by Lila Jean
“It’s a gray area,” Flynn admitted. “We’ll need the element of surprise on our side, so we can’t announce ourselves. We’ll show up, take Father by surprise, and hopefully not die.”
“Foolproof,” Draven said, frowning, his voice deadpan.
“It’s all we have,” Flynn reminded the dragon shifter. “We’re caught between a rock and a hard place, and this is the easiest way we currently have to convince a king to join us. We have to try.”
“We’ll make several contingency plans,” Zane said, finally pocketing the damn phone. “Obviously, we need to run this idea by Tina first, but I think she’ll be on board.” The tiger shifter absently rubbed his neck, clearly lost in thought. “In the end, this is going to come down to Tina. She’ll have to keep a watchful eye on her intuition, on the lookout for any signs of things going south.”
“You two, go check the perimeter again.” Flynn nodded to Draven and Anthony. “Killian, it’s your night with Tina, so you might want to go check on her. In the meantime, Zane and I will come up with plans to get out of Olympus if the need arises.”
“Wait, we’re going to Olympus?” Anthony tensed, a look of shock on his face. “Why not lure the king into a neutral location?”
“It’s a power play.” Flynn rested his hand on the hilt of the sword. “It shows we’re not afraid, and it gives Odin’s blessing more validity.” He sighed. “Trust me, Anthony. We have to go.”
“I don’t like it,” the wolf shifter said, frowning.
“Noted.” Flynn nodded, but nothing would change his mind on this since no one knew the intricacies of demigod culture like him and, well, perhaps their resident know-it-all Zane. “It’s a risk, Anthony, but we have to face the facts. Right now, this is all we’ve got.”
9
Tina
Tina took a deep breath, relaxing into the leather seat of a private plane, Anthony at her side with one arm resting on the padded back of her chair, his gaze focused out the window even though she knew he was secretly watching her. Though her shoulders were a bit tense with the thought of landing in Olympus within the next few hours, her fight with Ares and standoff with Odin made her confident in Flynn’s plan.
Even though Draven and Anthony weren’t entirely convinced, and even though Killian was on the fence about it, she knew in her heart that Flynn and Zane were right.
This is going to work.
She closed her eyes, resting her head on the comfortable chair, wondering how to occupy herself on the short flight, but a sudden surge of alarm swelled in her core.
Be warned, it said. Something is wrong.
Her eyes shot open, and she instinctively glared out the window, scanning the empty sky for threats.
“Tina?” Anthony asked as he set a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” Tina said softly, voice trailing off, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. “Something—there!”
A stream of fire sailed by the wing, leaving charred black marks on the white exterior. Seconds later, a blue dragon flew by, his golden eyes zeroing on her momentarily before he sailed over the plane.
“I told you!” Draven snapped, shooting to his feet. “I told you I should have flown beside the plane, Flynn!”
“Yeah, well, that’s not exactly subtle now, is it?!” Flynn snapped back.
“Focus!” Tina yelled as the plane rumbled, hitting turbulence as another dragon sailed by on the opposite side of the plane.
“Zane, how did we miss this?” Anthony asked, gritting his teeth as another fireball blew past the wing, rocking the plane.
“We took every precaution,” Zane said, his shoulder hitting a wall as the plane rocked. “Tunnels, hired cars, secret plane in the middle of the night, trustworthy priestesses who have all been vetted by Tina.” He gestured toward the window as a dragon sailed by. “By all intents and purposes, these dragons shouldn’t have found us!”
“Yeah, well, they did,” Flynn said, hands on the ceiling to help him balance as the plane jostled. “They were probably lying in wait, monitoring every flight from Bali.” He cursed under his breath as the fasten seatbelt sign came on. “Tina, any ideas?”
“One.” Tina closed her eyes and tapped into the core of her magic, the energy brimming into her fingertips suddenly and vibrantly, just begging to be used.
