Serenity shook her head. “I can see why the glow might make you think that, but I’m not an angel. Demons in this realm just seem to think I glow. It’s why I color my hair. If I don’t, it hurts Legion’s eyes. Do you know which of your parents was a demon? What was your other parent?”
“My parents were both human,” Mitchell replied. “How does this even make sense? I’ve been dreaming of Hell so this shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. None of this makes any sense.”
Kyleigh came up beside him, slipping an arm around his waist.
As Legion studied him, Mitchell realized it felt strange knowing only he and Serenity could see Legion. “There’s not a drop of human in you,” Legion finally said.
“The shapeshifters all think I smell human,” Mitchell told him.
Serenity blew out a frustrated breath. “Leave it to the annoying demon to give you a half-ass explanation. Demons are very closely related to humans, so it’s possible your shapeshifters can’t tell the difference. You have something else in you.”
“He’s part Fae,” Kyleigh stated. “I’ve suspected it for some time. It’s why he’s a seer, but I’ve been trying not to let too many people know. I don’t want the Fae trying to interfere with his life. They have a tendency to be a serious problem for anyone with Fae blood, especially seers.”
“The Fae won’t fuck with you, Halfling,” Legion assured him.
“Legion says I don’t have to worry about the Fae,” Mitchell told the others.
Connor snorted. “No offense, Mitchell, but we just heard demons are only here if they’re being punished. I’m not entirely certain we should trust a demon who did something bad enough to be punished.”
“Demons aren’t really bad,” Serenity insisted.
Legion snorted.
“Legion was very bad,” Serenity admitted. “But he’s changed, and he’s not nearly as bad as he once was. Technically, he’s still not exactly good, but he’s telling the truth about this. I’m not a demon, and I don’t have any reason to lie.”
“Now that we’ve helped the little Halfling, let’s find out what we need to and get out of here,” Legion said impatiently. “Vampires are fucking creepy.”
Mitchell laughed at Legion’s shudder of disgust.
“What’s so funny?” Connor asked.
“Legion thinks vampires are creepy,” Mitchell explained.
“Where are you from?” Connor asked Serenity. “I’m assuming, after what we’ve just learned, you have nothing to do with the shapeshifters and vampires causing trouble in our territory, but you definitely don’t belong here.”
“This is a little hard to explain,” Serenity told him. “I’m not from here, and there are no vampires where I come from.”
“Ask them about Kishara,” Legion pushed.
“I’m getting to that,” Serenity snapped impatiently. “Sorry. Legion is being pushy. We’re looking for a woman by the name of Kishara. Have you heard of anyone by that name in this area?”
“That name doesn’t sound familiar. It’s an unusual name,” Connor replied.
“It’s a demon name,” Serenity explained. “She’s Legion’s sister.”
“Let me tell you how some asshole fallen angel males act,” Legion said from Mitchell’s side. “Most aren’t like this, but my father is. They impregnate some unsuspecting female and abandon them. It’s usually not their intention to get her pregnant, but they don’t want to use protection. At times, they even pretend to be someone the female knows to trick her into sleeping with them. It’s all a stupid game on their part. Once she’s pregnant, the fallen angel disappears and never makes any effort to check on their offspring. While it’s a big violation of our rules, no one really enforces it.”
“How do you know my mother wasn’t the fallen angel?” Mitchell asked.
“I know who your father is,” Legion explained. “We recognize heritage right away in other demons. He obviously found a Fae, probably full-blooded, and she decided to leave you with humans. The Fae and demons don’t usually play well together. Since you thought you were human, I assume your mother left you with a human family.”
“So, everyone abandoned me,” Mitchell deduced.
“Before you get all bent out of shape about it, consider the fact that your mother probably did it to protect you. The Fae can be vicious with half-breeds, and I imagine you’re going to have some pretty damn scary talents when you come into your full power. The Fae might have tried to kill you when you were younger.”
“You said they wouldn’t mess with me,” he reminded Legion.
“They might have when you were younger and completely helpless. They have no way of knowing how many demon powers you’ve inherited, and they’re fucking cowards who won’t be willing to mess with you to find out.”
“When will I come into my full power?” Mitchell asked. Kyleigh’s hand tightened on his arm, reminding him she was still with him. The world seemed to fade away when he was talking to Legion, and he hadn’t heard a word anyone else around him had said.
Legion shrugged. “Probably in another fifty to a hundred years. You’re still a baby. You being Fae might change that. I’ve heard of children who were the product of a fallen angel and shapeshifter union coming into their demon powers when they have their first change. I’ve always felt it’s better to get them later since it’s harder for young demons to control their powers.”
“They don’t know anything about Kishara, but they have jaguar shapeshifters creating problems in this area. Do you think her mother is a jaguar shapeshifter?” Serenity asked Legion. It seemed she’d been talking to Connor the entire time he’d been talking to Legion.
Legion shrugged. “It’s always possible. I guess we should go,” he remarked, motioning for Serenity to follow him.
“Wait!” Mitchell shouted, annoyed that Legion was going to leave after dropping this on him. “You’re just going to tell me I’m a demon and leave?”
Legion shrugged.
