Traded

*Merikh

A burst of flame shoots over my head as I drop to my stomach, the heat enough to make my skin feel as if I am standing too close to a bonfire. I roll to my left and up onto my knees, crouching low toward the massive jaded rock where Percy is hiding. Blood pours from above his right eye, but he wears a smile, nonetheless.

Not an excited smile, a manic psychotic one that says he hopes to go out in a literal blaze of glory. His fighting has been stellar aside from the few times he has left himself open to an attack of two I have had to blunder. The more I look at him, the more concerned I am that the openings are intentional.

“You are not allowed to let yourself get killed.” I growl at him, watching as he responds to my command. There is a hint of annoyance in his eyes before he chuckles and nods.

“If I die, I will die doing my job.” he grins, inching up the rock to take a peek over.

“We are pinned down.” I murmur. “The assholes burned us into a fucking corner.”

“I can distract them so you can run.” Percy says immediately, and I shoot him a scowl. This kid’s death wish is getting a little out of hand.

“Pinned down doesn’t mean we are out of the fight, Perc. This isn’t a game of chess, this is war.” I say, scanning the area. “It just means we need to get a little creative.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

He snorts, reaching up and pressing on the injury to his head.

“I’m not feeling all that creative, Alpha.” He says.

Another blast encases the outside of the rock, flames licking around the side as we move closer together to avoid the heat. I sigh, closing my eyes as I try to process what to do next. In truth, I’m not feeling all that damn creative either. But I am feeling like I will do anything to get away.

“How about desperate?” I ask him with a smile, “You feeling that?” and he nods.

“Yea, feeling a lot desperate at the moment” Percy mutters, dropping his head against the rock. “This heat is making me fucking sweaty and irritable.”

I couldn’t agree more with him. As lycans, we run a little warmer anyway without

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faster metabolism. But this? This shit is unbearable and all I can think about is a tall glass of ice cold water and a cool dip in the healing waters with my luna. But if I want either of those things, we need to get a damn move on. And fast.

“How much time do we have between the bursts of flames?” I ask him.

We noticed before they need time to recover before they rain their fire down on us for extended periods of time. The only thing we have going for us is that they want to cook us on this blasted boulder so they are combining their forces to blow flames at the same time.

“Maybe a minute, tops.” He mutters, “Have you not heard from Luna Letty yet? Is she out?”

I shake my head, licking my parched lips in frustration. It has been a solid fucking forty–five minutes of fighting. We lost our lycans over ten minutes ago from the exhaustion and the way we are dehydrated like a bunch of grapes in the desert sun.

“She isn’t reaching out or responding.” I mutter, my stomach in knots at the thought that maybe she didn’t make it out, or she was knocked unconscious and hidden deeper in their fortress of ash and death.

“We can’t leave her.” Percy says, a look of determination on his brow.

“Not a thing in the world that could make me leave her here in this living hell, Perc. But we may need to escape and regroup. We aren’t any good to her if we are dead.”

Just then, the fire ceases and I make the split decision to grab his arm and run. I bolt up, yanking on Percy as I drag him along, tripping over the hot terrain in our bare feet. I can feel the way the hot rocks dip into my skin with ease,

skin with ease, like butter on a hot skillet and it spurs faster movement.

“Move

mine.

your ass, Percy.” I command and he groans, kicking up his speed to match

“I will never want to be in heat ever again,” he scoffs. “No more beach vacation, I’m going to the swiss alps to ski every year now.”

As we run, I can hear the hiss of the air, the dragons preparing themselves to set us on fire like a match struck on a rock and I glance back to see them lumbering behind us. I can only be thankful none of the assholes we have encountered today have been able to fly.

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100 thu, Jul 28 1 Gro

“Percy, I demand you shift and run as fast and as far as you can.” I say in my alpha command voice. He lycan takes over at once, looking labored and exhausted as he tries to fight my command to run. “Now!” roar.

He hisses angrily before taking off at an incredible pace as I force my lycan out, begging him for everything he has. He takes over, reluctantly, as I see someone off in distance now more than a few miles across the barren charred rumble we are racing over.

I focus on them, recognizing Caspian as he lifts a hand, then I see her frame. It has to be here. My lycan pushes himself harder once we focus on her. She stumbles to the ground and I see two figures rush to her and try to lift her as she shoves them off.

“RUN!” I hear her voice through the dry air, a shiver running down my spine at the desperation of her plea.

Percy falls to the ground in front of me, his human form taking over as he grunts and remains unmoving. I stoop to pick him up, looking over my shoulder, begging the moon goddess for just a little more time. But there is no stopping what is already predetermined sometimes as the flames come hurling my way.

I fall on top of Percy, shielding his body as the hairs on my lycan back burn in the heat and my skin feels like it may melt. I cry out in pain, a roar unlike any I have ever let out as the heat suddenly stops. The screaming continues and I look around, realizing the cry isn’t mine, but someone in the distance.

Cool water splashes over me as I gasp in relief and close my eyes, relishing the way it feels on my heated flesh. Tears may mix into the wetness pouring down as I try to catch what I can with my open mouth.

