Feral Wolf by Caroline Peckham
What an epic day to be alive, man. I was flying above the clouds under the light of a full ass moon on the back of Dante in his Storm Dragon form. I swear the dude was even bigger than he used to be and the way his navy blue scales crackled with lightning made him all the more imposing.
My bro Gabriel circled above me in the sky, his black wings stretched out from his back in his half shifted Harpy form and occasionally he’d swoop below the cloud line to check on any activity going on below. Sure, I was anxious since he’d said the FIB had shown up, but I had faith in Dante’s little cousin Rosa.
Especially as Gabriel had the Sight so he could catch glimpses of the future. He’d had a vision about the breakout that said the stars were aligned and tonight was the best chance Rosa had of getting out of Darkmore. Like not great, but her chances were at least ten percent, and I always looked on the bright side so I reckoned it was more like fifteen percent. And that was basically a hundred percent in Leon land. So it was a done thing.
Of course…there was that time five years ago when Gabriel had made a prediction that was soooooooo wrong that it had caused a lot of bad shit to happen. Like so, so, so bad. The worst. But it was all cool. At least it was for those of us who had survived it which happened to include me. I trusted him. He was my dude.
“Hey Gabe!” I called to him as he lowered down to hover beside me, his tattooed chest on show as his wings beat behind him and his dark hair was ruffled by the breeze.
“Don’t call me Gabe,” he growled and I chuckled at our shared love of our back and forth.
“I was just thinking about that time you made that prediction during the war that was really off and all that bad shit happened. Remember?” I called with a laugh and Gabriel glared at me.
“Why would you bring that up right now?” he demanded and I shrugged.
Dante released a crackle of lightning from his flesh that zapped me in the ass and I cursed.
“Not cool, man,” I called to him and he snapped his teeth at me.
A giggle sounded behind me and I twisted around to gaze in the direction of Dante’s ass where our supplies pack was tied onto him. We had all kinds of fun supplies in there like fireworks and stardust and most importantly of all, the snacks I’d packed for later. But where had that laugh come from? Did Dante just let out a giggle fart?
The bag started wriggling and Gabriel cursed, shooting forward and unfastening it. Two kids wriggled out of it and my lips popped open at the sight of them.
They ran up Dante’s back, diving at me through the air without a care for the life threatening drop either side of us. I let out an oof as they collided with me and I tugged them around into my lap, holding onto them tight with a laugh tearing from my throat.
“You’re in so much trouble, little dudes,” I warned as Dante let out an angry growl.
Gabriel came to land in front of me on the Dragon’s neck, glaring at the kids.
“Didn’t you see them stowing away with your Sight?” I laughed, but Gabe didn’t look pleased. Gabe looked murderous.
“I was focusing on the whole breaking out from the most dangerous prison in Solaria thing, Leon,” he gritted out then his eyes fell on the kids. “You two are grounded for the rest of the century.”
“Oh don’t be like that, Gabe,” RJ said and I scruffed her hair as I laughed.
“Don’t you start that again,” Gabriel warned.
“Gabe, Gabe, Gabe!” Luca took up the chant and I joined in.
“Don’t you call me Gabe. I’m your-” Gabe’s eyes glazed as he was struck with a vision and RJ looked up at me with mischief in her eyes.
“Your mom is gonna kill you,” I said as I grinned at her and Luca tugged on my long blonde mane.
“She’ll think it’s funny,” RJ said with a head shake that was so like her mother, it made me wish she was here for all the fun. She was probably searching the whole house for these two right now and I snapped a quick photo of us together on my Atlas and shot it to her so she knew they were safe. I mean okay, safe was a stretch, but they had me, a powerful Storm Dragon and a super protective Harpy to look after them so they’d be just fine. Probably.
Gabriel snapped out of his vision and pointed at me. “Answer it.”
Dante’s Atlas started ringing and I took it out, answering the call. “Rosa?”
“Hey,” she said, sounding tense as hell. “We’re ready when you are.”
“Oh I’m ready. Just bring my big brother to me soon, okay?”
“Promise.”
I nodded to Gabriel who took off from Dante’s back. “It’s time! Shoot the dome!” he cried.
“Bring it down!” Rosa shouted in my ear.
“We’re all over it little lupa,” I promised, cutting the call and Dante plummeted through the clouds in an instant.
I wrapped my arms around the kids with a whoop as they laughed wildly and threw their hands in the air, the two of them so fearless that it probably should have been concerning.
“Faster, faster!” RJ cried and Luca howled like a Wolf.
We broke free of the clouds and my gaze fell on the huge gleaming dome below us and the sprawling landscapes of the Order Yard within it.
There were FIB trucks parked all around the entrance to the prison, but no one was looking to the sky as Dante swooped overhead and released a huge blast of lightning from his mouth. It split through the air in a flash of blinding blue and white light, slamming into the very top of the dome and with a noise like thunder the magic within it flared brighter and brighter for an endless second.
“Woah,” RJ breathed as the FIB and guards all cried out in alarm, the light growing more and more blinding before suddenly it rushed away towards the ground like falling water, seeming to disappear into the earth with a tremendous boom which must have been the sound of it destroying the forcefield.
The pull of magic in its wake made Dante drop several more feet and my stomach lurched as Gabriel swooped down over us, tightening up the concealment spells around us while I added my own magic to them too.
“Get back into the clouds!” Gabriel urged and Dante beat his wings hard, racing back to the cover of the storm he’d summoned as the kids whooped and cheered.
The damp clouds hugged us tightly as we made it to safety and I chuckled, snapping another photo of me, RJ and Luca with my tongue out, knowing exactly who I was gonna taunt with this pic later.
“You’re gonna meet your uncle tonight, little dudes.” I kissed the top of their heads.
“Uncle Roary!” Luca bounced up and down.
“He’s gonna teach you all about being a cool ass Lion. You wait until you see his mane. It’s almost as shiny as mine,” I chuckled and RJ beamed at me.
My chest swelled and excitement raced through my limbs. My brother was finally coming home. And once he was back, I’d make sure I never lost him again.