Page 113 of Anaki

“Please, please don’t. You can’t die. You can’t shift, you can’t do it. I don’t know if you would survive shifting into a dragon right now!” My voice cracked.

The dense foliage rustled ominously behind us, and I instinctively let out a low growl in sync with hers. Her sharp claws, tense with alertness, pressed against my scaly hide, sending a sharp twinge through me that made me flinch.

“Mama?”

Luis’ head popped out of the bushes.

That boy was in trouble. “I thought I told you to—”

“Mijo! Come here!” Elena wailed and held out her arms while I kept her tight within mine. He ran as he wailed, his hair sweeping back from his forehead.

“Mama, Idris took her. He really took her!” He buried his nose in her chest.

Her heart rate slowed, and I swore under my breath in relief. He was calming her. At least one of the men in her life could calm the Latina.

Both of my loves pressed heavily on my stomach, leaning insistently against my chest. I forcefully pulled them away, determined to get a good look at them. My chest still vibrated with a deep, resonant purr, and I felt my eyes blaze with an intense glow. Elena had sprouted light pink scales that shimmered brilliantly under the light of my eyes.

Scales’ anger radiated out of my voice. “How do you know about Idris, Luis?”

Luis showed no fear when he looked at me. Just determination. “Abuela told me that Idris would take her. She told me the whole plan.”

Elena’s voice caught as she wrapped her hand around her throat.

“He’s going to be pissed when he gets down there to try to take Emmie. It won’t work, though.” He shook his tiny head.

Elena sniffled. “If I wasn’t so upset, I’d scold you for cursing.”

Luis clung to Elena's neck in desperation, his grip fierce and unyielding. She held him with the fervor of someone grasping a lifeline in a stormy sea, and I entwined myself with them both, anchoring us in our shared grief. This was not how I envisioned our family bonding time—entangled in sorrow, mourning the loss of their grandmother.

“I could go down there,” I said with determination. “I can stop it all, I can leave now.” I slid them off my body and rose.

Luis kept his body wrapped around Elena and shook his head. “No, you can’t. Abuela says you have to go to the lake.”

A relentless pounding throbbed in my head once more as jagged bolts of lightning tore through the darkened sky, illuminating the chaos above. Beside me, Elena clutched her forehead, her fingers pressing into her skin, and let out a cry.

“Mama, what’s wrong?”

She rubbed her temples. “This headache is getting worse!”

I shook my head in disbelief, my tail instinctively curling in on itself, coiling tightly like a resting snake. Elena sat on the ground, looking pale and weary, while Luis hovered over her, tending to her with gentle care. Meanwhile, Scales, the fierce presence within me, was roaring with a ferocity that echoed through my being. Suddenly, a sharp, cracking sensation erupted inside my mind, as if a colossal tree had splintered and shattered within the confines of my skull.

The wind picked up, and Elena and I both stared at each other.

“Pay attention; reinforcements are coming,” Bear grumbled.“Hawke to the west, and the faeare approaching.”

Scales and I stood up on all fours. This was unbelievable. There was no possible way that I was in a link. Dragons don’t establish links. Links were for pack animals, but they somehow did it. They included me, a reptileshifter, in the pack.

That means Sizzle and Surkash would be a part of the pack, too? Or would they need to be mated? Too many questions for right now.

“I-I can hear you?” Elena touched her temple. “I can hear you thinking. I heard Bear speak in my head. How—”

“Don’t ask me how it works, I’m not exactly sure. But the fae—”

“Go.” Elena closed her eyes. I didn’t think it was possible for someone to cry as much as she had. Elena took her shaky hand and pointed to the forest. “Go help them. Save who you can.” Her lip wobbled, and she grabbed onto Luis. “We can go back to the village, and we can—”

I cleared my throat, but mind-linked her instead. “Go to the cave, don’t go to the village.”

Elena stared at me for a long moment before she nodded. She must have looked inside my mind, for she knew what had happened.