She-Dragon stretches when I make it back to her, waking like Flash in his cat form. The dragon turns to me, snapping her jaws after her yawn and glaring. She grumbles deep in her throat, then burps fire.

I jump back, eyeing her warily. “You can be scary when you wake, you know that?”

She lets out a warbling cry that makes me jump again. Her head bobs up and down. It takes a minute for me to realize it’s her laughter. I shake my head.

“Where’re my brothers?”

She sends an image of Zephora coming for them early in the morning, and taking them to play with the other children. It warms my heart, and I know they’ll be in good hands with her. She scares even me, so nothing will mess with them while they’re in her care.

“Alrighty then. What do you think about going hunting?”

She sends me an image of deer and elk herds racing from her shadow.

“Not quite what I had in mind.” I send her an image of innocent people under whip and chain, being forced into servitude under threat of death. Being drugged to keep them pliable.

She leans into me with a keening purr. Her eyes glaze over with pain and sorrow and an empathy that makes my heart ache. She’s been under the thumb of oppression just as I have.

Then she rises up on her hind legs and shoots a ball of fire into the air. The heat scalds my skin and cries come from all around at the display. She huffs as she comes back down, throwing smoke out of her nostrils as her eyes burn like coals. The twin thumps of her feet hitting the ground causes a mini earthquake.

I grin. “I knew you’d be with me.”

She slaps her tail on the ground, the two pronged edge slicing deep into the dirt. Then she settles herself with a shake and nudges my chest. I comply and rub behind her ears, scratching an itchy spot. She lets out a trilling purr. “Alright, sweet girl. I have things to plan. You hungry?”

She settles back on her haunches with a smirk. “No. The panthers here are not food. Well, there might be one or two that I would allow you to taste. But then again, they’d probably be too tough. Cats are a bit stubborn, you know.” She shakes her head with a snort, billowing another round of smoke from her nostrils. Her eyes crease with humor and the feathers on her head bristle. She brings her wings down, lifting her a few feet into the air and flying dirt into my eyes. She casts one last glance behind me before soaring into the sky. I have to dig my heels in to stay upright.

“Hey!” Flash calls out from behind me. “What’s the meaning of calling your dragon down on us, huh?”

“Oh, nothing.” I hide my smirk as I watch my dragon soar over the edge of the plateau. My face is carefully expressionless as I turn to the steaming Werecat.

“Nothing. Nothing he says. Do dogs chase their tales?”

I almost choke on my laughter. “I’m a wolf.”

He crosses his arm and shrugs. “Close enough.”

“Aren’t cats lazy, curious, selfish creatures?”

He gives me a lazy smile. “Yes, of course. Thank you.”

I shake my head. “Wasn’t a compliment.”

His grin widens.

“When are we leaving to head back to your town?” I ask as I head back down to the valley village. Most of the Were give me nods as they pass, others ignore me. I would welcome a fight more than I would welcome their respect at this point in time. I’m more used to it.

“I’ve been told we’d leave as soon as the injured are well enough to travel. It’s going to be a tough journey.”

I nod. I need to get back, but I also understand this. It’s hard to travel wounded. I should know.

“How long do the healers expect?”

“A few days, a week at the most.”

I wince, the time grating on my internal clock. I need to get back to Frida… but she is safe for now. Something I have long put to the back of my mind flares, and I know it’s what I need to do.

We walk on, me in brooding silence while he leaves me to my thoughts. Can I go back there? Can I show my face to the man who became my father… who loved me as his own? I wince, but know this is what needs to be. I need to take Jed and Barry to see him, to let him know his family is safe for now.

While this group is traveling, I could go get him. My siblings would feel safer. He could comfort them. They all need to be reunited, even if that means I am disowned once again. It would be worth it.

You know you should not take the blame of those who do evil. He should not disown you for the actions of those who only know hate, Cynic comments.

I am the one who has done evil.

Yes, idiot, but I’m talking about the Jingoist. About those who tortured your family. The Emperor.

I shake the chaotic thoughts from my head, but know he’s right. The Emperor has been in charge too long, spreading havoc across the nations.

I growl and punch a tree. Bark goes flying as my knuckles sting. I barely felt that. Good to know the silver is gone.

“What’d that tree ever do to you?” I turn to see Flash’s smirking face.

“Careful. Your face is looking awful tempting.” I smile to let him know I’m joking, even as rage roils in my gut.

All emotion drains from his face. I’m surprised at the about turn from the jokester. His face becomes as impenetrable as stone. “Then do it.”

I hold my hands up in surrender. “I won’t punch a brother unless he deserves it.”

