“Kye? Where’s Kye?” she demanded, scanning the monitors, feeling fear when she didn’t see him.
“He’s in the woods, not far from our mother’s place,” Noah replied, changing his tone when she opened the door to the hallway. “You better not get taken!”
She waved him off and hurried out the door, securing it as she left. The alpha’s home was dark and silent, as though the home had been abandoned for years. The feeling was strange not seeing people mingling around.
Slipping out the back door, she wanted to cry when she heard gunfire coming from the front lawn. As much as she wanted to run and help the other Guardians, Evie’s main focus was finding Kye. She ran across the backyard, past the circle where Talon held their meetings, and headed for the road that led up to the mated cabins.
She partially shifted enough to use her panther’s keen sense of smell to find him. It didn’t take her long to find his trail.
“Evie!” Kye scolded as she rounded the large tree close to the small driveway leading to his mother’s cabin. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for you,” she panted, pushing back her beast.
“You were supposed to be in the safe room,” he slipped, cringing when her eyes widened.
“So, you were part of that?” Evie narrowed her gaze and tightened her fists at her sides. Right now, all she wanted to do was clobber Kye and Hope for orchestrating her safety.
“I’m trying to keep you safe,” he explained.
“We do this together,” she said, poking him in his stupid chest. “I know they are going to come for me, but…”
Her words died in her mouth when a gunshot rang out across the darkness. She screamed when a patch of blood bloomed on Kye’s chest. His hands reached for her, but he failed as he gasped for breath… falling to the ground.
“No!” she screamed, her panther ripping from her chest.
When she spun around, there were four males as large as Guardians pointing their weapons at her head. The beast lifted its lip, a vicious snarl rolling off her tongue. The panther backed up, straddling Kye’s body as he lay bleeding out on the ground. They weren’t going to hurt him anymore as far as she was concerned.
“E…Evie,” Kye gasped, gaining her attention. The human side wanted to shift to give him aide, but her panther won out by dominating to keep her safe. His panther clawed at his human body, attempting to shift to heal himself, but Kye shook his head, fighting the shift. Tears welled up in her eyes when his canines elongated and he snarled, “Run.”
Her panther screamed as Kye’s body went limp. She jumped for the men, but didn’t make it far before one of them raised a hand and a flash of light shot forth from his palm, striking her in the chest. The pain paralyzed her, dropping her body to the ground. Whatever the man had done had forced the shift from her panther back to human.
The men didn’t speak as they lifted her from the ground, one of them tossing her limp body over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a flimsy blanket.
Evie tried to scream, but whatever they’d shocked her with kept her from making sounds louder than a simple moan. Reaching down deep, she searched for her beast, but the panther inside her was gone… lifeless.
Talon!
Talon!
Talon!
Nothing.
As she hung over the man’s shoulder, Evie felt a lone tear escape her eye. They were going to take her and possibly study her like she was nothing, like she didn’t matter.
Gunshots sounded louder as they reached the alpha’s home. Still paralyzed, she couldn’t move her head to see what was going on, but from the sound of it, her pride was losing the fight. As the man slowed, Evie silently cried out when she saw blood on the ground. Without her beast, she couldn’t pick out the scent to know if it belonged to one of her pride or the enemy.
“Get that one in the van,” a voice said. “These sons of bitches have more firepower than we thought.”
The male grunted and hefted her up higher on his shoulder when he started moving again. As he reached the van, the man turned, and she saw the front lawn of the alpha’s home.
It was covered with bodies of Guardians and officers.
Liberty donned the special gloves the females used in training to keep from accidentally touching a male and causing herself pain. It was hard, but she kept the tears out of her eyes as she ran from the closet upstairs, tossing blankets and sheets over the banister to Calla below.
“That’s all we have,” Liberty yelled. “Start making pallets on the ground. Use the pillows if you must.”
The alpha’s living room was a staging area for the wounded. Talon was out with Savage and Winter, looking for Kye, Booth, and Taze. It’d only been half an hour since more deputies from surrounding counties showed up to help them protect the pride. The men were either caught or they committed suicide before they could be taken into custody. The pride took out twelve of them on their own before the mercenaries remaining started opening fire on everyone with semi-automatic weapons.
So many of them had been shot.
Ranger, Lucky, Axel, Diesel, and Kraven were in bad shape. The healer was pulling bullets out of their bodies in preparation for the males to shift to heal. So far, Ranger was the only one alert, and he was fucking pissed.
“Where’s my mate?” The male’s voice was harsh and deadly. Thankfully, Hope ran from the kitchen with water, sliding to his side. “I’m here. I’m here.”
“I need our alpha here,” Harold snarled, using long tweezers to dig into Kraven’s chest, right above his heart, to find a bullet.
“I’ll call for him,” Liberty said as she stood back, pressing her hand to her heart. She sent up a silent prayer to whoever was up there listening. Please don’t take any of them from us.
A commotion on the back porch stopped Liberty from calling out for her mate. Calla reached for her weapon at the same time Hope stood over her mate protectively. Both females raised their guns toward the door in preparation to shoot the intruder, but when the door flew open, everyone cried out when Kye was brought in naked and bleeding from a wound to the center of his chest.
