His face turned red, and the playful, but quiet man I knew was nowhere to be seen. No, this guy was all hatred and bitterness.
The woman stepped out of the line. “You mean a Mazza. You aren’t the only one, honey.”
Yup, already disliked her. I mean, if there stood even a sliver of a chance of me finding anything likable after she shattered Yunez’s shield, it would be dust right now.
“Brody.” She stopped in front of him and hid him from our view. “Tell me, or I’ll take it from you.”
I winced and Yunez grabbed my hand. Their relationship was not like ours. We had love and trust and respect between us. Yunez was by far the strongest and most experienced among us, but he still compromised if the majority asked for it. Hence me standing in front of some weird twilight zone versions of ourselves.
“I know her, she was a past lover from before I met you.” His words were gritty as if they were forced from his throat. Did he freely give them, or did she “take” the answers as she’d said? I’d assumed she meant read his mind to see the truth, but maybe this was a different variation on the power. Someone on my right swore under his breath, but it was too low for me to tell if it was Nato or Sage; my money was on Sage. He was the hothead out of the bunch.
“Hmm, how many times did you see her? Sleep with her?” She turned to spear me with her icy gaze. Mamma wasn’t happy and she was about to let us all know it.
She definitely wouldn’t like this answer. If we could anger her enough, that might be our only chance to defeat them. That was a big if, because my guys would have to keep level heads, too. In this, it was a gamble. I had no idea how they would react when their jealousy was directed at someone I actually had a past with.
Why damn it? The one person in the whole world that would have a history with me, had to be caught up in this mess.
“As much as I could, anytime I passed through town.” That admission had Sage stepping forward, only to be hauled back by Nato.
“Shh, keep it under control,” Nato whispered.
“And how often did you pass through town?” Her attention was back on Brody, and the other guys actually looked sorry for him.
“Every few months or so for a few years.”
Fuck it all to hell. Now it sounded like we had a thing, when we most certainly did not. It was sex. Pure sex, satisfying the basest need to have intimacy with someone else.
“Ah,” She murmured, and she cupped her chin in a slender hand. “And did you know she was a Mazza?”
“Yes,” he rasped. She must be doing something to him. His voice wouldn’t deteriorate from this little bit of use.
“And why did you not bond her, or try to bring her into the fold?”
“Because I’m a Manno and I couldn’t make the first bond. And, I didn’t want to share her yet. I planned to bring her back with me, but the next time I went to her place, she was gone as if she’d never been.” He fell to his knees, coughing, and little specks of blood dotted his hands.
The woman turned around with a warm smile, so at odds with her ice chip eyes. “Sorry you had to witness that little domestic dispute. But I also don’t like to share, or compete, or have anyone that comes close to my power. So, I hope this doesn’t come across too cold, but you now have to die.” Her glowing grass green gaze roved over the guys. “Although I might keep the Mannos. I can always add them to my little harem.”
The fuck she would. I cracked the nunchucks again, getting a sick satisfaction from imagining the metal nipple clamp catching her right in the middle of her beautiful iris.
“Is that…” She trailed off as she leaned toward me to get a better look at my weapon. “A sex toy?”
The Mannos around me rolled with laughter, and a few chuckles even came from my Lusty Legion. Bastards, all of them.
“Why yes, yes it is. Not only can I provide pleasure, I can also use it for pain. Bet you’re sorry you missed me this last time aren’t you, Brody?” That was mean of me, but I couldn’t help it. They were trespassing on our home, and threatening our people. I threw a sultry wink at the other guys for good measure.
Just as I had hoped, she shrieked and threw out a hand. Lightning struck the spot right in front of me, as strong arms lifted me backward. Jari parried with his own lightning bolt, while Rand threw his hands in the direction of the wagon. The metal spokes flew toward her as they reshaped themselves into a barrage of small pellets.
