The water felt warm and relaxing. There were bubbles erupting from the large pool that massaged and tickled against my skin. Even though there were other females bathing, I felt comfortable and leaned my head back to feel the warm bubbles tickle my head. The sensation gave me the feeling of being light and I sighed into my relaxation.
"Enjoying yourself now that you have successfully tricked Kian into wanting to be your male?"
I jolted up from the water and saw Jinn standing buck naked before me with her arms folded. I jerked my attention away from the naked evil Snow White, trying not to observe her nudity.
"I can see you're enjoying standing naked in front of me you brazen hussy." I said.
"I don't know what a 'hussy' is, but YOU are the one who is BRAZEN. You come from some dark hole, throwing yourself at Kian, manipulating the King and Princes to accepting you. You were probably some abandoned female from another Croc tribe that got sick of you and now you made up all this weird shenanigans to put yourself on top!"
I whipped around, no longer caring about her indecency. "You only see what you want to see. I will be leaving with the bartering party when they arrive. I have no intention of putting myself on top nor do I plan to STEAL anyone. I'm going to find my place somewhere else."
"I know where your place is. It's in the GRAVE!" She growled the word "grave" as she began to shift into her beast form. She dove at me, mouth agape and ready to clamp down on my throat. I jerked away just in time and as I threw myself away from her, the adrenaline building inside exploded out of me, shifting into my beast form. I felt Jinn clamp down on my arm and I roared in pain as she pierced my skin and began to jerk me back and forth. She's going to rip my arm off!! She really means to kill me!!
I felt a break in my arm and I roared again, only to be dragged under the water. I began choking on the water until suddenly, Jinn let go. I clamored to the top, coughing out water. I heard yelling, but couldn't quite focus. I looked to the source of the yelling and saw Kian holding Jinn, who was still in her beast form, by her neck. He roared in her face and her body began to shake and change back into her human form. She screeched and cried as her bones cracked and moved and changed in jerking movements. If what I was seeing was any inclination, she was being forced to change. I lay on the ground, breathing with a painful clench in my lungs, my arm burning hot, and tears steadily streaming down.
Jinn was left hanging by her neck, hands clenched on Kians wrists when others began rushing in. The first I saw was a guy who had white hair and white skin, same as Jinn. He looked from his sister who was being placed on her feet, but held in place by Kian. She was whimpering and the other guy walked over to me. He knelt down and began scanning my body.
"Is she ok?" Kian asked.
"She's got a broken arm and some puncture wounds in her neck, but she's not dire. She will heal."
"What's going on?" Kians brother Lock was here with some other males. He looked from his brother and then to me. His eyes widened and he ran over to me, inspecting me.
"Jinn did this to you?" He asked. I blinked tears and cast my eyes downward. She tried to kill me. It was sinking in even more that I was in a world completely different from my own.
"She tried to kill her." Kian said.
"I love you Kian. More than she ever could. She's not for you. I am. You can't see it, so I had to help you." Her voice was weak, her eyes looked desperately at Kian.
"Your love is dangerous. I could never love a female like you." Kian said. Two guys seized Jinn and brought her before Lock. He glowered down at her, eyes dark and fierce. "You tried to kill the Kings honored guest. Our Gods' gift to our world. You will be tried and sentenced once we've heard from Wren and yourself in trial. I suggest you do not lie. It will only make your circumstances worse."
Kian came over to me, he knelt next to the guy who had been inspecting me. "I'm sorry you had to see your sister in such a way." He said.
"She went too far. She has an obsession with you and she's far too jealous, but don't hurt her. She needs a cleansing of the mind."
"It's out of my hands Leo." He said. "Can you help her?"
"You'll have to change her form. That alone will close the punctures and call the bones back into place."
"Is that really all that can be done? The change will be very painful."
"We can't move her in this form without risking more breaking and bleeding. She'd have to stay here for three weeks." Leo looked into my eyes. "Do you want to stay here for three weeks or would you rather Kian call back your natural form?"
"It might not work. We don't know if the royal bloodline has that link with her." Kian said.
"Then she will have to wait three weeks then." Leo said.
"Call." I growled quietly.
Liam closed his eyes, looking as though he were preparing himself for something he didn't want to do. I didn't even know about this gift, but if it can heal me that quickly, I want to get it over with. This place, which had been a place of cleansing and relaxing, was now a reminder of where I was attacked and nearly died.
Kian extended his hand and laid it on my head. A sound, like a grumbling crocodile purr came out and I could feel my body churning. It was like breaking in slow motion and I couldn't even scream as everything was changing. It sounded more like gurgling and you could hear my bones grinding. It was nothing compared to the pain. Imagine extreme growth pain radiating through your bones while grinding against each other. After what felt like hours, my body finally finished changing and cloth was thrown over my body. The ache died down significantly, but left me unable to move. Kian picked me up. "Aaahhh!" I cried as moving increased the pain. "I'm so sorry Wren. You can relax once we get you back to Lonna's." Kian said.
"She needs to go to my place. I have medicinal drinks, salves, and a small heated pool that can relieve her pain." Leo said.
I looked at Leo. He stood with his arms folded over his chest, a tattoo of my transformation on his bicep. He was the flirty guy from the market!!
"She will stay with Lonna. You can bring the fluids and salves there where either I or Lonna will administer them. The heated water is unnecessary."
Leo smirked. "I can see where the chasing is coming from." He set his palms out saying, "Look, I will administer the salves and fix her the hot numbing elixir. I can't have just anyone doing this to her because the mixing and cooking and administering has to be done right. You don't need to worry my Prince. It doesn't have the same effect as a Lure Stone."
Kian shifted his gaze from me to Leo, a feral fire in his eyes. "Fine. Follow me." Kian said.
Kian took long gliding steps through the market and town. I peeked over Kians arm and looked at Leo. He winked at me and I hid back behind Kians arm. "Don't worry, he won't do anything untoward or he will answer to me. We will get this done and soon you'll be feeling normal again."
I would speak, but even swallowing hurt my throat. So I gave one small stiff nod. Maybe Lonna can make sure I'm never alone with Leo. He makes me nervous and I haven't even come to terms with Kians affections. I don't want to deal with any more than that.