“Aren’t you forgetting something, Legion?” Serenity asked.
“She’s still in the collar,” Mitchell explained when Legion said nothing. “If she moves more than a few feet from Connor, it will shock her.”
Legion nodded and took Serenity’s hand. While Mitchell could still see her, it was as if she were in a hazy purple mist. The collar simply dropped to the ground.
“Wait!” Mitchell called out. “I need to know what’s going on.”
“We’ll see you again,” Serenity promised him. “When the time is right.”
As Mitchell watched, Legion led Serenity toward a doorway that had appeared in the middle of the street. The door opened without being touched, and they both disappeared through it before the doorway faded into purple mist.
“That is officially the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” Connor remarked. “I have no idea what that was.”
“Are you okay?” Kyleigh asked Mitchell.
“I need to be alone,” Mitchell mumbled, walking off and ignoring everyone as they tried talking to him. Not knowing what he was had been frustrating, but it was even more frustrating finally knowing what he was but having no clue what it all meant.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
“It is really annoying having you with us, Beck,” Vexx complained as they walked through the wooded area near the edge of the cougar territory.
Winn felt the same. She’d been hoping to talk to Vexx alone. When everyone had an extraordinary sense of hearing and smell, it was hard to keep any secrets. Even when she’d lived among jaguars growing up, she’d had a large section of the rainforest to run in when she needed to be alone. Winn understood Cord’s earlier order to remain within the cougar territory, but she was having a hard time with his new order requiring them to take guards when they were still on cougar land. He’d given the order two days ago when jaguars had been too close to the border for Cord’s comfort. Both Winn and Vexx had argued against it, but Cord insisted since Winn had already been taken down by vampir
es. Having grown up with jaguars, she’d learned to fight, but it had been a very long time since she’d needed those skills. While practicing with Vexx was improving her skills, her balance was still off on some of her kicks, and her reaction time was too slow.
They were being escorted by Beck and another cougar named Cal. She didn’t mind Cal as much because he kept his mouth shut. As for Beck, he warned them about getting too close to the border, and gave his opinion on everything they tried to talk about.
“She’s right,” Winn agreed. “You are really irritating.”
Rather than looking annoyed or hurt by her comment, Beck grinned. “Then I’m doing my job.”
“Cord told you to annoy us?” Winn asked.
Beck shook his head. “He asked me to keep you out of trouble. I think having you talk about your problems with him in front of me will get you in a lot of trouble because I’ll have to tell him what you said.”
Winn blew out a frustrated breath. “I wasn’t planning to complain about Cord.”
“Complaining about the rules he has in place for your safety is the same as complaining about him,” Beck argued.
“Why couldn’t we get a better guard?” Vexx asked. “Aside from being a tattler, Beck is a horrible guard. If a female with nice boobs walks by, he’ll leave us.”
“Then let’s hope a female with nice breasts comes along so we can get a little peace,” Winn muttered, making Vexx laugh. Even Cal had to cough to cover his laughter.
Beck didn’t react to their teasing. His attention was suddenly focused on something else.
“What’s going on, Beck?” Vexx asked.
“We need to get back,” he said urgently, just as Winn caught the scent of the jaguars, too. Only half-shifters, she and Vexx didn’t have the same sense of smell as Beck and Cal, but the jaguars were closing in fast, and they weren’t alone.
Winn reached out to the elements to create a storm around the edge of the cougar territory to hold off the invaders, but her power was sucked away from her by some unseen force. Once that force latched onto her power, Winn was unable to free herself from its hold. Her energy quickly drained, weakening her both mentally and physically until she could no longer support her own weight.
Vexx caught her before she hit the ground. “Winn!” she shouted. “What’s going on?”
“Run. You have to get away from here now,” Winn barely breathed out before losing consciousness.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Vexx had no idea what had just happened to Winn, but she wasn’t about to leave her.
“Take her back!” Beck shouted. “We’ll hold them off.”
But they were surrounded. “It’s too late,” she told Beck. “We’ll have to try to fight our way out and hope help comes.”
Vexx settled Winn onto the ground and the three of them surrounded her. There was no time to strip down and shift, so they’d have to fight in human form. At least, she could be thankful her heat cycle had passed, so she wouldn’t need to concentrate on masking her scent as they fought.
“We don’t want to fight you, cougars,” said a male jaguar as he approached them, flanked by several vampires and jaguars.
“How the hell did they get this close without us hearing or scenting them?” Cal uttered.
Vexx had been wondering the same thing. With as many of them as there were, they shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on a human, let alone a group of shifters.
The shifter at the lead smirked. “We had a little magical help,” was all he said. “Now, why don’t you just let me take my mate, and we’ll let you all live.”
Vexx snorted. “I don’t know who you think your mate is, but it’s no one here.”
“Winter is my mate,” the jaguar snarled.
“Winn is mate to the leader of our clan,” Beck told him. “We will die to protect our leader’s mate.”
“She’s the one I want,” another jaguar said, pointing to Vexx. “I recognize her scent. You promised her to me.”
The leader looked annoyed but nodded. “Fine, Cruz. You can have her. It looks like you missed her heat cycle, but you can always mark her now and impregnate her next time she’s in heat if you really want young with her.”
