CHAPTER 68: NOKARI - SERAKAI (1)

Further beyond the trees, where nobody’s attention was drawn, chaos erupted, the air filled with grunts, shrieks, claws and wings beating. Atia and Aiyana stood shoulder to shoulder, facing off against more than a dozen angry, harpy eagle shifters—Vulcan’s men. They’d been lying in wait for the Oncari to make their appearance.

Atia ducked under a slicing talon, his twin blades flashing upward in a deadly arc, choosing weapons over bloodying his claws for this fight. Feathers exploded from the body of his attacker as it shrieked and dropped out of the sky. Aiyana let out a war cry, her staff spinning in a wide circle, catching another eagle mid-swoop. The shifter crashed against the trunk of a tree with a sickening crack.

"They just keep coming!" Aiyana growled, now back-to-back with Atia, sweat beading along her temple. Although she was complaining about their opponents constantly attacking them, she was actually enjoying herself, especially with her closest friend beside her.

"That’s the point," Atia replied through gritted teeth. "We’re the distraction. And don’t pretend like this is bothersome. I know you." He swiped out, and another eagle swerved away, whistling to others. "You’re enjoying this."

Aiyana grinned, eyes flashing and locking onto her next target. Another eagle dove, beak bared. Atia hurled a dagger straight into its chest. The momentum flung the creature past them, crashing through branches. More swooped in, acting like a wall, furiously screeching as they tried to overwhelm them more with their numbers.

Their challenge only sparked the Oncari to take them out more eagerly.

The pair moved like a unit. Fluid and ruthless, Atia’s blades danced between flesh and feather, while Aiyana’s staff snapped bones with terrifying precision.

Years of training and hunting together made them a force to be reckoned with. If they had been in their Jaguar form, they probably would have finished this fight much earlier. But they were there to buy time, so their friend, the one whose fury made the trees shrink away, prowled forward in search of Nova.

Elsewhere, thundering across the thick branches, Yoa tore through the canopy in his jaguar form. His muscles rippled under his obsidian fur, golden eyes locked on one distant point. Every breath was ragged. Every leap was fuelled by a desperation that burned deeper than rage.

Nova. His thoughts were plagued with her and what she might have had to endure in their time apart. Right now, he could feel his heart being tugged in this direction, fear and panic rippling through his body, her emotions doubling up on his own, making his legs work harder to get to her. But just as he lunged forward to clear a wide gap between trees, an invisible force struck him.

Yoa choked on air.

His body spasmed, crashing down onto a thick branch with a bone-jarring thud. He rolled once, then lay still, claws digging into bark.

It felt like being punched in the soul.

A violent gust of wind swept through his fur, cold and unnatural. His beast roared in agony, writhing inside him. His breathing hitched as his vision blurred.

Then he saw her. Happiness soared in his chest, and his breathing calmed for a moment as he saw her in the flesh, across from him on the eagle’s central tree, Skyhold. That happiness was brief, though, as he took in her trembling and pale form.

Nova was held in Vulcan’s arms like something already owned. Yoa’s eyes flared gold, glowing like twin suns in a storm. He bared his fangs as the word echoed through the wind.

"Nokari."

Everything in him snapped.

Before Yoa could leap onto the platform and tear out the throat of every last eagle gathered, Ixana dove at Vulcan. Desperation blazed in her eyes as she fought to keep her grip on power and her claim to the throne of the skies. Nova had been thrust aside, and he lost sight of her amongst the two giant eagles fighting.

Yoa’s head moved up and down, trying to peer over the crowd, eagerly drawing closer to watch mother and son tear into each other. He couldn’t find her. But she couldn’t be crushed beneath them. She couldn’t. Surely, he would feel the weight of her injuries or death piercing through his flesh. They were connected. He understood it now. They were connected like the stars and earth made them to be.

Yoa advanced forwards, creeping among the shadows, ignoring the scorching sensation in his chest. The invisible string around his heart tugged violently as he stopped, crouched, claws pressed into the bark, back legs raising, bracing to pounce forward as he located Nova crawling behind the pile of bones beneath the Sky Matron’s throne.

That’s it. Come here. Get closer. He wanted to wipe off the island of every last harpy eagle. Destroy the entire flock and be done with this.

But right now, his priority was Nova and getting her to safety. He could always return another night, let their feathery asses sweat in anticipation of when he would strike at them. His lips curled back with a vicious growl at the idea, his eyes gleaming maliciously.

