Page 25 of Fatality on the Field

His panicked words make me frown, and I arch a brow at Kas, who also shakes his head. CatKat tosses her head in a huff, moving her mouth weirdly as if she’s trying to figure something out. I have no idea what the lion is doing nor why the demon is so upset, so I throw my hands in the air and demand, “Someone say something for fuck’s sake! Am I killing someone? Do we need magic? Did you step in random hellbeast crap? Come on, people.”

Laughing under his breath, my constant thorn in the side looks at Kat for a moment, his head tilted. “If you’ve done it before in another form, you can do it in this one. Just focus on that instead of the ruckus out here. It’ll work eventually.”

I narrow my eyes at the dragon, smacking his arm. “What does that mean? Do you know what’s going on?”

“No,” he says as he gives the naked peacock demon a look that I think is suggesting he clothe himself immediately. “But I know why the kitty is having a problem; she’s trying to talk to us.”

“She is not,” I say at the same time as the birdman. Rolling my eyes at him, I turn back to Kas. “No way she knows how to do it. She’d have to be⁠—”

“An alpha-level shifter? No shit, Morgana.” The dragon sighs as he murmurs, “She came out of nowhere, has a demon and several shifts, and you think she’s not something insanely powerful? C’mon, woman. You’re much smarter than that.”

I realize that he’s looking at this from a much less emotional place, and when I re-align my thought process, it’s incredibly obvious that he’s onto something. Being a multiple shifter hybrid alone is important, but being that plus a demon is certainly a strong indicator that the demon caliphate needs to be looking into her lineage. The foster shit on the surface was definitely a cover, and if she talks in this form this quickly, it will cement Kas’s theory.

“What the fuck is with all of you?” The angry voice is the worst person possible—Prince Jasper. I feel the frown all the way in his aura as he watches Anton pull on clothes hastily and CatKat working her kitty mouth in that odd fashion. “Someone tell me what’s going on here, damn it.”

That tweaks Kaspar, and he suddenly grows about three feet as he flaps his large wings and snarls at the demon. “Will you get the fuck over yourself and read the damn room, you idiot!”

Jasper’s jaw drops in shock, even as a half-dragon man, and he just stares at Li’s bodyguard. It's like he has absolutely no idea how to respond to that because it melted his brain inside his skull.

Which is exactly when Kat growls out, “Something is bothering Annie, you asshat! Stop acting like you’re the goddamn main character all the time!”

Everyone—and I mean everyone—in the entire field stops; you can feel it.

I cut my gaze to the giant hybrid Kaspar, my eyes pleading with him to stop hulking out, but he snorts electrical sparks. Guess that will not work, so I look at CatKat, hoping she won’t continue pushing the irascible prince of the realm. Her golden eyes are full of fury, and I realize that’s also not going to happen. The last one I turn to is the angry royal dragon, and he’s still so shocked that he isn’t paying one damn bit of attention to me. His gaze is only on and for the lioness who just spoke like a human.

“Ooookaayyyyy…”

The new voice is that of a hastily shifted and redressed Salem, who slips in between Kaspar and the demons with a friendly smile. He holds up his hands in a ‘let’s cool it down’ gesture as he assesses the situation for a second. I wouldn’t have expected that level of analysis from him, but he’s definitely someone I expect to help bring people back from the ledge.

“Salem, we need to find out what’s wrong with your brother first. That’s what started all of this intensity.” I nod at the now-clothed peacock-haired demon. “If we can calm him, it will help us bring the others back to reality.”

Of course, as I say that, another lion, a polar bear, and my prince amble over to check out the chaos. Turning to the rest of them, I wave my hand. I need them to stay calm and not get involved, so this doesn’t escalate any further. We still don’t even know what set the spark, so more fuel is not necessary.

The panda demon walks over to his friend, putting a light hand on his shoulder as he looks at him. I think the bird has a shield around their conversation because I don’t hear a thing as they chat animatedly. While they’re talking, CatKat continues to glare at Jasper, and he continues to look at her as if she’s grown a third fucking head. It’s clear by how Kas spoke to her that she knew what she could do somehow, and no one in this corral knows.

I wonder if the shark guy knows? He has to if he’s training her, even if it’s not up to Kaspar’s standards.

“This isn’t gonna be good,” I mutter to myself as I sigh. “Kat’s still hiding shit from some of them.”

CatKat whips her enormous head to me, golden eyes meeting mine with a very human-looking sheepishness that her lioness can’t have. She’s definitely fully conscious in there and maybe even in control, which is yet another eerily powerful signal that there is more to her than even she knows. I give her a knowing smile, hoping it will keep her from attacking the demon prince when he inevitably shoots his mouth off again.

A loud throat-clearing tears me away from her, and I see the panda rubbing the back of his neck with a puzzled expression. “So, um, I need to go get Arces. He has to come out here to help, but um… you guys can’t fucking start fighting again. The dude is terrifying when he’s mad, I’ve heard. He doesn’t like violence in his animal pens, so like… Chill. Out. Okay?”

I chuckle, arching a brow. “I’m fine, and so are the people behind me. Your problem is your prince, your roomie, and her new trainer. I can only try to help with one, buddy.”

Kaspar grunts, crossing arms over his very broad chest. “If he backs the fuck up and leaves her alone, I will shift smaller. I dislike bullies, and while your secret girl is going to have quite admirable skills eventually, she is not ready to tango with an ancient demon dragon in this form.”

“She did in her other form,” Jasper grumbles, and Kas blinks in surprise. “Trust me, she’s more ready than you think, but this is probably not the right form. I simply did not know she’s a fucking alpha and now I do.”

Salem frowns. “Her dragon kept up with yours, Jas. You really didn’t assume?”

“Powerful and alpha are different things, as you know. Our entire caliphate is powerful together and individually. The only alphas are myself and Oriel… until now, it seems.”

Oh, fuck me. Could this shit get any more ridiculous?

“Boys!” I clap my hands as I look at them in frustration. “Let Salem get The Keeper for whatever he needs to resolve. We can’t finish up here, find out what’s happening with the book, go home, travel to the Capital, or whatever else we all need to do if we stand here and argue. Put them away for just a bit so we can help Anton with his problem.”

CatKat makes a loud roar of approval, and I wink at her. She could have spoken, but she used feline noises instead to get her cranky prince’s attention off her ability to do so. She’s smart and crafty as hell when she wants to be, which will not be easy for these emotionally stunted men of hers. They’ll have to really get their shit together and make her feel comfortable enough to stop keeping parts of herself in reserve as protection.