I let out a laugh, clutching the seat. “I can’t drive, so I’m not judging.”
He looks surprised. “Nobody taught you?”
“Dad died when I was sixteen, so I never learned.”
He says, “I’ll have to do something about that.”
I reply only with, “Hmm.”
He laughs, takes the next turn at speed, and tips his head. “Maybe Spencer would be a better teacher…”
We head north, twenty-five minutes out of the city, and up into the hills, traveling away from the suburbs into a secluded area. The view is breathtaking, but I’m not here to enjoy it.
Cain slows the vehicle and pulls off the road, parking it beneath a spreading tree. He says, “The house is well guarded, but the security guys are not my targets, which is why I carry this.” He points to one of the larger firearms. “Tranquilizer gun. Once we take them out, we’ll need to gain access to the home. The hostage will be in a cage. If we’re lucky, he’ll be on display. That’s the way the Jaguars usually roll.”
An unexpected thrill shoots through me. I’ve read enough books to imagine what a shifter looks like in animal form, but I’m not sure how different the reality will be from the fantasy. “Will they shift?”
“If threatened. They’re stronger in animal form.” He grins at me, but his smile fades. “They have very powerful jaws. Don’t assume they can’t get through the suit.”
Exiting the vehicle, I collect the weapons I had to remove to sit comfortably.
Cain says, “We walk from here. Hold my hand and I’ll blur you.”
His strong palm covers mine, his ring glows, and a force passes through me. I shiver, goosebumps rising on my skin as our surroundings change. My environment is suddenly unfocused, as if I’m looking at it through a sheet of water.
“Nobody can see or hear us inside the blur.”
I try to catch my breath. My whole body tingles. I should be afraid, but I’m not. In fact, I feel the opposite. My senses thrum, every part of my heart and mind is alive, including that old burn in my shoulders. But so far it doesn’t hurt. I roll my shoulders without breaking contact with Cain as we finally approach a large gate at the entrance to a long driveway.
Two men guard the gate, both armed.
I say, “No security cameras. Unlike your place.”
Cain grunts. “I have infrared so I can detect someone who is blurred. Blurring makes us undetectable to sight, sound, and smell, but it doesn’t obscure our body heat from infrared.”
He transfers my hand to his waist to keep me invisible before he relaxes into a perfect shooting position and takes aim. His movements are a blur as he takes two quick, clean shots. The men snatch at the darts in their shoulders, wobbling before they drop to the pavement.
Cain drags them off the road. “We have an hour before they come to.”
Inside the compound, Cain tranquilizes three more guards on the grounds, and two at the door before we hustle inside. “It won’t be long before those guys are missed. We have to hurry.”
He gestures left to the living area from which most of the noise is coming.
It’s filled with tacky furniture; most of the chairs are covered in furs. I don’t want to look too closely, since they could be trophies from the gang war between the shifters. True to Cain’s prediction, a cage sits at the side of the room with a clear space around it. It looks like part of the furniture, a place that is often used. A man of the same physique as the men who requested the mission paces back and forth inside the cage.
I count ten men either lounging or drinking at various spots within the room. Four sit at the table to the far left playing cards. Four more recline on the leather couches; two stand on either side of the cage, loosely guarding it. One of the guards goads the hostage, splashing his beer into the cage, snarling, “We’ll spill your blood soon, wolf.”
Cain is quiet beside me, his gaze shifting from one to the other before he says, “These are the ten. All of their deaths are sanctioned. The only possible collateral is the hostage.”
He gestures to the cage, then at the men playing cards at the table furthest from it. “We should take out those four, then become visible so the others shoot at us and not in the hostage’s direction. Can you take out those two—?”
I bump my hip against his to maintain contact, and take aim with the semi-automatic at the two men furthest to the left.
Cain gives me a smile of appreciation. “Yes, you can.”
He lifts his own weapon, taking position. “I’ll move away from you as soon as those four are dead. Are you ready?”