Two figures sprint toward us, and I push off of Percy, standing to look around. The dragons rush forward, their flames drenched and unable to ignite again. I sprint through the wall of water, grabbing a slim, sharp rock. The dragon nearest me rears its head up before baring his teeth at me as he tries to catch my head.

I slide beneath him, the searing rocks tearing the skin from my shins as I jam the -rock up and under one of his scales. It squelches, and he roars, shifting back into human form, holding the rock under his arm as blood pours down. He sneers at me, taking three steps away, the other dragons stopping and waiting for command. Then, as if they hadn’t been trying to kill us, they turn, shift and spin on their heels, running away. I watch as the one with the rock embedded in his arm goes

slack, his eyes red as he drops his hand and spins like the others, sprinting back as if he had been beckoned by their puppet master.

“Merikh!” I hear Hayes screaming as he rushes toward me. Leandra is heading toward Percy, and I look up to see someone on the ground and everyone else surrounding them. I hustle toward him, meeting him halfway while never removing my eyes from the figure on the ground.

“Is that…” I choke on the words.

“Yes.“..

“And she is okay?” I ask, looking at him as he grows pale.

“She will be,” he says, handing me a pair of shorts and shoes. I slip both on, gritting my teeth at the pain.

“Percy is drained.” I tell him. “He will need to be carried.”

“And what about you?” He asks me seriously. I shake

my

“No, I don’t need carrying.” I smirk. “I will carry Colette.”

head.

It takes longer than I would like to make it to where they are surrounding Colette, who lays looking like a dirt smeared angel. I kneel, not paying attention to the way my body screams at every action, and I press my lips to her forehead and stroke her cheek.

“Oh, my little Luna.” I murmur, taking in her injured and malnourished body. “What did they do to you?”

“We need to get moving if we want to get to our pack quickly,” Hayes says, and I shake my head, looking up at Caspian, who wears a worried look on his face.

“We aren’t going back to the pack.” I say softly, brushing her sweaty hair from her brow.

“Alpha, is that wise? The mansion is likely not the safest place.” Hayes says.

“She heals faster in water.” I remind him, “And she will probably heal faster in the ocean where her siren half will thrive, so that is where we will go. You will take Percy and Leandra to the pack. I will go with Caspian and Colette.”

“War is coming-”

16:00 Thu, Jul 25 B G 0

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“War is already fucking here, Hayes.” I yell at him. “Look the fuck around. They stole the fucking Lycan Queen!”

He looks away, clenching his jaw in frustration as I sigh.

“Hayes, I need you to take the pack to our secondary location. We will meet you there in a week. If Colette is not healthy enough by then, well then I will come alone.”

*Merikh

A burst of flame shoots over my head as I drop to my stomach, the heat enough to make my skin feel as if I am standing too close to a bonfire. I roll to my left and up onto my knees, crouching low toward the massive jaded rock where Percy is hiding. Blood pours from above his right eye, but he wears a smile, nonetheless.

Not an excited smile, a manic psychotic one that says he hopes to go out in a literal blaze of glory. His fighting has been stellar aside from the few times he has left himself open to an attack of two I have had to blunder. The more I look at him, the more concerned I am that the openings are intentional.

“You are not allowed to let yourself get killed.” I growl at him, watching as he responds to my command. There is a hint of annoyance in his eyes before he chuckles and nods.

“If I die, I will die doing my job.” he grins, inching up the rock to take a peek over.

“We are pinned down.” I murmur. “The assholes burned us into a fucking corner.”

“I can distract them so you can run.” Percy says immediately, and I shoot him a scowl. This kid’s death wish is getting a little out of hand.

“Pinned down doesn’t mean we are out of the fight, Perc. This isn’t a game of chess, this is war.” I say, scanning the area. “It just means we need to get a little creative.”

He snorts, reaching up and pressing on the injury to his head.

“I’m not feeling all that creative, Alpha.” He says.

Another blast encases the outside of the rock, flames licking around the side as we move closer together to avoid the heat. I sigh, closing my eyes as I try to process what to do next. In truth, I’m not feeling all that damn creative either. But I am feeling like I will do anything to get away.

“How about desperate?” I ask him with a smile, “You feeling that?” and he nods.

“Yea, feeling a lot desperate at the moment” Percy mutters, dropping his head against the rock. “This heat is making me fucking sweaty and irritable.”

I couldn’t agree more with him. As lycans, we run a little warmer anyway without

111

faster metabolism. But this? This shit is unbearable and all I can think about is a tall glass of ice cold water and a cool dip in the healing waters with my luna. But if I want either of those things, we need to get a damn move on. And fast.

“How much time do we have between the bursts of flames?” I ask him.

We noticed before they need time to recover before they rain their fire down on us for extended periods of time. The only thing we have going for us is that they want to cook us on this blasted boulder so they are combining their forces to blow flames at the same time.

“Maybe a minute, tops.” He mutters, “Have you not heard from Luna Letty yet? Is she out?”

I shake my head, licking my parched lips in frustration. It has been a solid fucking forty–five minutes of fighting. We lost our lycans over ten minutes ago from the exhaustion and the way we are dehydrated like a bunch of grapes in the desert sun.

