as Astra taunted them, her eyes glowing violet. “Losers is what you two are. Looo-serrrs. Losers, losers, losers.” She danced around, jumping and dodging every time one of them tried to attack, their earlier tricks somehow completely ineffective. Every time she spoke, her voice carried a resonance that seemed to make her opponents flinch as if it hurt their ears.
“It’s their dragons,” Jacob breathed, watching as Ksenia tensed on her perch. “Their dragons are immune to the twins’ powers, or they can counteract it somehow.”
Then Ksenia leaped. Her wings remained tucked in until the last second when she stretched them out just enough to keep her fall completely silent. She landed right behind her opponents and hit both markers on the twins’ shoulders at the same time, almost a casual tap like she was merely trying to get their attention. They froze, identical looks of horror on their faces as they turned.
“Guess you guys are out of the running for tourney champs now, huh? Better luck next time.”
“And Fire Wraiths claim the win!” the announcer crowed.
The crowd surged to their feet as one, roaring and clapping, whistling and hooting. Ksenia and Astra joined hands and ran to the center of the arena, leaving the sour-faced wolves behind them as they waved at the cheering fans. Flowers rained down onto the sand around them.
Teague and Gunther had already launched themselves over the rails before Jacob could gather his wits to follow. He met them in the center where Astra’s mates joined them, the two sets of shifter males hoisting each woman on their shoulders where they both stood and linked hands again, basking in their victory.
24
Jacob
Their next match—the final match of the tourney—was not as fortuitous. Jacob’s conclusion after they lost the championship fight was that Hot Wings really were that good.
“So you’re saying that Silver Fangs sucked to begin with, is that it?” Astra asked, lounging on their back deck overlooking the lake with a chilled cocktail in one hand and a large drumstick in the other. Both women had been insatiable ever since their final match ended, and had opted to feed their hunger for food before delving into any other cravings.
“They definitely slacked on their training after leaving us.”
“What’ll happen to them now?” Ksenia asked. “We didn’t exactly prove they were cheating. We just kicked their sorry asses and sent them running with their tails between their legs.”
Jacob shrugged. “There’s no sure way to prove to the League what they were doing, but we can spread the word about how to beat them now that we know giving your beast free rein blocks their ability to foresee your actions. I guess they can’t read their opponents that deeply, or see far enough in advance to really do much damage. Otherwise they’d have known they would lose.”
Teague chuckled and shook his head. “This is what happens when you rely too much on fancy tricks instead of practice. If the tricks stop working, you can’t fall back on your training. If they’d stuck with us, they might have managed to succeed on their skills alone.”
“But you love us more,” Ksenia said, reaching up and giving Jacob and Teague both lazy pats on their thighs from her reclining position on the ground between their loungers. Then she rested one hand on a food baby that had been hours in the making.
“I love you most.” Jacob gripped her hand and squeezed then bent and pressed his lips to her greasy knuckles.
“Same here,” Teague said, giving her an adoring smile.
“Even though we didn’t win the tournament?” She turned her fire-flecked gaze to Jacob, her brow stitched with concern.
Gunther approached and settled on the ground just behind her head, offering her another plateful of steaming roast. She licked her lips and allowed him to feed her a juicy slice.
“Win or lose, we will always love you most, Ksenia,” Gunther said. “But your show against Silver Fangs last week was enough to bring our training outfit the accolades it needed to keep the old men off our backs for the foreseeable future. They see your potential as well as we do.”
“Not to mention we are technically training a champion, now that Astra’s with us,” Jacob said.
“So I’m off the hook for babies?” Ksenia patted her distended belly and waggled her eyebrows at the three men.
“You just worry about filling your belly with food for now,” Gunther said, offering her another morsel of meat which she happily took, chewing and humming in pure pleasure.
“Someday I do