by Sadie Jacks
“You’re severely mistaken if you believe the shit that just exited your mouth. Hellion is nothing but onyx and obsidian. His spiritual plane throbs and pulsates with magic. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.”
“You can see colors?” Matilda asked, completely missing my meaning about Hellion.
I turned, narrowed my eyes at her. “Yes, I can see colors, you lying bitch. I’m done helping you.” I went still, no longer fighting to get free. No longer engaging in anything around me.
After several seconds, I was released. I fell back to the floor.
“Then you’ll give Hellion quite the holiday,” Matilda said.
“Bring it on, psycho.” I gave him a come ahead gesture. Inside I was quaking in fear. I had no idea what the actual fuck was going on. Now I had some part of a psychopath stuck inside me.
Hellion’s hazel eyes widened, joy cresting his face. He pushed Sasha out of the way.
The punk-rock woman eagerly moved. Hands in the air. She didn’t make direct eye contact with him.
“Matilda, we need her,” Reece said.
“We need her compliance. She can be in poor health and still give us what we need.”
Hellion sat directly across from me on the floor of the helicopter. He slowly slid his knife up through the blanket I’d wrapped around me.
I centered myself, rushed through my rituals, and folded myself inside the spiritual realm. They could do what they wanted to my body. My mind wouldn’t be here for them to torture as well.
I inspected the throbbing onyx piece of Hellion’s spirit. It wasn’t like the black threads in the guys. This was harder somehow. Almost jagged and cutting.
I probed at it with the smallest wisp of my own spirit I could manage. As I grazed the pulsating stone, my spirit sank below the surface. Inside the stone was an entire galaxy of colors and stars.
What the fuck? I whispered.
You shouldn’t be here, it said back.
I startled. Asher hadn’t been able to talk back to me.
Kiema, look at me.
I have no eyes in this form. No way to use my physical senses, I said.
A low chuckle. Silly human, of course you do.
Human? Implying that you are not?
I wear a human shell, that is all. You are not fully human either.
I laughed, long and loud.
LOOK AT ME!
The words boomed through my spiritual plane. Without thinking about it, my eyes popped open.
Hellion sat before me, a sadistic smile on his face.
In the deepest part of his hazel eyes, I could see our reflection on the spiritual plane.
Success, little one.
What are you? I asked.
You’ll soon find out. You must fix your men. Save them. Let them save you.
What are you talking about?
Hellion exhaled heavily in my face. The scent of peppermint and wintergreen flooded my nose. The aromas took on physical form and moved through my system. Finally, they settled in my spiritual landscape. Golden orbs of sparkling light, almost exact replicas of my bloody masses, bobbed like boats on the water.
Remember, fix your men.
I was pushed from the spiritual landscape with a fierce thrust. I entered my physical form as the helicopter pitched and swayed in sudden turbulence.
One of the doors opened.
I can’t be sure, but I’m fairly certain Hellion shoved me out the fucking doors.
Bastard.
Chapter 47 – Ransom
We’d made it back to North Cross in less than three hours. Taryk had pulled some strings and we were given an escort. We jettisoned through traffic.
“We got the lock on her phone, now we just need for her to stop moving,” Xander said as he dropped his shit next to his console of screens and computer equipment.
“How far can the signal trace her?” I asked. I can’t lose her. Not like this.
“The only reason we would lose her is if they find the phone or her battery dies. Hopefully it was fully charged when they took her.” The array of screens on his end of the warehouse took up the full south wall. “I’ve got the system set up to warn me if they stop for longer than five minutes.”
I nodded. “What can I do? I need to do something.”
“Go with Taryk. We need to do some deeper diving on information on Iron Serpent. They’re either so far off the radar that they don’t show, or they have some high-powered friends.” Xander didn’t bother turning from the screens.
“I’ll bring everyone in here so we don’t have to waste time repeating ourselves. We also need to make sure we’re on schedule for the takeover.” I left Xander’s space.
Our abandoned warehouse/home sat in the middle of a derelict industrial park making it the perfect space for us to work and live. Seven stories high, we each had a floor, with the main floor holding common areas and offices.
I took the old freight elevator to my seventh-floor home and shoved my stuff through the door, not caring where it landed. I’d get to it later.
“Meeting in Xander’s. Ten minutes. Taryk, bring your info on Iron Serpent, or have your contact ready,” I said over our mental connection.
Looking across the street to our labs didn’t bring me the same sense of satisfaction it always did. All I could think about was Kiema.
I grit my teeth. Whoever had taken her was about to understand not to fuck with me or mine.
Once back on Xander’s third floor, I took a spot around the pub-height table next to Saint as we waited for the rest of the guys to filter in.
“Where are we with Feuer Holdings?” I asked him, grabbing a bottle of water from the middle of the table. Saint must have set them out when I called the meeting.
“It’s owned outright by Juan and Ferria Feuer. We could run a dirty campaign, but it could take a while. We could offer to buy them out. Or, and my personal favorite, we blackmail them into giving us the company. We give them pennies on the dollar as a sort of ‘fuck you’ for how they treated Kiema. We sign the company over to her after we get her new documents.” Saint took a pull of his beer.