Her black bond mate held up a hand, and the pellets stopped. Or I should say they assaulted his shield with unrestrained fury. She walked forward, each step heavy in her anger as she glared right at me. “You don’t get to live. Not only because you’re on the wrong side, but because you took something that was mine.”
I wrestled myself out of Yunez’s arms and ran straight for her. I might not have my powers, but I was going to be scrappy, damn it. I screamed as I tackled her, straddling her chest as soon as she hit the ground. The LL attacked her harem and the Mannos raced forward, only to be stopped by a hazy shield. Probably the work of one of her bonds.
I slapped her with everything I had. She didn’t deserve a punch. But a nunchuck to the eye sounded like a good idea. The hard handles were familiar in my hands as I folded the ends together and raised them over my head.
A boot slammed into the side of my head, and I went sprawling. Lights danced over my vision as I tried to sit up. But my body wasn’t responding too well. Cat lady kicked my ribs and ripped the nunchucks out of my hand.
“You don’t need these.” She bent down and pressed her mouth to my ear. “I can’t use all my powers since we’re in this dome, but I can make you scream.”
Then she was shredding my mind like a barbed fence raking over the most intimate parts of my mind. I think I screamed, but the only thing I knew was pain.
It seemed to go on forever when the sharp spurs left me. Yunez laid his hand on my forehead and relief was a sweet, sweet friend I wanted to keep in my pocket, then he was gone.
I groaned as I finally sat up, and what I saw ignited a fire under me. Outside the shield, men in black fought our Mannos, and they fought hard. Fires had been set and were raging around the castle, eating everything in its path and climbing up the stone walls in an unnatural speed.
Inside the dome, the curly headed man had Sage up in the air, vines winding around his arms and Sage’s neck. The brown haired man had Egan on the ground punching him over and over. The woman was taking on both Nato and Yunez, but she was fast, and strong. And they were barely keeping up with her.
Shakily, I got to my feet, then teetered sideways. I picked up my discarded weapon, but I didn’t have the coordination I needed to use them properly. Instead, I did the zombie walk to the man holding Sage and brought the sticks down as hard as I could on the back of his head. He stumbled, and I fell over his back.
“Iss, stand up.” Sage slid his hands under my arms and pulled me up. He must not realize I would fall over as soon as he let go.
“Bitch,” Brody whispered in my ear right before he touched Sage’s forehead and his eyes rolled back in his head. He landed right on the shield, but instead of going through it, his body jerked as if he was being electrocuted.
“Sage!” I pulled him toward me, but he landed at my feet, no longer conscious. “You mother fucker.” I bared my teeth at my ex bed buddy and swung my weapon against his head. The metal caught his eye and tore a deep gash through the soft tissue. I grinned as blood gushed down his face.
Outside, a battle cry I was familiar with stained the air. Then Cherries were streaming out of the castle, right through a doorway of fire, followed by Cabbie wielding a whip, and Mehki with two giant ass hammers. Reinforcements had come.
The man over Egan got up, but Egan was too still. He didn’t even twitch as the man landed one final blow to his stomach. I dropped to my knees as Rand mirrored me, screaming and grabbing his head. That bitch did the same thing to him. Soon the last one of my men that was standing was Yunez, but he even he was flagging. The one t
hing that made me feel better was her men holding each other up. Two looked close to falling over. Then there was fucking Brody on his knees, wiping his eyes.
I reached for something. Anything. The spark of fire, the bit of sight. Nothing. My well was so dry, it was like I never had anything at all. The only thing that I felt was a throbbing behind my eyes and rolling nausea in my stomach.
The last thing I remember is Yunez taking a nasty blow to the neck, his head whipping around. And the woman, the Mazza, walking toward me with a bloody smirk.
From a deep dark abyss of nothing to wide-eyed waking, I shot up in bed, gasping and clutching my head. It didn’t hurt anymore if you didn’t count the ghost pains behind my eyes. My gaze darted around the room.
What the hell?
