Page 7 of The Wars of Monsters
This time, the monsters finally broke up around me and began sparring with one another, probably because they knew Lyr owned this joint, and they didn’t want to be on her bad side.Fuckers.
Lowering my axes, I joined Locke and strode to where Raine stood watching alongside Kade and Darian.
“Enjoy the show, Sharachi?” I asked with a grin.
“You mean, did she enjoy seeing you get your ass handed to you?” Darian teased lightheartedly, his eyes glowing brighter than the last time I’d seen him.
Raine didn’t answer, her distracted gaze watching the gargoyles as they formed up, sparring with lethal precision as Garan criticized their stances and lunges. “There’s only thirty of them,” she murmured. “When I’d seen them in the sky, there’d been so many.”
“Gargoyles don’t retreat easily,” Locke said coldly as a way of explanation.
Sadness tinged Raine’s eyes as she understood his meaning, and she nodded as if in acceptance before turning to me and smiling like she’d only just realized I was there. “I always enjoy seeing you in action, Ash,” she said, finally responding to my question, and my grin stretched wider as her hungry gaze lingered on my defined abs. The female was even more insatiable now that she’d found her dragon, and I fuckin’ loved it.
“We need to clear the air,” Kade growled low, disintegrating my fantasy image of Raine licking my abs. “Losak and many of the shifters are staring at us like we’re the enemy. We need to be on the same side if we’re going to survive Warrick and the fae.”
“I agree,” Lyr said from behind me, nearly making me jump around and swing an ax into her throat. Now thatwouldhave been a fuck up. The tiger shifter needed a bell or somethin’ to announce her arrival.
“We’re of no use to each other if there’s no trust,” Lyr went on. “We’ve received word that more of the rebels from the other houses will be joining us. Once they’ve arrived, we’ll hold a council, and you can explain yourselves. I’d thought the fact that you helped the wounded would have softened whatever rumors have been circulating about you, but it appears I was wrong. Until the meeting, you five had better keep a low profile.”
I cracked my neck, all too aware of the monsters that were still glaring at us even while they sparred.
“That’s probably wise,” Darian commented, and he held out his arm for Raine. “Come, let’s leave before these monsters begin to lose their eyes and become useless for the war.”
She frowned as she took his arm. “Their eyes?”
“Yes, lovely,” he replied, patting her hand. “It was one thing when we had to tolerate their stares during the Week of Orash, but we’re beyond that now. You might not yet bear our mark, but if they keep staring at you like that, especially while my scent is on you, it’s possible I might not be able to stop with just their eyes.”
She gaped at him, and I grinned. Darian was usually the calmest and most diplomatic of us four, and to hear him admit that he might lose control was fuckin’ refreshing.
Lyr raised a brow and planted a hand on her hip. “As romantic as that is, I need everyone in one piece.”
“We’ll keep to ourselves for now,” Kade growled before Darian got the chance to respond. Gesturing to the doorway, my wolf brother began leading us from the room.
All the while, I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.I always knew she’d be fun.In the beginning, I just hadn’t realized that she’d become so much more than that.
CHAPTER 6
~ Raine ~
Overthenightsthatfollowed, monsters streamed into the underground hideout, crowding the space. Thankfully, Lyr had created her bunker near an existing network of caves, and monsters were starting to camp in the tunnels.
We mostly kept to the confines of our room, though there were times we had to venture out. Word spread that Locke had fought alongside the gargoyles, and that the rest of us had helped tend to the wounded shifters of the House of Silat, but it didn’t stop the rumors about us from circulating. There were still some who believed we had tried to ally with the fae, and that we were simply biding our time until we could rejoin the enemy again. Lyr might have thought the monsters would be glad to have me, the first dragon shifter, on their side, but so far, it sounded like they didn’t believe that at all. Everyone was on edge, and with Warrick attacking rebels in the city, no one knew who they could trust.
Sighing, I sat on the bed between Asher’s legs with my back pressed to his chest. His broad arm draped over my naked torso, his index finger lazily drawing circles on my belly. Kade dozed beside us, his thick arms folded behind his head. With not much else to do, we’d been taking advantage of the alone time, and the edges of our sheets were now singed from a time when I’d climaxed and accidentally let out a stream of fire instead of a cry of ecstasy. We’d been quick to put out the flames, but I still scented the charred fabric.
Asher’s finger was starting to trail lower when the door to our room opened.
“Take it up with the tiger shifter!” Darian called back to someone as he laughed and entered the room. He held a large jug filled with brown liquid with one hand, and four goblets with the other. Locke strolled into the room next, his black coat flapping behind him, and he closed the door in a monster’s face, though I couldn’t see who it was.
Dropping onto the bed with an impressive show of grace, Darian beamed at Asher and me, and Kade stretched before sitting up.
“Trust you to find the good stuff,” Asher commented with a grin.
“It wasn’t easy, either,” Darian replied, suddenly serious. “It seems Lyr and her mates prepared for every situation, however, they didn’t consider that some of us prefer our drinks to burn on the way down.” He shook the goblets in his hand. “Luckily for us, Kenric had the good sense to bring some liquor with him, and I can be rather persuasive.”
Kenric?It took me a moment to recognize the name of the Orc alpha. “The monsters of the House of Axeran are here?”
“They arrived hours ago,” Darian explained as he passed goblets to Asher, Kade, and me while keeping one for himself. Locke had his own goblet, and Darian proceeded to fill them all with wine.