King of Prey: (A Bird Shifter Novel) (9 page)

It took Kabril a second to realize he was being laughed at—again. He punched out quickly, catching Sachin’s right cheek. “I do not find this amusing. I hold her in high regard.”

“Do you?” Sachin mocked. “I would have never guessed. I mean, with all the nights you have spent in shifted form, doing your best to reduce your size to that of an earth bird—the shame in that alone is enough to suggest you more than hold her in high regard, but you are not ready to admit the true extent of your feelings for her. Are you?”

He scowled. “I wish to know how the enemy found us? The falcons know I am here therefore they know Rossi is sitting on the throne in my absence.”
 

“Your brother will protect the kingdom,” stated Sachin. “Your place is here and now.”
 

“Yes, the prophecy you speak so much of.” Kabril spat to the side. “I curse it and all it stands for.”
 

Sachin looked tired. “Again?”
 

“Yes, again.”
 

“Forgive me if I hide my shock. Now, as for Rayna.”

His chest tightened at the thought of Rayna falling into the enemy’s hands. He couldn’t believe his enemy had tracked him down on Earth and attacked. “She is most displeased with me.”

Rubbing his jaw, Sachin nodded. “I know. You did not have to take your anger out on Rayna. She was unaware the feather belonged to the Falco. Her heart is big. Her concern for you is even bigger. Did you not sense the fear in her voice when she called your name?”

Kabril had sensed her fear. It had eaten at him as he flew high in the air above her, killing the enemy and disposing of them downriver. It had pained Kabril greatly, not being able to shout out, let Rayna know he was near. The last thing he wanted to do was have her find out what he truly was during a battle. She wouldn’t understand.

Sachin patted Kabril’s shoulder. “Go. Fly for a bit and clear your mind. I shall guard Rayna.”

Chapter Sixteen

Still muttering curses, Rayna headed for her tent. She couldn’t believe how arrogant Kabril was suddenly being. Sure, he tended to say odd things and come off as old-fashioned but he’d taken it too far.
 

Way too far.

She had half a mind to go back and kick him square in the backside. How dare he speak to her like that? Especially after they’d finally taken the next step. They’d made out. If he didn’t have a way of making her body feel like she’d fallen through the gates of heaven she might actually find him and drown him.

The idea had merit.

“Men are jerks,” she mumbled. She was about to continue on her one-woman tantrum when something shuffled to her side. Glancing in that direction, Rayna froze as she spotted a man she didn’t know standing there, a wild look about him. He had very long, very blond hair that was partially tied back with leather straps. That wasn’t the weirdest part. The guy was wearing a loincloth.

Nothing but a friggin scrap of material over his groin. She had to be hallucinating. No one ran around in a loincloth.
 

Did they?

She swallowed hard. The way he was glaring at her through eyes of burnt umber said he wasn’t there to ask for directions to the nearest village or chitchat.

No.
 

He was up to no good. Her mind tried to rationalize why he was there and where he’d come from but she came up empty. They were in such a remote area of the jungle that no one should have happened upon them.

She thought back to the odd behavior from Kabril and Sachin—when she’d assumed jaguars were stalking them. She realized then that neither man had really said as much.
 

“So you are the human their king is so fond of,” he said, his voice deep. He had the same hard to place accent as Kabril and Sachin. Fear rushed over her.
 

Rayna took a tiny step back, already understanding the man meant to do her harm.
 

A wry grin spread over the stranger’s face. “Running is pointless. Come quietly and I shall make your death as painless as possible.”

My death?

She yelped.

The man moved closer, walking in a wide circle around her. Everything about him screamed predator yet she got the sense he was actually struggling with himself. As if hurting her might go against his nature.
 

Great.
 

Crazy jungle serial killer with a conscience.
 

Rayna lifted her hands as if to say, no threat here. Which there wasn’t but still. She felt the gesture might be needed to prove she wasn’t anything the man should worry about. Other than the fact she wanted to scream until she went hoarse. Maybe Kabril and Sachin would hear her and come running.

Or maybe they wouldn’t.

Maybe she was totally on her own.
 

