for me to shift into Toast and carry her out. Leof and I might have to carry her beast form out in our human bodies, so we’ll be relying on you to scout ahead.”
The cat-shifter nodded and went back to watching dutifully around the corner. I began to torch the iron bars with my hottest fire when Leofwine and Adelmar came over to help. I narrowed my eyes when I saw Adelmar, and Leofwine stopped momentarily to explain. “He’s agreed to let us escort him out, and he’ll surrender to arrest. He’s lost an arm. He’s too weak to fly off.”
I scowled, not trusting any deal Adelmar had to offer, but continued to heat up the bars until I could fold and shape them out of the way. Leofwine and Adelmar couldn’t get the metal to bend on their own, but they sped up the process for the cold iron so I could do it within minutes.
Once I bent the cell wall back far enough, I crouched and got a grip under Elpis’s beast’s hips while Leofwine supported her head and torso. I snarled viciously at Adelmar when he offered to help with his remaining arm, and he backed away with his palm out. I trusted my mated best friend to help, but I did not trust her old owner. She’d never suffer his touch again! Filthy bastard.
Foray took the lead, and Adelmar fell in pace behind her like I’d ordered. I wanted him where I could see him. There wasn’t anyone in sight when we entered the round chamber, but a door opened, and a male shouted a warning when he saw three shifters absconding with their prisoners. He jumped forward and shifted into a dragon in the larger space, then lunged toward us, but Adelmar burst from his clothes to intercept him. They collided with a quaking fury that rattled the wood and stone supports. Dust sprinkled warningly from the rafters.
“Go, go, go!” Leofwine hissed, and we rushed toward the next hall where the exit was. If Adelmar wanted to hold the enemy back, so be it. I had plenty on my plate, and if he died, he’d be one less thing on my mind.
We burst through the door and ran out into the cold night air. We deposited Elpis’s beast under the oak tree and witnessed a large number of dragons stream out of the temple.
“Foray, cover Elpis up and watch her!” I ordered and shrugged my clothes off to shift. Toast and Simmer were going to clean up real quick before leaving.
I unleashed Toast to get his revenge on the dragons who’d previously resorted to witchcraft to attack us. These were likely the same ones, and we waited eagerly to see if they were now without their King’s Poison. Toast banked and gave a dragon a wide berth, studying to see if it’d spit at him. The dragon merely roared and raked at the air in frustration.
Simmer must have enjoyed the distraction we’d created because he claimed that one as his first kill. The black dragon darted out of nowhere and removed the dragon’s head from its long neck. The body fell the long distance to the ground, and the remaining enemies swarmed in panic.
Definitely no longer spitters. Such false confidence given to them by that witch, Toast sneered. He looked down, bobbed his head as he considered the timing, and dropped like a stone to land on another dragon. He ripped its wings off and threw it high above the fog, letting it eventually fall to its death. It was possible it’d survive the fall but equally possible it’d bleed to death.
A dragon barreled toward us, but Toast grappled with the attacker and slammed him into another advancing dragon. He unleashed his blue fire over both stunned shifters, and they fell to the ground as a smoldering tribute to an absolute dominant’s vengeance .
Should not have come between us and our mate, Toast remarked coldly, decisively.
We sensed a change in the air currents and rolled to receive an attacking shifter, but Simmer sniped his left wing, and the dragon careened into the temple’s spire, sending stones crashing down to the main building. Toast rolled away to find a new target and spat several jets of blue fire to take down another two who tried to stay out of our reach. Toast was darkly amused; no one was out of his reach.
His thoughts briefly flashed back to playing with Elpis under the pine trees, and he was even more resolved to finish up here. He slashed, scalded, and crushed several more before the air became silent. Simmer passed us, and we followed him back down to the dead oak tree. He seemed to be in a rush, and I grew concerned when he immediately shifted back into Leofwine and ran toward where our mates were hidden.
“Woah!” Leofwine yelled, and I burst through the oak branches to see him struggling alongside Foray to hold down Elpis’s beast.