“I know. But I also smell your anger from here. It boils off of you like the fire from your dragon. You need to release it, let it out. I’m your best bet of not killing anyone. Or some poor tree.” He grins, slapping me on the back.

The fake smile drops from my face. I sigh. “It’s just so hard to do nothing while many things need done.”

He clasps his hand on my shoulder. “I know. Waiting is the worst part. Spar with me.” He gives my shoulder one last pat before breaking off to circle.

I stand still, listening to his breathing as he walks around me at a casual, if guarded, pace. I close my eyes, stilling my mind as I listen to the rhythmic inward and outward draw of breath from him. Then I hear the trilling of the birds in the woods. The slight scratch and putter as a rabbit digs into its burrow. The soft pattern of Flash, the crunch and rub of his heel to toe step.

I let my other senses take over. I smell the musk of a deer from a mile out. A few grassy and wild scents of Werecats who passed through this area in panther form. The sweet, homey scent of dough baking in the village. Flash with his cedar and fresh air scent as he projects a hint of amusement along with curiosity and a hint of wariness. Good. He’s not a total fool then.

The slight scuff of his boot is all the warning I get. He pounces from the side, a controlled dive meant to take me out in one fell swoop.

I smoothly sidestep and bring my elbow down on his back just hard enough so that he hits the ground with a muffled, “Umph!”

With that technique, I could’ve easily driven my elbow into his spinal cord at the base of his neck and severed it. But I don’t wish to kill him.

He rolls over and quickly recovers. This time I move with him in the ebb and flow of this dance. He jabs forward, and I meet it with a block. Again and again he strikes, and each time I move with the flow of his punches, picking and plucking at his pattern like a frayed thread on a shirt.

He gets past my guard once with a sweeping strike like that of a preying mantis. He smoothly lunged and jabbed before swaying with my movement and sweeping his hand back across my sleeve with fingers outstretched, catching and shredding my sleeve. I back away, appraising this new style. A few inches further and he could have easily drawn blood or caught my wrist. This cat has claws. I give him a slight nod of acknowledgement and he grins with pride sparkling in his gaze before nodding back.

I throw a jab of my own to keep him interested as I turn the thread into a length of twine, ever widening the hole.

Jab jab, uppercut, knee. He throws the pattern often, sometimes reversing the order. A scuff of his toe and I bait my trap with a wide grin. “What’s the matter? Can’t hit the slow dog? Perhaps I should chase my tail and make it easier for you.”

With a growl that would make any wolf proud, he lunges. Jab jab, uppercut. I block the jabs, dodge the uppercut, and catch his knee. He looks at me with wide eyes. “Whoops,” he whispers. I grin.

Before he has time to blink, I swipe his other leg, manipulate his knee, and force him to his stomach. He pats the ground. “Uncle! Uncle I say!”

I let him go with a laugh. I sit down on the ground beside him as he struggles into his back. “Thanks for that. I needed it.”

He groans. “Sure. You needed it. I am NEVER offering to spar you again. You’re ruthless.”

I chuckle, slightly amused. I wasn’t even going that hard. “Well then, I appreciate your willingness to spar this once.”

“I believe it now, ya know. Truly believe it.”

I look at him in question, only to find him staring at me with an unreadable expression.

“Believe what exactly?”

“You truly are bloodfang.”

I wince at the title. It still brings back old wounds. “What, a little sparing session made you believe a tale of a mighty assassin who was made of shifting smoke and could kill even the highest ranking targets?”

He continues to look at me, a serious expression I’m not used to seeing in his eyes makes me

self-consciousness. As if he’s peeling back my secrets. “That little sparing session, as you so called it, was everything I could do wrapped up in a pretty little package. And you could have taken me at any moment. I have trained since I could walk in the arts. But I’ve never seen anything like you. When you moved, it was as if you were there one moment, and just gone the next. I couldn’t lay a finger on you unless you allowed. So yes, I am starting to believe in an assassin that could move like smoke and overcome a skilled warrior or high ranked royal.”

I sigh and lean back on a tree. “The Guild is brutal, but the competition even more so. They had the best possible fighters training us from such an early age that our life revolved around fighting, eating, and sleeping. Not pleasant, but it gets the job done.”

“And yet you were the best, even among your peers.”

I shrug. “I had anger on my side. It’s a strong emotion to rule you day in and out.”

“So what changed?”

I take a deep breath. “That’s a story for another time. But I will tell you this. Love is an even stronger emotion than anger. And the one who fights for love, he is the strongest opponent of all.”

He groans. “That’s it? Seriously? That’s all you’re going to tell me about why you left?”

I chuckle as he continues to moan into the dirt. “Yes. Now come on. I have a flight to catch.” It’s time to see my da again.