Nova froze, peering over the unguarded crib of the Sky Matron’s heir as Vulcan’s gaze locked with hers. Yoa’s claws dug into the bark as a new thread was pinned between his little mouse and that oversized chicken. He could feel it and had every intention of cutting it loose with his claws.

Ixana threw Vulcan off her as she shifted, stalking toward Nova, feathers ruffled, eyes filled with murderous intent. "You dare to approach Ayumi?"

Ixana’s child was the youngest to shift and remain in its eagle form. It was perched in the crib, skin exposed, looking a little pruney with a few feathers scattered across its body. Ayumi was currently swallowing a large bone whole.

Ixana’s youngest was currently unguarded and Nova was now seen as a threat to her life.

"What?! No!" Nova held her hands up, backing away from the crib and getting closer to the edge of the tree.

She couldn’t get away quick enough as Ixana lunged, shifting, feathers flourishing along her skin as she grew, beak aimed for Nova’s chest.

Before Ixana could pierce Nova’s flesh a streak of black and gold tore through the sky. Yoa collided with Ixana mid-pounce, knocking her clean off her feet. They crashed into the bark with a massive thud. Ixana screeched in fury, twisting, trying to rise.

But Yoa’s paw slammed down onto her eagle head, pinning her in place with primal force. The crowd gasped as he stood over her, tail lashing like a whip of shadow, chest panting with a growl rippling along the bark, shaking the earth with his fury.

Then, slowly, his form shifted. Fur gave way to muscle and tanned skin. There he stood, bare-chested, wild-eyed, the jungle carved into the lines of his body. His foot pressed firmly atop Ixana’s head.

The air trembled as he spoke. "You dared to steal my Serakai from me?!"

His thunderous voice rattled through the branches of the great tree. Silence fell like a thick curtain, and the flock froze.

Gasps erupted from the gathering. Several tribespeople dropped to their knees.

"We didn’t know!" one cried. "We didn’t know she was your Serakai!"

"Forgive us!" another pleaded.

Ixana snarled beneath him, but she couldn’t move. Vulcan, who now stood off to the side in his human form, watched the entire ordeal with cold calculation. His eyes flashed as they locked on Ixana, who looked so weak beneath Yohuali.

Vulcan moved like lightning, his wings flaring open as he reached Ixana’s back. Yoa growled at his insolence, his claws drawing out of his fingers. But the eagle prince wasn’t focused on Yohuali. Without a word spoken, he grabbed both of Ixana’s wings and snapped them effortlessly.

A sickening crack echoed across the canopy. Ixana shrieked, the sound inhuman. Every eagle gathered shuddered at the worst possible thing that could happen to them. Yoa stepped back, shocked by Vulcan’s cruelty to his own mother.

Without any flicker of hesitation, Vulcan kicked Ixana’s broken form off the edge of the tree. She disappeared with a screech into the abyss of the jungle below.

The silence that followed was absolute. The Sky Matron’s crown was passed onto her son. Vulcan’s father flew past him without a word, bellowing after his Nokari. Vulcan signalled to the guards, and they dove after him, halting his attempts to save Ixana.

Any relief Nova felt at seeing Yoa was brief, and shattered. She now stared, trembling, a chill dispersing from the centre of her spine, gathering into every tiny fibre of her body as she watched Vulcan’s cold and composed expression. He turned his attention to Yoa, who’d recovered from witnessing the Sky Matron’s murder.

"I didn’t know she was your Serakai," Vulcan smirked so only Yoa could see, revealing he’d figured it out and still did the unthinkable. Seeing how quickly Vulcan took the opportunity to kill Ixana, Yoa knew it was all part of his plan. "Now, she is my Nokari." He stepped forward. "You will hand her over."

Those gathered inhaled sharply at Vulcan’s words, commanding Yohuali, a known force, a beast born of Yiska, and waited with bated breath at what could happen next. They should have moved to protect Vulcan, but this was between him and Yohuali.

"Aiyana," Yoa said in a deadly quiet tone, his eyes locked on Vulcan. "Take Nova."

Aiyana and Atia appeared from Nova’s side.

"You really want to start a war over her?" Vulcan clipped, his feathers ruffling behind him.

Yoa smirked, darkness dilating his pupils, his voice guttural, more beast than man, as he said, "The war was over before it began." Then he lunged for Vulcan in the blink of an eye, slamming his back into the bark, and started pummelling his fists like hammers into Vulcan’s pretty face.