Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Nyfain roared, standing again. Aurelia didn’t let go, somehow hanging on with her fucking teeth and now scrabbling with her legs, trying to claw through his underside.
“Fuck,” my wolf said. He rarely swore, but this situation definitely called for it. “I’ve never seen anyone do that. How’s she hanging on?”
“That woman is cunning as fuck. She’s no joke when she’s in survival mode.” This was her wolf’s equivalent of climbing out the fucking window.
Nyfain swung around, thumped his tail, and then roared in frustration. He spewed fire, nearly scorching us, and hopped around a little while Aurelia ripped at him in a feat of acrobatics that was as unbelievable as it was impressive.
Another dragon collided with Nyfain, knocking her off. She twisted in the air, but she was no cat. She fell on her side and Weston was there, standing over her, growling at the stomping dragons.
She didn’t stop.
She was up in a moment, limping a little, running at Nyfain again. A swell of power rose through the clearing, and then a strange feeling came over me. It was a panicked feeling—a warning of danger, of an enemy in our midst. And then it was a strange sort of magical call to attack!
My wolf launched forward in a frenzy. Three of the five dragons on the ground immediately stopped stomping and shuddered. A moment later they were running at Nyfain, smoke billowing up from their mouths, teeth bared. The dragon in the air dove down, scraping his claws across Nyfain’s back. The king was no longer their ally—he was now their enemy. Their target.
Only one dragon didn’t join in. Vemar pushed back from the crowd and lay down. He knew the feeling for what it was: Aurelia’s magic. Her mind-fuckery, as he called it.
“Don’t attack,” I yelled at my wolf as the magic drummed around us. I’d never felt it this strong. She must’ve been pulling power from Weston through the bond to enhance this other facet of her magic. “Remember when I randomly took off running with her the other day and you called me an idiot? Well, now you’re the idiot. Don’t attack!”
The dragons closed in on Nyfain, backing him to the edge of the clearing. He could’ve fought them off, but he clearly didn’t want to hurt them. The one flying swooped down.
Weston’s wolf tackled Aurelia, rolling her over with his larger body and then grabbing her neck in his teeth. She struggled to get free, to get out from under him. Her power kept throbbing in the clearing. That type of magic didn‘t come from her shifter blood. It couldn’t; I’d never seen or heard of anything like it. Weston tightened his hold, growling, leaning half his body on top of her to pin her.
Her whine was barely audible over the sounds of the attack, and then the power in the clearing dissipated as fast as it had started. As it died, the dragons slowed, then shuddered again before looking around in confusion. Vemar lifted his head as the airborne dragon tilted wildly in the air before landing clumsily, sliding a few feet on his face.
Weston continued to keep Aurelia pressed to the ground as the dragons drifted away from the fight. They resumed their starting positions, heads bowed a little, clearly having no idea what had just happened. Vemar pushed himself to a standing position, waiting patiently.
Nyfain dripped blood from his belly and took halting steps. Aurelia had clearly had an effect.
“The beta will be proud of her,” my wolf said, flattening to his belly as Nyfain huffed smoke out of his nose.
“If he doesn’t get chewed out for this.”
“He won’t. She’s an untrained asset. Just think of how effective she’ll be when trained up.”
“She’s a captive. We need to address that first. People who’ve lost loved ones are calling for her head.”
The situation was a mess. The king sympathized with Aurelia, but the queen still wasn’t sure. Then there were the people. They didn’t give a shit about her story, what little of it they knew. As far as they were concerned, she was Granny’s drugmaker. A killer. They wanted justice.
The royalty might come around, but in some cases, they had no choice but to answer to the populace. Even if the king and queen agreed with each other, their hands could be tied.
I didn’t even want to get started on the pack situation. It was no secret that Aurelia was Weston’s true mate. It was also no secret how a true mate would react if his other half was threatened. Word was that he would leave, that many of his most powerful wolves would go with him, and the act would rip this kingdom apart from the inside out.
In the eye of the storm, just trying to do the right thing, was Aurelia. Slapped around from birth, hated for something that wasn’t her fault and wasn’t even true, she was now an enemy of the people for doing what she’d been told so her parental figure would love her. To try to keep a safe home. It broke my heart. All of it. That this was working out so horribly had me literally losing hours of sleep.