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launched across the room at Finn, tackling him around the waist and

driving him into one of the bookshelves.

Heavy, leather-bound books tumbled from their perch, crashing

over the dueling males, but neither of them seemed to notice. Lasha and

Rya hurried out of the line of fire, while Sion, Jericho, and Tira jumped

into the fray.

Jericho staggered to the side when Kai reared up, catching him in the

jaw with the back of his head. Blood dripped from Tira’s nose, and her

eyes watered when Finn’s right hook went wide, missing Sion

completely and hitting the captain instead. Before long, the scene had

been reduced to nothing more than a mass of flailing legs and flying fists.

Growls, grunts, groans, and a myriad of shouted insults—some Ivy

recognized, some she didn’t—coalesced into an intense roar that likely

echoed throughout the citadel. End tables shattered and splintered,

bookshelves tipped over, spilling their contents across the tiled floor, and

even the stone wall cracked when Kai lifted Finn by his collar and

slammed him into it.

“Do something,” Ivy insisted, looking between the two female

Vaseras.

Sure, she could jump into the fight herself, but it wouldn’t solve

anything. Likely, it would only add more fuel to the fire.

“What would you have me do?” Rya asked, tilting her head to the

side with a bemused smile.

“I don’t know. Teleport them out of here,” Ivy answered, trying to

think of a non-violent solution. “Can you do one of those wind things?

Whatever. Just separate them before they kill each other.”

“Oh, well, I guess, I could…” Rya held her hands out in front of her,

palms up, and chanted under her breath, sending a steam of clear water

from her fingertips.

Yelling and coughing, everyone jerked apart, wiping their sodden

hair from their faces as they turned to glare.

“What the fuck, princess?” Sion demanded of Rya.

“Ivy?” Staring down at his sodden clothes, Kai curled his upper lip

over his teeth and growled. “Am I being punished for protecting you?”

Swiping his wet hair out of his face, he advanced toward her, but

stopped when Rya hit him in the chest with another stream of icy water.

Ivy bit her bottom lip and tried not to laugh. “I insulted Finn, so he

blew me.” Well, that sounded more provocative than she’d intended.

“Finn magicked up a blast of wind.” It hadn’t even hurt, just pissed her

off. “Then you broke his nose.” She was pretty sure Finn’s nose hadn’t

been twisted at that angle before the fight had started. “Now, you’re all

wet, and everyone is even.”

“What about me?” Sion sneered. “What did I do—” He sputtered

when Rya hit him with a blast of water to shut him up. “Damn it!” he

bellowed. “Princess, I swear to the stars, if you do that one more time,

I’m—”

Rya smirked, dousing him square in the face to silence him. “You’ll

what?” she questioned, her tone deceptively innocent. “You’ll stand

there and bleed?”

“Ivy Dalton, is this really nec—”

Ivy had created a monster, but she couldn’t stop laughing at the look

of murderous rage on Tira’s face when Rya blasted her with an icy jet.

“If you’d all just shut up and stop trying to kill each other, she’d stop

spraying you.” Ivy really needed to learn that little trick. “Nice job,” she

praised the Vasera from the corner of her mouth.

“Dove, you do realize you started this?” Kai’s soaked tunic clung to

him, highlighting every dip and curve of his tight body.

Unwilling to let him distract her, Ivy forced herself to look away, but

she nodded at his question. “I did, and I’m not sorry.”

She’d do whatever necessary to protect her mate from the elders,

even incite a rebellion.

Days passed without incident, without any attempt on either Ivy’s or her

mate’s life, and the waiting was making her mental. The Vaseres and

Vaseras had left to return to their respective islands, and Ivy still didn’t

know if anything had been accomplished.

Lasha wanted no part of the anarchy Ivy proposed until she had more

information. If the elders were found guilty of plotting against Kai, she’d

consider an alliance against the Court, but not before. Rya and Jericho

both seemed eager for change, but even they wouldn’t stand against the

elders without proof of wrongdoing.

That only left Finn.

With a handy bit of magic, Rya had repaired his fractured nose, but

it still listed to the left a bit. By the end of their meeting in the library,

Finn had retreated to more neutral territory, refusing to choose one side

or the other, an island apart. He didn’t seem to have any loyalty to the

Court, so Ivy couldn’t figure out why he remained so stubborn, so

resistant to change—until Kai had informed her that Finn’s mate was the

niece of Elder Meadowlark and Tira’s only sister.

Cora hadn’t accompanied her mate to the celebration, so Ivy had yet

to meet her. Somehow, she didn’t feel like she’d missed out, and she

doubted the female would be anything like her sister. From what she’d

heard from both Tira and Kai, Corasylleth Silveroak was an entitled, self-

important, spoiled princess with more ambition than brains.

Ivy’s booted feet pounded harder, faster through the slick mud as she

traversed the trails that ran through the forest near the Valley. She’d

awoken before sunrise, annoyed and restless. Running usually helped

her think, but so far, she only had more questions and no answers.

Tira, along with a small battalion of other guards, stood watch at

different points along the trails while Sion jogged through the forest

beside her on four legs. She’d seen him shift a dozen times, yet the big,

russet-colored cat still fascinated her.

Wyn floated next to her in something that looked like pictures she’d

seen of automobiles from the twenty-first century. Only his vehicle had

no wheels, no roof, and no windows. The Xenons called it a “glider”

which sounded practical since it glided soundlessly a few inches above

the uneven ground.

On the seat beside him, Hamlet turned his face up to the sun and

closed his eyes, clearly enjoying his time outdoors. Of course, Wyn

hadn’t been enthusiastic to babysit the piglet, but then again, Ivy didn’t

really give a damn what he liked.

