Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

The Real Alphas of Nyros was currently on a commercial break that Stepdad desperately needed.

The Gods dragged their immortal asses off screen five and went to inspect the rest of the zoo.

FIRST SCREEN: So You Think You Can Mage

The sandwich guy put the black-market feathers where the sun don’t shine and the Coast Guard don’t dive. Brennan’s celebrating with food.

SECOND SCREEN: The Apprentice

Beta Boy is still in his seat. No ”You’re Fired” yet. Door Kid is next to him. Both of them watching Stepdad lose the table like a man drowning in a kiddie pool, equally confused.

THIRD SCREEN: Say Yes to the Arrest

Kiss count: Five. The resurrected king and felon are still on their date, thinking the Luminari just take trespassing really seriously. Someone please tell them the HOA do not usually arrive armed. Tailing Cop Count: twenty-plus. Passion is one word for it. SWAT is another.

FOURTH SCREEN: Whose Crime Is It Anyway?

The Dream Team is currently arguing about two plus two.

The one that gets the next domino goes to the fourth screen. Don’t clap yet.

✦✦✦

DOMINO 70: NOW YOU SEE HER, NOW FUCK

GREYHALL CROSSING - SHADOWFELL PACK’S MEETING ROOM

”Alright, children, gather ’round,” Kael called.

Five chairs dragged across stone and five bodies arranged themselves around Kael’s bottle cap command center.

”Let’s not pretend we’re smarter than we are. Here’s the short, ugly version of what we know.” Kael placed the first bottle cap at the center of the table. ”White light. She disappears. Flash, crack, poof, fuck. She’s somewhere else and we’re standing there squinting like idiots.”

”We haven’t seen which direction she vanishes,” Jaxon stated, leaning forward. ”I want that noted. The flash blinds every witness in range so we don’t know the mechanism. But what I can say is this: the architecture matches no portal mechanics I have ever studied.”

Maddox’s jaw flexed once, which was his version of a tantrum and the only version anyone was ever going to get.

”If the two smartest mages in Velkaris cannot identify it, then we’re not dealing with a portal. We’re dealing with a problem.”

Kael slid a second bottle cap into the circle.

”Next. Greyhall. Ten o’clock, give or take. Open balcony doors per Shadowfell’s report. Per evidence: the light can take windows out. That means it could also blow doors open. So congratulations, we have two explanations and zero confirmation. Light or intruder. Coin toss.”

He slid another cap in harder than necessary. The metal scraped the wood.

”Four in the morning. I felt her through Luminari light. Full panic. Enough that it woke me up. She was being shot at. Then a storage closet. Hiding. I could see what she’s seeing at this point. How? I have no fucking idea. I tell her to go to a crate. The connection dies an inch too soon. That pissed me off more than any of the rest of it, in case anyone was wondering.”

”Nobody was wondering,” Maddox said.

”Good. Because I’m telling you anyway.”

Ryker cleared his throat. ”Lucky you. Between four and five, we’ve got the missing scene.”

Kael slid another cap into the circle. The ritual continued. Nobody asked why.

”We were in Drakencrest,” Ryker began. ”Maria and Draven were both in the corridor. Guinevere was in front of them holding a bloody dagger with blood all over the front of her shirt, and she was shaking. Real wholesome moment. First question out of her mouth: was she hallucinating. Second: where’s the exit.”

Kael dragged a hand down his face. ”She asked for the exit. Of course she did. If that isn’t the most infuriatingly—what did Draven say to her?”

”Draven told her she was in Drakencrest,” Ryker answered. ”And she looked genuinely surprised.”

Maddox was done listening.

”The hallucinating question was fair,” he snapped. ”Her map of the world had Maria in Lunaris and Draven hadn’t returned when she departed for Greyhall. They were both covered in his blood in a house she hasn’t seen. Who wouldn’t be surprised by that. Give her some goddamn credit. That’s insane to walk into blind. And the exit question? That tells me she knows there are holes in her memory. Draven’s presence meant she should know where she is. She didn’t. So that was her trying to play it cool.”

”Agreed on the credit part,” Sterling seconded. ”But she was still holding a bloody dagger, Commander, next to a pregnant woman. I may have scared her when I ordered her to drop the weapon.”

”You think? Wow. What a leap,” Ryker said, voice dry as sand. ”How ever did you arrive at that conclusion, Sterling?”

Maddox and Kael’s heads both snapped to Sterling at the same time. Two predators locking onto the same sound.

Sterling didn’t flinch. ”Her shirt was soaked in blood. Blade was shaking in her hand. I thought she was going to hurt herself. My other option was to disarm her, and I didn’t want to grab it and scare her worse. She was already backing away from me. In hindsight: wrong tone, wrong moment, traumatized woman, no context.”

”Hindsight,” Maddox repeated.

”Yes. Instinct said disarm first, ask later. Bad call I assessed a situation with incomplete information and made a judgment call, Commander. I stand by the intent. The execution could have been better.”

”The execution could have been you shutting the fuck up and letting Draven handle it,” Kael snapped.

”Also fair,” Sterling conceded. ”Draven got her talking. She said she fell through a glowing city, was shot at, and wound up here and was trying to figure out where here was. The light got her before we could ask any follow up questions.”

One more bottle cap. Kael, contributing. The circle, still a circle.

”Tracks,” he sighed. ”Next stop: her chambers in Lunaris where I was. Hole in her side. Self-wrapped.”

”She dressed a stab wound herself,” Lux repeated.

”Yes. The bandage looked like shit. I had her in Lunaris for a while. Healer re-treated her. Master Mage examined her. White light. Vanished.”