Chapter 79 First Shift
Reiya closed her eyes and felt herself drift back.
As she did, she felt a surge ripple through her body.
Within a moment, she had shifted. She opened her eyes and looked down at her large paws.
Her beautiful white fur shone slightly in the sun.
She stood to her full height and looked over everyone.
The shift was seamless … it was painless. She was born to shift into Lumi.
She looked out through her new wolf sight and shuffled her feet, feeling the earth beneath her.
Her ears twitched as she picked up the various noises around her.
She lifted her head up, feeling very happy with herself.
The wind tickled her fur as it greeted her, and she lifted her nose up to it, sniffing lightly.
“Wow, Reiya, you’re just as big as Mira,” Brody said in shock as he gazed at the beautiful wolf. Lumi wagged her tail happily and turned to look at her mate.
Lee reached his hand out and Lumi ran and jumped up onto him.
He chuckled as she licked his face. Her tail wagged as he petted her softness.
“You’re beautiful, baby.” He held her head between his hands and leaned his forehead into her fur.
His body recognized her, no matter what form she was in.
He only saw her as his mate. He was feeling a bit selfish and didn’t want to share this moment with anyone else.
He wanted to savor touching her, to relish her accomplishment of an easy shift.
But everyone else was excited, too. He kissed his mate’s head tenderly and reluctantly let her go, smiling down at her as her fur tickled his nose.
She lowered herself down and Chelsie reached out to touch her fur. “So soft and fluffy.” Still too good for these dragons, Chelsie thought to herself as Brody and Xander joined her, touching Reiya’s fur. “Don’t get her pretty fur all dirty,” Chelsie snorted at Xander, who only chuckled in reply.
“I never had a puppy. A grown wolf is a great replacement, though. We’ll go on walks together. Play fetch together.” Xander grinned as Lumi snorted and shook herself. She wasn’t a pet replacement, but she let Xander have his joke. She was just glad to finally be out and was enjoying the attention.
Lee stood there, proudly looking at his mate. Her wolf was beautiful, and he just wanted to keep her all to himself. He didn’t want to share her today, or ever. Finally, all the extra attention had his beast getting gradually aggravated. “Okay, okay … that’s enough petting.”
Lumi turned her head and looked at Lee, her tongue lolling out and panting happily. So possessive, Reiya thought as she giggled.
Mmmm, he’s perfect. We have the perfect mate.
Lumi was quite proud of who they’d been matched up with.
She walked over to his side and leaned against his legs, relaxing into his touch and rubbing her head into his hand.
Reiya agreed with her wolf. She could never have asked for a better mate than Lee.
He was everything she’d ever wanted. Hell, he was everything she’d dreamed about. And he was hers, completely.
“Whoa, Xander, you need to get an exterminator. You have a wolf up here.” Weston jogged up to them, followed by Dex. “Thanks for inviting us to come along,” he complained, his voice dripping with annoyance.
“Reiya, is that you? Wow! You finally got your wolf. You must be very happy,” Dex said as he marveled at the white beauty. She was larger than he’d imagined. Of course, he really hadn’t seen many werewolves in their animal form up close. But she looked to be bigger than what he’d seen.
You have no idea how happy I am, Reiya thought to herself.
Quite the eventful night, huh? Lumi jested, and had Reiya been in human form, she would have been blushing.
Does everything with you lead back to only sexual things? Reiya asked in mild annoyance.
Reiya, we’re animals. It’s only natural. We search for our mate, we find our mate, we mate with them, and we have pups with them, Lumi replied tersely. It was just a fact of life.
Time out, Lumi. Let’s put babies on the back burner, okay? I don’t need to be pregnant and out there fighting a demon war. Reiya smiled in the recesses of her mind. Not that the idea of children didn’t excite her. It just wasn’t time for that yet.
Lumi scoffed. I’m not worried about the demon war. We have the numbers on our side. Plus, we are one of the Gemini twins. And you keep forgetting something important—Hunter. You don’t think you were the only one born with special gifts, do you?
Reiya quietly reflected on what Lumi was saying.
Her brother was an alpha, which was already a powerful position.