“Back off!” I ordered, not wanting them to get hurt. Leofwine snatched Foray away like she was a tiny kitten and backed off with her, putting a large, gnarled oak branch between them and my mate. The horse-like beast rocked desperately as it tried to go from its side to its feet, eyes rolling in fright and nostrils puffing warm clouds into the cold night air.
I squatted, grabbed her beast’s shoulder, and leaned into her to help her stand. She scrambled to her feet and squealed, so I backed up out of kicking range. She snorted and skipped away several paces, her heart and lungs racing at a speed that frightened me. She was too scared. I had to calm her somehow.
“Elpis,” I said, putting my hands up. “Moonflower, it’s me! It’s Keyon! Your fated mate. Do you remember me?” I edged towards her, and she pranced back in a spooked response.
She’s prey animal, Keyon, Toast reminded. I don’t know how to approach prey .
Slowly… I replied. Like a scared hatchling.
Hatchling steps…
I took another step forward and held out a hand for her to sniff. I glanced into her beast’s eyes, and my heart ached painfully. She had Elpis’s deep, sweet, brown-sugar eyes. “You’re so beautiful, mate. You’re complete perfection. I wish you knew to trust me,” I said softly to her. “Elpis, moonflower…”
Some of the rubble in the temple shifted unexpectedly, and Elpis’s startled beast bolted into the night.
“Fuck!” I cursed and turned to face a stricken Leofwine and Adelais. “You two get going! Bring those bands to the Solar Coven. Find out what they are, then we need to draft a plan for Cyneric. I have to catch Elpis and get the mothers to check on her. We’ll be there soon!”
“Good luck, Keyon,” Leofwine said with a worried frown, looking off to where Elpis’s beast had disappeared.
Adelais wiped a tear away and forced a smile at me. “W-we’ll see you both real soon!”
I shifted into Toast, who grabbed our bags, and launched into the sky again. I could tell he was tired, but nothing would stop us from reclaiming our mate. Between her galloping sounds and her gleaming white hair, it didn’t take long to find her. We stalked her south, which was interesting; it was as if she knew there was nothing but dead plants and bog water in the northern region. Was Elpis awake in there, or was it just her beast? Were her memories intact?
We flew over her as she raced, trying to find the safest place to intercept her.
That horn is sharp, but it only points one way. We have to grab her from behind, Toast said.
Try to glide down and cage her, but keep that horn away from our belly until she recognizes us. Bite her neck, I said. Toast growled an affirmative and descended. The beast screamed and thrashed, but we landed smoothly with her in our grip. Toast’s teeth were gently clamped around her neck as she fought against us .
Should we let her tire herself out? Toast asked.
Let’s try to reach her first. Try talking through her mark again, I suggested.
Mate! Toast said to Elpis and her beast over our one-way mind-link. Mate, don’t fight us. It’s Toast and Keyon! We freed you! Come back to us!
Elpis! I shouted. Moonflower! You’re safe now! Shift back so we can talk! Shift back so I can take care of you!
The beast’s thrashing slowed, but I couldn’t tell if it was from fatigue or something else. Once she slowed to a wobble and an occasional pawing, I shifted back into my human form and kept a firm hand on her back. Her muscles bunched, and I jumped onto her before she could escape me again. Shit, I sorely wished I knew how to ride a horse!
She tried to trick us! Toast sputtered. Smart prey.
I dug my heels into her side and tightened my grip on her neck as she tried to buck me off. “Mate,” I growled softly as she kicked about. “Calm down. You’re safe with me.” I rubbed her neck affectionately, but she broke into a gallop, squealing.
Shit, I groaned to Toast. Doing this without pants was a huge mistake!
Perhaps death by blue balls was preferable to this.
I adjusted my grip and shouted, “Elpis, I swear if you don’t stop your beast, we’ll not be able to have hatchlings at this rate!” Being soothing wasn’t working. I had a threat to hang over my mate’s head… her dangerously pointy head.
The threat didn’t seem to sink in, and I growled.