I return his smile. I’ve been calm for the last hour. I’m holding more weapons than I ever have before and covered in protective material that resists bullets and daggers. I’ve never been more ready.
I guess I’ll soon find out if the suit repels jaws, too.
As soon as Cain fires, I follow, pulling off two quick lethal shots before ducking and rolling, coming up on one knee and shooting two of the shifters on the couch as well. Six down already. Cain flashes me a look of surprise, but his focus quickly returns to the battle. The remaining four will not be so easy.
They dive behind separate lounge chairs, weapons in hand, returning fire.
I cover Cain as he darts between a stream of bullets, targeting the single male shooting from behind the nearest armchair. Cain powers up to it, stepping from the seat to the back, his weight toppling the chair so that the guy has no choice but to dart out from behind it. He slams right into Cain’s boot and meets a quick bullet.
Cain stands between the remaining men and the hostage, who dove to the back of the cage as soon as the fighting started. I remain on the other side of the room, covering the exit on this side.
The return gunfire stops and growls meet my ears. I shudder at the sharp sounds. Three big cats slink from behind the furniture, their golden pelts flecked with inky black swirls. They are beautifully savage, their eyes lustrous. Perfect killers.
A bit like me.
Cain immediately swaps one of his guns for a dagger. I maintain both my pistols. The minute the jaguars leap, the game will change.
Instinctively, I duck, roll, and drop to the floor seconds before the nearest beast launches off the ground. I empty a clip into its belly as it flies over me, its attack mistimed, a deadly mistake. With a dying yowl, it hits the floor and slides across the rug. I twist, both weapons pointed at the other two jaguars, but they’re too close to Cain now.
Their claws are a vicious blur as they leap at him, knocking him against the wall. His gun goes off twice before it clicks empty. One of the jaguars twists away from him, landing on the floor with a thud, mortally wounded. But the other knocks Cain’s dagger out of his hand, catching his shoulder between its powerful jaws.
Cain said that jaguars could get through our suits, and the beast’s hold is only inches above Cain’s heart. The creature shakes its head, savaging at Cain’s shoulder, forcing him down into a half-kneeling position. It slashes with its claws, brutal cuts that would tear his torso apart if not for the suit. Cain’s harness is a casualty of the beast’s assault, falling to the floor with a clatter.
I hesitate, both my guns aimed at the jaguar. I can’t risk shooting Cain.
Cain roars, desperately trying to reach his weapons as the jaguar continues to maul at his shoulder. Giving up, he slaps his hand against the beast’s muzzle. Golden light streams around his hand, telling me he is harnessing his assassin’s magic instead.
I race to another position, prepare to take aim, then freeze.
Blood splatters the wall behind Cain, a crimson splash. I can’t tell if it’s Cain’s or the jaguar’s. My heart stops when Cain falters and his magic fades.
“No!” I don’t think. I cast my guns aside, leverage off the nearest couch, and propel myself onto the jaguar’s back, my hands clamping around each of its jaws.
Its teeth are hot and slippery, its muzzle hard and bristly.
With a scream, I pull the j
aguar’s jaws apart, releasing Cain’s shoulder, the force of my movement propelling the beast and me backward. It falls with me, trying to twist to right itself, landing heavily on my torso and legs, one of its claws raking down my side.
As we fall, I pull my arms apart with all my strength.
Crack.
The sickening crunch washes over me as I rip its jaws off. Blood sprays across my body and my neck, and the beast’s dying roar fills the room before it stops struggling.
I lie beneath it, pressed into the floor, my breathing rapid. Far too rapid. I need to get to Cain, make sure he’s okay, but when I try to push the dead jaguar off myself, fire rips through my back, a scorching burn inside my shoulder blades, making me writhe.
I’m not holding any weapons, and now … now the consequences of fighting will annihilate me…
“Archer!”
The sound of thudding feet reaches me before Cain’s face appears above me. He is pale. I can’t see his shoulder from this angle, but he’s alive. I breathe out my relief even though pain floods me. The fire in my back is trying to push me upward. I need to stand. After that, I’m not sure, but I can’t lie here anymore.
