This might be the last night they could make love for a while and he was taking advantage of it.
They entered the building under the cover of darkness. It was only the five of them. Jace, Roman, Alister, Jonas, and he made up the five.
Jonas pushed open the door to the meeting room and they entered.
Cage nodded to Rafe, who was the closest to the door, and the shifter stood. The man was his own height of six foot four inches and heavily muscled. Although a few centuries old, Rafe looked to be in his fifties by human standards. Cage returned the arm grip half way up the man’s arm and smiled. Rafe grinned and pulled him into a brief, hard hug.
“Cage, good to see you.”
“You too,” Cage said with a smile, and then turned to draw Jace closer. “This is my mate, Jace DeLeon. Jace, this is Rafe, the elected leader of the Southern region.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jace said, shaking the alpha’s hand.
“That’s Anton, he represents the Midwest region,” Cage continued, introducing Jace. He pointed to a large muscled and bald man sitting two chairs over from Rafe’s left. “And at the end of the table is Franklin, who handles the East.”
“Howdy,” Anton, the elected leader of the Midwest, drawled.
“Hey.” Jace flashed the man a quick smile.
Franklin frowned at them. “Your mate? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t he a hunter?” Franklin gestured to Jace’s short swords.
“Yes, he is,” Jonas answered and waved to the chairs. Once everyone was seated, the alpha of the west continued. “They’ve blood bonded.”
A shocked silence followed.
“Impossible!” Franklin gasped.
“No, it’s not,” Cage confirmed. “We blood bonded. He shifted and we are mates. As you can see, Jace is alive and well and in perfect condition.” He reached for and brought Jace’s hand to his lips, holding Franklin’s gaze for a long moment.
“They lied,” Jace said quietly. “I don’t know why we’ve all been lied to about the blood bond.”
“And that’s why they have a warrant out for Cage’s arrest,” Alister said. The warlock never sat. Instead, he had chosen to stand apart, shoulder leaning against the wall at the end of the room.
“Who are you?” Franklin eyed Alister.
“Alister Bane.”
“I think he means what are you?” Roman suggested.
Alister’s eyes gleamed, he lifted a hand and the air caught the open office door and it slammed shut.
Jonas chuckled, but Rafe and Anton gaped.
“A mage!” Anton glared.
“Please,” Alister sneered. “I’m a warlock, some would call me a wizard.”
Cage looked over at Jace. “Alister is a wizard?” he whispered.
Jace nodded. “He doesn’t share that often. In fact, I’m surprised that he’s doing so now.”
Alister tossed him and Jace a sly smirk.
Franklin gasped and Cage sensed the shifter’s growing unease.
“Let’s talk about the warrant,” Jace said into the sudden quiet.
“We need to contact the hunters and put an end to this,” Jonas said. “The warrant for Cage’s arrest is bogus. He was trying to find out why he couldn’t be mates with Jace and ended up on someone’s hit list.”
“I’ve already spoken with the hunters’ leader,” Franklin said, rubbing at a spot on the table.
“When?” Jonas scowled.
“Yesterday.”
“Without a vote?” Rafe growled.
“Leopold contacted me personally.”
“And what did he say?” Jonas glared at Franklin.
“He said the hunters’ warrant for Cage’s arrest stands and if we hand him over, they won’t go to war with us.”
“No fucking way!” Jace snapped.
Cage placed a hand on his mate’s shoulder to keep him in his seat.
“What did you say?” Jonas asked.
Franklin stared at Jonas.
“Fuck,” Anton muttered. “What have you done, Franklin?”
“He’s here. He just wants to talk,” Franklin argued, but his eyes were troubled and his mouth tight. His fingers were gripping the table. Cage smelled fear rolling off the alpha.
“Franklin,” Cage whispered, his voice ragged.
“Leopold is here?” Jace sputtered.
“Yes,” Franklin whispered harshly. “I’m sorry, Cage.”