“I like your plan. Let’s put that into motion.”
“We’ll need help from Taryk and his team. It has to be done well or it could come back on us. On Kiema.”
“We’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t.” My hand tightened around my water bottle so hard that water splashed from the top. “Shit. Sorry.” I got up and got a towel.
“I want her back too, Ransom. I need to talk to you about her. Without everyone else around.” Saint’s gaze was steady and open.
My belly tightened. I nodded, a single dip of my head.
The elevator doors opened to the right. “I’ve got everything here that my contact could gather about OTIS.” Taryk slid dossiers across the table. We all reached out and grabbed a folder.
“Formed sometime in the late 1800s, they’ve been in the business of harnessing and testing magic. For themselves, for various governments, for anyone who could afford to pay their steep fees. Shut down in the early 1910s amid rumors of an uprising, all nations decided that a centralized effort of magical knowledge should be implemented.”
I opened the file, flipped through the information. I didn’t bother reading it word for word yet as Taryk was one of the most concise debriefers I’d ever met.
“It’s believed by the upper levels of our government that IS took their activities under the radar. They’re careful not to make too much noise or bring too much attention to themselves. The government allows them to continue their experiments, sometimes using elite Mage forces for clandestine work, as long as they play by their host country’s rules.”
“The Iashira branch is the most active, with the Sheocreth branch being second. If you flip to the red tab, you’ll see average numbers for active IS membership.”
“Holy shitballs, T. They’ve got over 20,000 in Iashira alone,” Asher said.
“Yeah.”
&nb
sp; “What about the claims that ten percent of the population has magic? Where did they get that number from? Are they included in IS membership?” Saint asked, latching onto the numbers.
“The IS lists are not included in the numbers distributed to the general population.”
“Why the fuck not? If there’s some kind of secret magic society out there, don’t the people have a right to know that?” I could feel the fury begin to burn in my stomach.
“Not according to IS or the government. It would cause a panic, a civil war between Normals and Mages. A war the Normals would not win.”
“Those IS terms?” Atlas asked, his pen raised over the notepad sitting in front of him.
“Yes. The government has adopted the terminology as well.”
“What kind of magic are we talking about?” I asked.
“Same as Gen Pop for the most part. But on much higher levels. Apparently you have to meet minimum rating to even be approached by IS.”
“So we’re looking at going against people who can do shit with their minds on a catastrophic level.” Atlas made it a statement.
“Yes. We get Kiema back at whatever cost,” I said, my words muffled by my clenched teeth.
“Do we think her parents gave her up?” Saint asked, cold rage infusing his words.
“That’s my best guess. Them or the guards at the front entrance. They didn’t appear to have any love for Kiema when we rolled up on them yesterday,” Taryk said.
I looked at Saint. “We need to get a meeting with the Feuers as soon as possible.”
Saint nodded. “Taryk, we’re looking at a good blackmail takeover of Feuer Holdings. We have the info that she’s alive, with multiple witnesses. They’ve been denying her basic human rights. They treat her only marginally better than an animal while still making obscene amounts of money off her skills for which she sees not a cent. Does your contact have anything on them that we can add to the pile?”
“I’ll reach out.”
“I can pull up change of ownership forms. Create new documentation for Kiema. Get her brought back to life,” Xander offered.
“Do that. Get started on anything you think we or Kiema will need to be part of the world again,” I ordered.
“On it.” He swiveled around and got to work, his fingers racing over the keyboards.
“How are we doing on the Kolefni takeover?” Asher asked Saint.
“On schedule. Tomorrow when the business day opens, they’ll find out that all of their non-family stock has been bought up by us. Carbon Pack Industries holds fifty-five percent of the company. And they can’t do anything about it.”
“Which of my siblings sold you their four percent?” I asked.
“Mattias.” Saint almost choked on the name. “He’s under the assumption he’ll be getting a cushier spot under our hand. Too bad he’s an idiot and didn’t actually read the contract I put under his nose. He’s out and he’s signed away his ability to bring us to court about it in the future.”
I took a drink to wash the acid from my mouth. What a fucking idiot. My brother gave away everything I’d ever wanted, for a lot less than it was worth. I rubbed a hand down my face. Damn, I wanted to shove him off a steep cliff.
“Here’s to a new sunrise.” I raised my water bottle.
The guys lifted their drinks into the air. Except Xander, he was a little busy. “To a new sunrise.”
Chapter 48 – Saint
“What’s on your mind?” Ransom asked as I shut the door to my level of the warehouse.
I had no idea how to say what I needed to say. To put it out there. I just prayed Ransom wasn’t going to kill me for it. Needing more time to gather my thoughts, I walked to the kitchen/dining area of my home. Pulled open the fridge, grabbed two beers.
I held up one for him, one eyebrow raised.
“Sure.”
I tossed it to him. We opened them, toasted each other, tipped back the first drink.
“Come on, Saint. You’re fucking killing me, man.” Ransom grabbed a chair from the table, pulled it back, sat down.
I winced. “If we all have magic, and we’re all shifters, how do you think it's going to impact not only our business, but our…sharing tendencies?”