What other powers did he have hidden? She knew of one of his skills, but she was sure he had others.
Grandpa Sage mentioned he would also play a key role in the demon war.
What a destiny her family had. They were destined to fight against the demons and, with a future like that, of course they should have some pretty amazing and unique skills.
The more she thought about it, she realized how much others had their hands in her family’s affairs.
Her grandmother, the fairy princess at the time, found out her mate was an alpha of a werewolf pack.
From them came her mother, Lita. Her mother, who was half werewolf and half fairy, and a fairy princess at that, found her mate in the alpha of the Black Ice Pack.
She was the first luna who was also a fairy princess.
And her father was an alpha who was also the fairy king.
This was already a powerful combination.
Additionally, there was Reiya and Hunter, who were both from alpha bloodlines and fairy royalty.
Reiya was mated to a deity, and she was one of the Gemini twins.
She wondered who her brother would end up mated with and what else would make him unique.
“I know you probably want to go for a run, but it really isn’t the best time for that. I will try to make some arrangements later to make sure everything is secure. Gramps fixed the barrier, so we won’t have any more demon entries.” Xanders’ voice snapped Reiya out of her inner thoughts.
How was a demon able to get through the barrier? Reiya thought outwardly to those connected in her mind.
Xander’s eyes widened. “Okay, how in the heck can I hear your thoughts?! Is this part of our connection?”
“Wait, what connection? You can hear her thoughts? What am I missing?” Dex asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
Lee gently stroked his white beauty and scratched her ears.
“I guess that makes sense. I’m surprised the two of you didn’t feel the link earlier.
” He looked over at Dex and Weston, unsure as to how much he wanted them to know about Reiya and Xander right now.
The less people who knew about it, the better.
“It’s just something unique that they can do. That’s all you need to know for now.”
Reiya sighed inwardly. He was so overprotective. Their secret was safe with them. Okay, Lumi, so shifting back should be about the same, right? Only this time I push myself forward.
Yes, that’s right.
Reiya easily shifted back to her human form. She looked herself over, still fully clothed thanks to the troll nail clippings. Finally, she was able to benefit from eating something so gross. She turned to Lee and leaned into him.
“What he meant to say was it isn’t something you need to know now, but we will talk about it later.” Reiya smiled sweetly at Lee as she spoke.
“Reiya …” The agitation in Lee’s voice wasn’t missed. Dex and Weston felt very hesitant all of a sudden, seeing their deity starting to get upset.
Lee, we trusted them with our secret. We can trust them with mine and Xander’s too. Either they’re our friends or they aren’t. Either we trust them or we don’t.
The more people who know, the more dangerous it is.
These are the same people who know about us.
To me, that one is more dangerous. I could lose you.
You are my most precious secret. If I trust them with that, I can trust them with anything.
Now ... Reiya leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed his chin.
Invite them up for dinner later and we can discuss this in private.
Lee sighed. He wasn’t going to win against her. She already had her mind made up. She was just too adorable, and he didn’t want to make her mad. Lee turned and looked at Weston and Dex. “This evening, I am inviting you up to my area of the castle. We can talk over dinner.”
Xander busted out laughing. “Look who got his wings clipped.”
Reiya turned around and glared at him. “Xander, you are in no position to talk about wings getting clipped. We all know that Lila will get her way with you, too.” She watched as his smile immediately faded into a crooked grin. He knew it was true. He couldn’t refute it.
Lee smiled and wrapped his arms around Reiya.
Xander could say what he wanted. It didn’t matter to him.
This little fairy in his arms was his reason for living.
He had finally found it. “She can clip my wings as long as she’s always by my side.
” Lee kissed the top of her head and watched as she looked up at him, her beautiful sapphire eyes staring at him in adoration.
He was still on cloud nine about them both being mutual mates, and the fact that they had sealed the mating bond … several times.
“You don’t have to tell us anything. You can keep it on a need-to-know basis. We’re fine with that.” Dex didn’t need to know anything more. It really didn’t matter.
“Well, I’m curious. You didn’t take Xander as your mate too, did you?” The moment Weston said it, he flinched, as Lee let out a low growl.