Fuck. They’d walked into a trap. He stood so abruptly, his chair toppled to the floor with a loud crack. Jace jumped up, staying by his side. The lights above flashed once, went out, and then flickered back on.
“Mages,” Alister snarled and whirled toward the door. He flicked his hand at the closed door, but it didn’t budge. “Must be more than a few,” the warlock muttered, trying to get the door opened.
Roman, Jonas, and the other alphas lunged to their feet. They gathered on one side of the room, facing Franklin as a collective whole.
“He wants my head on a pike,” Cage snarled.
“He just wants to talk,” Franklin insisted.
Franklin turned to a door near the head of the table that hadn’t been used and opened it.
Again, Alister flicked both hands at the exit door, but it remained stubbornly closed.
The leader of the hunters stepped through the door Franklin had opened and the group stilled.
Cage leveled his hard gaze at Leopold. He’d heard rumors that Leopold was said to be eight centuries old and by the look of the guy, Cage could believe it. Lines creased his face and his eyes were a washed-out pale blue. The hunter looked to be in his seventies, but he moved forward without aid or hindrance. A dark cloak covered the hunter’s form.
Behind Leopold came several hunters and then mages into the room.
“Shane?” Jace’s voice was filled with shock at the young hunter. Cage had met Shane. He was one of the hunters that had worked with Jace. Cage thought him to be a good guy. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
“You broke the law, Jace, what was I supposed to do?” Shane glared at Jace and him.
“I thought better of you,” Jace said, disappointment rang in his soft voice and Cage’s heart hurt for his love.
“Quiet,” Leopold snapped before Shane could come up with an answer.
“Cage Ashwood, I presume.” Leopold looked at him.
“That’s right,” Cage said, letting his wolf come through in his voice. Several of the mages skittered back a bit.
“I issued a warrant for your arrest.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” he returned flatly.
“You mated one of my hunters. That’s against the law.”
“Who’s law?” Cage sneered.
“Mine.”
“Hunters don’t make up shifter law,” Jace jumped in. “Your ‘no mating between a hunter and shifter’ is a bullshit cover for something else.”
“That is my concern, not yours. He’s broken our laws.” Leopold’s eyes narrowed to slits of savage red.
“Where’s Drew?” Jace challenged instead. “I want to talk to Drew.”
“Drew is dead.”
“You killed one of the hunter council members?” Rafe gasped.
Jace’s face turned pale. “What?”
“There is no longer a hunter council,” Leopold snapped.
“And Marcus, what about him?” Roman growled at Leopold.
Leopold’s eyes turned bitter and a look of hatred was flung at Alister. “Ask your precious warlock.”
Alister flicked at an imaginary piece of lint on the sleeve of his black coat and studied his nails.
Leopold turned on Franklin. “Turn over Cage Ashwood and you’ll spare lives.”
“No,” Jonas said flatly before Franklin could open his mouth. “We’ll protect them both until death.”
“We are blood bonded,” Jace said.
“You what?” Leopold bellowed, spinning to face Jace.
“You heard me,” Jace snapped. “Cage is my blood bon
ded mate. I’m half shifter.”
“Abomination!” Leopold raged, nostrils flaring, as his gnarled hands clenched and unclenched.
“No. It’s not,” Jace replied. “Why did you lie? Why did you create this horrible secret?”
Leopold ignored Jace and turned back to Franklin. “Hand them over.”
Several more mages and hunters entered through the door behind Leopold and started lining the room on each side. The mages’ eyes were round, colorless orbs glowing with some unseen power.
“Take them both.” Leopold waved a hand at him and Jace.
“Now wait a damned minute!” Franklin yelled, turning on Leopold. “You said—” Before Franklin could finish his words, Leopold withdrew his sword and plunged it into the shifter’s heart.
Several gasps filled the room before chaos broke out.
Jace watched, stunned when Franklin’s eyes grew wide and then blank.
He should have warned them. He’d never met Leopold, but he’d heard stories of what the hunter leader was capable of and they hadn’t been pretty. They’d been based in fear and designed, he was sure, to keep them all in line.
