16. Aurelia

Chapter 16

Aurelia

" M -Maybe y-you s-should give u- up your ph-phones," Connor says through chattering teeth. "I d-don't know i-if this i-is worth it."

"Not a chance," Beak says firmly from behind Raquel.

"Well, I'm tempted," I say. Both Raquel and I have to tilt our heads back to be able to speak. The animuses tower over us, not having to struggle as much with their superior height, but they're all shivering. All of them except one.

My only light in the dark is Xander's mating mark, whose glow illuminates his scowling mouth and broad shoulder, but not much more.

All the nimpins have found a perch somewhere on Connor's or Minnie's head or shoulders. Their dark eyes peer at us through the gloom, patiently waiting for us to sort our shit out.

The only thing that would help right about now is if I could shift into a penguin or seal, something with insulation. But alas, I don't have the skill to do either.

"Xander," Minnie says slowly from Yeti's shoulders.

"What?" Xander says flatly.

"If someone got your shackles off, do you think you could smash the glass tank?"

There's a beat of silence before a sigh. "Yes."

Being a dragon, Xander's physical strength, even in his human form, is more than even a bear's.

"Guess what?" Minnie says, and her white teeth flash in the gloom as she grins at me and holds up the set of lock picks Sabrina had gifted each of us. "Looky what I have."

Connor lets out a triumphant cackle. "And guess," he says, "who's the best lock picker of us after Sabrina?"

Heat suffuses my cheeks as I realise Connor means me . Sabrina had spent ages teaching me how to pick handcuff locks so I could escape the day my father came to the school to take me for my execution. The execution Scythe and Xander had led me to.

But Xander can't say no to this, when it's not just me fighting the cold, but his beloved Yeti and Minnie as well.

"Hand them over," I say, withdrawing my hand from the water and reaching up.

Minnie hands the small rectangular cloth bundle to me and I hold it high above my head as everyone shuffles around to let me squeeze past.

I follow the celestial light of my mark to the other side of the cage, squeezing against tall masculine bodies until I get to the giant one in the corner. Unfortunately, this means that the moment the last guy moves aside, I'm immediately pressed against Xander, his shackled hands brushing against my stomach. And it's even worse because of how I have to keep my face angled upward. I'm forced to stare right up at him.

"Get off me," he grunts, breath tickling my forehead.

"I literally can't," I grit out, even though I'm dying to be pressed up against him more. Even under the water, I can feel his natural dragon heat and I imagine it's like cosying up to a hot water bottle on a cold night.

"Let me lift you up, sweetheart." It's Ashton, one of the flirty lions whose voice sounds behind me.

" Don't fucking touch her."

Everyone goes quiet, including me. And the only thing I can hear is the blood pounding in my head. Everyone knows Xander hates me. Why then did his voice scream possession?

"Alright," Ashton grumbles. "But how's she gonna do anything with her head at that angle?"

With the obsidian bars around us, no one could even use telekinesis to help me up.

Xander mutters something that is probably awful under his breath. He then proceeds to nudge my legs apart with his knee. Alarmed, I stare at him with wide eyes. Although with his dark eye sockets in view, he can't see my expression. So quietly, that I know only he wants me to hear it, he mutters with deep resentment, "Get on."

"Get on what?" I say, alarmed and confused and a bit wet.

"My knee." He pushes said knee higher between my thighs.

Dear Mother Goddess almighty and a bag of tits, he wants me to straddle his thigh. Breathlessly, wordlessly, and feeling like I'm going to combust, I open my legs, allowing him to get his knee between mine. But the angle is all wrong. I have to get closer.

Holding my breath in case this is one giant prank the universe is playing on me, I place my palms on Xander's chest. He raises his shackled hands above his head and I do a little jump onto his thigh.

He raises his leg just in time, bracing his foot on the cage behind him and I land bodily on his leg, my clit sending a little zip of pleasure. As water sloshes around my shoulders I realise my lower stomach is flush against his groin, and I watch as the dragon's dark brows knit together in annoyance.

Wild Mother help me. I've never been this close to him, and his furious, volcanic scent wraps around me in the most lovely, dangerous caress.

Xander makes what I think is an unhappy sound in the back of his throat as he lowers his arms.

"Hurry up," he snarls.

