Reese met me as soon as I stepped into the cavernous training room once again.
"We're going to work on signals in our other forms today," she announced as a greeting. "Trevna has volunteered to fly outside and demonstrate them for us so you can learn."
"That sounds good."
I had wondered how everyone communicated with each other when they were in there other forms and couldn't speak. It would be really useful to have this kind of knowledge tucked away. So we went up to the roof and Trevna changed immediately into his dragon form, taking off in a practiced and efficient launch. I was nowhere near as good as that, and I knew I'd need to practice a lot more than I had to get there.
"Now," Reese started, her eyes on Trevna. "If he tips his left wing and then his right again, and then his left again, that means he needs medical help."
That was an important one. Probably more for my own use than for recognizing it in someone else, to be honest. I continued to listen to Reese as Trevna went through the multiple signals he was able to give in his dragon form. None of them were too complicated, involving movements that were pretty large and exaggerated so they could be seen from far away and not mistaken for anything but deliberate signals.
We were still going when the door burst open behind us and Ashur strode out towards us. One look at his face would have told me something was wrong if his abrupt entrance hadn't already clued me in.
"What is it?" I asked as I started over to him. "What's wrong?"
"We just got word that Emberich is attacking Victor's skein," he said, anger simmering in his tone.
"Victor's skein?" I repeated, frowning. "But he decided not to get involved," I said, confused. Why the hell would Emberich attack him?
"Apparently, Emberich has decided not to discern between which of us are helping the refugees and which ones are not. He has decided to attack all of us."
What? I shook my head in disbelief. I shouldn't have been surprised. Not with the way Emberich had been acting lately. Erratic and unreasonable didn't even begin to cover it. And I was sure it was a surprise to Victor's people as well.
"What are we going to do?" Reese interjected, stepping closer, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
Ashur looked over at her.
"I just sent a message to our allies," Ashur explained. "But whether they want to join or not, I think we need to go help. Ignoring this would make us just as bad as them." He shook his head. "We need to show that we care about more than just ourselves."
Reese nodded thoughtfully.
"I'll go get everyone ready," she said.
Ashur nodded, and she turned to run over to the elevator immediately.
"Emberich is an idiot," I murmured. "Now all of the dragon skeins will have an incentive to get involved when they didn't before. This doesn't make any kind of logical sense as a strategic move."
"Maybe," Ashur acknowledged. "Maybe not. If the skeins who aren't involved decided to bury their heads in the sand once, maybe they won't make a move unless they themselves are attacked."
I looked at him incredulously. "But that's..."
"Stupid?" Ashur finished for me. "Yes it is. But after the decisions they've made so far, I wouldn't put this one past them either."
He was right. For that matter, I didn't even know if Victor's decision would change after the attack on his skein. Maybe he would just blame us for getting involved at all and continue on this ridiculous path.
"And it might also be a good way for Emberich to rally his base, rabid dragon-haters that they are," he added. "Maybe he thinks he can also reunite his people if he starts an outright war with us, forcing people to choose him over us." He shrugged. "But who knows what the hell is going through his head?"
"Yeah," I agreed. Even thinking about it was exhausting.
"In any case, we better go join everybody else," Ashur said, wrapping an arm around my waist and turning me to the door.
I nodded, watching as he sent a signal to Trevna to land.
We went straight into prep for battle and it wasn't long before we were all up in the air, flying towards Victor's territory. It wasn't all of Ashur's skein. We needed to leave enough to guard their territory in case this was a diversion designed to leave the city unprotected and vulnerable to an attack.
We didn't have to fly far. Victor's skein wasn't that far from us. Maybe it was also a threat directed at us? An example of what Emberich could do if he wanted? It was something he might do to appease his ego.
I blinked as something caught my eye. Smoke. That was the first thing we saw. It was billowing up from a raging fire in the center of Victor's city, a thick, dark gray, massive column of soot.
I'd never seen Victor's city before. We'd never flown in this direction. It was sprawled out in a spoke design, with wide streets and medium-sized buildings that weren't too high or too low. I would describe it as middle-of-the-road in many ways in terms of construction.
Except for the fact that it was currently on fire.
As I stared at the thick gray plume of smoke rising up from the city, I caught flickers of winged forms cutting in and out of the edges.
Orange-scaled dragons and phoenixes with feathers aflame.
From what I could see, the dragons were definitely outnumbered.
But not for long.
Chapter Eighteen
We flew into the fight like a battering ram.
The phoenixes were not at all prepared, and the dragons' faces showed that they were shocked to see us as well. It was a little comical to see. Their expressions of shock immediately gave way to ones of determination and a renewed will to fight. A renewed hope.
Thankfully, this fight was a lot different than the last fight I was in. I wasn't worn down from carrying a heavy crate over a long distance already. I had a little more experience fighting in dragon form. We were coming into a battle where everyone else was already worn down somewhat. We had greater numbers. And I had Ashur by my side. I would say it was almost a walk in the park in comparison, but I wasn't that cocky. It was still a hard fight.
