For once, however, he didn’t have to save the day. It was honestly kind of refreshing.
The plane hit a rougher bump of turbulence, and the cabin shook violently. Everyone fell, thrown off balance. Anthony caught Tina seconds before she hit the ground and lifted her into a nearby chair.
The fasten seatbelt sign popped on, but a familiar twinge of worry snaked down Anthony’s spine. The sensation that something was very wrong once again reared its head, and he couldn’t ignore it anymore.
At the back of the plane, Killian peeked out of a window. “Zane, I take it this isn’t your hometown?”
Anthony leaned across Tina to see what Killian was referring to. A large stretch of asphalt cut through a dense and swampy forest, the isolated runway devoid of even a single building. Clear to the horizon, there was nothing but ocean and woods.
In a few effortless strides, Anthony reached the reinforced door between the cabin and the pilot and slammed his fist against it, leaving only a dent despite his enhanced strength. This was a plane meant to carry dragons, and the reinforced steel had been constructed with a dragon’s immense strength in mind.
“Open this door!” Anthony shouted at the pilot.
“Right, because that’s going to work.” Draven rolled his eyes.
“Tina, can you control the man in the cockpit?” Anthony asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, she nodded. “Only one guy is in there.” She frowned. “He’s terrified. I think I could stop his heart, but the plane would crash.”
“Okay, Plan B,” Flynn said, tapping his finger on the top of the seat.
Anthony growled and slammed his fist against the door once more, if only to vent his anger.
“Anthony, sit down.” Tina tugged on the back of Anthony’s shirt. “It looks like we’re landing, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He obliged her, nudging her toward the window so he could be between her and anyone that tried to board the plane or leave the cockpit. His mind raced with possible options and outcomes as he debated how to best handle the situation. He had no idea what would be waiting for them on the ground, nor how to best prepare for the chaos that was about to ensue.
His phone chimed, and a group text appeared on the screen with Zane’s recommended battle strategy. Even though Draven was the only one with a known greater power so far, he had the best chance of getting into the pilot’s cabin since his sheer draconic strength would eventually bring down the door if his flames couldn’t. Meanwhile, Flynn, Killian, and Anthony would take out the attackers until Draven could join them. Zane would stay behind to guard Tina as he had back in Indonesia.
Anthony tilted one eyebrow in confusion. “How the hell did you get my number?”
The tiger shifter just winked. Beside Anthony, Tina chuckled.
The plane’s wheels descended and, not long after, the jet landed roughly on the tarmac. The engines roared, reversing to slow them down, and the plane quickly came to a halt.
“Wolves,” Flynn said, staring out the window on the other side of the plane.
Anthony gritted his teeth in anger. No wolves would dare come after what was his. He, Flynn, and Killian stood by the door, Anthony’s body brimming with the need to shift, to put these traitors in their place.
Something ripped the door open from the outside, and Anthony bolted out at the first opportunity. He shifted midair, the brief blisters of pain from his changing body fading the second his massive paws hit the ground. He growled, surveying the battleground to get a feel for how bad it would be.
Ten familiar wolves prowled the tarmac, all of them slightly smaller than him. They were his father’s advisors, generals Anthony had fought beside before, and men Anthony had come to respect over the years at his father’s side.
He snarled with anger, disgusted that men he and his father trusted so dearly would betray him.
Unless … they weren’t betraying his father. His father had sent them.
The words his father had spoken back in Indonesia, back when Anthony had first told him about Tina and Damara suddenly sprang to Anthony’s mind.
She belongs to Wolfcrest. We can’t let her fall into the enemy’s hands.
Anthony stilled as a sobering suspicion tore through him. His father wasn’t trying to steal Tina away because he wanted to claim a goddess who had accidentally stumbled into this world. Rather, the old man merely wanted to finish what he had started.
If that were the case, the sovereign ruler of Wolfcrest had forced Damara onto Earth. He had probably chosen Amy because of her connections, her loyalty to the wolves, and the ease with which he could kidnap her.
The old man had been actively trying to start a war by illegally summoning and hoarding immense power.
The hair on Anthony’s haunches shot up as his anger, hatred, and disgust boiled over. His claws dug into the tarmac, gouging the runway as he snarled with revulsion. As the breeze picked up, he could smell another four wolves hiding in the forest. These had to be the reserves, who would go after Tina when the princes were occupied or outright dead.
The wolves on the landing strip snarled, teeth bared as they warned Anthony to back down.
Never.
Anthony charged for the nearest wolf, but the world around him suddenly blurred by. In the blink of an eye, he crashed into three wolves that had been at least a few dozen yards away, not entirely certain of how he traveled so far so fast. His body hummed with the same energy he had felt during his time in Tina’s bed, and he realized suddenly that Flynn wasn’t the only one whose powers had manifested.
Anthony’s gift was speed.
It’s perfect.
He growled, the grating sound a sultry blend of happiness and bloodlust.
Anthony tore into every wolf nearby, his powerful jaws ripping into fur and bone. He bolted across the tarmac, his incredibly new speed carrying him from wolf to wolf before anyone could so much as lay a claw on him. Blood dribbled over his teeth as he surrendered to the hatred. These wolves had come after Tina. If Anthony’s suspicions were correct, they had also come with orders to kill the other princes and maybe even him.
These fools made a mistake for giving into his father’s thirst for power.
Anthony darted over the battlefield, the world beautifully crisp despite his new abilities. He tore throats and ducked blows, too fast for even his father’s best soldiers to stop him. The taste of blood seared his tongue, and he constantly circled the plane to keep any encroaching wolves at bay.
These men had threatened Tina, and they would die for it.
49
Draven
Draven railed on the cockpit door with all his enhanced strength, but the damn thing wouldn’t budge.
He didn’t want to be on the plane at all. He wanted to be out in the chaos, in his dragon form, doing everything he could to ensure no one got on this jet. The pilot clearly worked for the wolves, though, and he had access to communication equipment that would let him radio for backup. Draven had to make sure the pilot didn’t get the chance.
Furious, ready to rip yet another traitor in half, Draven repeatedly punched at the door while Zane protected Tina at the back of the jet. Draven growled, smoke rolling from his nose as his internal fires raged with hatred.
“Open. This. Damn. Door!” he shouted.
As he lifted his fist to punch the entry yet again, fire engulfed his fist. It didn’t burn his flesh. In fact, if not for the crackle of fire next to his ear, he wouldn’t have even noticed it.