We're close enough to kiss, and mesmerised by the shape of his lips, I sway forward. "Uh!" he chides like I'm a naughty dog. "Try that again and I'll drown you." My pussy clenches in annoyance and desperation and Xander's nostrils flare. "I'm regretting this already."

"Me too, dragon-man," I mutter, raising my roll of picks and selecting two of them. "No funny business, or I'm reporting you to Damien."

He scoffs, and it makes me want to cover his mouth with mine. "What, a phoenix can surely take down a dragon, right?" I insert my picks into the lock on the shackles and get to work.

"They wish," Xander mutters. I'm briefly distracted by his mouth moving before I drag my eyes back to my work. "Preening pansies, the lot of them. Why do you think they're dying out?"

I'm concentrating so hard that it takes me a while to realise that something is happening near my crotch and it's not me at fault this time. My anima fluffs her wings with satisfaction and I move my hips just a little on the pretence of adjusting my seat. Yup, I wasn't wrong about the dragon sized?—

"Stop it," he snarls.

"I have a wedgie."

"You'll have something worse in a second."

"Looking forward to it."

He turns his head aside and leans back as far away from me as possible, exhaling a stream of dragon smoke through his nose.

"You should really do something about that anger problem," I say conversationally, narrowing my eyes as I focus on my second pick, going by feel, like Sabrina taught me. "It's not good for your blood pressure." There's a small click and I bounce in happiness. "Got it!" I cry.

But exactly a heartbeat later, the entire cavern around us shakes.

"Earthquake!" Connor shrieks.

Xander straightens his knee and I go plummeting into the water. I get my toes under me just in time, pulling at Xander's shirt to push my head above the water.

"Fucker!" I splutter, slapping him in the chest.

He turns away from me, dropping his shackles into the water with a splash. "It's not an earthquake," he says, pushing me away from him. "It's?—"

The cavern rumbles again, shaking the water and sending it sloshing around us. I cop a wave of it to my face and I choke, clawing at the people around me. One of the wolf animuses grabs a drowning Raquel and pulls them into him.

"Xander, get her!" Minnie's voice is harsh.

Henry chirps angrily from somewhere up high.

"She's fine," Xander drawls. One big arm grabs me around the waist and hauls me above the water. I'm pressed to Xander's side, my legs around his hips like a toddler as I wipe my face and wheeze air into my lungs. Henry hovers in front of me, checking if I'm okay.

"What's going on?" Minnie asks. "The entire place is—" She cuts herself off, staring at something over my shoulder and her lips part in a sort of disbelief.

"What's that?" Ashton shouts.

"Show off," Xander mutters.

There's a massive crack followed by a splintering sound, and then all at once, the lights in the cavern turn on and the glass tank around us shatters .

Water whooshes out in a roar and Xander lets me go. I slide down his body like a pole before turning around to see what everyone is staring at.

Not what.

But who.

Striding determinedly through the waves of water now gushing about his ankles is an imposing beast I've seen a few times in underground fighting rings before. Feline grace lines every muscled limb, clothed in black jeans and a black shirt, open down to his chest, revealing inky black tattoos and a golden chain around his neck. In one hand, he holds a bouquet of bright pink roses, wrapped in matching pink paper. His face bears many small, mysterious black tattoos and even if I hadn't learned more about him in Scythe's memories, my anima has always sensed that this is a dangerous tiger.

Mad Marduk the Caspian tiger is a scary bedtime story for our kind.

He waves his free hand, full of gold rings, and the five walls and of the obsidian cage groan before they fall outward, opening us up to the freedom of the cavern. The barred frame above us simply flips backward like a lid before crashing to the floor behind us.

Marduk stops before us and it takes me a second to realise who his eyes have landed on. His eyelids flutter for a second before he falls to one knee, holds the roses in front of his chest and, with a face of utter reverence, says. "My regina. I have come for you."

I gasp loudly, my head whipping around to see Minnie's ashen, unblinking, still on Yeti's shoulders. Yeti is also staring, his pale hands clutching his regina's shins.

"Let her down," Raquel whispers to him.

Yeti blinks as if he's coming back to reality and carefully extracts Minnie from his shoulders.

Minnie straightens her clothes before shyly walking forward.

"Hi," she whispers.

The tiger carefully takes her hand in his and kisses the back of it.

"Was that necessary, Marduk?" Xander grumbles.

Without missing a beat, or taking his eyes off his newly found regina, Marduk says, "Yes."