She reached outward, spreading her magic, loosening her grip on it so that she could feel the heartbeats of everyone present. First, she felt her five princes and the pilot, their pulses familiar and steady, if slightly elevated from stress. Then, however, came the thundering boom of a dragon’s heartbeat, the force so strong, so loud, so overpowering that she had to set her hand out to balance herself as her ear began to ring from the sheer noise. Her reach continued, each dragon’s heartbeat like a car horn in her ear, deafening, destructive, pushing her to the brink.
“Stop,” she said, pulling back, pulling away from the sheer overpowering thunder of the dragons, wondering if they had known this would happen, if they had come out in sheer numbers just to fuck with her and keep this one particular power at bay. She cradled her head in her hands, staggering backward, fighting a sudden surge of nausea as the echo of dozens of mighty dragon heartbeats rang in her mind.
“Tina!” Anthony knelt, grabbing her shoulders in his hands as he held her tight. “You’re okay. Deep breaths.”
“I’m fine,” she lied, trying to push through. She couldn’t let these dragons overpower their plane because she couldn’t be guaranteed her princes would survive a brush with this many dragons, and she wasn’t going to let anyone touch her darling men.
“What’s the damage?” Flynn shouted, opening the captain’s door, which now remained unlocked on every flight after their run-ins with unsavory pilots in the past. “Anything on fire?”
“Not yet, but damn close,” the pilot said, a slight accent to his voice as he gritted his teeth, the wheel in a death grip as he maneuvered through the sky. Tina peeked around her demigod’s massive frame to see a dragon swerve past, dangerously close to the nose. “Damn it all,” the pilot muttered. “If they keep getting that close, I’m going to have to land.”
“Do it,” Draven snapped.
“Are you crazy?!” the pilot shouted over his shoulder. “There are dozens of them!”
“They’re trying to get you to land because they can’t control the plane,” Draven said, pointing out into the dragon-covered sky. “They can’t control where you go without crashing you completely, and that means there’s someone on board they want.” He caught Tina’s eye, his shoulders tense, jaw clenched as he nodded to himself. “Let’s give them what they think they want.”
“Draven, are you sure?” Flynn asked, nervously shaking out his hands as a ream of fire blew past the front window.
“Do it,” Tina confirmed. “We’re sitting ducks in the sky, but if we can land, we can get the upper hand again.” She nodded to the pilot as the tiny man caught her eye. “First landing strip you find, go for it.”
“You’re the boss,” the pilot said nervously, and though he probably thought she couldn’t see his expression as he turned back toward the front of the plane, his face went visibly pale.
“It’ll work.” She patted Flynn on the back. “We can do this.”
“There’s forty-seven that I can count,” Zane said, peering out one of the windows. “Maybe another four overhead, hard to tell.”
“It’s a legion,” Draven said. “A military pattern to drive enemies out of the sky. That means there will be an even forty-five.” He rubbed his temples, sighing. “Let’s just hope my father isn’t here.”
“Why?” Anthony asked.
“Because if I ever fight him again, it’ll be a bloodbath.” Draven cracked his neck, shaking out his hands as he prepared for battle.
Tina’s cheeks warmed a bit at the deadly but sexy glint in his eye. Yet again, her dangerous dragon was going to war, for her honor and her freedom, and he would draw bloo
d from anyone who got in his way. It made her want to take him right there in the airplane aisle, but the hot sex would have to wait.
The plane began its descent, and Tina dropped into the nearest seat, not bothering to buckle up since they would need to bolt out of the plane the moment it came to a stop. Anthony settled in behind her, with Killian and Flynn in the seats opposite. Zane and Draven waited in the seats closest to the door, ready for blood.
“They’re going to swarm,” Draven warned as they neared a small, isolated landing strip on a sparse little island in the Pacific. “The exits are the bottlenecks. They’ll try to dive for anyone who walks out of the door since you have to go one by one.” He pointed to the rear exits. “Use every exit and shift before your foot hits the ground.” He cracked his knuckles. “For Tina and Flynn, fire everything you’ve got toward the sky as soon as you’re clear of the plane.”
