One of them stepped into the clearing holding his arms out, “Well great Ghost? What is it you want?”
“Your surrender would be nice, to start with,” I said cheekily.
“Man, screw this. This isn’t what I signed up for. This isn’t what I was promised when you guys recruited me,” the hunter that called them into the clearing said, turning to flee.
I caught him first, bending the ground up to catch his feet and hands when he fell forward from his sudden loss of movement. “Not so fast. You’re going to want to stick around for this. Well maybe not, but I definitely want you here.”
The guards behind me chuckled, and the hunter I trapped puked. “We’re not going to surrender to you, filth,” the speaker of the group spit out at me.
“You should definitely consider it. I mean you could always end up like your friend there, who’s now more like two friends for the price of one,” I gestured to the one I killed just a moment ago and even the speaker looked queasy.
“You’ll pay for that, filth,” one of the other hunters spoke up before pulling out his gun and attempting to shoot me. I bent the first couple of bullets away from me and the guards, before heating the gun so that it fell from his hand. He ran at me to attack, but he didn’t even get in a swing before he was on the ground knocked out from my punch.
This prompted his fellow hunters to attack. I fought off two, knocking them out almost immediately, but the speaker smiled before coming at me with his attack. He swung out his fist, but I dodged easily. I dodged each of his attacks easily, “Fight back, bitch!”
I sighed dramatically, still dodging his attacks, “I mean if I have to, but promise me you’ll put up more of a fight than your friends please?” I grabbed onto his arm as he swung, instead of dodging, and twisted him backwards so that he was facing the ground and his arm was bent at an unnatural angle in the air. I twisted his arm until I heard it pop signaling the dislocation of his shoulder and tearing of his rotator cuff; he yelped in pain and I released him.
He backed away from me, giving me a murderous glare, “You’ll pay for that, filth.”
“Technically you asked for it, when you asked me to fight back,” I said with a shrug. He pulled out an iron knife from the small of his back. Coming at me, more calculated, the hunter actually managed to get one swipe in with the knife to my midsection before I disarmed him and wrapped my arms around his throat putting him in a chokehold until he passed out and I let him drop to the ground.
“We’ve heard of you before but seeing you in action is truly something else.” One of the guards said with a smirk on her face, “My daughter wants to be just like you when she grows up.”
I gave her a small smile, “My goal is for there not to be a need for someone like me.”
I locked chains on the hunters that were still alive, “There will be a car here soon for prisoner transport,” the other guard said.
I nodded, “Will there be room for me to ride along with them?”
The guard’s eyes glazed slightly before coming back into focus, “Yes and Mathias says you may accompany them to the cells.”
“Thank you,” I said, while searching the hunters for weapons and disposing of them as I came across them. As I was finishing up, prisoner transport pulled up, and I helped the dragons that got out put the hunters into the van.
By the time we got to the cells, the hunters had woken up, but they weren’t in a talking mood. “We will keep them here until you’re done with lunch and the other matter.”
I nodded and bowed slightly before walking back to the main house. As I did I pulled my mask down and my shirt up checking my knife wound. It was mostly closed, and it would be healed completely in another twenty minutes. When I walked into the house Finley immediately tackled me in a hug, “I’m glad you’re okay. Are they locked up?” She linked me.
“Yeah Fin, they’re locked up. Nothing to worry about,” I linked back and she passed me off to Fox, who was standing by patiently waiting his turn. When Finley finally let go of me, he wrapped me in a hug, and I reveled in the tingling sensation that my body erupted in when he closed his arms around me. “Love you.”
He breathed out the breath he was holding and relaxed in my arms too, “Love you too.”
We pulled apart eventually and I went upstairs to change. Coming back downstairs I met everyone in the dining room for lunch. The last open seat was between Nils and Fox, making me groan internally, but before I could sit down, Fox noticed me come into the room and winked as he moved over to the vacant seat, leaving me to sit between him and Finley. Mathias chuckled at his nephew’s antics, “Someone’s dragon is showing.”
Everyone but Nils chuckled and Fox kissed my temple, “I just know my mate.”
“I checked in with Josie. Everything back home is quiet, so far,” Daniel told me.
I nodded, “Let’s hope it stays that way.” We chatted through the meal, and once we were done, Mathias and I went to his office to go over warrior files. I chose three top and two not so great but very promising warriors from his files. By the time he and I finished it was time for the Maca Ánwíg.
Everyone walked out onto the training field where a sizable crowd had gathered to watch the fight. “You two know the rules. No using abilities of any sort, no shifting, and no weapons. The fight is to submission or knock out.”
I took my shirt off again, leaving me in a sports bra. A murmur went through the crowd, but I blocked it out and started stretching. I watched as Nils bounced from foot to foot, rolling his neck, “Goddess, this is going to be too easy,” I said to Niamh.
She snorted, “Are you sure we can’t kill him for wanting to kill our mate?”
“Probably best we don’t. He’s the only heir Mathias has.”
She growled, “Rosalie is young enough to have another.”
I snorted outwardly at her response, “Thinking about how I’m going to win and get to mark that sweet little neck of yours, Princess?” Nils asked.
My eyes narrowed, “No actually just explaining to my dragon why we can’t kill you. Her response was amusing, because she desperately wants to kill you for threatening our mate.”
Nils looked worried as we began to circle one another. He took a swing which I dodged, and we did that dance for a while, him swinging and me dodging. He growled in frustration after several minutes, so I yawned in response causing him to growl even louder. His eyes flickered between human and dragon as he fought to maintain control. I smirked and he rushed me. This time when he swung and I dodged, I followed up with an attack of my own. We kept this back and forth game going, and I never let him have it to the point that the fight ends. I felt someone try to enter my mind, but I put up a wall to stay focused on the fight in front of me. I could guess who it was and what they would have linked me though.
Just as Nils launched another attack, I caught the unmistakable scent of death that is my uncle. I dodged Nils’s attack without looking, before I knocked out Nils. Suddenly I was hit with an intense bolt of lightning. I tried to force it out of my body, but it stayed within me as I screamed in pain.
Fox’s POV
I watched as Amaya’s body hit the ground and started to rush onto the field, but someone’s hands kept me back, leaving me helpless as a huge dark grey dragon came down from the sky and picked up her limp body. “NO!” I roared, fighting harder against the hands holding me back.
I felt something rise inside of me. As my insides began to burn, I freed myself from the person holding me back. I stumbled onto the field Amaya’s body once occupied. Falling to my knees I heard someone behind me, “He’s shifting,” but whoever it was sounded as if they were miles away rather than just a few feet.
I groaned in pain as the burning spread throughout my body. I felt my body begin to morph and grow. “Don’t fight it Fox. Just let it happen naturally,” someone said again, sounding as if they were miles away from me.
I tried to do as they instructed, but the pain became too much, causing me to scream. The same thing that rose inside of me pushed forward and took over just as I started to blackout from the pain.
Author: Kailan Counahan 