I try to speak, but … another shadow casts over me.
A scream rises to my throat. “Cain!”
A brick swings against Cain’s head, cracking into him.
He drops to the floor, his face turned in my direction. Blood trickles from a wound in his forehead, but the rise and fall of his chest tells me it isn’t mortal.
Two faces appear above me. It’s the two men who asked for the mission. One of them breaks off, and within moments the cage clangs and the third man is free to hover over me too. He licks his lips at me in a way that makes me shudder.
My left hand inches across the floor, finding cold steel. I whip the gun upward and pull the trigger.
Empty clicks echo over … and over...
“You’re all out of bullets, darlin’.” The man who wrote in the ledger tilts his head at me, his aura glowing dangerously before he slams a fist into my face.
Oomph. My head hits the side of the floor, the world spins. I’m pretty sure I’m bleeding, but I glare up at him.
He looks a little surprised. I guess he expected to knock me out. It takes more than a single hit to do that. The pain of the assault is nothing compared to the force in my spine, and it only makes me mad. I need to get up. I struggle to move the jaguar, but it weighs a ton. I can’t shift it.
The former hostage’s aura glow dangerously, a gray glimmer around his silhouette as he says, “She’s a pretty thing, isn’t she, Jared?”
The man who hit me growls, “She’s our ticket to power, Adrian. Lady Tirelli wanted us to kill Cain. If we take this woman back to her too, she’ll make us kings.”
I growl up at them. “This was a trap.”
Jared smiles at me. “Yes and no. Adrian really was a hostage, so we asked the good Lady for help. She said she had a better plan: get Cain to do our dirty work for us, then we kill him. If we do that, she promised to give us control of the city. But … if we take you to her, she will make us her sons.”
The third man hangs back while the former hostage, Adrian, snarls, “I spent three days in that stinking cage. I can have fun first, right?”
Jared smiles. “As long as she’s in one piece, I don’t see why not.”
I try to blink through my tears. I’m not afraid, not of them. I’m not crying because of their threats.
The pain in my shoulder blades spreads down my spine, throbbing through me in sickening waves. It is only getting worse, and any second now I’m going to start screaming. I need a new weapon, anything to make the agony stop.
I whimper, casting a desperate gaze around the room for the nearest gun, my sobs making the men snicker.
Relief floods me when Cain’s fallen dagger glints at the corner of my vision, inches away from me on the bloody carpet. I creep my hand toward it, trying to move without drawing attention. Damn! It’s too far away. But the three men are about to free me to have their fun. I struggle to take deep breaths—I just have to wait another moment until they release me.
They grab hold of the jaguar, huffing and pulling together. The beast’s fur drags across me in the opposite direction to the dagger. The jaguar’s weight lifts. Nearly enough…
I’ll be free in two seconds. Two seconds until I can grab the dagger. Then the pain will stop and I will be okay again…
A flicker of movement catches my eye. Cain’s eyelids squint open, widening as he focuses on me. His gaze flicks to the men and then to the weapon I’m reaching for. Alarm shoots across his face.
The jaguar’s weight lifts. Finally!
I slip, roll, and lunge for the dagger, hand outstretched, wrapping my fingers around it.
At the same time, Cain shouts, “Archer, no! Don’t touch it!”
The startled men fall back as the dagger whips out of my hand, rising into the air all on its own. I scream as it shoots directly at my face.
I scramble backward, trying to avoid the blade as it forces me across the room, jabbing directly at my right eye as I jump and run from it.
The men’s laughter follows me until I thud into the wall. The dagger stops, poised at my eye level, its tip ready to impale me. It stops just in time. I try to move, but it follows me side to side, so close to my eye that I’m pinned and can’t move either way.
“Archer!” Cain jumps to his feet, shakes himself as if he’s fighting concussion, and launches at the two nearest men, power streaming around his body.