I was in Yunez’s bed, and next to me were all my guys sans the man himself. Okay, maybe someone slipped me a drug at breakfast and all of that wretched fight, and the bitch Mazza with her harem, was a dream. A nightmare.
Because this place had been on fire. And not the little kind that was easily put out. It was an inferno licking over the entire castle.
Egan was next to me, and while his face was not crushed like it should have been, dried smears of blood were left on his neck and under his ear. I looked at Sage on my other side, and his neck, while mostly normal, held faint pink lines crisscrossing in a pattern much like vines if they’d been wrapped around his neck.
It had been real, and somehow, we’d escaped, but how? They were kicking our asses. And, it wasn’t even a close tie.
Yunez appeared in the door with a tray of food and a large glass of orange juice. “I heard your thoughts loud and clear. You were projecting.” Dark circles were heavy under his eyes, and his face was drawn tight.
“What happened?” My voice was rough and dry like I’d smoked for half of Yunez’s lifetime.
He set the tray on my lap with the utmost care and scrubbed a hand over his face. The chair in the corner creaked as he fell into it. I started nibbling on the food because I was hungry. It gave him a few minutes to tell me. We were all safe, so I could wait.
“They were winning by a landslide.” He tipped his head back to rest on the back of the chair so he could stare at the ceiling. “They would have had us, but when they set the castle on fire, Cabbie and his Cherries knew something was seriously wrong. They came to our rescue. They overran the group of Shadow Society warriors in seconds. Without them, the Mannos would have lost. And we would have been taken, just as we feared. Or killed because their Mazza is one seriously fucked up woman.”
“That was it? The Cherries saved us?”
“That and the Mazza and her bonds were flagging badly on power. There were too many of my Mannos and Cherries for them to beat without their powers. So, they hightailed it. Their unit went with them, carrying their dead and injured. Ours didn’t pursue because we were the priority.”
Ice coated my skin. “Dead? Did any of ours die?” Please say no, please no. I didn’t know them well, but they had been nice to me. A few had even been comfortable enough to rib me. I didn’t want to lose any of them.
“Seven Mannos.” Grief was so, so strong in that one word.
I covered my mouth with my hand. Soft sobs caught in my throat, and I clenched my eyes to keep the tears inside, then I relaxed. Why shouldn’t the tears fall? They were good men, and they died for us, to keep us safe. Someone needed to cry for them, to grieve the brave ones that we were blessed to share a small part of our lives with.
“Did you notify their families?”
“No.” Short. Succinct. “The ones that passed were ones that had no families. Or none they claimed.
Oh, God, that was even worse. Yunez came over and moved the tray to the nightstand, then lifted me out of bed. He settled in the chair again, with me curled up in his lap. He smoothed slow circles over my back, and let me cry on his chest.
After the tears were gone, I pushed away so I could look in his eyes. “How were they so strong? They haven’t been bonded much longer than us, if at all.”
He played his fingers through mine. “There was another secret, one I tried to hide from everyone. It was the one thing I felt was important enough to take the risk. And, they have discovered it.” Unshed tears, probably from frustration welled.
“And what’s the secret, Yunez?” I whispered. Because for him to singlehandedly try to erase it from an entire race of people, it had to be bad.
“There is something that amplifies the powers of a Mazza and her bond mates. It only works on those that are bonded. No others. And, every time it’s been used, the world, or worlds, have barely survived. It is a type of stone that has the ability to hold energy. It’s so strong, it vibrates with it.”
I hadn’t seen or heard of anything like that, but something on the edge of my mind buzzed, trying to catch my attention. “A stone?”
He tightened his hold on me, locking his arms as if to keep me hostage on his lap. “Some would call it a metal.”
Then it clicked. When we had that awful dinner with Aamori, I walked into the middle of the room, and there stood a huge sculpture of metal, and it buzzed like it was overcharged with…something, but energy sounded right.
“I see you have put it together.”
“How did you know they’d discovered it?” This was all surreal. I turned to watch the guys sleep, seeing the rise and fall of their chest grounded me.
