I roared into the night for Riella to stop, even pulled on our bond, but she shoved it aside, moving faster as I scented her hot fury and indignation towards the creature that dared take her crown. "Riella stop now!"
At last she listened, but it was too fucking late. The pookah spat the sparkling crown out upon the sand, then vanished. Snatching it up with a snarl, Riella looked up only to gasp at the large snow leopard grinning lethally down at her, its crystal blue eyes twinkling in the twilight.
Roaring again, I slid to my daughter, wrenching her away from the creature and easily tossing her yards behind me where I knew Remnant would be following to catch her. My momentum didn't slow as I continued forward, attacking the great cat head on, but it simply leapt away, leaving me to slide on my hands and knees, sand rippling upwards around me. Spitting out the grit and shaking it off my body, I rose to slowly stalk around the creature that gazed patiently back at me. The pookah reappeared again between the snow leopard's great spotted paws and hissed.
The warm sun and forest scent was strong now, and even in my rage it was soothing, calming me when I did not fucking want to be calm, and it was way to fucking familiar. "Who the fuck are you," my voice rattled, straining against the calm inducing feeling and my raging snarls.
The snow leopard chuckled and I stilled at the familiarity of the sound and the voice that came after it.
"Language my cub…I know I raised you better than that."
I swallowed hard, slumping to my knees, and sinking into the sand. "Fuck…Jar?"
Chapter 20
Thesnowleopard’sgrinwidened, the crystal blue eyes calculating, its long tail curled up around him. "I see that my unicorn fashion has taken off since I have been gone." The master healer's deep soothing voice emanated from the majestic cat.
"Jar," I croaked, not able to tear my eyes away, hardly believing what I was seeing.
The feline predator chuckled. "Yes, your majesty, it is I."
"Emon?" Remnant's hesitant voice sounded in my mind. "Is that…?"
"Yes," I choked back to her, realizing this was the master healer's shifted form, I had never seen it before but had always known him to be formidable.
His crystal blue eyes zeroed in over my shoulder where footsteps of my daughter and soulmate could be heard slowly approaching. "Well metforta, and our newest shadow shifter cub. Greetings,little Riella."
"Jar?" Remnant whispered, the three moons suddenly peeking over the sandy dunes bathing us all in moonlight.
The cat shook its head exasperatedly and arched his brow, looking down at the pookah that started to roll in the sand. "This is not going as I expected. It’s almost as if they thought I’d be wandering the Vagari in my death rather than the Eithne. Any suggestions, friend?"
The pookah stopped its rolling and hissed, disappearing into the twilight.
"Spirit guides," Jarquinn's cat sighed and rolled his eyes. "You can never fully trust them.”
Riella giggled behind me.
Jarquinn's tail twitched before curling it further around him, turning his sight on my daughter. "Little cub, I must say I am terribly sorry for the way we last met and I will apologize for Zaki. He is an eager and somewhat tactless spirit guide. Until you came he preferred setting my tail on fire rather than helping me."
"Will he come back?" Riella asked shyly.
Jar's regal spotted head dipped, narrowing his gaze on her. "I do believe he will, little cub." Rising back to his full height in sitting, he hissed. "Before you two become complete numpties, staring at me with drool hanging out of your mouths," his eyes shifted between Remnant and I before rolling again,"Let us move on. We have some things we need to discuss…these lands, while beautiful, cannot always be trusted." He eyed the sand wearily.
I glanced back at my soulmate, neither one of us moving, having been solidly frozen in shock, still unable to comprehend what was happening before us.
But our daughter did not hesitate, delicately placing her crown back on top of her head she marched forward with eager determination.
My hand shot out, stopping her, and she looked at me with confusion. "Not without us Riella. It is dangerous for you to go off alone."
My reprimand only served to deliver an adorable pout from her.
Snickering, I rose from the sand, brushing it off from my leathers and feeling its coarse granules scraping beneath my shirt. Reason number forty one not to wear a fucking shirt.
Remnant stepped next to us, reaching for Riella's other hand. "Your father is right, that crown was not worth your life, little one.You must think about what you are doing before you chase after something again."
"But I did think," she sulked, looking between us. "There is a silver path beneath us and grandmother said the path is safe." As if her words commanded it, the sands parted to reveal the glittering walkway under our feet.
The snow leopard chuckled and his eyes twinkled at our daughter. "Clever, little shadow shifter." Rising smoothly, he began to stalk away, indicating us to follow.
