Kings and Sirens (The Blood Falls Book 2)
Kings and Sirens: Chapter 16

Atsila

Leena fell asleep but I did not. The blood in my body sung too loudly. I had taken blood before the battle with the Dreg Army, but that was not an intimacy.

This was very different. Drinking in an emotionally bonded state made her fresh blood mix with mine faster and last longer. It produced a euphoric effect I could only compare to orgasm. Like being on the verge of exploding, but never doing so. I was charged, horny, and incredibly happy.

And that…I think…was what surprised me the most. I hadn’t been truly happy in a very, very long time and to feel its return with her, with Leena, was both deeply satisfying and slightly unnerving.

My promise was going to dissolve under me. I felt that now. My brothers, my Queen and King, all saw what I could not. Perhaps it was different since I didn’t choose an outsider. Fate chose us. I couldn’t deny the deepness of the bond I felt toward her. It was primal. Not against my will, per se, but despite my control. And as Hex pointed out before we left for the Line, she was an invaluable addition.

So while she slept in my arms, safe and protected by me, trusting and satisfied, I allowed myself to finally feel this sense of peace. I had someone to love, someone to protect, someone to help guide me when my instincts took over. She was smaller than was probably right for someone like me, but I’d never hurt her. This affection made me tender in a way that I would otherwise despise, but for her, I knew it was only natural.

Yes, her breasts were supple and oh, so much fun to play with. And yes, I loved the curve of her hip and the way her ass fit right into my hands. Her pussy was heaven whether I was buried inside it with my dick or my tongue. But now it was more. I marveled at the softness of her hair, the bow of her lips, the soft sighs she made when she cuddled closer to me.

Like she needed me.

Fuck, but how I wanted to be needed by her.

I was in a love spiral, giving more of my heart to her while she slept than she’d ever know, when I heard the first alarm ring out. The horns blared first, then the shouts from above.

“Salishan approaching!”

A fear I didn’t know was possible rocketed through me. “Leena my love. Wake up.” I shook her while also pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Wake up!”

She stirred, her eyes opening, still drunk on blood and sex. “What?”

“Need to get you safe. Salishan are coming. Fuck, how did they know?”

Her eyes went wide as she came fully awake. “Safe?”

I rolled out of the hammock taking her with me and setting her on her feet. I didn’t need armor or swords the way the Wren did. All I needed was for her to get far away. “Shift back to the festival. Now!”

She blinked away more sleep and shook her head. “But I’m not supposed to.”

I took her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. “They already know where we are. Shifting back won’t be an issue. Go. Tell Lyla and Hex what’s happening.”

She began nodding. Scared. Fuck. I crushed her against me, her hair in my fist, her body flush against mine. “Everything will be fine.”

“Fuck. Okay. Shit.” She grabbed her things. “Fuck.”

I kissed her one last time on the lips. Then again deeper because I had to. “Go!”

She shifted away without another word.

The attack was swift and brutal. A hundred salishan to our seventy-five. At least that was how I counted things as I shredded a salishan with my claws. They were smaller than us but they fought without hesitation. Wild and brutal. Thanks to Leena, reinforcements arrived and we were able to push them back across the Line.

“Where the hell did they come from?” Hex swore over the body of one of his friends.

“Our first indication was when the group pushed out of the tree line at a dead run for the Line,” the watchtower commander explained. She had blood all over her face and hair and a towel wrapped around her waist that was covered in nearly as much. “They breached the metaphysical wall and then the tree line as if they weren’t even there.”

That was beyond bad news. Not only did it mean they knew we were here, but the walls we thought protected us might not be doing a damn thing.

“Still no evidence they can shift?” he asked.

She shook her head. “None.”

Hex surveyed the mix of Heida and Salishan bodies. “Gather the dead. We’ll bury our own and study the beasts.”

“Could it be a reaction to the eclipse?” The sudden attack reminded me of my own night of horrors far more than I wanted to process.

Hex stared at me for a long while, then nodded once. “We have a pattern now. It’s possible.”

So different than us, but the same in a way. While Samhain felt a drugging effect that also increased our libido, perhaps these creatures felt their own kind of madness and an urge to kill.

It was as good a theory as any at this point.

The rest of the night was punishing. One team stood guard while the rest of us cleaned up. The carts were converted to morgues. The Salishan bodies were shifted back to base for immediate examination. The work took its toll, but we pressed on.

I pressed on.

Exhaustion threatened and I scared it right back. Another slaughter I couldn’t stop. More deaths. I barely registered Klah and Kuruk at my side as we began the trek home. It was as somber as it should be, accompanying the dead to their loved ones. I knew my brothers offered support and solidarity, but all I really wanted was Leena.

My muscles ached with each step. I ignored them. Blood dried on my skin, making it itch. I scraped it away. I saw each fight over and over again in my mind. A Salishan as big as I was in samhain form, head, hands, and feet bizarrely large. Wild eyes. A lust for blood.

Not like a Dreg though. They’d fallen on the dead with unquenchable thirst when the fight was over. These creatures wanted to kill. Their violence and rage were remarkable in the worst ways. Like starving tigers around a wounded hyena.

Leena’s many questions echoed through my mind.

Why do they attack?

Are they hungry? Scared? Is it instinct?

“You’re thinking heavy thoughts, brother,” Kuruk said low so our conversation was private.

“I am.”

“Distract me.”

“They remind me of starving tigers. Desperate, you know? Ferocious.”

Kuruk nodded beside me. The nearly full moon lit the path ahead of us, but its mental effects were dulled by grief. “If they’re starving…what are they eating? Because it’s not blood or flesh.”

I’m psychic.

“Maybe they’re more Plane sensitive than we’ve given them credit for.”

Kuruk’s head perked up, almost as if he were sniffing the air. Maybe he was. “You think they’re feeding off something from the Plane?”

I didn’t reply. Instead I let the question float with possibility.

“That would be bad,” he finally said. “Very bad indeed.”

Especially because it meant we had our enemy all wrong from the start. We were fighting the wrong war. “The greatest mistake an army can make is to assume their enemy is like them. That they share the same needs and desires.” I thought of the last great war. The fairytales and fables told us to be afraid of the dark enemies beyond our world, not because they were like us, but because they weren’t.

We wouldn’t lose this war to the Salishan and we wouldn’t lose to the Dark War if it came again…

because now I had a clue on how to win.