Levi snorted a heavy breath through his nose. “She’s mine. I don’t share … anything of mine.”
Reiya giggled and intertwined her fingers with Lee’s.
He needed to lighten up some. He wasn’t used to interacting so much with others.
He would get used to it, though. She would help bring him down to earth a little more.
“Wes, as if I’d let that lizard over there taint the beautiful mark that I already have. ”
“Eh, he’s a second-rate tattoo artist. It’ll work, but mine would have looked better,” Xander teased with a wide, toothy grin.
“Who are you calling second rate, whelp?” Levi raised an eye as he turned to look at Xander.
“I didn’t stutter.” Xander’s lips curled upward as he provoked Levi.
Levi chuckled lowly. “Look who’s suddenly become more brazen.”
“Sure have. With Reiya by your side, I know you’re way more tame. Yep, I’m not afraid to admit it. I’m banking on her protection.” Xander shrugged and the others couldn’t help but laugh. Even Levi smiled over this.
“We are all more fortunate having Reiya as our shield,” Weston said, knowing he would be one to need it most.
“Hey, my protection only goes so far, so don’t take advantage of it. Otherwise, instead of the shield, you may get the sword.” Reiya gave Weston a side smile as his eyes raised.
“You’re right. This works both ways. You literally have him as a sword and a shield. So much for sleeping better at night.” Weston chuckled nervously.
“I, for one, will sleep better at night knowing that the girl who is with our deity is Reiya. We’re lucky to have her joining us.” Dex looked at Leviathan and nodded his head to him. Reiya was not a vicious person. She would never abuse their deity. She was the perfect mate to be by his side.
“You dragons are awful lucky to have her, and you better not forget it.” Chelsie looked up at Brody. “Guess we will be living in dragon country permanently.”
Brody chuckled and shook his head. “Not quite. Reiya still has to reign as the acting fairy queen when it’s her time. She will be in Elysia for a while as well.”
There was an uneasy silence among the dragons. They weren’t sure how they felt hearing this. Their deity wouldn’t be among them anymore? He’d always been with them. Xander was the only one who seemed at ease.
“And since Levi can manifest himself instantly, it won’t be a problem for him not living here with us during that time.
Besides, it’s not like we really need him around.
And he can always come back for the mating parties we have once a year.
It’s easy enough for him to show up to bless any future royals, if they find their mates.
But you better bring Reiya with you.” Xander winked at Reiya.
He looked over at Dex and Weston, who looked to be more at ease.
Xander was right. Leviathan never really did anything but approve of the mates of royals and oversee important occasions.
“We have a long way to go before we even get to any of that,” Lee said, looking at Xander. “Right now, we have some traitors and demons to deal with.”
“When the time comes, just let us know. The dragons will be there, all four kingdoms, to fight against the demons. This is a war we’re going to win easily.
The demons would have a hard enough time just facing off with dragons alone.
No … they’re going to find out they poked a giant,” Weston said with a cocky smirk.
“Maybe once they see the numbers on our side, they might already concede. Unless they want to be slaughtered.”
“We just need to find out how many traitors are among us and weed them out beforehand,” Dex said thoughtfully.
“Finding everyone involved is the biggest issue right now. Soon, we will have everyone involved and we can finally act.” Xander sighed with a small frown. It was never a good feeling, having to purge your own—even when it was necessary.
Brody looked around at the solemn atmosphere and sighed. He rubbed the back of his head and looked at Lee. “So, you said we’re having a little dinner tonight. What’s on the menu?”
“Yeah, what’s for dinner?” Reiya grinned, tilting her head back toward Lee.
Not sure about dinner … but I know what’s for dessert, Lee mindlinked to Reiya with a playful grin and then looked over at Xander. “Xander’s in charge of the menu. Better make it good.”
“Awesome. Then I’m telling the cooks we’re having tacos tonight,” Xander exclaimed, having craved tacos for a couple of days now.
“Hell yeah! I can eat a couple dozen tacos.” Brody grinned, while Chelsie sighed and shook her head. He really had a bottomless appetite.