Ransom just stared at me. “We don’t know yet that Kiema can touch anyone but me.”
I felt my hackles rise. I tamped them back down. “I know. Gaia, do I know that.”
“Then what the fuck, bro?”
I scratched my thumb nail over the label on my beer. “I need this group, Ransom. You know that.” I looked up at him, the man who’d saved me.
“So do I. We all do.”
I shook my head. He didn’t understand. None of them did. “This group, you, the guys, you’re my family.”
Ransom looked at me, his brow furrowed in confusion. “Same here, Saint. You know that. What does this have to do with Kiema?”
This was going about as shitty as I’d expected. I wasn’t any good getting my thoughts out. It’s why I stuck to numbers. Simple, easy, dependable.
“You remember my great-grandma, Simone?” I asked.
The look on Ransom’s face almost made me laugh. Almost. He nodded. “The crazy one from Sheocreth?”
“Yeah,” I said with a chuckle. “She was definitely crazy. She told me stories about the old days in the old country. Man, I loved that woman and her stories. They got me through some rough times.”
Ransom nodded. He knew about those rough times, had even lived through some of them with me.
“Anyway, GG Simone told me a story for as long as I can remember. About how magical people used to turn into animals. Dragons mostly, but there were some other kinds of animals. Lions, wolves, bears, panthers.” I looked at him, my eyes wide. I prayed he understood what I was trying to tell him.
“Okay, so you know about some legends similar to The Lost Ones. Great. Again, what does this have to do with Kiema?”
I bit my back teeth together. “Dragons mate for life.”
Ransom laughed. “Great for dragons. Last I checked, Kiema wasn’t a dragon. Just a seriously sexy human.”
I threw my beer bottle across the room. “Shut the fuck up, Ransom. You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Silence.
After a few moments, Ransom pushed back his chair from the table. He leaned over it, towered over me.
“Get to the point, Saint. Now.”
“If Kiema is right, we all have magic. If my granny was right, my family used to be dragon shifters.”
Ransom continued to glare at me.
“And I’m pretty sure Kiema is my mate.”
“Fuck!”
Chapter 49 – Ransom
Three Days Later
“CPI leadership is here, sir,” the secretary said.
I didn’t give either Juan or the secretary time to tell us he wasn’t in the office. I pushed in behind the startled older woman. Taryk, Saint, and Asher moved in with me. “Thanks. Get out.” I didn’t bother to turn and see if she obeyed.
“Juan, Juan, Juan. You shouldn’t have been such a complete asshole,” Taryk said as he wandered into the room. After he’d made a full circle, he came back to my side and gave me a nod.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Rans—”
“It’s Mr. Kolefni to you, you little fuckbite. Where’s your bitch of a wife? She still in heat?”
Juan’s face developed a purplish undertone.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Get her in here. Chop, chop,” I clapped my hands loudly. “We don’t have all day.”
Juan hit a button on his phone. “Ferria. My office. Now.”
“I’m busy, Juan,” she sounded winded.
I raised an eyebrow at him. A smirk lifting the corner of my mouth. The purple color increased.
“Now, Ferria.”
A long moan filtered over the line before it cut off.
“Seems you still haven’t been able to take care of her needs, Juan. How does it feel to let d
own the women in your life?” I asked as I walked to his desk.
“I see Kiema was able to heal you,” he said with a smirk. “My girl—”
I punched him in the face. “You don’t say her name ever again. Get me?”
“Kie—”
Taryk circled the giant desk, drawing the older man’s attention. With a bright smile on his usually somber face, Taryk jacked him in the gut, and then smashed Juan’s face into his rising knee. “Never again,” he said softly.
I barely heard it over the old man’s moaning.
“What is the meaning of this?” Ferria said as she flung open the double doors at the far end of the room. She had the necessary bits covered, but left nothing to the imagination. The sight of her made me sick. She went to her husband’s side. “Juan?”
She looked at me and my guys. “Ransom? Is that you darling?” she practically purred the words. Husband forgotten as she took in my new form.
“Yes. And don’t even think of touching me with your slutty hands.” I suppressed the shudder that was trying to crawl up my spine.
“Well, I never—”
“Fucking too right you never. Get your nasty self back over on the other side. You stink.” Asher waved a hand in front of his face. “How you ended up with someone like her, I’ll never understand. But I thank Gaia she’s here. We’re here to deal with you, so that makes my heart happy.”
“Whatever are you talking about? Who the fuck are you?” she blustered as she wrapped her see-through robe around her body.
“Hey, I’m Asher.” He shot her a big happy wave. “Don’t let this body fool you: I’m really very mean.” Asher crossed his arms over his chest. “And about to get bigger and badder. Your precious daughter saw to that.”
I fought back a smile. The dickhead.
“Kie—” Ferria began.
Taryk punched Juan again, cutting off Ferria before she could finish her daughter’s name. He looked Ferria right in the eye. “Keep saying her name and you’ll both enjoy the same punishment. This is your only warning. I don’t like hitting women, but in your case, I will have no problem beating the shit out of you.”
