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Felix
Wet.
The cave was wet.
No, it was damp, but Felix was lying in a little puddle, so his cheek was wet. He tried to move, to reach his hand up to wipe the water away, but his wrists were still bound. He struggled for a second before he finally dropped his wrists.
Fuck.
The cave Orion had taken Felix to was close to the place where he’d first made love to Tabitha. It felt strange to be in a cave so close to where his heart had finally convinced him that he loved her. Now he was having a very different cave experience.
“You’re weak,” Orion said, looking at Felix lying on the floor.
“You’re weak,” Felix threw back, but he knew that the insult was pathetic and that he was, in fact, failing.
He was doing a terrible job escaping from Orion, a terrible job surviving on the island, and now, he was doing a terrible job insulting his new nemesis.
What was wrong with him?
Felix still didn’t know what the problem was. For a little while, he’d experienced periods where he’d feel weak, but he always bounced right back. Now he wasn’t bouncing back. His stomach hurt, and his back hurt, and his arms hurt. Even his eyeballs hurt. Everything seemed to ache and he wasn’t sure whether it was because of Orion hitting him so much or if it was because of the curse that had been cast on him.
“What is it that you want from me?”
Would Orion even answer him? Was it even worth asking?
“Revenge, mostly.”
“On me?”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t do anything to you.”
“Your mother did.”
“Ursula was not my mother,” Felix snapped.
Despite his weakened state, he felt a rage welling within him. How dare Orion even dare to call Ursula his mother? That so wasn’t the way this thing worked. Felix’s inner-dragon roared deep inside of him, calling out to him. He needed to shift, to change. He needed to let his dragon be free before it simply broke out of him.
Felix had a feeling that if he didn’t figure out how to shift into his dragon form – and soon – that there would be some sort of consequence for that. He didn’t know very much about shifters. The only thing he knew was how he felt when he was in his dragon form. He knew how wonderful it felt to soar. He knew how free it felt to fly.
Perhaps most of all, he knew that being in his dragon form was freeing.
Now Orion was bringing up Ursula. The witch was nothing but a villain. She’d tried to break him. In some ways, she had. She’d stolen his identity and his life. He’d lived with her on the island for more than 30 years. Even though Tabitha had helped him awaken his inner-dragon, he still didn’t really know who he was, where he’d come from, or what he was supposed to do with his life.
Finding Tabitha had been wonderful, yet it had awakened a realization deep within Felix as he finally started to learn just how much he’d lost.
“Ursula said she was your mother,” Orion turned away from Felix.
“She wasn’t.”
“She said she adopted you.”
Felix sighed. This was going nowhere. He tried again to shift, to change into his magical form. For just a second, he thought he’d be able to. He felt the beginning tingles of a shift coming on, but then he collapsed again.
Damn.
How was he going to get out of here?
Orion was busying himself with random things around the cave. Apparently, he’d changed back into his human form before the others had.
“When did you change back?”
“Two days ago,” Orion said.
Okay, so his spell had ended slightly before the others. Apparently, Orion had just been lurking around the forest causing trouble until he’d finally found Felix.
“She’s dead.”
“I know she’s dead,” Orion turned around. “If she wasn’t, the spell would still be locked in place.”
Orion stared at Felix like he was the stupidest creature he’d ever met, and then he turned back around again. He started busying himself with something, and Felix tried once more to break the binds that held his hands in place. Finally, with a quick burst of strength, he managed to. The vines dropped to the ground.
Inwardly, Felix cheered, but he didn’t want to make any noise. Orion couldn’t know he was planning to make a run for it. Felix didn’t really believe in walking away from a fight, but in this case, he didn’t think he had much of a choice. If Orion tried to fight him, Felix would lose. He was horribly weakened. He didn’t think he stood much of a chance.
“What did she turn you into?”
“A pigeon,” Orion said, turning back. He took a few steps closer to where Felix was lying on the ground. From this angle, Orion’s pain was evident. His face contorted; he was sad, or maybe lonely. He stood there, looking down at his captive. He hadn’t seemed to notice Felix’s hands were no longer bound. “You don’t know anything about that, do you?”
“I know that she hurt a lot of people.”
“She hurt none more than me.”
Felix couldn’t remember much about Orion except that Orion had been in love with Ursula. It had been a crush, really, and his affections had not been returned.
Felix had always hated the guy. Orion had been one of his tutors for a little while. Orion had worked with Felix after Maurice had left. Well, to say Maurice had left wasn’t quite true. Maurice had been turned into a lion. Felix wasn’t really sure if Orion knew that.
“The least she could have done was turn me into something majestic, as she did for Maurice,” Orion continued.
Okay, so he knew.
“You were a good tutor,” Felix offered up. He wasn’t sure how much that helped. Orion had been forced to live for a bird for a long time – probably 15 years or so, if Felix’s calculations were correct. That couldn’t have been easy.
Orion looked over at Felix.
“You won’t change my mind,” he said. “I will kill you.”
“Kill me?”
“Kill you.”
“Why?”
Felix hadn’t always been the best student. That was a fair assessment. Still, death seemed a bit extreme.
“I’m tired of this conversation,” Orion said. “I don’t like where this is going.”
“Where do you want it to go?” Felix asked, trying to calm himself down. He tried again to shift, but nothing happened. He tried once more. Again, nothing happened.
