Chapter 13

Thirteen

"Ember!" Fox yelled when we teleported onto the grass outside their house and his sword almost decapitated me.

Thankfully, Nico put a shield up, stopping it.

"Well, that's a rude way to greet your daughter-in-law," I said and scoffed. "And here I was starting to think you might be my favorite."

Fox pouted. "I'm sorry. It's Nico's fault! He knows better than to teleport here. He should have teleported to his lab."

"I was hoping to catch you all here," Nico said, looking at his friends. "We're going to do some experimentation."

"About that," Triston said. "What does that mean?"

"We're going to see what Ember is capable of doing through the mate bond," Nico explained.

"Oh! Yes!" Fox cheered.

"I've been curious," Rhys admitted from where he sat in a chair to the side.

"Where's Jolie?" Nico asked.

"Here!" she called as she walked out of the house, drying her hands on a dish towel. She hugged me and Triston.

"Okay, so first thing's first. Ember, tap into Triston's bond and see if you can shift into a tiger," Nico instructed.

Triston's eyes widened and mouth dropped. "That's possible?"

Jolie shifted into a wolf and back to human. "Yep."

"So cool," he whispered.

"Wait, does that mean they could shift into a rabbit?" I asked.

"For some reason, they aren't able to access my siren powers," Jolie said. "We think it's because my soul is the central repository for their bonds. I'm not sure about your form, though."

"Good thing we brought a secondary test subject," Nico said with a wide grin at Triston.

"I suddenly regret my decision to join," Triston whispered out the side of his mouth to me.

"Okay, me first," I said and took a deep breath, centering myself. Tapping into my mate bond with Triston, I pictured his tiger form and willed my body to take on that form.

"Well, that's interesting," Jolie whispered.

Opening my eyes, I frowned as I realized I was the same height, so definitely not in tiger form, but when I looked at my hands, I realized they were tiger paws. "Uh, I changed my hands only?" I asked and looked over my shoulder. My eyes widened at the sight of my fluffy, white rabbit tail.

"You took on your warrior form and added his tiger's paws," Nico said. "Fascinating. I wonder how many you could combine? Jolie can use all of ours at once, so you should be able to as well. Try to use Branson's bear form." He was practically vibrating with excitement like a child at a candy store.

"Should I call him to advise him? Does it startle you guys when she uses your powers?"

"I can tell you're using my powers," Triston said with a nod.

"Often times it happens and we do get worried and check in with her, so it's a good idea to let him know," Deryn said.

"I think they're just over protective and nosy," Jolie muttered. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to give him a heads up."

"I'll text him," Triston said. "Since your hands are … well, not hands."

I flexed my hands and large claws slid out. "Whoa," I breathed. "These could do some serious shredding."

"Can you purr?" Jolie asked. "I bet you would sound super cute purring."

"She can purr," Triston said with a nod, his head down as he typed on his phone.

"What?" I asked.

"You've purred a few times, before with the connection we had, and at night when you're sleeping now."

"Is it adorable?" Jolie asked.

Triston smiled and nodded. "It is."

"Anyway," I said drawing the word out and distracting them.

"Okay, you're good to go," Triston said after his phone pinged with a message.

"Should I shift back to human or –"

"No, try it now. I'm curious what your body will automatically change on you." Nico cupped his chin as he watched me, clearly curious and excited.

I tried again, this time focusing on Branson's bond. As I drew on his powers, there was an odd poof sound and everyone gasped.

Opening my eyes, I looked down to see I was covered in brown bear fur. I still had Triston's tiger paws, which were his brown color, and when glancing over my shoulder, confirmed I still had my white rabbit tail. Reaching up, I felt atop my head for ears and felt my long, rabbit ears.

"Well, that's certainly … interesting," Jolie commented.

"What form would she get from Caleb?" Triston asked.

"He can take both wolf and dragon forms," Nico answered. "Though, he prefers the wolf."

"As he should," Deryn boasted.

"He doesn't have an elf animal form?" I asked Fox.

Fox shook his head. "Nope."

"So, I should be able to shift into a wolf or dragon, too?" If I tried all of their powers at once, what would I shift into? "Okay, new experiment," I said and reverted back to my base human form.

"What are you going to do?" Rhys asked with a frown.

Closing my eyes, I imagined grabbing all four bonds at once and let my body shift.

"What the fu—" Deryn gasped, but grunted a second later.

Opening my eyes, I found I was taller than all of them, and could see much better. Colors were more vivid and I could hear sounds better.

Triston's mouth hung open as he stared at me, lifted his phone, and snapped a picture.

"Let me see," I said, then covered my mouth as my voice had deepened and there was an odd growl to it. Moving my hands back a bit, I saw they were once again tiger's paws and there was brown bear fur along my arms.

"You are slightly frightening," Jolie admitted as she walked closer to me.

"It's startling to see so many animals merged together," Rhys whispered as he circled around me.