Topping a small hill that overlooked the Valley, Ivy slowed to a walk

and eventually stopped when she reached the peak. They’d been granted

a reprieve from the persistent rains—at least for the morning—and the

bluish rays from the sun glinted off the drops of water that still clung to

the leaves and grass.

Below her, flowers in the communal garden bloomed in a rainbow of

colors, their petals swaying in the gentle breeze. Willowhips hummed

their songs from nearby branches, and a faint hint of hollygrass wafted

through the air.

“It really is beautiful here,” she said to no one in particular as she

used the hem of her shirt to mop the sweat that beaded over her brow.

The morning was peaceful, and in that moment, she could almost

believe that no problems awaited her back in the city. The normally

emerald sky had been doused in shades of pink and purple, bringing a

measure of cheerfulness to the island that definitely didn’t match her

dark mood.

The big cat rose up on his back legs, shifting mid-stretch back into a

man. Ivy averted her eyes to give Sion privacy while he retrieved his

clothes from the glider and dressed quickly.

“Good run?” he asked, grabbing a clear, glass bottle stoppered with

a cork from the glider, and passed it to her. “Here, you need some

water.”

Ivy reached for it, but it slipped off the tips of her fingers before she

could grasp it, and she watched as the bottle tumbled to the ground,

shattering against a grouping of rocks.

“Damn it!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Sion lifted Hamlet by the scruff of his neck

and set him in the grass. “I’ll get it.”

The
bekshin
squeaked and grunted, jumping around happily and

spinning in circles as he chased his tails. Then he bounded up the sodden

path, splashing in the puddles before flopping down in the mud at Ivy’s

feet and wiggling around on his back.

“Well, at least someone’s happy,” Sion commented, reappearing with

his hands full of broken glass.

Ivy shot Sion a look of censure, and her gaze flickered to Wyn. The

sentry stared down into the Valley with a vague grin, and he didn’t

appear to be paying any attention to them.

“He’s always happy.” She bent over and scratched his belly, grinning

when he squeaked again. “Aren’t you, Hamlet? Yes, you are. You’re a

good boy.” Straightening, she reached up to adjust her ponytail and

sighed. “I guess we should start heading back.”

“I could transport you to the shuttle,” Wyn offered as he climbed out

of the glider and offered his hand.

Not wanting to arouse suspicion, Ivy pretended to consider him for

a long time before finally shaking her head. “Thanks, but transporting

always make me a little woozy. Besides, I’m not finished with my run.”

“Very well, I’ll inform the captain.”

“What are we doing for the rest of the day?” Sion asked, dumping the

broken glass into the floorboard of the glider. Bending at the waist, he

laced up his boots, preparing to run back with her in his human form. “I

think it’s almost lunchtime.”

While she’d skipped breakfast, she didn’t feel hungry. Mostly, she

just felt amped up, like a string pulled too tight and thrummed too often.

Sitting around the library with a book sounded awful, and wandering

through the city so everyone could gawk or glare didn’t appeal to her,

either.

Frankly, she just wanted to hit something. Maybe that would relieve

some of the anger, frustration, and anxiety building inside her, because

running sure as hell hadn’t provided the outlet she needed.

“We’re going to the training hall.”

* * * *

blow she delivered to the punching bag in the training hall. “They hide

in their castles.” Sweat dampened her hair and trickled down her back

as she slammed her fists into the leather over and over. “They hide

behind their titles.” Twisting to the right, she threw her elbow into the

bag and followed with a swift back kick. “Pathetic.”

Rocking back on his heels from the last blow, Sion straightened and

steadied the bag for her. He hadn’t said a word in nearly an hour, hadn’t

in any way acknowledged her irate ranting.

“Well, say something.” Taking a step back, she rested her hands on

her hips and panted from the exertion.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course.” Obviously, working out with the heavy bag and

sparring in the training sim hadn’t diminished her irritation with the

Vaseres or Vaseras, but he spoke as if she was sick or something. “I guess

I seem a little frantic, but I’m fine. Really.”

“Ivy, you haven’t stopped moving in hours. It’s not normal, and I

seriously doubt it’s healthy.”

“I’m fine,” she snapped, throwing another punch at the bag. “Just

tired of waiting for something to happen. Something has to give.”

Stepping back, she folded her arms over her chest when Sion snorted at

her. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t hold back. Whatever you have to say, let’s hear it.”

“What do you want me to say, Ivy? That you’re right? That they can’t

hide forever? That things have to change?” He turned his head

marginally, watching Wyn pace on the far side of the room near the

entrance of the training center. “Things have been this way for hundreds

of thousands of years. You’re not going to change that in the course of a

few days.”

“I know!” That didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Why do you even care so much? This doesn’t effect you.”

“This effects all of us!”

Cami and Tariq didn’t want to stay on the planet, and while she’d

miss her friends, she understood. Without the Court’s permission, they

couldn’t leave. Ivy had been granted zero contact with the Alliance

beyond her one message. Someone had attacked her in Xenon airspace,

and no one had a freaking clue who they were or what they wanted.

As her list of complaints grew, so did her anger, and Ivy cocked her

elbow back and drove her fist toward the punching bag again. Instead of

connecting with the sand-filled leather, however, a strong, warm palm

caught her hand with a loud smack of flesh against flesh.

“Damn it, Kai!” she yelled. It didn’t startle her anymore when he

suddenly materialized in a room, but it did irritate the hell out of her.

“You have got to stop doing that!”

The amused smirk fell from his lips as his eyes raked over her body.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”