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Chapter 22: Tana
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
CooperWhat do you think of the kestrels? It looks like Tana is building her own type of family. My other book, For the Love of a Guardian, will finish this week. Once it does, this book will move to daily updates.
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The Arena Chapter 23: Cedric
When I return from trying to find Tana, we instate Galen as my Gamma. It’s an important ceremony. Being that I am a Lycan, my ranked members gain strength from being appointed to their positions. Drinking my blood during the ceremony doesn’t make them a Lycan, but their strength will far outmatch that of a regular werewolf. After Galen takes his oath, and we get him established, Bastian and I begin the tour of the packs. We start locally, and I can tell right away that there's going to be a problem. Apparently, since my parents' death, no one has taken charge of the packs and they seem to have gone astray. That’s about to change. As we pull up to the packhouse, I can see that there is a very small contingent of pack members here to greet me. This is either a purposeful slight or the pack was recently decimated. Since I haven’t heard of any recent attacks, I have to assume it’s an insult. As our driver pulls up, Bastian growls. I look at him and I can see he and I are on the same pag
The Arena Chapter 24: Tana
A couple of months after burning the second arena down, Edur tells me that our CEO, Mr. Brodski wants to see us. “Do you know what this is about?” I ask him. “No, but our team is the best that he has, so I’m sure it’s not bad.” Edur says. The man lets everything roll off his back. Nothing upsets or stresses him. We are escorted to Mr. Brodski’s office where he greets us, literally, with open arms. He hugs Edur before turning and hugging me. “Edur, Tana. Welcome. Come, come, sit. Do you want something to drink?” I start to say no. “Iced tea for me.” Edur says. “Just water for me.” I say, taking my cues from Edur. Mr. Brodski claps his hands as if we’ve given him exciting news and tells his admin, a human, to get our drinks. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked you here today.” He says. The man is brilliant when it comes to running a company, but when it comes to interactions, he’s terrible. I can tell he’s nervous and can smell his sweat. A human might not recognize th
The Arena Chapter 25: Cedric
It takes months to tour all the packs. Word spread about my return, and Koden’s death, and the rest of the packs were respectful. They may not have liked me taking my place as Alpha, but they will respect it or pay the consequences. I’m currently pouring over the financials that the accountant just left with me. Bastian showed him out of the packhouse before coming back in. I’m sitting at my desk, my head in my hands and I’m trying to convince myself not to pull my hair out. I look up at Bastian as he closes the door. “Did you understand any of that?” I ask him. “Sure. ‘Money, blah blah, finances, blah blah, company.’” I look at him a minute. “Yeah, that’s about all I understood too. I don’t even understand what I’m looking at here and I swear he was intentionally being ambiguous. I feel like I’m trying to read a foreign language.” I stare at my financials for another minute before closing the book. “Do me a favor, find a company that can look these over and tell us if everything
The Arena Chapter 26: Tana
We spoke with Kali and got as much information as she had. After they escaped from the first arena, they ran for days. They found a city and settled down. Zaiden got a job as a male model. Why am I not surprised? They aren’t sure how the supernatural hunters found them or knew what they were, but they did. They laid a trap for them and captured them. Kali was the only one that was able to escape. She ran and then, when she tried to find them, she couldn’t. She heard Ishir was in the business of finding shifters, so she found him. “And here I am.” She said with a flourish. She reminds me of an exotic actress with her elegant ways. I found out after we moved here that Ish is, what the humans would call, a private investigator. He has his own business and it’s what helped him to find the last arena. After talking to Kali, he decides that they will go searching for the next arena. They leave the next morning, and I made Ish promise that he would let me know where the arena is before th
The Arena Chapter 27: Cedric
I sent Bastian to the human town to find out about our financials. I need to go after Troy. I got the intel, and my trackers begin identifying the places where they’ve seen him. I start tracking the sightings and see that, once again, they are in a circular format. Fuck! There’s another arena. With Bastian gone, I can’t afford to attack the arena yet, but I need to make sure that I’m right. I get a group of warriors together and I tell Galen that he’s in charge. I make a plan to get additional intel and let the warriors know what we’re doing and what the plan is. “This is a reconnaissance mission only. I’m not leaving the pack vulnerable without Bastian here, no offense Galen.” “None taken.” “With Troy still out there, any action against me will give him an opportunity to attack, so until Bastian returns, we will just get whatever information we can.” “With all due respect Alpha, doesn’t that mean that some shifters will die?” I clench my teeth. That’s exactly what it means, and
The Arena Chapter 28: Tana