Ashur shot past me and rammed into a phoenix, sending it spinning in my direction. I veered to the side and spun around until my feathers grazed it. It burst into flame and fell to the ground with a screech, out of commission. We continued fighting side by side, Ashur ramming or spitting fire and me using my feathers and my greater size as well. We were getting good at working as a team, though Ashur was still doing much of the heavy lifting. He just had way more experience in this form than I did, and he had more mass on his side.
With the addition of our numbers, it wasn't long at all before the tide of the battle shifted in our favor. Orange and gold scales greatly outnumbered the flaming feathers of the phoenixes within minutes. And then it was over.
When I looked back down at the city, it was to see Victor's people rushing to put fires out, the billowing gray smoke giving away to whiter cloud as the water steam rose.
Ashur made a wide circle and then slowly came down to land on the edge of the city's boundary. We all touched down behind him. A large orange dragon beat its wings as it slowly descended only yards away, a few others landing with him.
I looked around from my new vantage point. Orange-scaled bodies littered the ground along with phoenixes. Too many. Victor's people flew out, checking on their fallen comrades, seeing who was still breathing. Many of them were also still working to combat the fires in the city. The aftermath of the attack was far from pretty, with damage that wasn't going to be forgotten for quite some time.
My attention turned back to the large orange dragon directly across from us as it changed. It was Victor. Ashur changed as well so he could communicate.
"Why did you come?" Victor asked, his face battered, his eyes filled with pain as he looked at the destruction around him. His body was just as battered, but he didn't seem to feel any of it as his eyes lingered on his people's bodies.
"Because it was the right thing to do," Ashur said quietly. It was
difficult to be angry with Victor or his people for their earlier decision when faced with...this. "Because we couldn't leave you on your own when we had a choice. When we could help."
Victor nodded, looking down at the ground. I could see the whisper of shame in his expression, in his stance.
"My thanks," he murmured, looking up at me for a brief moment before met Ashur's eyes. He squared his shoulders, drawing himself up to his full height. "On behalf of all of the people in my skein...I thank you for your assistance." He shook his head. "We wouldn't have made it without you," he added much less formally.
Ashur inclined his head, taking the gratitude without a fuss, without rubbing Victor's face in it like he could have. That just wasn't who Ashur was. But he did ask the question that needed to be asked.
"So, Dragon Lord," Ashur said, his eyes steady. Watchful. "Are you in or out?"
There was no mistaking what Ashur meant. Would Victor join the fight against Emberich? Or did this attack only make him and his people even less inclined to take the risk? They'd already sustained so much damage after all. I wasn't the only one who wasn't sure of the answer. It felt like everybody held their breath as we waited. All of us who watched from Ashur's side. And everyone behind Victor as well.
Victor looked at his people's bodies again, turning to take in the destruction of his city.
The sight was bleak.
After a long moment, he turned back to Ashur, a fire in his eyes.
"In," he said grimly. "We're in."
Chapter Nineteen
We were in full preparation mode.
Training was still going hardcore, with every able-bodied skein member participating. The elderly and the children were being taught basic maneuvers, even as they were gradually being evacuated to a safe place, one only known to the dragons. The phoenix refugees who weren't battle-able were also being taken to the same place, though with a precaution. The agreement was that they would have to be blindfolded for the trip so as not to be able to reveal the location.
Everyone had agreed to those terms without a fuss, understanding that the dragons were still trusting them with something monumentally important—where their vulnerable people were during times of crisis. A hit there would destroy morale in one fell swoop.
"But why can't I stay with you?" Omari asked as we walked onto the playground. "I don't want to go with all the other children. I want to go with you."
I sighed. It felt like I'd been having this talk, or at least a version of it, ever since Omari had come to live with me. Hopefully that wouldn't be true in the future. I didn't want to constantly stash him away for safety either.
"I wish you could come with us," I told him honestly. "But all of the children are going to the safe place because we want all of you to be safe."
"Well, I want you and Ashur to be safe too! I want Enzi and Hathai to be safe! I want everyone to be safe!"
That was a good point. Tricky waters here. I wish I'd been given a manual when I'd become a guardian.
"Sometimes you have to fight to make the world a better place," I said carefully, feeling corny for putting it that way even though it was true. "Remember the bad men who came for me in the city dome?"
Omari nodded reluctantly.
"Yes."
"Emberich sent them after me. So, we're going after him to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else like that again. Does that make sense?"
He nodded grudgingly.
"Yes," he said in a small voice. He knew Emberich. He'd been living under the Phoenix King's thumb before I took him away. "But you have to promise to come back safe," he demanded, his eyes intense. "Promise."
"I promise," I agreed, really hoping I would be able to keep it. I took his hand in mine, feeling the softness of it, how small it was. I needed him to stay safe. I forced a smile, not wanting the last bit of time we spent together before we separated to be focused on this. "Now, why don't we get on the jungle gym?"
