Blood full of ash and ice…
A streak of lightning tore through the sky outside, turning night to day as my arm lifted.
The Rev’s head jerked to the window as another bolt lit up the realm, and for a moment, I swore I saw silvery cords draping the chamber—flowing from Poppy and rippling across the floor, covering my legs. My body. The Rev’s head tilted.
A rumble started in my chest as I willed my fingers around the red-hot hilt. My arm moved, jerking the dagger free. Air poured into my lungs as I shifted sideways. The dagger fell and clattered—
Power, ancient and unyielding, flooded my senses as my hand slammed into the floor. And then it seized control of my body.
Tiny specks of silver appeared along my flesh, filling every pore. My lips peeled back as my jaw popped out of its socket. Canines jutted out. My palms roughened as my fingers spread out, fingernails growing and thickening, sharpening, digging into the stone floor. The linen pants split at the thighs as bones throughout my body shifted, breaking at joints and then rapidly fusing back together, lengthening and hardening. The cloth fell away as my back bowed. I could feel my skin thinning, moving. From the silvery-lit pores, fur sprouted—glossy, onyx-and-gold-hued fur. I pushed back onto my knees, then rose to my hands and feet—no, my paws. It had only taken seconds. A stuttered handful of heartbeats. And I was still me, but not.
I was something else.
I rose onto all fours, shaking myself as the sound of the Rev’s fast breaths echoed in my head. His stale-sweet scent reached me, tinged in…fear. I smelled his fear. Something in my peripheral vision snagged my attention—a reflection in a standing mirror propped against the wall. A large black and gold feline with a shoulder height of over five feet and nearly double the length—and eyes a luminous silver.
That rumble came again from my chest as I turned my head to the Rev.
Pale blue eyes were wide behind the golden mask. “Impossible.”
There was no thought, no need to figure out how to get these much larger limbs and body to move. It was more than just an instinct that took over. It was a long-buried knowledge that had been waiting for decades, maybe centuries, to be awakened and tapped into.
I leapt, clearing the distance between us as the Rev jabbed out with the dagger. My reflexes, already fast, were now sharper. I caught his arm, clamping down with my jaws. Skin gave way like fragile silk. Hot, strange-tasting blood poured into my mouth. Bones cracked as if they were nothing more than twigs.
The man howled as I twisted my head, tearing through tissue. I yanked him away from the bed, the dagger falling from his grasp. He fell back, away from me. I spat the lower half of his arm onto the floor.
“Fuck,” he rasped, lurching for a fallen dagger.
Powerful, sleek muscles coiled and stretched as he darted to my side, attempting to go around me. I swiped out with a clawed paw, slicing through his leg. His shout of pain turned into a grunt as I latched onto his calf with my canines, dragging him across the floor. With my hold on his muscle, I lifted him and flung him aside. Blood spurted as his leg came off from the knee down.
He skidded across the floor, slamming into the wall. His head jerked up as he rolled onto one knee. I stalked him, a low hiss coming from the back of my throat as he half-crawled, half-slid.
I let him get close enough that his fingers brushed what he sought, then I pounced. Driving him onto his back, I dug my claws into his chest, his thighs, shredding skin and muscle.
I was brutal, clawing through his chest until the cavity gave way beneath me. Savage satisfaction filled me. Then I moved onto his shoulders, ripping apart the tendons, removing what was left of his arms and legs as his screams turned to pitiful whimpers.
Lifting my blood-soaked head, I prowled up his writhing form as I brought my face to his. His mouth opened, revealing blood-streaked teeth—
I snapped down on his throat, twisting my head back and forth sharply, snapping the neck and then severing it.
Spitting the bad-tasting blood from my mouth, I brought one paw down on the Rev’s skull, crushing it as I stepped over the remains, scanning the chamber.
Every part of my being focused on the female asleep on the bed, one arm at her side, the other lying across her stomach. Her head was turned toward me, leaving a waterfall of crimson hair to trail over the side of the bed.
She was…important.
My claws rapped off the floor as I prowled toward her, stretching forward. Her scent. My muzzle drew close to her still arm. Whiskers twitched. Fresh. Sweet. Mine. I turned my head, nudging her hand. She was mine. My Princess…
My heartmate.
My Queen.
Mine.
And I was hers.
My head swung toward the chamber doors. Footsteps pounded. A raspy, guttural snarl reverberated from me as I lowered my head, tensing.
The doors flew open, and a panting, brown-skinned male entered—one who smelled of rich, dark soil and us. Of her. His ultra-bright-blue gaze found Poppy first and then me.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered, taking a step forward.
I leapt onto the bed, crouching over her. I gave a warning growl.
The male went completely still, then threw up a hand—
Another skidded to a stop behind him, sword in hand and auburn hair windblown. “Is that…is that a fucking cave cat? A really large, strangely colored one?”
“That’s Cas,” the male said—the one who smelled of the woods and her. He smelled of us. Mine.
My eyes narrowed on the newcomer as my lips peeled back. He didn’t smell of us.
“What the fuck?” that one gasped, making another choking sound as he saw the blood and pieces scattered across the floor. “I mean, what in the actual fuck?”
I eased down to the foot of the bed, my claws scratching the polished wood. He was not us. He was a risk.
“No, he’s not,” the male said. “Emil is annoying as fuck.”
The one called Emil frowned.
“But he is not a risk,” the male continued. “He is one of us.”
He was not one of us. He was not mine. He was nothing but meat and blood. A meal.
“Meat and blood—oh, fuck,” the male said. “Emil’s more than that. He is yours, too.” He paused while this other thing’s entire face creased. “Just not in the same way.”
“Okay,” the soon-to-be dead one drawled. “I’m going to say it one more time. What in the actual fuckity fuck?”
I came down onto the stone floor, my tail swishing as I eyed the pile of talking meat.
“Fuck.” The blue-eyed male twisted at the waist, pushing the meat aside. “Keep his father and the others away,” he ordered.
Father?
Something stirred in the back of my thoughts.
“Tie them up. Knock them out,” the male demanded. “I don’t care what you have to do but keep them the fuck away from here.”
The meat sack didn’t get a chance to respond. The door was closed in his face and locked. The first male faced me.
“Cas?” he said, voice soft.
My head tilted. The name stirred something inside me. Cas.
“The name is familiar because it’s yours.” He slowly lowered himself and knelt before me. “Your name is Casteel Hawkethrone Da’Neer, and I’m Kieran Contou.”
Wisps of memories drifted from the recesses of my mind. Flashes of him much younger—of us as boys and then men.