When Ish and Kali return home, they tell us they found the arena. Kali is pacing in the way only a predatory feline who feels caged can. Back and forth, back and forth. “Kali, please, have a seat.” Her nervous energy is making me nervous. “Ishir, we can’t just leave them in there for another week.” Kali says. “We have to. You didn’t see the locks.” He turns to me. “They made preparations for another attack. You can be sure that they will be prepared to fight when we show up.” “I’d like to see them fight against my fire.” “It’s not you I’m worried about. Kali, me, every other shifter in the arena, we’re the ones that will be shot with whatever crap they fill their bullets with. I’m not worried about the silver, but that’s not all they use. And don’t even get me started about their possible use of poisoned arrows.” “Okay, so what’s the plan.” “Same as before, except this time we have Kali. We’ll stop and get Avani on the way…” “No. We didn’t need him last time and we won’t need h
The Arena Chapter 29: Cedric
I can’t believe I’m helping a dragon. I’m trying really hard not to fanboy, but I never expected to be in such close proximity to one of these magical, beautiful creatures. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to her. I don’t feel the same draw to Avani, but I feel an almost unignorable pull to this dragon. She’s beautiful, strong and so graceful. When I saw the harpoon launch and puncture her wing, I was furious. I took all that fury out on the man who shot her. But then Troy was there, fighting me, and trying to kill me. I finally got the upper hand and threw him over the rim of the arena. I don’t know if he survived. I didn’t have time to worry about it. The dragon, Red, as I’ve started calling her in my head, got hit by a second harpoon and without my help, she won’t be able to get out of here. She won’t even be able to shift. If she did, the harpoon would certainly rip her in half. Her scent is overwhelming me. She smells so much like Tana. I’ll have to rethink what kind of shifter my
The Arena Chapter 30: Tana
I’m in and out of consciousness. I have no idea how much time has passed but each time I wake, the pain is lessened. At first, the pain was all consuming. I felt sore everywhere. I couldn’t even make my body move. Over time, it became easier to manage the pain but my body’s exhaustion with trying to heal wouldn’t allow me to stay awake long. I have no idea where I am or who saved me. Was it Cedric? Avani? Ishir? “Open your fucking eyes, Tana.” I hear Avani order me. Even now, he’s so arrogant. As if I would open my eyes just because he demanded it. However, since I want to know where I am and what happened, I do open my eyes. When I do, I’m shocked at what I see. Avani looks terrible. He’s always prided himself on being composed, stoic, in control. His black hair now has emerald green streaks in it. A definite sign that he’s agitated. It takes effort for him to keep his dragon’s coloring out of his hair. If the streaks are there, then he’s lost a some of his carefully held control.
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The Arena Epilogue 2: Tana
Eight Months Later “Momma, Kenna blew her fire on me!” My young son comes running into the room, his arms raised and big alligator tears streaming down his face. I reach down and pick him up, putting him on my hip around my growing, pregnant belly. “It didn’t hurt you, did it?” I ask. Our son, even though he has the Lycan gene, is immune to our fire. He got enough of the dragon blood to give him immunity from the dragon's heat. It had taken much longer this time to get pregnant. I was worried that it wouldn’t happen, since my uterus ruptured with Liekki’s birth, but Cedric had promised to try as many times as needed to put a pup or dragon in me. And he didn’t fail me. I’m considered a high-risk pregnancy, but so far, three months in, everything is going well. Kenna comes walking in behind Liekki. “I warned him, Momma. I told him if he touched my gemstones that I would blow my fire on him. He didn’t listen. He touched my gems, Momma.” “Sweetheart,” It’s so strange talking to Kenna
The Arena Epilogue 1: Cedric
Two Months Later I haven’t gotten Tana pregnant yet. We knew that it would be difficult after her uterus ruptured with Liekki, but my mate wants another pup or dragon and I’m doing my best to give her one. I can’t say that the constant trying to get her pregnant isn’t fun. But I know she’s becoming more and more convinced that she’ll never have another baby. We still haven’t found The Chief. We’ve gotten close, found old facilities and learned how he detonates the explosives he puts into the dragons’ brains, but we haven’t found him yet. Ishir did find a doctor that would help us. He’s human, in his mid to late thirties, but he doesn’t seem to care that we're part of the supernatural community. Or, more specifically, he fascinated by us, especially the dragons. At first, I thought I might have to kill him. He kept staring at Tana and Kenna. But when Avani, Zephyr and Kaylani showed up, I realized it has more to do with the beauty of the dragons than my mate and daughter. Ishir expl
The Arena Chapter 81: Cedric
A few weeks later, we’re joined by Avani, his elf friend, Merethyl, Kaylani and Ishir. Ishir is the best tracker in the group. With the work he does searching for missing humans and supernaturals, he travels all over and has the potential to find the hidden bunkers where the Chief is creating his hybrids. “We have to consider the fact that there will be more dragons.” Bastian says. His mate, Jena, recently delivered their baby, so he’s been out for awhile. I left him here while we went to bring down the arena. He wasn’t happy about it, but I needed him focused, and protecting his mate and unborn child had him laser focused on protecting the pack while we were gone. “Not only will there be more dragons, but we need to figure out how this Chief is able to kill them from a distance.” I have an idea about that.” Merethyl says. “I asked my brother to do some research for us and he found that, in the past, hunters would insert small mini explosive devices into the brains of supernaturals
The Arena Chapter 80: Tana