“Franklin!” Jonas yelled as the East Coast Leader toppled dead to the floor.
“You bastard!” Anton was up and over the table, leaping for Leopold’s neck.
“Anton, no!” Rafe cried and charged after Anton.
More mages poured into the room and after a moment, there were too many bodies to see his pack. His only comfort was that he had ahold of Cage’s hand and wasn’t letting go.
Several mages advanced toward them, holding suspended pairs of hand cuffs that sparkled with silver.
“No!” Cage growled, and with a brutal blow, knocked the closest mage away.
Cage stilled for a split second and the rage rolled off the alpha. In a blink of an eye, Cage shifted into his massive Dire wolf form, and in doing so, he pulled Jace and Griffin into their wolf forms.
Jace felt the room shift and change, and the power of his wolf came thrusting to the forefront. Without hesitation, he followed his alpha into the fray with Griffin at his flank.
Cage took down the nearest mage with a snap of his powerful jaw. Jace snapped savagely at another who was lifting some type of object. The mage scrambled back, fell on his ass, and crawled away.
From across the room, Shane withdrew his swords and lunged toward Jonas. Rafe shoved Jonas out of harm’s way and shifted in midair. The gray Dire wolf was massive, its jaws snapped around Shane’s neck, and the next moment, the hunter was dead.
A leg kicked Jace in the side and he yelped at the pain. On instinct, he whirled and clamped his teeth through flesh and bone, hearing a satisfying crunch and scream.
Griffin landed on his attacker’s back and took the mage out with a mighty snap of his powerful jaw. Blood dripped from the enforcer’s mouth, and a slash covered the side of his maw from a hunter’s sword.
Jonas and Anton followed Rafe and shifted. Their massive Dire wolf forms easily outweighed a hunter or mage. Some of the mages screamed and ran, others chanting as they tried to come up with what Jace imagined were spells to trap or kill them. Hunters slashed the air with short swords, trying to drive them back.
Alister was backed against the wall next to him and Jace felt the warlock’s fingers grip his fur. He came up to Alister’s waist. Cage, on the warlock’s other side, came up to Alister’s shoulder. It frustrated Jace that he couldn’t communicate with Alister in this form.
Cage! There’s too many of them. He called to his mate frantically.
Cage roared and lunged forward, Griffin not far behind. Both wolves snapped and snarled, reacting to his fear. Jace realized he was making it worse, he needed to let his wolf run this particular show.
Lunging forward, he once again reached Cage’s and Griffin’s sides and knocked a mage off his feet. Once down, he snapped and snarled until the thing went scrambling.
Jonas went down beneath six or seven mages and hunters and Jace grew worried when the alpha didn’t resurface.
Jonas!
Jace snarled and lunged up and over the long table, his nails leaving deep grooves in the wood as he careened over the side, landing hard on the bodies covering Jonas.
Cage, hearing his internal shout, was at his side. Together, with snapping jaws, teeth, and claws, they gripped bodies and flung them away.
Alister lunged forward and lifted mages and hunters alike, throwing bodies against walls in order to reach Jonas. Alister dropped to his knees, fear flashing in his eyes, and brushed both hands over Jonas as if searching for injury.
Jonas lay panting on his side, but his eyes were open. Once the pile was cleared, Jonas stumbled to his feet and shook his rumpled fur.
The alpha bumped his nose against Alister’s hands and then turned and charged back into the fight.
Across the room, Jace heard Roman’s savage roar and Cage leaped into the fray to fight at the alpha’s side.
Thank god they’d left the rest of the pack at Jonas’ place. Gazing around, it dawned on him that he hadn’t seen Leopold since this whole thing had started. In the next instance, he realized the hunter had run.
The fucking coward.
Leopold had run and left the hunters and mages to do his dirty work. Jace would bet money these men had no idea who they were dealing with. Leopold didn’t care about them, he only wanted to use them as a means to an end and when the hunter leader was done with them, they’d be disposed of.
