Everyone who mattered to him was gone. Spitfire was alone.
It wasn't that he didn't like Lexi and Jinx, but they weren't his mates. They were barely more than strangers. And the other two - Priest and Ink - that was complicated. Ink had been kind to him and Doll while they were on the ship. But his mate Priest had tried to drain their magick and sell them to Hares as breeding stock. Though Priest was Guru's brother and that made him uncle to some of the kits Spitfire carried, he wasn't sure if he wanted anything to do with him.
Sitting by himself, watching the water pass by, was making him crazy. Especially as he had no idea where Guru was and their other mates Hades and Doll were trapped in a healing bubble. All three of them were out of his reach. He could only feel the impression of them on the fringes of his mind but touching their auras, feeling their presence was not possible.
Looking around the boat, Spitfire saw that Lexi was asleep in a hammock and
Priest watched as everyone got off the ship. Clearly, Jinx was not born to traverse the sea the way his brother was. The apparent God of Chaos kissed the ground and rolled around a bit in the grass the second he was off the ship.He chuckled. Come to think of it, the first time Ink sailed with him there was a very similar scene.His beloved was patting Jinx's back and helping him up. The shapeshifting Demon Lexi was standing close by.And then there was Spitfire. That one needed something to do the most.Priest took a deep breath. He'd become responsible for a new flock, but not one built on loyalty and adventure. These were not his crew, not his people, and yet they were family. He felt a protective streak run through him. They were all family, this crazy mismatched group that included his estranged brother, Ink's brother and their Innehavres.Did he have any right to try to be the natural-born leader he was in the face of traveling with an actual god? And what the hell did that even
It's time to go.A voice that sounded something like Jinx but wasn't quite right woke Hades up from his peaceful rest curled around Doll. Grumbling, the tom put his face under his arm, nuzzling down against the back of Doll's neck. He wasn't ready to wake up and no annoying Orangelo was going to make him.But there was another energy tugging on Hades's aura. It was a soft pull, distant and vague, but he worried it wouldn't stay that way. It was Spitfire, after all. That little beast was up to something and it was going to require Hades getting involved before he blew up anything important.Your time here is done.That voice again. Hades wanted to tell it right where to stick its annoying little sounds. He heaved a sigh. No matter what he wanted, the pull from Spitfire and the push from the weird voice-energy thing were working together to get him out of the space Jinx had stuck them in."Wake up, Doll." Hades wasn't going to disappear while his no-fur was sleeping. He needed to let hi
When he reached the end of the fallen tree, Hades stopped crawling. His tail twitched in irritation as he peered through the broken shards. He did not like what he saw.In the center of a swirl of black sands, Spitfire was glowing purple with Underworld magick. He thought maybe the no-fur had snatched some of his Hex aura or something similar. But he was controlling actual Underworld magick, the raw primal energy that was the source of most of the Dark magicks, including Hades's own Hex powers."How in the fuck did he get his little hands on that?" Hades frowned.The only explanation he could find was that when Hades felt the last of King's Underworld aura leaving him, it had been Spitfire using his special power to steal it. But how had he reached into Jinx's healing bubble to do that?He'd figure it out later. What he needed to do was get Spitfire to release those poor no-furs he had captured in the black sand. What kind of control did the no-fur have over the sands? Hades hadn't re
Leaving Nickel to rest, Agent wrapped himself in what little power he could summon. He needed to get closer to where the ship carrying Jinx and his entourage had docked without being seen. The Orangelo was stretched out on the shore, seemingly sleeping while his green Demon watched over him.Slipping past Lexi would be easy enough. The Demon was absolutely distracted by weaving together some tall grasses and flowers into what looked like crowns. It was getting at the energy Agent could feel tucked into the bag Jinx held that would be the problem. Unless the Orangelo was drugged or in a coma, getting at the bag would be next to impossible.Before he could form a plan, the energy bubble started shaking and fighting to get away from Jinx. Moments later, Hades appeared, forced out of the bubble. Agent moved before he had a chance to consider why Hades had been ejected. The Black-fur's exit created a ripple in the surface of the bubble, one Agent could ride and find a way inside.He didn't
Shadwell Sebastian Woolsey stomped aimlessly through the rain. He had a destination but he was in no hurry to get there.His shoes needed replacing, he noted as water crept in from a puddle he had not managed to avoid. He hated getting wet. Some might say he was a walking stereotype but he had never met another tom who hated it as much as he did. Hell, a fair amount of them used water as their first introduction to the Elemental arts.Not Shadwell, though. As a Black-fur, he couldn’t create an affinity for such a healing Element to use in his magick. His gifts - if you could call them that - were of a much more complicated and forbidden nature. He could scratch the surface of his potential and did fine for himself with what he could do. However, Black-furs could only access their core magick by using a no-fur conduit.Which was something Shadwell was never going to be able to do. Collaring a no-fur was a luxury for the most elite of Elementalists, somethin
And there it was.Where had so many felines gotten the idea Hades had no morals?Hades reminded himself to never ask that question anywhere Jinx could hear him."Sir, with due respect I'm not called Hades because I actually am aneight-headed Death demon who breathes fire and sends toms to the Underworld.""No, no, my good tom.It's purely a business transaction. I need him brought upstate to a breeding house. I'm heartbroken,I truly am. But it's the only way to get any good money out of him now. There are… things that point to the absolutely unbelievable idea that he might have killed the tom in question. I don't believe it,of course,but toms talk."The fat feline gave a broad laugh,very out of place with the tale he was telling.Hades was reading between the lines and it didn't sit well with him. He turned his sharp green gaze to the kneeling creature. "Did you kill the feline, no-fur?""Go on,
The no-fur that,up until this morning,had belonged to the Martelli family took his time as he meandered through the estate garden. Because of his innate magical ability and his skill with floral design, he had lived a fairly pleasant life for an uncollared no-fur. The family had at least twentyno-furs in the stableat any timeand he only had to service the disgusting Gran once or twice a month because the free-loader was very fickle about which no-furs he requested from his cousin’s stable.Gran'scousinand the man behind thepowerfulmobfamily, Liam Martelli, wasn't interested in the no-fur past what he could do to set up a banquet room for an event. Liamwas happily married to one of the sexiest chefs in the world, a sleek Gray-furred delight called Cook. He had no use for any of the many no-furs his family ownedfor any of their common uses. Liamhad a strong distaste for the whole no-fur trade an
Hades knew exactly what was about to transpirebetween the no-fur and his hideous master. Not only had he seen the glint of Gran's knife, he'd read the tom’s aura. Despite already having a plan to rid himself of the aqua-haired no-fur, the fat tom was both angry and afraid of him.There was a lot of dirty litter going on here and Hades knew he might be best served to return the money and walk away.But he wasn't going to be able to leave the no-furto this monster. Never mind that he was driving him upstate to hand him over to a different kind of monster. That was a detail Hades chose to ignore right now. But this was still the Martelli family,even if it was an offshoot that claimed no connections. Not that Hades believed that story for a second. Gran's last name was no joke.Before Gran had formed a response that no doubt would involve callinghim rude at the very least,Hades stomped past him, grabbingthe no-fur