He couldn’t let Orion kill him. Not now. He hadn’t had enough time with Tabitha. He hadn’t had enough time with his mate. He’d only recently found her. The idea of losing her, even through death, wasn’t what he’d had in mind.
No, when Felix thought about the future, he thought about growing old with her. He thought about laughing with her. He thought about finding ways that the two of them could smile together. Maybe they’d even have children or adopt some pets.
Then he remembered.
Pets.
He’d had his cat for as long as he could remember. Was Maple Sugar doing okay? What would happen to the cat if Tabitha and Felix both perished? He didn’t want to mope around feeling sorry for himself, but damn, that was a good cat.
He tried to whistle, to let out a little sound. Maybe Maple Syrup would come to him and bite Orion, setting him free. Wouldn’t that be nice.
Here, Kitty.
“Did you belong to anyone when you were a bird?” Felix found himself asking. It was a strange question, to be sure, but he wanted to know what Orion had done during the last many years. If nothing else, it would keep Orion talking as Felix started inching toward the opening of the cave. He needed to distract Orion as much as possible for as long as possible.
“There’s no one on the island but her people.”
“They were all turned to animals before she died. Anyone left after she died fled the island.”
“I wasn’t kept as a pet.”
“That’s probably good,” Felix said. “Being locked in a cage is the most horrible thing anyone can imagine.”
“I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.”
“What am I doing?”
“You want me to think of you as a human.”
“I’m not human.”
“I know you aren’t. You’re a monster.”
A monster.
Felix closed his eyes.
Why did that word sound so familiar?
He hated how many of his memories he was missing. There were bits and pieces of himself that were gone. They’d practically floated away. He didn’t know how to get them back. Every so often, he’d think that he was beginning to remember something, but then, just as quickly as it came, it was gone again.
“Orion, I’m sorry for what she did to you,” Felix said. “It wasn’t me.”
“You’re as bad as her. I can’t punish her. I’ll punish you.”
Out of all of the people who had turned back into humans, Felix should have expected that someone would want to capture him specifically, but he wasn’t ready for this. He couldn’t deal with it. He pushed up to a sitting position. He’d gotten closer to the cave’s entrance, but Orion still hadn’t seemed to notice.
Felix still wanted to shift.
That still wasn’t happening.
As much as he kept trying to force himself, he couldn’t make his body act the way he wanted it to, and it was starting to piss him off.
“What are you doing?” Orion asked, looking over at him.
“Leaving,” he admitted. He’d managed to scoot a little, and then he’d managed to sit up. In a few more minutes, maybe he’d have the energy to do something else, like hop up and run away.
“Doubtful,” Orion said. He crossed his hands over his chest and looked at Felix carefully. “You’re under a spell, too, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Yes, you are. Do you really not know? Or are you trying to trick me, so I don’t kill you?”
Orion actually seemed very curious about this entire thing. He watched Felix carefully, and Felix hated – hated – how much this really was affecting him. He thought of Tabitha. He thought of whether or not she was going to be able to recover from the way Orion had tossed her.
Felix knew she’d hurt herself when she landed so roughly. If she hadn’t been hurt, she would have come after him right away. The fact that she hadn’t told him everything he needed to know.
She’d been injured. She’d tried to save him, anyway, but he’d been injured.
Felix took a deep breath. He needed to get to her. No matter what else happened today, he had to get to her. He would do anything if it meant saving her, rescuing her. Forget all about the side effects of Ursula spells. He needed to forget all about everything except for her.
He tried to clear his mind, and he thought of Tabitha.
He thought of her smile.
He thought of the way that she laughed.
He thought about all of the little jokes the two of them had shared.
He thought about making love to her in the cave.
And then he shifted.
It was like the first time.
It was fast and quick and sloppy. It was unexpected. It was wonderful and terrifying and incredible, and for a moment, he felt strong. He felt wildly, unbelievably strong.
Orion hadn’t known he was a shifter. When Felix changed into his dragon form, he looked toward the man standing in the cave. Orion’s jaw was hanging open.
“You tricked me,” he said, but Felix ignored him and ran toward the cave’s entrance. He ran at a bit of a zig-zag. He was a little wobbly still and slightly dizzy, but somehow, he managed to throw himself toward the cave’s opening and slide toward the edge of the cliff.
Orion began to run, chasing Felix out of the cave, but despite his lack of strength, Felix managed to propel himself off the side of the cliff.
Then his body took over.
Even though his wings felt heavy, and his body felt sore and achy, he managed to glide down, sliding through the air toward the tops of the trees.
“I’ll find you!” Orion screamed into the air as Felix left. “You can’t hide!”
Felix begged to disagree.
He could hide, actually. He could hide quite well. Out of everyone currently residing on the island, Felix was quite certain he was the one who knew it the best. Yes, the humans wandering around now had lived as animals, but Felix had lived as a dragon. He’d flown above the trees and wandered below them on foot. He’d explored all there was to see, and now he was going to use that to his advantage.
He landed, crashing onto the ground, and shifted back into his human form. His body ached, and his chest hurt, and he was tired, but he needed to find Tabitha. He needed to locate her before Orion did because as soon as the angry little human found her, Felix knew he wasn’t going to hold back.
Somehow, he managed to get to his feet, and he started walking.
“Hang on, little witch,” he murmured. “I’m coming to save you.”