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August 23 - August 25, 2025
“It’s how he shows he cares,” he said with a smirk. “One of these days I know he’ll gift me a vision of him tossing me from a cliff Mufasa and Scar style and then I know we’ll be bros for life.”
"You're not either," I said, my heart beating harder. "I miss you." "Ex-fucking-scuse me?" he balked, turning to me with his eyes narrowed. I shrugged. "Just being honest." "You miss me?" he deadpanned. "I was never your friend, we're barely acquaintances. In fact, you’re just a cat who comes scratching at my window sometimes who I need to chase away."
"It can all stop if you just put your power in me, Rydikins," I encouraged. "Just put it in. Just the tip." He snorted a laugh before he could stop himself then tried to cover it with a furious hiss. But I had him pegged. He found me funny. Deep down, beneath all the emotionless bullshit he showed the world was a beating heart that needed love as much as the next guy’s did. And I had a lot of love to give.
"What the fuck, Mufasa?" he roared. "You liked it.” I smirked. He totally did. "If you try to hug me again, I will grow a vine so far up your ass that it'll get lodged in your throat and suffocate you to death," he warned.
Something told me they were lovers and I wondered how many lifetimes they'd laid here together. And how many more they would remain here for. As I pushed the ring onto my finger, I saw two Phoenixes dancing before my eyes. The Order was long extinct, but I could feel the heat of their blue and red fire in that moment as intensely as if they were right before me. It was beautiful. The ring hummed against my flesh and I gasped as flames seemed to burn right into my blood.
Two flames, one anchor. You'll find them when they need you most.
I growled in frustration at the fact this was the first vision he got for me. About fucking Simba. But I didn't have any time to waste. "Carry me, asshole, we need to stop the Lion from going to the beach."
Gabriel dropped out of the sky, falling like a damn rock from this height and I decided I didn't like this one fucking bit.
He was smiling like a fucking idiot at me. "You rescued me," he announced and I hissed, spitting actual venom. "I did not," I snarled, but I didn't know why I bothered lying. I'd come racing here in the pocket of a blackbird to warn this bastard. How could I deny that shit? I didn't know why, but I just couldn't let him be cut up by the Lunars for the sake of him taking Elise from me. Even if I'd pictured doing so myself more than once.
"Go get your snakelet, you stubborn idiot," he demanded, smirking at me. "And come hang out with me soon. We can watch The Lion King Two and-" "No," I cut him off, though a smile pulled at the corner of my lips which I fought away. "Well, we can just watch the first one again and-" "Mufasa," I warned. "Scar," he teased.
He swirled around in the sky, flipping over and I scrambled wildly, trying to hold on. My stomach lurched and I lost my grip, tumbling from his back with a roar of panic as I realised I was over two hundred feet up in the sky. Shitshitshitshitshit- Dante spread his wings wide, twisting around and nose diving towards the ground. I fell like Mufasa from the cliff, my paws wheeling in the air and I hoped to the fucking stars Ryder was watching this to make my death worthwhile.
Gabriel's chest was bare and his wings were folded behind him as he sat watching, obviously not wanting to be noticed. He absolutely didn't want to be pointed out either. "Hey! Gabriel!" I waved enthusiastically. "Gaaaaabe!" He refused to look at me, but every single person on the pitch was turning to look up at him. "Gaaabrieeel!" I waved harder and he finally raised a hand in a brief wave and I chuckled low in my throat. Total BFFTB (best friend forever to be).
Power? Check. Speed? Double check. Confidence? Triple fucking check. "Hey Gabe, come over here!" I called excitedly and for some reason he actually jumped to his feet and started walking towards us. Oooh, this is happening.
"I have The Sight, dipshit," he laughed harder. "I disabled it. Good to know you care about me though."
"I didn't get a vision," he choked out through his laughter. "You've just got my star sign tattooed on you." He fell to pieces, roaring with laughter as he pointed at the tattoo and my jaw dropped.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" he demanded. "I'm upset because you all went on a mission without me!" "A...mission?" I frowned. "What-" "You, Gabriel, Dante and Ryder all ran off into the night to kill Ryder's arch nemesis and left me behind!" My lips popped open and I almost laughed except that I could see how angry he really was about this.
Leon was seriously the most easy-going guy I knew, but he also threw a fit like a cat in a bucket of water if something did manage to pierce his happy exterior and cut him where it counted.
The only thing to cut through the fog of my bloodlust was Ryder's voice and I finally fell still over a groaning, bleeding Bryce as he spoke. "I think you won, baby," Ryder said, the barest hint of amusement in his tone which I was fairly sure no one else would notice.
"That's not a very nice greeting for your boyfriend in law," he said casually as the call connected and I strained my ears to listen to the response on the other end of the line, but Leon smirked at me as he threw a silencing bubble up around himself to stop me from doing it as he got to his feet and moved away.
Leon stood there with a taunting smirk on his face and Elise's Atlas in his hand. "Hey jingle balls, I'm here to suck on your North Pole." "You fucking-" I started but he stepped forward, kicked the door shut and tossed a handful of stardust over our heads. I shouted out as I was yanked into the ether, tumbling through the stars as rage gnawed at my insides. That fucking Lion!
"You need more magic and the stars have just shown me Dante hitting you with the whole tree to give you enough pain to fuel your reserves, so just leave it, Ryder," Gabriel insisted and Ryder glared at me as I cast air beneath the tree and turned, lifting myself too and floating along with it behind me, firmly ignoring Ryder.
"That's good. I guess all that bullshit talking on the roof paid off then, right?" He laughed vaguely, glancing at me and I frowned as I placed a glittery Zodiac charm on the tree. "I figured you'd appreciate the quiet again,” I muttered. "I mean...I don't always like the quiet. Do you?" I cleared my throat. "No, not always." "Well if you ever want it to be not quiet for a bit then you can always...you know...come up there or whatever." He placed a shiny red Dragon bauble on the tree which swirled with a glittering storm inside it. "Yeah, sure. Sometimes. Maybe." I glanced at him and found him
...more
"No silencing bubbles!" Leon yelled as he realised what we were doing and flames seared up the back of my neck as he motherfucking burned me with his fire magic. Gabriel shouted out at the same time and we whipped around, both of us snarling at him. "Drop it, or I'll tell Elise not to come," Leon warned and I shared a look with Gabriel that said he wanted to gut the Lion as much as I did right then. But we also wouldn't get to see Elise and all of this bullshit was for her, so it wasn't worth risking that.
Whatever this bond was growing between us, I could tell it wasn't one-sided. Me and him were becoming somewhat fucking inseparable and I had to wonder if I'd wasted a lot of my life pushing everyone away so forcefully.
I smirked as I patted my sweatpants’ pocket. "There's always room for a little snake in here," I offered.
Gabriel's horrified gaze raked over me before instantly slipping to Ryder and he rolled towards him, throwing his arms around his neck and trapping the Basilisk in a firm hug which meant I was effectively crushed beneath the two of them. "What the fuck are you doing?" Ryder snarled as he tried to shove Gabriel back. "My dick is rammed up against your thigh and that hard on isn't for you." "I saw you die," Gabriel said in a dark tone that had my lips falling open and a breath snagging in my lungs.
My gaze caught Ethan's just before he dropped his pants and he winked at me as he shoved them off, revealing his cock and howling once more before shifting right before my eyes. My lips popped open at the size of his Wolf form, the enormous black beast towering over every other Werewolf in sight and making me realise I'd never seen a true Alpha Wolf in shifted form before. Not like him. He was breathtaking.
