“Zav, our leader and/or our… brother… may be hurt or in danger,” X hisses. “There is no better reason to allow our true forms to take hold.”
I’m not sure I agree because we have no idea what we’re walking into. This could be a trap—holding one or the other to draw us in and get information we’ve kept concealed. “What if it’s not what it seems? We give the enemies weapons they did not have before.”
“That is true, Zavida, but our responsibility is to them, not to our secrets.” Slash looks irritated, but his words ring true.
Even if this is a set-up, we can’t ignore the bond’s call.
“We are going in from above, use the parapets and structures to stay out of view,” Anton yells from the sky. “Take the main entrance and keep quiet as you enter carefully. Oriel can caw when it’s time to hit the field.”
“Got it!” Salem yells back as he looks to the rest of us. “Slash and I go first, followed by X and Zav. We’re bigger and can take direct hits more easily if there are ground assailants. Xerxes, get the powers warmed as we move. Zavida… you know what you need to do; you have advantages we may need.”
“The family line magic will go first. You know I prefer keeping species-based things quiet.”
Slash gives me a toothy grin. “If we must, we will all peel away the curtains we use to hide our depth of abilities, Zavida. We cannot allow anyone to harm, kill, or take the Prince hostage.”
“He can defend himself, big guy,” Salem says as he glares. “KK is my concern.”
That earns him a bunch of mumbled agreement, and Slash stops at the entrance to the arena. He turns to look at each of us. O and Annie fly high above. “Jasper is powerful and strong, but any of us could be disabled by the right opponent. Neither of our brothers are acceptable sacrifices to anyone—not the crown, Darkstar, rebels, or even unknown enemies. Use every power you possess to ensure that they both survive and are intact after we engage. Do not hold back, no matter who we need to battle. Am I clear?”
I raise my hand. “Even the Major?”
Slash grins again, his eyes full of ice as he snarls, “Especially that son of a bitch. If he’s attacking our caliphate, we are within our rights to defend, no matter who it is. That is the law of the realm, Zavida. Even the King must follow it.”
The problem is, the King has never followed a rule in his entire existence, which is how he became king in the first place.
As we enter the tunnel into the arena, a loud crash echoes through the building, followed by the sound of a dragon roaring. I swallow hard, knowing that Jasper shifting into his dragon means shit isgoing downon that fucking field. My gaze flicks to Slash, remembering the last time he had to be air-lifted to calm Jas out of the sky, and he gives me a sharp nod. He’s preparing for the worst as we wait for Oriel to give the signal to move out of the relative safety of the shadowed tunnel and into the open air of the stadium.
The shriek of an extremely distressed peacock is followed by a loud crow caw, and that has us all moving at top speed out of the darkness. Anton is not the type to panic, and that sound isnotone that I’ve heard him make before. My tails billow behind me as I run out with my brothers, eyes darting around the immense space in worry.
I don’t even know what to do with the visual once I can see what’s happening; I’m completely stunned in place.
My caliphate brothers are just as shocked, and we all stand there, gaping at the scene like slack-jawed yokels. It’s simply too much to process simultaneously.
Oriel and Anton are only half-shifted, using their wings to carefully circle the outside ring of the arena. They haven’t moved in closer becausetwoenormous, shadowy dragons are flying in the middle of the sky, shooting shadows at one another as if they’re having fun. There’s a hint of fire on one side, while the other seems to sparkle in the sunshine in a way I’ve never seen a shadow-powered demon do.
But that’s not even the most shocking part of the scene—no, that’s the absolutely dead body of the Major, third in command of Hell’s armies sprawled on the ground like a giant stuck pig that’s been spit-roasted for dinner.
I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Kit is a fuckingdragon, and not only that, but can apparently wield shadows as Jasper can. That means the list of rare abilities he now possesses is growing, and the target on his head will only increase. Worse yet, something happened here that was so egregious that one of the twokilledthe third-highest military leader in the realm, and they don’t seem remotely concerned by it. In fact, the two animals in the air are far more interested in what looks to be a dangerous game of… tag?
“Fuck me running,” Xerxes breathes as they stare up at the sky in awe. “I mean, I thought maybe… but… this….”
“It changes everything,” Slash says with a grimace. “As does other information we did not have before today. But none of that takes precedencenow, brother. We have amuchmore pressing issue at the moment.”
“The body,” I say as my tails puff and cover me in a protective stance. “We have to figure out what the holy fuck we’re going to do about the body.”
Salem snorts. “Zav, the body will not matter if we can’t explainwhythis giant asshole isn’t around anymore. We’ve got a million methods of disposal at our fingertips for a body; we don’t have an excuse for this motherfucker being dead that won’t invite scrutiny with an investigation.”
The panda is right, and I push my glasses up as I think about the scene. “We need help—lots of it, and quickly. While the six of us who arenotin lizard form are formidable, we know Jasper will be off when he comes back, and who the fuck knows what’s going to happen with Kit. We need allies who will help us cover this goddamn murder up and help dispose of the corpse in a way that won’t point at us.”
Xerxes blinks and reaches into their pocket, holding up their phone. “The Doc! I have his information from when I was on KK watch. I can call him.”
“The Keeper,” Slash rumbles as he, too, pulls out his phone. “His contact was given so we could arrange the little demon’s lessons.”
“Anyone else?” I ask hopefully.
They all shake their heads. For once, our standoff-ish inability to allow anyone access to our circle is actually hurting us rather than helping. The only reasons those two peoplemightbe willing to help us are, ironically, flying over the stadium engaged in shadow battles without a care in the world.
“Okay,” I sigh as I run my hand through my hair. “Oriel and Anton are probably watching to make sure no one else comes into the stadium up there. I’m going to need you two to contact the outside help, while Salem and I go examine the damn body. It would help to knowwhyand who killed the Major before others arrive.”