“Because each had a small piece of it hanging around their necks.”
“And how are we going to get our hands on a chunk of the sculpture to divide between us?”
He tilted my chin up so his mouth was close to mine. “We are not going to get a chunk. We are taking the whole sculpture. It was my failsafe in case something like this happened. And to my horror, it has. Now it’s time to call in a favor from Aamori.”
To be continued in War of the Mazza
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Iss and her Lusty Legion as much as I did! If you did, please consider leaving a review as it helps promote the books you love.
You can stalk me on my Facebook Author Page, Bookbub and you can also find me in my closed reading group the Lusty Legion. In the LL you can interact with me directly, find excerpts and information on upcoming releases, as well as play games and enter for giveaways. I’d love to have you join me!
Turn the page for a sneak peek of my next release, Pin-up Girl, a RH college romance, with a sexy side of suspense.
Prologue
Elise
These fucking stripper heels were not conducive to running away.
And that was exactly what I needed to be doing. Right now.
Shouts behind me echoed down the alley. Their panic bounced off of pavement still glistening from the fresh rain. At least it wasn’t raining right now. My lungs were going to explode with how greedily I sucked in air.
“There she is!” Emmet, the university’s most in demand bachelor. It was said he could make panties drop with a wink and his signature smirk. Now, he was using those lips to scream out my locations.
Damn. Damn.
Another set of footsteps joined Emmet’s, and now two of the three kings of Alpha Delta Omega were on my ass. From the lack of shouting, I’d say the second guy was Jules. The mute.
After some kind of accident as a kid, he literally couldn’t speak.
This was not a good idea. I should have stayed in my room, reading smut and giving myself a hell of a good time.
Yes. The end of the alley was steps away and once I was clear of the alley, there would be people, lights. All the things that would make it impossible to confront me.
A shadow barred my way and I craned my neck up, and up. Until finally, I made it to the gorgeous and hideously angry face of Milo. The king of the kings.
Jules and Emmett closed in on my back, and I was left spinning trying to keep everyone in my sight. These guys were not going to get rid of me. They were not going to ruin my life because I saw something I shouldn’t have.
/>
Fuck. That.
“What’s your name, babe?” Emmett flashed a mechanical yet charming smile my way.
Little did he know, I was immune to his charms. Everyone knew how he operated on campus, and I wasn’t about to let him lull me into a false sense of lust before he slit my throat.
“If I gave a fuck, I’d tell you. Guess what. I don’t. Fresh out.” I made a show of checking the nonexistent pockets of my miniskirt.
Milo touched my arm with two fingers and I yanked away from him. “Cute. We’re not going to hurt you.” Lie. “We just want to chat. What’s your name?”
His voice was smooth and calming. His whole persona had changed in a heartbeat, saying I’m safe, you can trust me.
I wasn’t. I couldn’t.
“I’ve seen her around. I think she’s in my Econ class.” Emmett snapped his fingers, trying to recall my name. It eluded him.
Jules circled the three of us, watching me with sharp eyes the entire time. He was waiting for me to run, I could tell. He may even be hoping for it. His arms flexed, muscles easily visible under the dim street light half a block away.
Milo scanned my body. If I were him, I’d be looking for a purse, or anywhere where I would have stuck a wallet. I didn’t have one on me. I left it in the club.
I waited a beat. One. Two. Three.
“Listen, babe,” Emmett said like the meaningless term of endearment would put me at ease. “You aren’t leaving until we get some answers. How about we go back to the shack and get to know each other.”
The shack being the nickname for the huge ass mansion their fraternity occupied. Everyone knew it. Only the chosen could enter.
“This has been fun and all, but I can’t hang around. This bitch has things to do. And my girlfriend’s waiting on me. You don’t want her to call the cops if I don’t find her, do you?” I flipped the large curls in my long blonde hair over my shoulder.
Secrets of the Mazza: A Paranormal Romance (Mazza Series Book 3) Page 23
