Page 55 of Interlude

“Lila, it’s okay, Xavier gave me this.” Max holds up the necklace I noticed around his neck. “It’s a permanent protective charm. I can go anywhere now.”

I sigh with relief and throw my arms around him, hugging him hard.

“Fuck, I was worried, but I’m glad you’re here.” I give him a kiss before turning and stomping over to my warlock. “I love you,” I tell him, and he smirks and pulls me in for a kiss.

“Of course you do,” he says smugly, and I hear the rest of them mutter under their breaths.

Tirrian doesn’t hide his scoff.

“Nice skirt.” Xavier smirks at the dragon as I pull away from him. Tirrian just flips him off as Xavier waves a hand and puts him in the same armor as the rest of them.

“I’ll need to shift,” Tirrian says, shaking his head.

“It will shift with you. It’s like the performance outfits.” He waves his hand again, and weapons appear, floating in front of him. Tirrian grabs two laser guns and sticks them into the holsters built into the leathers. All of them are armed to the teeth. “Now let’s deal with you two.” He turns his attention to Zeydan and me.

“Do you want me to outfit you?” he asks the god carefully. I’m surprised he’s being delicate, since he’s usually tactless.

“No, there are a lot of things I can’t do, and my power is reduced, but I can still conjure. I am going to scout ahead anyway. There’s nowhere in that forest where they can hide from me, and I will let you know if you walk into an ambush.” Zeydan strips off his robe, and I have to hide a chuckle when the others’ eyes widen at his form.

“Damn,” my horny warlock mutters.

“You have a little drool,” I tell him, pointing to the corner of his mouth.

He rolls his eyes and slaps my hand away, and I giggle, admiring my supposed new mate.

“How are you all here so quickly?” I ask as we follow Zeydan out onto the patio.

“I sensed the ship when it dropped out of hyperspace, and Brannock and I returned to the galaxy ship. There was no need to keep up the farce any longer,” Xavier explains, not hiding his admiration of the half naked god in front of us.

“What about the harvesters?” I ask Zeydan as his hands go to the waistband of his skirt.

“They will wait. I will cast the repelling spell out here and link it to you, Lila. It will give you protection when I leave and follow.” He holds up both hands and mutters something, and the house is surrounded by the same ring of green magic as we were in yesterday. “Be careful. I will speak into your minds when I have news.” He pulls his skirt off with a flourish, and his body starts to shimmer, but not before I catch an eyeful of what he’s hiding under his skirt. Holy hell, he gives the dragon a run for his money, and it has a twist in it. I turn my head to the side a little to see if I can work out exactly what I’m seeing.

“Double damn,” Xavier mutters again, also tilting his head slightly, and this time, I elbow him. We watch as his body contorts and shifts until a huge foxlike creature with nine tails stands before us. I mean, he’s almost as tall as an elephant. Three of us could ride on his back. I walk down the steps and reach out to stroke his pointy nose.

“Be careful,” I tell him, and he clicks at me, before his large tongue lashes me, leaving behind a trail of slobber.

“Eww.” He makes a laughing, chattering sound before shimmering and disappearing.

“Lila, let’s get you outfitted.” Saxon is the one to approach me. “This is the one coded to your blood, but I bought another for you to activate,” he tells me, holding guns in each hand.

“And you’re going to need a whole new outfit. As much as we would like to see you run through the jungle naked, it isn’t going to work for this.” My warlock starts to wave his hand, but I snap my own out to stop him.

“Hang on please. There’s something I need to do first.” I look around. Tirrian, Ghosie, Brannock, Max, and Silac stayed inside the house while Zeydan changed. Only Saxon and Xavier followed us outside.

Xavier gives me a nod, following my gaze inside. “We’ll just wait here. Don’t be too long, the sooner we get moving, the sooner we can be back on the ship. Your grandpas are stressed, and so are your mates we left behind.”

A wave of guilt washes over me. Woman up, Lila, it’s just mimicking a new form. Stop overthinking it.

I take a big breath and let it out, then I march inside to ask Brannock if I can mimic him.

Lila

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” I ask Brannock when I reenter the house. Tirrian must see the determination in my eyes, because he herds the others outside, leaving me alone with the Aaz’axian.

“Of course, Lila. What do you need?”

“Will you allow me to mimic your form, please?”

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