She turned toward the guards positioned at the chamber's edges.
"Restrain him. He will learn proper respect before he leaves this hall."
The guards moved.
Jake watched them as they all moved to surround him. They raised their weapons and pointed at him, ready to strike. A few of them stepped forward to restrain him.
Jake sighed, shaking his head, and in the next second, his aura shot up dramatically.
It wasn't the full transformation he'd shown Kunther in the villa's courtyard—no serpentine shadow rising into a darkened sky, no roar shaking mountains.
This was smaller and more precise, a controlled release of the pressure that lived beneath his skin now, directed specifically at the threat moving toward him rather than radiating outward without discrimination.
But it was enough.