“The hell he can!” Vexx shouted. “I’m not even remotely interested.”
“Enough of these stupid games,” a vampire said before stepping forward and shooting Beck in the heart with a crossbow.
Vexx screamed, watching helplessly as Beck collapsed to the ground.
Cal lunged forward, determined to take down the vampire who’d killed Beck, but another shot him in the abdomen. When Cal dropped to the ground, one of the vampires moved forward to stab him in the heart. Vexx moved faster, kicking the vampire’s wrist and sending the knife flying. Before the vampire could react, she landed a sidekick to his balls. There were some advantages to being short. Before Vexx could do more, several vampires raised their crossbows and pointed them at her.
“What’s it going to be?” the vampire who’d originally spoken asked. “Should we kill you, or do you want to be a good girl for Cruz? I don’t honestly care which you choose.”
Vexx opened her mouth to tell him to go fuck himself when she caught Jase’s scent. He was alone, and they needed to get away from there before Jase ended up getting himself killed. She also couldn’t stand the idea of leaving Winn alone with the jaguar who claimed she was his mate. Struggling against her natural instinct to fight, she nodded. “I’d rather live.” She and Winn would just have to find a way to escape once her friend regained consciousness. For now, fighting would only get more people killed.
After her hands were bound behind her back, Vexx was led away, while one of the jaguars carried Winn. Vexx sensed Jase near, but he wouldn’t find her. She felt the magical cloak around them, hiding their presence. With any luck, she’d see Jase again and have a chance to make up for hurting him. Her father had been right; she should have let Jase mark her before it was too late. She should have taken her chance to be with her true mate.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Staying away from Vexx for the last few days had been difficult, and Jase was looking forward to seeing her. His father hadn’t been thrilled with his decision to wait to mark Vexx until after they got to know each other better, but Jase refused to give in.
He was at the edge of the cougar territory when he scented the jaguars. They were definitely on Cord’s land, and that meant trouble. His initial reaction was to let Cord know, so he could send cougars to check on the situation. Jase had no clue how many jaguars were there, but he was pretty sure he also smelled vampires, and he had no intention of rushing headlong into a situation where he could get himself killed.
Then he heard Vexx scream. It was a sound that would haunt him all his days. He ran in the direction of her scream, praying he wouldn’t be too late to save his mate. Following the scent of her trail, he knew he was close to finding her when her scent suddenly disappeared.
At first, he was annoyed, thinking she’d masked her scent to avoid him again. That all changed when he came across Beck and a cougar he’d never met. Both had been shot with arrows. Beck’s eyes were staring off, unseeing, but the other cougar was still alive. Based on his labored breathing and the amount of blood around him, that wouldn’t last long.
“Where is Vexx?” Jase asked, dropping to his knees to see to the cougar’s injury, even though he doubted there was anything he could do.
The cougar groaned, blood pooling around his open gut wound. “Tell Cord they have them. Jaguars and vampires.” He paused, hissing in pain. “They took Winn and Vexx. Couldn’t smell them coming.” Eyes closed tightly, the cougar forced the words past his lips. “Had to be magic that drained Winn. She collapsed.” His breath hissed out, and his body shuddered with his last breath.
Jase ran. As soon as he saw the houses in the distance, he started shouting. “Cord!”
Cord moved toward him, looking more confused than worried. “Why are you so worked up, Jase
?”
“I just came across Beck and another one of your cougars. They're dead,” he explained.
“Winn and Vexx?” Cord asked, having trouble keeping his voice level.
“Taken by jaguars,” Jase replied. “One of your cougars was barely alive when I got there, and he told me the jaguars have some way of hiding their presence. They were also able to drain Winn’s power, or at least, that’s what your cougar thought. I don’t know any other details.”
“That phone the vampires gave me is in my home, near my bed. Get it and contact the vampires to tell them I need help hunting down my mate and daughter. Does anyone in your clan have a phone?”
Jase nodded. “My father has one and so does Zane’s mate. I’ll get in touch with them, too.”
“I’ll gather my fighters,” Cord said, and Jase saw the fear and rage Cord was working to conceal. He understood how Cord felt. If anything happened to Vexx, he would destroy those who’d hurt her. Struggling against his natural instinct to go after his mate, he made the calls, reminding himself he had a better chance of rescuing Vexx if he was prepared.
Chapter Sixty
Vexx wasn’t sure what bothered her more, having her wrists bound, or having Cruz constantly touching her. He was gentle and kept asking her how she was, but she still wanted to cringe and jerk away every time he put his hands on her.
They’d just reached an encampment, and Vexx could feel the magical wards around it. Cruz leaned in to rub his cheek against the side of her face. When Vexx tried to pull away, he pulled her back against his chest and held her there with an arm around her throat, still not hurting her but making sure she understood he could.
“I knew I had to have you the day we followed you in the woods,” Cruz murmured. “Your scent isn’t as strong now that your heat cycle has passed, but I could still tell it was you. Even if it weren’t for your scent, I could never miss those eyes. They’re stunning. I can’t wait to see if they glow even brighter when I’m fucking you.”
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