Teeth and Wings and Fire
Teeth and Wings and Fire
Kael hadn’t even finished detailing the stronghold’s perimeter when Seraphine spoke up, casually—as if it wasn’t a verbal hand grenade.
“I might have a few friends of my own.”
Every pair of eyes in the cave turned to her.
Kael raised a brow. “Friends?”
She shrugged. “Not wolf friends.”
Rek muttered, “That’s comforting.”
Seraphine crossed her arms. “One’s a vampire. One’s a fae. The other’s… complicated.”
“Complicated how?” asked the golden-haired she-wolf with a sharp grin.
“He’s a demon,” Seraphine said. “Well. Half.”
There was a brief and stunned silence.
Then Kael leaned back against the stone table, the ghost of a smirk forming. “Names?”
Seraphine counted off with her fingers.
“Lucien is the vampire. Looks like a bored prince, fights like a rabid animal when you touch his hair. Don’t. Touch. His. Hair.”
“Thorne is the fae. Thinks he’s charming. He’s not. He can bend light, vanish into shadows, and seduce your soul with a smirk.”
“Sounds like Rek,” Kael muttered.
Rek flipped him off without looking up.
“And Kirael is the demon. Half-lust, half-wrath, all drama. He owes me a blood favor. So if I call, he’ll come.”
The wolves exchanged glances, not sure whether to be impressed or deeply alarmed.
Rek cleared his throat. “And here I thought we were the wild cards.”
Seraphine glanced at Kael. “What about your crew? Anyone else hiding secrets?”
Kael gestured behind him. “You’ve met Rek. Saris—our scout.” He nodded to the sharp-eyed woman with a knife half drawn just for fun. “And Jace, our wardbreaker.”
Jace, the black-haired male leaning against the far wall, lifted a hand in a lazy salute. “I open things. Doors. Magic seals. Jars.”
“And?” Seraphine prompted, raising a brow.
Kael smiled faintly. “I have a few more. We’re scattered, but they’ll come when I call.”
“Sounds like it’s going to be a party,” she said.
Rek snorted. “A vampire, a fae, and a demon walk into a wolf den… this’ll end great.”
Rek muttered something under his breath about “bloody fairy glitter in the soup” and walked off to prep a defensive ring around the cave.
Seraphine ignored him and stepped closer to the stone table. “Give me something to write on. I’ll call them.”
Kael handed her a flat shard of obsidian etched with communication runes.
She pressed her fingers to the surface. Heat flared where her skin touched the stone, glowing red-gold with her fire magic. Her words, laced with energy, would reach across realms.
“Trouble’s come early,” she whispered. “Time to collect on old favors.”
Then she pulled back.
“They’ll come?”
She nodded. “They’ve all sworn blood or bond. Whether they like it or not.”
While Rek and Saris fortified the cave’s entrance with sharpened stakes and concealment glyphs, Seraphine stood in a wide, cleared space between boulders, rolling her shoulders.
Jace watched her curiously from a safe distance. “So… you really control fire?”
She answered by raising her hand.
A flame sparked to life, flickering blue at the base, hot enough to melt through steel. She twirled it between her fingers, let it split into two miniature phoenix wings, then snapped them out in a shockwave that didn’t burn—but woke up every cell in your body.
“Yep,” Jace said. “Okay. No sparring with her.”
“Coward,” Saris muttered, smirking.
Kael stepped beside Seraphine, ice lacing over his knuckles like frost creeping across glass.
“Want to run a few drills?” he asked, voice neutral but eyes gleaming.
She looked him up and down. “You trying to impress me?”
“No,” he said. “Trying to be ready.”
She smiled faintly. “Same thing.”
They circled, both wolves still beneath their skin but close—very close—to the surface. Her fire curled at her fingertips. His frost misted the air between them.
They didn’t touch, but when their magic brushed, the wind howled.
Suddenly, Rek’s voice called from the cave mouth. “We’ve got movement.”
Kael tensed. “Friend or foe?”
Rek grinned. “The shiny one’s here. That fae you mentioned.”
From the treeline, Thorne strolled into view, flipping a silver dagger in one hand and looking entirely too smug for someone wearing enchanted forest-leather and an aura of mischief.
“Someone say party?” he called, boots barely making a sound as he crossed the threshold.
Seraphine arched a brow. “You’re early.”
“I’m fabulous,” he replied. “Time obeys me.”
Rek leaned toward Kael. “Fae.”
“I know,” Kael muttered.
Thorne’s golden eyes scanned the wolves around him with a predator’s curiosity. “Tense bunch. You all growl for fun or just at strangers?”
Saris raised a blade in greeting. “Try me and find out.”
He grinned wider. “Tempting.”
Minutes later, the shadows thickened near the cave wall, and a cold hush settled over the area.
A heartbeat later, Lucien appeared, stepping into view like a painting coming to life—pale skin, sharp cheekbones, crimson-lined cloak fluttering in a breeze that didn’t exist.
“Lucien,” Seraphine said with a nod.
He gave her a tight smile. “You better be dying or drunk. You know I don’t do group efforts.”
“We’re both,” she said flatly. “Pick your poison.”
Lucien’s red eyes shifted to Kael, measuring. “So this is the wolf.”
Kael’s ice stirred, instinctual. “You say that like it’s a problem.”
Lucien’s lips curved. “Not a problem. Just… warm-blooded.”
Rek groaned. “Oh good. A poetic vampire. That won’t be exhausting.”
The temperature dropped suddenly—not from Kael—but from the void that opened across the clearing like a cracked mirror.
From it, Kirael stepped out. Bare-chested, tattooed in demonic glyphs that shimmered with ember-light, and barefoot despite the terrain. His long white hair looked like moonlight dragged through blood.
“Someone call in the apocalypse?” he asked.
Lucien sighed. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Thorne looked thrilled. “Now this is a party.”
Seraphine crossed her arms. “Boys. Behave.”
Kirael smirked at Kael. “You must be the one she’s willing to burn for.”
Kael didn’t blink. “You must be the one I’ll freeze solid if you touch her.”
Kirael grinned wider. “I like him.”
Inside the cave, Rek just stared. “We’re going to die.”
“Maybe,” Kael said. “But it’ll be spectacular.”