A Shifting Land

Chapter 37

Branches rattled, every step a fight as her panic raced her nerves. "I don't care if I burn every ability of mine to a crisp Bladen, she'd better not harm him." Swift purred, "Consequences be damned. I heard that scream. No one makes my pack scream. Especially not Kiri."

Bladen shoved her, "Go! I've got the body. Get to him, before he's a corpse on the floor."

She threw herself free, Illandria coiling with her. Through her very soul. Merging themselves to one as they landed in a true form.

The feline grew between Firestorm and Kiri, shoving the alpha back off her feet. Blistering heat chased her, great spiked trails of flame scorching the earth.

The lion like feline stood tall, flames curling off their red eyed frame in a magnificent mane. She raised her gaze from the dead at her feet, warm blood dripping across her paws.

Her chest tightened, Kiri's pain flooding the bond. Numbing it, tightening it til every breath drew the tiniest of whimpers.

She dropped into a crouch, her smile wide. A snarl ripped through her throat, it's word hardly a word at all.

"Leave."

Invisible flames crept across fur, burning white hot. Screams tore the pack apart, so many years of training shattered by a single trace of mistrust.

Kiri tilted his head at Firestorm, pulling himself to his feet. "Remember Lyre, Firestorm, for every death on your pack is on his name."

Brilliant red pillars lit themselves, licking their way across the branches. Smoke blurred the woods, dragging creatures down to the burrows they ran from.

"Shadow, what's going on?" Kol whispered, hiding nearly under Bladen's stomach. "I thought we were supposed to be safe today."

Swift's sides heaved, her legs trembling with adrenaline. She forced herself straight, standing nearly even with Firestorm's 8ft frame. Illandria perched at Swift's side, her words curling out her lips with fiery venom. "An alpha protects her pack, Firestorm. An alpha will fight for her people." She glanced back, looking over her new friends, huddling in fear of the flames. The dead, his heat fading.

Firestorm snarled, her warriors grouping close. Bladen tucked Kol back behind him, forcing him back out of the fight. "You have no pack here. You have a misfit of rogues with no guidance."

Illandria's shoulders click, her red eyes glowing with the flames wrapping them. "I am their alpha now. You failed them, Firestorm. And now you've lost them. They may've been rogue, but that certainly doesn't mean there is no pack here." Illandria unsheathed her fangs, letting the second pair drop. "If you call them rogues, even with a sane mind, then you'd better damn well call me the Rogue Alpha, because they are mine, and I am not leaving them lost to suit your fears."

Kiri leaned against Swift with a shiver. He snapped his fangs at Firestorm, tossing her again. "And to think, she's a reasonable one. We've had more compassion from Frost."

Firestorm landed with perfect grace, her claws scraping furrows deep into the ground. She spun, fixing the little alpha minded kit standing back, her eyes narrowing with a heated burn.

Flames rose higher, engulfing the brambles, flickering with each twitch of the rogue's tail. They curled, embracing the cat, each tongue rippling up the feline, tracing over every inch of her form.

Firestorm turned back, her head tilting to the right. The flames cast a deep ruby gold. She took a single step forward, bringing herself nose to nose with the alpha across from her. She smiled.

"Back my pack. Back to your territories. Warriors, heed my call. To my side."

Swift and Kiri exchanged a look, "Shit." "Tha-"