It took a few minutes to get his mind off the impending evacuation, but I finally did. He was back to his laughing, happy self. This carefree little boy was who he was meant to be. I really wished he didn't have so much to worry about so often. He was old enough to know bad things happened, and too experienced with them already from being in Emberich's court.
Hopefully, this would be the end of the major problems. I wanted to take care of Emberich once and for all, not just for us but for everyone else he'd terrorized throughout the years. I'm sure there were many.
Ashur joined us about an hour in.
"Ashur!" Omari exclaimed, waving in excitement when he saw him. "Look what I can do!"
He swung across the monkey bars smoothly, jumping off and pushing his chest out in pride at the end.
"That's really good," Ashur complimented, ruffling his hair. "Let me give it a shot."
And he did, laughing the whole time as Omari tried to sabotage him. I grinned as I watched, happy to have this reprieve. We spent some time just playing before finally going back to Ashur's building to have dinner. Omari really didn't want to go to bed, as if time would stop passing if he just kept his eyes open. And he wouldn't have to leave to go evacuate. But eventually he succumbed to his tiredness, his eyes shutting as he fell into that deep sleep only children could find. I kissed him softly on the forehead, tucking him in before heading back over to our bedroom.
It really was starting to feel like our bedroom, not just Ashur's. The thought gave me pause, but then I shook it off. We had bigger things to worry about than moving in together.
Ashur looked up from his data pad where he was lying in bed.
"Omari asleep?" he asked.
"Yeah. He is really worried," I said quietly, closing the door behind myself. "I am too," I added, rubbing at my forehead.
Ashur put his pad away and got out of bed, walking over to me.
"I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was worried too," he said quietly as he took my face in his hands, his palms warm. "But we'd be stupid not to worry."
I snorted. "Great pep talk," I said wryly, wrapping my hands around his wrists.
He smiled. "Sometimes the right path isn't the easiest path. We just have to focus on why we're doing what we're doing, plan the best that we can, and then put our all into it." He shrugged. "That's all that we can do. The rest will unfold as it will. At some point, we have to just let go."
He was right, though it was easier said than done.
I nodded, biting my lip.
"Besides," he said his smile widening. "Just think of the look on Emberich's face when he realizes we're going to destroy his pretty palace."
I burst out in laughter, not expecting that addition. He kissed my laughing mouth, sliding his hands under my butt and picking me up.
Oh. My laughter turned into a moan as he laid me out on the bed, coming down on top of me, his body warm and heavy on top of mine.
The kiss started slow but turned voracious, the laughter drifting away as we kissed each other with the kind of desperation that I knew couldn't be unique to us. How many men and women had clutched at each other just this desperately, with this much passion, wondering what tomorrow would bring? Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst?
Ashur's hands were a little rough as they stripped me of my clothes, but mine weren't any more gentle. I wanted to touch him, slide my hands over his skin, feel his body against mine. Feel the life inside him, inside me. We rolled across the bed, each of us fighting to be on top, to touch the other more. I slid my hands over his back, over his ass, as he deepened the kiss. And I gave back as good as I got.
His grip on me was almost bruising tight as he pulled my thigh up against his hip and rubbed himself against me, hard and throbbing already.
Mmm.
I wanted more. But when I moved to push myself back against him, he pulled back. I made a protesting sound as he broke the kiss.
"Shh." He nuzzled the side of my face. And moved to kiss his way down my neck. Across my chest. Paying special attention to the
sensitive undersides of my breasts.
I moved under him, trying to get closer to that mouth. But he kept the pace he wanted. Kissing his way down my stomach, rubbing his face against the side of my hip. Biting gently.
Only when I was squirming under him did he go right where I wanted him most. Where I was already throbbing with need not even a few minutes after he first put his mouth on mine. He didn't hold back either. He licked and sucked, his hands gripping my thighs tightly as he buried his face against me, feasting on me like he couldn't get enough.
I came hard, gripping his hair in my hands, arching into him and making a hoarse sound in the back of my throat as the pleasure stabbed through me. But he didn't stop. Not until another orgasm tore its way through me and I was crying out, not prepared for another so soon. My body felt like it was singing, every inch tingling.
Ashur finally lifted his head up, his mouth shining with wetness as he crawled up my body, his eyes locked on my face. I slid my hands up his arms, the hard muscle tight under my fingers as I smoothed them up to his shoulders.
Then his mouth was back on mine as he positioned himself against me.
He pushed forward, his erection spearing into me inch by searing inch.
We both cried out as he slowly sank in all the way, the pulsing hot length of him fully buried in me. Our breaths mingled, our eyes so close to each other's that they were blurry.
And then he started to move. My hands gripped him desperately as he thrust in and out, his eyes locked on mine.
It was intimate, intense, raw.
It kept me tethered to the now, my concerns and worries pushed to the back burner for this moment. This moment where it was just us. Where nothing else mattered.
I held him tightly as he finally let go, his eyes squeezing shut as his body went rigid above mine. I felt the heat of his orgasm inside me, but I also felt it in the shaking of his body above mine as he finally let go of his control.
Shifter Queen Page 11
