Mina:Get her to Blackhaven immediately.
Keir:Ziggy, meet us there.
Keir:On my way.
Raven stares at me with hunger burning in her eyes—predatory and intense. “Babe, you’re going into heat again. We need to get you to Blackhaven where it’s safe,” I say as calmly as I can while refastening my pants. This is too soon—way too soon after her last heat.
Keir pops into existence with that familiar displacement of air. “Raven, we need to get you to your nest,” he says gently, holding his hands out and slowly approaching Raven as if she were a spooked animal.
“It’s too soon...” she whispers, holding her head in both hands. When she opens her eyes again, they’re completely dragon—slitted pupils, glowing sapphire, no trace of humanity left.
“We’re gonna get you home,” I assure her, looking at Keir with urgency. He grabs both mine and Raven’s arms at the same time and blinks us back to our public living room in Blackhaven.
The moment we materialize, Raven launches out of our grip with inhuman strength and plasters herself against the far wall, putting distance between us.
Ziggy steps closer cautiously and holds out three glass vials of the heat tonic—the liquid inside is milky white and smells faintly medicinal. “Klauth said it may not work with her being a true wyrm dragoness bonded to a Great Wyrm,” he warns, his eyes darting between the five of us gathered. “It may be enough to take the feral edge off the heat, but it might not put her to sleep like last time.”
I take the tonics from Ziggy carefully and look at Raven pressed against the wall. This can potentially get very dangerous. “Sweetheart, I need you to drink your tonics. Not all of your mates have armor or scales to protect them,” I remind her gently as I wave the first bottle at her, trying to get her dragon’s attention.
Her glowing eyes dart to Solaris, and he nods encouragingly. “Thauglor filled me in on how dangerous black dragonesses can get during heat. ‘Tis safer fer Keir and Finlay if ye drink, love.”
Raven looks at the first bottle like it’s a lifeline and takes it from my hand. She downs it quickly; the contents disappear in seconds. Her dragon’s eyes are still blazing bright—the glow brighter and more intense than anything I’m used to seeing from her. She accepts the second bottle and swallows it just as fast, her throat working.
The glow hasn’t lessened at all.
“It should be working by now,” Ziggy says with obvious concern, looking at the third bottle still in my hand.
“We needed three bottles last time, and Balor had to use his basilisk abilities to get her mind to relax enough to sleep,” I explain, remembering how terrifying that heat cycle was. I pop the cork on the third bottle with my thumb and look at Keir. “Get Orpheus. She’ll let him get close—twin bond.”
My eyes refocus on my mate, and I wave the third bottle at her. “One more, baby, then maybe you can sleep through this.”
Raven stares at the last bottle for a long moment before taking it from me and drinking it quickly. She’s still standing upright, the tonic seeming to have absolutely no effect on her. Her scales continue rippling magenta.
Orpheus arrives with Keir moments later, and he looks from me to Solaris with understanding. We both nod—he needs to try the basilisk technique. He approaches his sister slowly and carefully.
“How are you holding up, sis?” he asks gently, extending a hand out to her.
She takes it as she drops the last empty vial, which shatters on the hardwood floor. “Not good. The tonic isn’t working at all,” Raven pants, and I can see the scales raising and lowering rapidly along the tops of her shoulders.
“Look into my eyes and listen to my voice,” Orpheus says, and his tone takes on that distinctive resonance that his basilisk fathers used last time—a compelling quality that makes you want to obey.
Raven turns and stares into her brother’s eyes.
The blue of her eyes flickers red for just a moment—if I wasn’t staring directly at my mate, I wouldn’t have caught it. Then her eyes ignite and burn completely crimson as she stares at Orpheus. Her dragonic slits narrow to thin lines, looking more basilisk than dragon.
“It’s not going to work this time,” she states with absolute certainty.
“It’s not going to work this time,” Orpheus repeats like a puppet, clearly under her control rather than the other way around.
“Time for you to go home,” Raven says with a slight resonance to her voice—the same compelling tone Orpheus was trying to use on her.
“Time for me to go home,” he parrots, turning mechanically and leaving without another word.
Raven shakes her head as if clearing it and leans against the wall heavily. I pull my phone back out with shaking hands and start texting the family chat.
Corvus:Raven basilisk-controlled Orpheus and sent him away when he tried getting her to sleep.
Balor:Were her eyes red?