Jace! Watch out!
Shit! He’d been distracted by the devastation and savageness Leopold had brought down upon them. He ducked and dove beneath the large conference table and came out the other side, barely missing a blade aimed to sever his head.
Bodies lay littered on the floor, blood pooled, and his paws picked up the wetness and he brought it with him as he lunged out of the way, narrowly missing the chair that was aimed for his head.
He wasn’t quite sure how it all worked, but it was strange that the mages weren’t using magic. Did they not possess enough to take them down or capture them?
Fuck this! He shifted into his human form and held out his hands.
From where they’d fallen to the floor, his blades left their sheaths and sang across the distance. They settled into his palms and heated with life.
He leaped at the hunter brandishing his swords at Rafe and with a crack, he brought his own blades against the other hunter’s. The man’s eyes widened and he toppled back beneath the brunt and expertise of his moves. Someone landed on his back and he went down, hitting his knees hard on the floor, pain splintered and then he rolled, taking the body with him. The mage was dead with a swipe of his blade.
Leaping to his feet, he cleaved through the two mages blocking his way only to find six more coming for him. Shit, shit!
He had lost sight of Cage and his heart lurched in cold, mind numbing fear.
“Alister!” he cried as more mages poured into the room like fucking ants. They seemed endless.
Alister lifted his hands and waved his arms, creating a massive green wall of matter. He sent it through the air at the mages and hunters. It pushed them all back, stunning them. With so many of them, one warlock even with wizard powers wasn’t going to hold them long or do much damage.
“Get ready to run,” Alister bellowed, his deep voice booming through the room. His dark hair flew out behind him, he braced one leg bent at the knee, and shoved the air with a mighty push. A massive ball of fire morphed quickly into a tidal wave of flames as hunters and mages went flying back across the room, crashing into walls.
Alister turned to the wolves and lifted his hands. With eyes flashing and hands waving, he whispered foreign sounding words.
The fireball put a massive hole in the wall, and Cage had just enough time to whip his head around before his view of the room changed.
The room whirled and he grew small, and before he knew it, he was scrambling beneath the table. The chair leg next to his head was bigger than the
size of his whole body.
Cage blinked at Jace. He knew it was Jace because he would know his mate anywhere.
Even in the form of a mouse, Alister’s shouting at them to run came through, and like the rest of them, Cage ran.
“Get them, you fools! Don’t let them escape!” someone shouted.
Racing out the door the hunters and mages had come through, Cage followed the other mice running down the hallway. They reached the outside door and Alister was human again and opening the door.
“Run!” Alister shouted again and turned back to hold the door shut from the outside.
Cage raced for the tall grass. Once there, he spun, searching for the others.
Jace, can you hear me?
Yes.
How the hell are we going to get back into our bodies if Alister gets caught?
He won’t get caught.
Damn it! If only he could shift, he could help Alister. But on the heels of that thought was another. Even as strong as his Dire wolf was, he was no match for Leopold’s army.
Cage watched in fascination as Alister held the door shut until they were all to safety and then he let go. The door opened and bodies poured out as Alister literally disappeared into thin air.
He’s playing with them. He loves this shit. Jace’s amused words sang in his head.
Let’s get farther away. Cage responded instead and nudged the others. While the warlock might be amusing in some instances, Cage wasn’t taking any chances with Jace or Griffin’s safety.
It was easy to find their way into an alley and beneath an industrial sized trash can. They huddled there surrounded by the smell of day-old food and grease.
Hopefully, there are no cats around.
Not funny, Jace, not even a little bit.
Both Jace and Griffin’s laughter echoed in his head.
A cawing sound emerged from nearby and a pair of bird legs appeared next to the trash can. They scrambled out and with a few spoken words, Alister changed them back to human.
Cage turned to check on Jace. Unharmed, his mate smiled at him after checking that his swords were intact and properly sheathed.
Bonded Page 5