“She isn’t reaching out or responding.” I mutter, my stomach in knots at the thought that maybe she didn’t make it out, or she was knocked unconscious and hidden deeper in their fortress of ash and death.

“We can’t leave her.” Percy says, a look of determination on his brow.

“Not a thing in the world that could make me leave her here in this living hell, Perc. But we may need to escape and regroup. We aren’t any good to her if we are dead.”

Just then, the fire ceases and I make the split decision to grab his arm and run. I bolt up, yanking on Percy as I drag him along, tripping over the hot terrain in our bare feet. I can feel the way the hot rocks dip into my skin with ease,

skin with ease, like butter on a hot skillet and it spurs faster movement.

“Move

mine.

your ass, Percy.” I command and he groans, kicking up his speed to match

“I will never want to be in heat ever again,” he scoffs. “No more beach vacation, I’m going to the swiss alps to ski every year now.”

As we run, I can hear the hiss of the air, the dragons preparing themselves to set us on fire like a match struck on a rock and I glance back to see them lumbering behind us. I can only be thankful none of the assholes we have encountered today have been able to fly.

111

100 thu, Jul 28 1 Gro

“Percy, I demand you shift and run as fast and as far as you can.” I say in my alpha command voice. He lycan takes over at once, looking labored and exhausted as he tries to fight my command to run. “Now!” roar.

He hisses angrily before taking off at an incredible pace as I force my lycan out, begging him for everything he has. He takes over, reluctantly, as I see someone off in distance now more than a few miles across the barren charred rumble we are racing over.

I focus on them, recognizing Caspian as he lifts a hand, then I see her frame. It has to be here. My lycan pushes himself harder once we focus on her. She stumbles to the ground and I see two figures rush to her and try to lift her as she shoves them off.

“RUN!” I hear her voice through the dry air, a shiver running down my spine at the desperation of her plea.

Percy falls to the ground in front of me, his human form taking over as he grunts and remains unmoving. I stoop to pick him up, looking over my shoulder, begging the moon goddess for just a little more time. But there is no stopping what is already predetermined sometimes as the flames come hurling my way.

I fall on top of Percy, shielding his body as the hairs on my lycan back burn in the heat and my skin feels like it may melt. I cry out in pain, a roar unlike any I have ever let out as the heat suddenly stops. The screaming continues and I look around, realizing the cry isn’t mine, but someone in the distance.

Cool water splashes over me as I gasp in relief and close my eyes, relishing the way it feels on my heated flesh. Tears may mix into the wetness pouring down as I try to catch what I can with my open mouth.

Two figures sprint toward us, and I push off of Percy, standing to look around. The dragons rush forward, their flames drenched and unable to ignite again. I sprint through the wall of water, grabbing a slim, sharp rock. The dragon nearest me rears its head up before baring his teeth at me as he tries to catch my head.

I slide beneath him, the searing rocks tearing the skin from my shins as I jam the -rock up and under one of his scales. It squelches, and he roars, shifting back into human form, holding the rock under his arm as blood pours down. He sneers at me, taking three steps away, the other dragons stopping and waiting for command. Then, as if they hadn’t been trying to kill us, they turn, shift and spin on their heels, running away. I watch as the one with the rock embedded in his arm goes

slack, his eyes red as he drops his hand and spins like the others, sprinting back as if he had been beckoned by their puppet master.

“Merikh!” I hear Hayes screaming as he rushes toward me. Leandra is heading toward Percy, and I look up to see someone on the ground and everyone else surrounding them. I hustle toward him, meeting him halfway while never removing my eyes from the figure on the ground.

“Is that…” I choke on the words.

“Yes.“..

“And she is okay?” I ask, looking at him as he grows pale.

“She will be,” he says, handing me a pair of shorts and shoes. I slip both on, gritting my teeth at the pain.

“Percy is drained.” I tell him. “He will need to be carried.”

“And what about you?” He asks me seriously. I shake

my

“No, I don’t need carrying.” I smirk. “I will carry Colette.”

head.

It takes longer than I would like to make it to where they are surrounding Colette, who lays looking like a dirt smeared angel. I kneel, not paying attention to the way my body screams at every action, and I press my lips to her forehead and stroke her cheek.

“Oh, my little Luna.” I murmur, taking in her injured and malnourished body. “What did they do to you?”

“We need to get moving if we want to get to our pack quickly,” Hayes says, and I shake my head, looking up at Caspian, who wears a worried look on his face.

“We aren’t going back to the pack.” I say softly, brushing her sweaty hair from her brow.

“Alpha, is that wise? The mansion is likely not the safest place.” Hayes says.

“She heals faster in water.” I remind him, “And she will probably heal faster in the ocean where her siren half will thrive, so that is where we will go. You will take Percy and Leandra to the pack. I will go with Caspian and Colette.”

“War is coming-”

“War is already fucking here, Hayes.” I yell at him. “Look the fuck around. They stole the fucking Lycan Queen!”

He looks away, clenching his jaw in frustration as I sigh.

“Hayes, I need you to take the pack to our secondary location. We will meet you there in a week. If Colette is not healthy enough by then, well then I will come alone.”