We’re halfway home from the battle at the arena when we hear Kaylani’s lament. “Something’s wrong Cedric. I need to go to her.” “Then, let’s go, Tana. I’m with you.” “I am too, Momma.” Kenna says. Ishir decided to run home before meeting us back at the pack, so Kenna isn’t carrying anyone. We turn and follow the sound of Kaylani’s cry. I’ve never been on this end of a dragon’s lament, and it’s heartbreaking. When we find her, we land, and I immediately see why she’s crying. She is standing over the young dragon. I shift quickly, rushing over to look at the young dragon who is lying broken on the ground. “Kaylani, what happened?” “I don’t know. We were talking and flying when she screamed. Then she just fell from the sky. I tried to catch her, Tana. I swear I did. But she just dropped so fast.” I lean over the young dragon. There’s blood coming from her mouth, nose and eyes. I lift her eye lids and see that her eyes are blood red. Not the pupil, what is supposed to be the lighter
The Arena Chapter 79: Cedric
I was nervous about helping Kaylani heal, but she’s a great instructor. She’s patient even when she’s in pain. She helps guide me through healing her and how much energy to push into her, especially since she’s not a fire dragon. Because we were together, I knew something was wrong when we heard the other dragon. “Kaylani what’s going on?” I ask her. My hands are still healing the hole in her wing, but I turn to see another dragon flying in our direction. “I don’t know, but she’s not a dragon we know.” As soon as the hole is healed, she’s up and flying over to where I can see Tana is trying to not fight the young dragon. A dragon that looks very much like her and Kenna. Kaylani turns back to me. “Help Avani, he’s still trapped.” I look around and see the tides are turning. My pack is taking out the hunters and those that are left are starting to run off. My pack is chasing them down. I race back over to the arena, rushing into one of the entryways. I see Kenna struggling to get t
The Arena Chapter 78: Tana
I only watch Cedric fighting Troy for a moment. Kaylani and Avani both still need help and Cedric looks like he’s holding his own against Troy. I turn back to Kaylani. “I’m going to shift and try to pull the harpoon out.” As I shift, I see hunters fighting past the pack. They are trying to get to me and Kaylani. I begin throwing fire balls at them, setting them on fire. They begin shooting at us and while silver doesn’t impact me, I know the paralytic will. I’m sending more fire balls at them, but there are too many. I’m standing in front of Kaylani who is using her water where she can, but she doesn’t want to douse my fire. Suddenly, I see the hunters start going down on my left. I turn, focusing my attention to the hunters getting through on the right. Cedric emerges on the left from the smoke and fires still burning the flesh of the hunters. He runs over to me, dropping his sword and grabbing my arms, looking me over. “Are you alright, Tana? Are you hurt?” “No, I’m okay.” “Wh
The Arena Chapter 77: Cedric
When Tana dropped me off, I had one goal in mind. Kill Troy. However, as soon as I got out of the fire and could see, I realized that the hunters were going after the pups. I immediately jumped in, protecting them, killing the hunters so my pack members could get them away. The rest of the pack that isn’t still underground begins fighting along side me. The pack will always fight to protect its own, but when it comes to our pups, we’re fierce. I make sure the group with the pups gets away safely before focusing on the group of hunters that is following my pack out of the underground. I can see the she-wolves that were captured are exhausted and starving, but they are fighting. It makes me so proud of my pack, proud to be their Alpha. As I’m fighting, I hear a dragon scream and I look up to see Kaylani has taken a harpoon to the wing. It looks like she flew in front of Kenna and took the harpoon to protect my daughter. That’s twice Kaylani has saved my family. I don’t know if I can e
The Arena Chapter 76: Tana
The next morning, we’re all up early. The pack is split in half, half coming to attack the arena and the other half staying to protect the pack and pack lands. Kenna and I shift, and Cedric and Ishir grab their bags of grenades. Cedric has his sword thrown across his back as he puts the harness on me. He grabs his bag then walks up my wing, getting himself settled on my back. The pack members coming with us shift, grabbing their bags and begin running to the arena. Once Cedric makes sure everyone is shifted and on their way, he gives Kenna the signal and she lifts into the air. Once they are far enough away, I lift up and we begin making our way to the arena. About halfway there, we meet up with Avani and Kaylani. I notice the Avani has a female on his back. I’m surprised, but I don’t have time to wonder about it. We lift up higher into the air so that we can see the arena from high above the clouds. We watch for Cedric’s pack and when we see them getting closer, he gives the signal.
The Arena Chapter 75: Cedric
When Tana and Kenna arrive back at the pack, it doesn’t take long for news to spread that we have two additional dragons on our pack lands. The warriors with missing mates all came rushing to ask about it. We are meeting in my office when they find us. “Alpha, did you find them?” “Have a seat.” I tell them as they come in. “Just tell us.” Another demands, causing me to growl a warning at him. Tana steps up to him. “All of you, have a seat. We have much to discuss and not much time to do it. Any time wasted arguing is time that we should be planning how to rescue your mates and pups.” They all walk in and sit, but they are restless. “So, you did find them?” “Yes, your mates and your pups are all alive.” Ishir tells them. Almost as one, I see their noses go up as they sniff the air. “This is Ishir. He’s a tiger and was in the arena with me and Tana. You can trust him. This,” I point to Avani, “is Avani, the earth dragon. And this,” I point to Kaylani, “is Kaylani, the water dra