“No!” Liberty’s cry was heard throughout the pride, and an agonizing wail echoed from each of them.
Chapter Twenty
They had her tied to the seat in the small plane. It’d been hours since they’d thrown her inside under the cover of darkness, taking off from the small airport in town. There’d been no security around…no one to see her being taken.
She felt the descent and cursed when she caught a glimpse out the window. The sun was just coming up over the horizon when the plane banked to the left, showing her an island in the distance. If that was where they were taking her, she’d have one hell of a time getting away. It didn’t matter that her panther loved water, and frequently swam, there was no way she could swim the ocean waters to get to the mainland.
The males surrounded her as soon as the plane landed, one of them removing handcuffs from his back pocket. She looked up into their eyes and frowned when she saw that they were vacant. None of them held any expressions as if they were robots, but she knew they weren’t. There was something off about these males… but what?
She was officially scared. Two men held her arms tightly as she was led into a hillside bunker. The walls were concrete and the lights that hung overhead were bright enough to hurt her eyes, but she kept them open to pay attention to her surroundings. She dug deep inside and cried for her alpha, but he never answered.
Talon! Help! Please!
Cries of others could be heard as they moved further into the corridors with doors that were not marked. The males holding her were supernaturally strong, but they were not of her kind. She tried to break free, but the guards only tightened their hold and rushed their steps. The cuffs on her wrists were unlike any she’d used in training. Those she could break with her strength. These felt the same, even weighed the same, but they wouldn’t budge.
At the end of the hallway sat a m
etal door with a small window. When it opened, several men inside turned to look at her. Their faces were covered with masks like her healer wore when he was working on his patients.
“Ah, what do we have here?” one asked as his eyes roamed her body.
“Female black panther,” a guard said. “Careful, she’s a fighter. Carlin wanted her for mating with a lion.”
The guard uncuffed her wrists and pushed her into the arms of the other men, slamming the door behind her. She twisted and kicked out like she’d been trained, knocking one of them to the floor. The second, she punched in the jaw. Her fangs thickened and she pulled at her beast.
Another male shoved her against a wall, but she took that moment to bounce back and attack him. A fist caught her face, spinning the female to the side and directly into the arms of the male who looked at her like she was going to be his next conquest.
Talon!!!
“You cannot call for your leader,” the dark-skinned man in the lab coat chuckled. “He’s probably dead.”
“He’s not dead,” she spat, hoping to get them to fight her, because she was angry as hell at being taken, again. She knew what to do this time. These men wouldn’t hurt her like the wolves had. “I would know if he was.”
She would feel the loss of her alpha if he’d died. The feeling was said to be like your chest was being ripped to shreds. She’d been conscious the entire trip to this place. She’d have known if Talon was gone.
Or would she?
She’d been paralyzed by them. Maybe he’d died and she hadn’t felt it. Gritting her teeth, Evie knew to not let the enemy get inside her head. She had to think straight.
Focus!
She’d already remembered the path they had taken to get to this room since they entered the underground facility. The one thing that kept her from panicking was knowing that the tracker in her arm was active. They’d be there soon.
The door opened and a large man entered. His gray eyes bounced as he chuckled around a half-smoked cigar, “This one will do. Mate her with that lion.”
“Mate me?” she gasped.
“Yeah,” the scientist smirked. “Time to see if you all can cross-breed.”
“I’ll have to reward the warlocks with their choice of a female for bringing me this one,” the large man said. Why the hell was he using warlocks? It didn’t take but a second for her to realize that was why they’d been so much stronger than her, and the reason why the Watcher could still see them coming. “Maybe they’ll borrow this one when you’re done with her.”
“Not happening,” she snarled, putting her left leg forward as she took her stance. “I’ll take every single one of you out if you even try to force me to mate.”
“You do not scare us,” another male replied as the big man left the room, locking the door in his wake. This was the asshole that had punched her when she had tried to fight. The male was big, but nowhere as large as her Guardians. “Even if you did get out of this bunker, you wouldn’t be able to get off the island. We have wild shifters out in the forest. They’ll do worse than what we are requiring from you.”
“Wild shifters?” she questioned, not moving from her position.
“Fucking wolves,” he cursed, leering at her body. “They’ll like you.”
“I’ll take my chances,” she replied, getting ready to launch herself at the biggest guy in the room and the one who’d struck her when she had arrived. Yeah, he was going out first.
“We’ll see,” he shrugged, lifting a syringe from the table beside him.
“Not again,” she whispered, readying herself for the fight of her life.
Harold wiped his brow and looked up from Talon’s baby brother with a grim expression on his face. “I’ve done all I can.”
Talon’s mate cried at his side, holding his arm with all of the strength she had left. If it wasn’t for her love, he’d have cracked by then. Liberty’s strength kept him going as he continued to force his Guardians to shift to save their lives. As he looked around, the ones who were unharmed hovered over the males who were in their panther forms. Some of them slept, others just lay there, panting with exhaustion.