“Got it,” Tina said as the ground neared, their landing a little faster than she would have liked. Adrenaline pumping through her body, she reached into her core, asking her goddess for help, for access to any memories that would help her in this fight, for any clues as to how to take down a dragon. She had only recently tapped into the deepest wells of Damara’s magic, and as such, it was still a little slow to come to the surface, but she trusted her goddess. She knew it would come.
The plane skidded along the tarmac, and Tina braced herself for the battle waiting beyond the plane, rushing to the back exit as Anthony grabbed her shoulder, pulling her close, kissing her deeply, cradling the back of her head with his hand. He set his forehead against hers and inhaled her scent, his possessive grip saying everything and nothing as he silently told her to be safe, to come back to him, to stay out of harm’s way.
“I will,” she said softly.
With that, the doors opened. Tina’s men moved so fast. Being the expertly trained soldiers they were, they took control of the situation faster than she could blink. Anthony shifted midair, his massive wolf form leaping into the sky. He dug his claws into a dragon with a snarl, dragging the massive beast down with nothing more than his vicious teeth. On the other side of her, Zane charged into the melee, her white tiger dodging a spiked tail with his swift reflexes. He launched into the air and dragged his claws down the dragon’s back, taking it to the ground with his incredible strength.
Tina tapped into her goddess’s magic, this time accessing lust, using her powers to release the entrancing perfume that could ensnare any man and drive them to their knees before her, enslaving their minds with need for her. She tried desperately to keep the heartbeats at bay, because if she heard the dragons’ pulses again, she knew she would lose control of her magic, however briefly, and she couldn’t afford to let her guard down. Wrestling with her powers, she gritted her teeth and pushed through. If nothing else, it would distract the dragons, giving her more time to tap the deeper wells of her power once more and giving her men enough of an edge over the vastly superior numbers of the dragons.
Sure enough, the wicked snarls of the dragons nearby faded, and the beat of dozens of wings overhead thickened, cutting the air as they hovered. Tina stood at the edge of the door, surveying the scene, carefully plotting her next move before she set foot on the battlefield. Ten dragons hovered nearby, staring at her, smoke rising from their nostrils as they watched her, enraptured by her magic, drawn to her by lust and need. Inwardly, she suppressed a wry smirk, satisfied that she could even ensnare shifters in their animal forms.
In her periphery, Flynn unleashed a powerful bolt into the sky, hitting two of the dragons unaffected by her magic, possibly because they were out of range, the powerful jolt sending them to the ground. The earth rumbled as they hit, and one of her ensnared dragons looked briefly away, but she drew him back in, summoning him back with her with a sensual curl of her finger.
Above her, Draven roared into the sky, his massive red dragon tangling with three to four others at a time, his razor-sharp claws slashing necks and soft underbellies, his vicious attacks sending dragon after dragon crashing into the nearby forests. He tore through the ranks, decimating them. Killian flew nearby, acting as a support, taking out eyes and tearing wings as they tried to attack Draven from above, the eagle shifter doing everything in his power to protect his friend.
Despite their successes, they were still vastly outnumbered. For every enemy Draven sent to the ground, three more bit into his hide. For every throat Anthony ripped into, another dragon shot a fireball at him, often missing by mere inches.
Tina had to stop this.
Careful to keep a hold on the lust radiating from her body and ensnaring the dragons before her, she closed her eyes, summoning the real depths of Damara’s power, reaching into her core for the ultimate magic. At first, it simmered and popped, still new and somewhat foreign, but it soon flooded through her like a cold bath, the shocking chill making her gasp in surprise.
The cold flooded her veins, sinking into every pore, every follicle, every nook and cranny of her body and soul. Tenderly, slowly, her body hovered, her toes lifting off the floor, and as she opened her eyes, her body glimmered with light, the warm glow beaming through the thin fabric of her dress.