Is she in heat? Toast asked. I had no idea. Beasts like this didn’t blush or send furtive glances. I leaned into her galloping shoulders and took a breath. I scented her estrus pheromones, but I couldn’t tell if they were contributing to her wildness. I wiped some white, foamy sweat off her, getting more and more concerned for her health.
Elpis, my fated mate, I thought to her. This wasn’t how I wanted to mount and ride you. Do you need relief, my precious moonflower? I ran a hand down her neck suggestively, hoping she’d shift back in desperation. If there was anything Elpis had a hard time resisting, it was my dirty talk.
The beast stumbled and crashed into the ground, squealing again. I jumped clear and ran toward her as she shifted back into her human form. My fated mate crawled to her feet and appeared lost. Elpis seemed confused and wild-eyed, but her scent staggered me. I was slammed by her pheromones and felt desire shudder down my body.
That was a good call, Toast. I wonder how long she’d been stuck in heat without relief? The spike didn’t fade?
Go claim her, Toast said and crawled into the back of my mind.
Elpis turned once again and looked hesitantly at me. Did she recognize me? She retreated and stumbled while I approached warily. Something looked different about her face, and that was when I noticed she still had a horn on her forehead. I paused in surprise, gaping. Was that the cause of the migraines? Had her horn been pushing to come out but had been obstructed? I couldn’t even imagine what that must have felt like. Was this her natural human form now?
“Oh, Elpis… sweetheart…” My heart clenched at how much unnecessary torture she’d been forced to endure. She hadn’t been allowed to be who she was supposed to be and had suffered deeply for it. I cornered her trembling, naked body against a rock wall. Her large eyes stared up at me in the darkness, looking scared, lost, and lonely. I reached out to caress her short white horn. It was only around two to three inches long now.
A pleasant spark lit up between my hand and her horn, but she flinched and ducked out of my arms to run from me again. I gave chase, not willing to let discouragement faze me. Like the first time I’d joined with her, I scented her getting progressively more aroused the longer she sprinted. I snorted smoke out through my nostrils and moved to cut her off, but she was faster than the first time I’d chased her; Elpis’s beast must be helping. She evaded me, and I growled a warning at her to stop running .
Perhaps the pursuit wouldn’t be as easy this time. Her stubbornness and the drops of her arousal she’d left behind on the ground spurred me into action. I couldn’t toy with her anymore; this was a real chase now. I had to get to her before she wandered too close to another dragon.
The anger and fear triggered my feral instincts, and soon all I saw was a fleeing, fertile female that I needed to take for myself. I could have sworn I had already claimed this one, though. Why was she fleeing me? Why was she disobeying and putting my potential hatchlings at risk?
I roared to let her know I was serious and breathed a jet of blue fire to herd my female back toward the rock wall, where I could corner her again. She somehow managed to recall that she couldn’t be hurt by my fire and jumped right through it. I snarled and continued hunting her, barely gaining ground on her fleet-footed escape.
I heard her whimper and stumble. My blood heated at the chance to catch up, and I burst through a dead tree line. I realized very quickly that we were at the edge of a cliff, and my wild female had begun a descent. I grinned down at her climbing form with my elongated fangs and growled, “Female, that was a bad decision if you wanted to escape me.”
She froze and looked up at me through her thick eyelashes. The canyon’s wind ripped at her hair, tossing it about in a mesmerizing dance. I released my wings and crouched to grin at her. I let a blue flame trickle up my lips so I could see her better, and she was glorious. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, and I growled at the sight of her breasts and nipples rubbing against the rock wall. Her soft lips were parted from her panting, and I could barely recall through my feral mind how they’d felt wrapped around my cock. The curves of her perky bottom followed her hips as she adjusted her footing.
“Didn’t recall the first time I mounted you, female?” I asked in a low voice and reached down to trace under her jaw with a claw, urging her to continue looking at me. “Didn’t recall I prefer cliffsides?”
I glanced around for a decent ledge to take her on and grinned when I spotted one that would do. It was a little narrow, but I’d make it work. There would be no shifting into her beast on that platform. There’d be no getting away from me.