“You need to force his shift,” Harold begged. “Kye needs your help, alpha.”
Talon pulled in the ancient magic that had been bred into him by his father. His skin prickled as a cool breeze skirted through his body. His beast was right there, guiding him as he used all of the power he had in his body, directing it toward his baby brother.
“Shift, Kye… shift now!”
Kye’s body shivered as his beast fought for release. The shift was slower than usual. Hair sprouted on his brother’s body. His ears reshaped. His tail slowly grew to its full length. A low moan escaped the male’s lips as his face morphed into that of his cat.
“Kye,” Liberty said softly, dropping to her knees beside the panther’s head as soon as he’d completed the shift. His brother’s beast barely opened its eyes. Talon noticed the amber was fading and tiny blue flecks of his human side were there.
“Do not fight to come back yet,” Talon ordered. “You need to heal. We will go get her and bring her home to you.”
The panther cackled low in his throat at the alpha’s words. It was obvious Kye was at his weakest point. Liberty donned her gloves and stroked Kye’s head when a lone tear leaked from the animal’s eye. “We will bring her home.”
Talon turned and focused on the others as he surveyed the chaos that was his home. He couldn’t look his brother in the eye anymore and tell him lies to keep him calm.
In all honesty, Talon had no idea when his Guardians would be healthy enough to go after Evie. He didn’t know why he hadn’t heard from her yet, either. Garrett had promised she’d call for him, but in his vision, Evie was unable to contact him. They all thought it was because Talon had died.
Well, he was good and alive, and he needed to find his brother’s mate.
“Talon,” Noah called out from the hallway leading to his office and the security room.
Talon turned at the sound of his brother’s voice, using his body to block the sight of their baby brother laying in his own blood. The look on Noah’s face was one of fear. “What is it?”
“I’ve found her,” Noah admitted. “And you’re not going to like where she is.”
Talon moved with speed down the hallway, following his middle brother to the room. When he entered, Noah pointed to the screen. A satellite image was on the larger screen, a blue dot pulsating on a wooded area.
“Zoom out,” Talon ordered, his heart thundering in his chest as Noah grabbed the mouse and did as he’d been told. As the image cleared, Talon cursed so loudly, the monitor vibrated. “She’s on a goddamn island!”
“I know a guy with a plane,” Noah offered, scooping up his phone. “Get the available Guardians armed and ready. I can have them in the air in thirty minutes.”
“Do it,” Talon ordered.
Chapter Twenty One
Evie spun, her foot connecting with the last scientist’s jaw. She felt immense pleasure when he fell limp to the ground. Her heart rate sped as she looked around the room at the four men laying there unconscious. Time was short and she knew she had to get in touch with her pride.
Her hands shook as she searched the males for keys to unlock the door.
She grabbed the syringe from the floor and found its cap on the counter. She pocketed it and moved toward the door. Sliding the key in the hole, she peeked through the tiny window but couldn’t see anyone directly in front of the door. She’d have to take her chances with people in the hallway.
“You can do this,” she told herself, closing her eyes one more time so she could partially shift.
Talon…Alpha…Please hear me.
It only took a few seconds for him to reply. Evie almost cried with relief when she heard his voice in her head.
The Guardians are on a plane, heading for you.
She pressed a hand to her chest when she felt his strength wrap around her.<
br />
I’ve disabled four scientists, I’m going to fight my way out of this bunker. There is a small runway not far from the entrance.
Evie listened for her alpha to reply, but there was a long pause. She knew he’d probably yell at her and tell her to stay hidden, but she wasn’t going to listen to him until he gave the direct order.
Are you hurt?
She assured him that she was fine.
Remember your training, Evie. They are only an hour away.
She swallowed hard, wanting to ask him about Kye, but she was afraid the news was going to be bad. She’d seen him take a bullet to the chest.
He’s alive, but very weak. Come home to my brother.
Evie wiped a tear from her cheek and straightened her spine. She had to get back home, but first, she had to shut down the Community.
The door let out a soft creak when she slowly opened it. Looking to the right, she noticed the way was clear, but she remembered from paying attention as they brought her in, she needed to go left down the hallway.
She moved with speed as she ran, her eyes set on the door at the end of the corridor. White lights guided her path, doors every few feet were closed, but a sound stopped her in her tracks.
Whimpering and pleas for help reached her ears as she came upon a door several feet from the exit she needed to take. There was a small window, similar to the one in the room she had been held in. As she peeked inside, Evie’s beast pushed against her skin for release.
Several cages lined the walls. Shifters in both their human and animal forms were locked inside. The one closest to the door held a female who was laying on her side, panting hard. Evie’s eyes scanned the room and saw a male dressed in a lab coat locking her cage. The males in the room were snarling and growling as they yanked on the bars of their cages. The scientist adjusted himself and sneered at the young female. Evie knew immediately what had happened.
She fumbled with the key ring she’d stolen and prayed that the key she chose worked. Sliding it in the lock, she twisted and the lock released. A voice called out from the furthest end of the hallway. When she looked up, another man in a lab coat started running for her.
Kye Page 11