She’d never believed herself to be a fighter. She’d also never had her life in jeopardy such as now. Something deep within Rayna snapped. She bent down quickly, seized hold of one of the retaining wall rocks for the fire and pitched it at him. A scream tore free of her as she did. The man sidestepped the rock with ease, looking amused by her efforts to keep him at bay. The dirt she’d accidentally cast with the rock rained down upon him. His laughter faded instantly as some of the dirt made its way into the wound on his side.

He lunged at her. Rayna tucked and rolled away from the fire pit, kicking with one leg as he approached. She scored a direct gut hit. Pain radiated up her leg. The man was solid muscle. He snaked an arm around her waist and the next thing she knew, she was being lifted off the ground.

High off the ground.

What the hell?

As the campsite below seemed to shrink, her stomach dropped and fear held her screams. She knew she should call out. Do something. Anything to alert Kabril and Sachin of what was happening, but she could scarcely wrap her mind around it, let alone warn others.

Chapter Seventeen

“Calm down,” Sachin said, keeping a safe distance from Kabril.

“Calm down?” he echoed, wanting to kill something, anything. “The woman I wish to rule by my side for all eternity runs off into the jungle rather than spend another moment with me and you tell me to calm down?”

“We will find her, my lord.”

Kabril froze. “Why is it you are not correcting me—telling me how we will find my mate soon and that Rayna can never rule by my side?”

Sachin whistled as he averted his gaze. A sinking feeling came over Kabril as he clenched his fists. He knew Sachin well enough to know his old friend was up to his antics again. “Why is it I think you have been trifling with me from the moment we came to Earth?”

“Perhaps—” Sachin kept his gaze directed anywhere but at Kabril. “—it is because I have been trifling with you.”

“What?” he bellowed.

Sachin stiffened. “I know you, Kabril. You would have resisted your pull to her had you known the truth. It is part of your stubborn nature,
my lord
.”

“The truth?” Kabril arched a brow in question, not liking the added my lord. “What truth?”

Sachin held his secrets close. Growling, Kabril stared at his long-time friend. “This conversation is far from over. Now we hunt for Rayna. Once I have her safely within my sight, you will tell me all you have been keeping from me.”

“As you wish, my lord.” Sachin bent his head and yanked his shirt off, shifting into partial hawk form as he did. Large brown and white feathers rippled over his shoulders as a set of wings emerged from his upper back. Sachin, like Kabril and most other strong warriors, could shift portions of his body on command without pain and for indefinite periods of time. They could also do full shifts if need be.

Kabril did the same, shifting enough to be able to fly. As his wings sprouted forth from his shoulder blades, Kabril took a deep breath, enjoying the rare treat. While on Earth, he had to use caution not to be discovered. Shifting was a luxury. He flexed his wings, each spanning close to ten feet, and took one last look around the campsite.

He shouldn’t care that Rayna walked out on him, but he couldn’t help himself. Even if she wasn’t the woman the prophecy spoke of, he’d come to care for her. The jungle was no place to wander alone. Especially not with an enemy attack having just been thwarted. As Kabril went to lift off the ground, he noticed something near the doused fire pit. One of the retaining wall rocks was missing.

He glanced around the area and found it off to the side of the site. There was something else there. A single bloodied feather. Not the one he’d forced Rayna to drop—a new one.

Suddenly, it felt as if he’d been struck in the midriff. The air swooshed from his lungs and his knees weakened. He was unable to believe they’d missed a Falco warrior, even with the proof lying right before him. Kabril clawed at the ground, shaking his head in denial as his body contorted in pain—partially shifting, then un-shifting, at an alarming rate. Vaguely, he heard someone crying out. It took a moment for him to register the fact that it was him and that he was calling for his mate—his Rayna.

Chapter Eighteen

Kabril held tight to one of his advisor’s throats. The urge to choke the life from the man was great. “Speak out against my decision again and I will kill you with my bare hands.”

Rossi, his brother and soon-to-be the next target of his rage, touched his shoulder tentatively. “Kabril, unhand him. He speaks only the truth. To invade
Falco Peregrinus
with no preparation, to rescue, what—a human female who is not even your chosen one—is beyond foolish. It is deadly.”