Nico circled around me, snapping pictures as he went. "She picked great parts from each of them, though. The bear fur will keep her warm. The tiger claws will help her attack. The rabbit legs will allow her to jump high and kick hard. The cheetah or maybe tiger or I guess it could be wolf or dragon, too, since you all have similar teeth, anyway those will help her bite. The dragon scales along her neck and I'm assuming stomach will protect her from damage. The rabbit ears help her hear better. I'm not sure what the cheetah tail offers, but I think balance. Her eyes are still human, but glowing like an elf's does when they use their powers."

"I bet if she jumps too high, this time she'll use dragon wings to descend," Triston commented.

"Oh, that's a good point. She could switch and utilize other things while in a battle," Fox said with a nod.

"Come at me," Deryn said and waved his hand towards himself, beckoning me to come fight him.

Squatting down a bit, I engaged my rabbit legs, and dashed forward. His eyes widened as I cleared the distance quickly, my claws slashing towards his face. He dodged back and ducked my next attack. Shifting into his warrior form, he smiled as he fought me. As his fist swung towards me, I leaned back, finding that the tail helped me with keeping from falling as I leaned much farther back than I normally tried. Using my elf powers, I pulled roots from the ground and they shot up to wrap around Deryn's wrists, dragging him down to the ground.

"Behind you!" Triston called.

I jumped over Deryn's body, avoiding Fox's fists as he had attempted to punch me from behind.

Rhys and Fox both moved forward.

"This is just practice, right?" I asked, concerned since they had never ganged up on me before.

They both nodded. "We're just trying to gauge your abilities," Rhys answered.

Deryn broke the roots and brushed off his arms, a huge smile on his face. "I'm impressed already."

"Ready?" Fox asked.

I flexed my claws and growled, my tail swishing behind me. "Bring it."

The three darted forward, and I barely had time to register their moves, forced to react and act instinctively. Somehow, that seemed to work for the better, though.

Fox and Deryn jumped towards me from opposite sides.

Holding up my joined hands, I jerked them apart. Two large walls of rock thrust up out of the ground to my height, then sped in opposite directions, slamming into the princes and pushing them away.

Rhys shifted his head and blew out a huge breath of fire.

Crossing my fingers on both my hands, I created a magic shield that protected me from the fire.

"Nico! Why aren't you helping?" Fox yelled as he finally ran around the rock wall and tried to use vines to capture me, but with a downward thrust of my hand, they went back into the dirt.

"I'm observing," he said. "It's easier to do from here."

Caleb tugged on my bond, making me stagger a second. "Caleb's worried," I informed them as I continued to dodge attacks and try to cut them with my claws.

"I'll grab him," Nico said and disappeared.

"Break!" Fox yelled and dropped to a cross-legged sit on the grass.

Rhys and Deryn sat as well. Shrugging, I sat down, too.

Jolie and Triston passed out water bottles and we all chugged them.

Nico and Caleb appeared, Caleb scowling. He looked over at me and asked, "Are you injured?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

"She hit me with a stone wall!" Fox shouted. "Your mate is crazy."

Caleb smiled and relaxed. "Yes, she is. You good to go?"

Standing, I brushed off my pants and nodded. "Yes."

"Round two, fight!" Jolie called.

Rhys, Deryn, and Fox ran forward again, their attacks synchronized this time.

Smiling, I squatted down, waited until they were close, then leapt up and over the tops of their heads, landing behind them. Clapping my hands together, I formed a two-foot-thick dirt dome around them.

"Whoa," Jolie whispered.

Rhys burst out of the dome through the top in his warrior form.

I let the dome collapse as I ran forward and started attacking Rhys. When the others came behind me, I crossed the fingers on my left hand and put it behind my back. Deryn and Fox ran right into my shield, bouncing off of it with a grunt.

"What was that?" Nico and Caleb asked simultaneously.

With no time to answer, I spun around to take advantage of Deryn and Fox on their backs. I wrapped both in a bunch of vines and dragged them down into the grass, semi-burying them.

Rhys darted around my shield and swiped claws at me; they cut into my arm, making me yowl like a cheetah.

Caleb growled. "Dad!"

"Stay!" I ordered him, seeing him start to approach.

Fox used his powers to dig him and Deryn back out so they could rejoin the fight.

Taking a deep breath, I changed my throat, and exhaled a huge breath of fire. Deryn and Fox leapt out of the way and the fire continued towards Nico and Caleb.

Nico created a shield, eyes focused on me.

Rhys took advantage of my distraction, leapt forward, and wrapped an arm around my throat, claws at my jugular. "You lose."

"Dammit," I groaned, pouted, and reverted back to human form.

Jolie clapped. "That was really impressive, Ember. You've clearly been training in secret. Sneaky girl."

I nodded. "I wanted to be sure that I was ready should any new enemies show up."

"Well, it definitely shows," Rhys said.

That was high praise from the commonly quiet dragon prince.

"I'm impressed by how quickly you utilized their powers," Jolie commented. "I wasn't able to learn them in combination for a while."

"I think it has to do with her being a hybrid herself," Nico said. "They're connected in a different way from the way we're connected to our clans."

"Does that mean hybrids are inherently stronger than purebloods?" Deryn asked.

"I think so," Nico whispered.

Jolie scowled. "Well, that's not something we want to be made public."

"Why not?" Triston asked.

"Because then more people would view you as a threat," Rhys answered.