Jared and his brother fight back, but Adrian darts away, racing toward me, a gleam in his eyes. Wolf’s eyes. The animal inside him shimmers in every angle of his face, his white teeth, his vicious grin.
He jerks to a halt in front of me. “Aww, pretty thing. You’re in a spot of trouble now, aren’t you?”
He doesn’t try to take Cain’s dagger—he’s smart enough to steer clear of it. Instead he produces his own, running it over my body, starting at my knee and drawing it up my thigh, humming to himself as the tip travels all the way up to my face. He positions it at the base of my chin above my suit’s neckline, pointing the dagger toward my spine.
If I shift, I’ll impale myself on Cain’s dagger.
If I don’t move, the wolf shifter will stab me through the throat.
I have nowhere to run.
15
Adrian snarls, “Your Master will decide your fate now.” He shouts over his shoulder: “Assassin! Give yourself up or I will kill your woman!”
Cain releases Jared from a throat hold and stays his boot from cracking the ribs of the other shifter, allowing them to scramble away from him.
My vision blurs. The pain in my back is too much, beyond endurance. I risk impaling my eye as I hunch my shoulders forward, flexing against the dagger at my throat, trying to find relief. I cut myself on it. Blood runs down my neck, making the shifter twitch.
Cain’s response is a roar, but I barely hear it through my pain. “If you hurt her, I will break the Code and kill you all.”
The force inside me is tearing me apart. It’s like a tornado swirling inside my chest that has nowhere to go but to consume every part of me. I squeeze my eyes closed as the pain shreds my mind into pieces, my thoughts split apart, and only instinct remains.
I can’t move my head or my neck, but I can use my arms, and Adrian is too arrogant to stand clear of me.
I growl, “Cain isn’t my Master.”
I kick Adrian hard in the groin. It’s difficult to get leverage with my back pressed flat against the wall, but it’s enough to force him backward, at which point I snatch his dagger out of his hands with my left hand, swinging it away from him. I hold on to the weapon, brandishing it as high as I can near my face, the handle pointed in his direction. I need him to try to take it back.
True enough, he comes back at me, snarling, arm swinging. I judge his balance, his gait, the angle of his fist … I slam my right hand against hi
s oncoming arm, deflecting the blow and knocking it sideways.
At the last moment, his fist bumps against Cain’s dagger.
The dagger swings and zips toward Adrian with vicious jabs.
I’m free.
Quiet and cold, I flip Adrian’s dagger into my right hand and fling it straight into his neck, its impact adding to the momentum of his backward scramble. He bumps into the nearest couch, sinking to a sitting position, a last rasp dragging out of his lungs.
Jared and the other man lurch in my direction, shouting for their brother, but Cain grabs both of them, yanking them backward, slamming them onto the floor.
He roars at them, “Nobody threatens my woman.”
They scramble away from him, scooting on their backsides.
Jared screams, “You can’t kill us. Our deaths aren’t sanctioned. It’s against your Code.”
He’s groveling, but behind his back he carefully pulls a handgun from the back of his jeans. He didn’t kill Cain before and no doubt he wants to correct his mistake.
The force inside my body has progressed beyond painful.
My mind is numb. All I have is movement.
I run toward Adrian, yank his dagger out of his throat without touching Cain’s, race across the rug, leap over the dead jaguar that fell on me, and fling the dagger into Jared’s chest. As I race past him, I kick the dagger further into his chest, knocking him backward.
The other man—the one whose name I don’t know—fires at me from his seat on the floor beside Jared, but the bullet sails wide. He shouts as I kick his firearm out, spin, grab his head, and twist.
He drops to the floor beside his brother.
My chest heaves; my entire body is on fire, but it’s a cold burn, like being encased in ice.
Before I can turn to Cain, a flicker of light makes me stop. A single flame rises from each of the shifter’s bodies, each flame a self-contained orb. My instincts kick in, my hands shoot out, and I catch one in each fist. The flames scorch my palms, searing me. Inside the flames, I sense … a million moments in time, thousands of decisions, actions, all the pieces of these men’s lives.
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 53