With a broad and happy smile, she closed her eyes, savoring the energy in her body. Once again, she momentarily lost herself in the deep connection she shared with Damara, relishing in the goddess that had chosen her.
Quickly, she returned her attention to the battlefield, eyeing a trio of charcoal gray dragons racing for her beautiful red one. She reached her hands for them, her body humming with power. Extending her control to them, Tina drew them in, ensnaring them like the rest. They paused, hovering, their attention on her as Draven tore into them, digging his teeth and claws deep into their hides.
Move! The warning came suddenly, like a rush of adrenaline injected into her veins, and Tina dove forward, running on instinct as a ball of fire sizzling past her, burning her arm as it blasted the door where she had been standing.
She yelled in agony, face contorted in pain as she held her singed arm, and fell to the ground, her grip on her magic buzzing in and out. The distracted glaze to the dragons’ eyes began to flutter as she struggled to maintain her grip on them despite the agonizing pain. She gingerly looked down at her wounded arm, the painful black char along her skin almost too much to bear.
Her head spun as nausea rose into her cheeks. She looked back at the plane to find a dragon’s head poking through the other exit door, the one that had been right behind her moments ago, a dull flame burning in the back of his mouth as he almost smiled at her, black smoke coiling from his nose. His claws dug into the plane as he grappled for a better position, taking aim once more.
Despite her pain, despite the mind-numbing agony, Tina wasn’t going to go out like this. Not a chance. She lifted her hand, digging once more into the deep wells of magic Damara had given her, but she never had the chance to attack. Draven landed on the plane, digging his claws into the other dragon, drawing blood and bone from the beast as it screamed in its death throes. Surprised at the sheer feral nature of Draven’s attack, Tina merely watched, awestruck, a little sick to her stomach from the carnage as her dragon tore into the shifter that had attacked her.
Something seemed to have flipped a switch in her dragon’s brain. He mauled every dragon in sight, spilling blood, breaking bones, slicing wings, his attacks so vicious, so uncontrolled that dragons soon took to the sky in retreat, apparently unwilling to go to war with their Crown Prince. Eventually, she released her hold on the dragons above her, and they quickly decided to join their brothers in arms and leave.
In what felt like mere moments, the dragons retreated, leaving behind over a dozen corpses in their wake, but those were just the ones Tina could see. Many more had landed in the forest, and she was sure her men had just bitten quite a chunk out of the dragon army. She looked again at the corpse of the dragon that had attacked her, what was left of him, anyway, and shuddered.
“Tina, thank the
gods you’re all right,” Killian said, rushing to her side, naked after his shift and covered in blood and dirt. He knelt beside her and helped her to her feet.
She grimaced, the pain in her arm almost unmanageable, and her eagle shifter held her close, tenderly running his fingers through her hair to soothe her. One by one, her other princes joined them, each holding her tighter than the last until Draven rounded the plane.
He looked at her with feral abandon, naked and covered in blood, the wild look in his eyes both terrifying and deeply sexual. He moved to her swiftly and kissed her deeply, his hands in her hair, the desperate embrace as passionate as if he were going to lose her, as if he already had lost her, as if they were never going to see each other again.
“I won’t leave your side,” he said, his hot breath brushing over her face. “Never again.”
It was so resolute, so much more than a promise. It was a vow that he would kill and maim and murder to fulfill, and a shiver raced down her back with the sheer ferocity of his words. He sighed, still breathing heavily, and pressed his forehead against hers. She wrapped her good arm around him, holding him close, trying her best to soothe his worry, and in his overwhelming display of possessiveness, she didn’t dare let him go.
10
Draven
Comfortably situated on the plane, which had endured only a few scorch marks in the attack, Draven sat beside Tina as she nursed her arm, staring out the window at the clear skies, her face contorted with pain Draven wished he could take from her. They had each pulled on fresh clothes, even Tina, whose dress had been badly stained in the battle, to make the best impression on Olympus, but Draven didn’t care about any of it. He just wanted his mate to be okay, and right now, she wasn’t.