Swinging his fist, Kabril caught his brother’s jaw and sent him hurtling into the thick castle wall. “They have
my Rayna
! I am king here. When I order an attack, it is to be carried out. No questions asked.”

Rossi stared up, his blue gaze icy. “You have not been king here for many moons.”

“Think you to overthrow me, little brother?” Kabril asked, his voice bristling with anger.

“Why should I not?” Rossi was always the one to butt heads with Kabril. He was a long way from actually seeing the throne for himself but had the leadership skills needed in Kabril’s absence. “You abandon your people on a quest to retrieve the one the Oracle foretold coming, yet you are gone for many moons before returning with tales of another female. You then wish for our men to rush to their deaths to save a pathetic, vile human. Seems to me, big brother, overthrowing is the least I could do for you. The female’s life is not worth even one of our own, let alone hundreds upon hundreds.”

Sachin stepped forward and delivered a swift kick to Rossi’s side. “Speak no ill of your future queen! Rayna is a wonderful, loving human who has done as the Oracle predicted and won the heart of our king.”

A chorus of gasps followed Sachin’s statement. The advisors began whispering amongst themselves while Kabril stared at his long-time friend. Sachin’s words began to sink in and Kabril felt his resolve crumble. He’d not been in his right state of mind from the moment Rayna went missing and suddenly, Sachin’s hints hit Kabril with the force of a hundred men. “She is my…my…my true mate?”

Nodding, Sachin lowered his gaze but stood proud. “On the day you first laid eyes upon her, my lord, you whispered how sweet she was and that you would give all to have her be the one. I knew better than to tell you she was your mate because of how stubborn you can be. You did as I’d hoped you would do. You made her like you, won her trust and, I believe, her heart.”

“But I lost her.” The words fell from his lips in more of a sigh than anything else.

Sachin glanced at the table full of advisors. “Our queen has been taken by our enemy. All of you are aware of the prophecy. Should our lands once more know the sound of children, we must act quickly. Our king wishes to strike with our combined power. Dare you deny him this?”

Chapter Nineteen

Rayna sat, her knees tucked under her chin and her gaze planted firmly on the back of her abductor. The man, or whatever he was, leaned over, dipping his hand into clear water and using it to rinse his wounds. Each time he brought the water to his open flesh, he hissed, leaving Rayna little doubt about how much pain he was in. He’d favored his side for a while. She noticed right away how filthy the wound was, caked in dirt and blood.

She slid her foot back and forth on the river’s edge, still unsure where she was. The area, while dense in foliage, trees and flowers, wasn’t the same as where she’d been. It also wasn’t as humid.

The man glanced over his shoulder. “We are in the Tocallie Mountains. In the Accipitridae realm.”

She opened her mouth to comment but he cut her off. “And no, this is not Earth.”

Not Earth? Accipitridae realm?

Closing her eyes, Rayna tried and failed to process all that had happened. Men who grew wings and flew in the air didn’t exist. Other realms didn’t exist. None of this could be real. She pinched her arm, trying to wake herself up, but realized it was a living nightmare.

“W-who are you?”

The man continued to cleanse his wounds. “An enemy of your king.”

“My king?” she asked, not following.

A sardonic grin spread over his face. “I suppose you would not view Kabril as your king. Humans have no respect for anyone other than themselves. Not that I advocate showing allegiance to the likes of a
Buteos Regalis
, especially that one in particular, but it is better than answering to no one. Our leader may have his faults, yet we, for the most part, stand behind his decisions.” He didn’t sound so sure of himself.

Rayna wondered if the man truly believed in what his king did or if he merely wanted her to think he did. Either way, she had no intention of dying by his hands. “Is threatening to kill an unarmed woman considered a fault?”

His gaze lowered slightly as if he were ashamed. He stiffened, suddenly looking composed. “We have more values than the
Buteos Regalis.”

A Buteos Regalis?

Her mind raced and what she landed on did little in the way of clearing up matters. “Royal hawks?”

The question forming on the man’s face alarmed her. One of them needed to have a clear idea of what was going on and it sure as hell wasn’t her. “Either you are a skilled liar or you truly do not know.”