by D. R. Rosier
The mages and vampires had already fought off their attacks, and I was relieved to hear Karen was unharmed, although she’d be busy getting the building fixed.
I just wished I knew if Korrina was okay, I hadn’t heard anything back from her yet. And despite my earlier words, my worry for her had nothing to do with her supple sweet ass.
I frowned and went up the stairs, and Katie was glaring at Malina and Lilliana, who both had their arms crossed.
“What the hell is going on? We’re about to be attacked and you’re arguing?” I asked in an exasperated voice.
Malina explained, “She wants to go outside and challenge that asshole Darren to a fight.”
I frowned at the idea, “That’s a bad plan Katie. He’s shielded, and probably by Elissa herself. You wouldn’t stand a chance against him right now. I get that you want to save lives here, but that won’t help. Let the wards do their work to weaken their shields first, we need all of you ready in case they break through.”
Katie growled, “Fine, we’ll lay in wait by the doors then. Let’s shift.”
I sighed, and turned around when all nine cat shifters started to strip, including Susan. I was tempted to look, but that road would only lead to me to wanting them all. Better not to look, or at least, only feast my eyes on Susan’s voluptuous body. Not that I hadn’t seen most of them naked by now, but all together might be too much for me. I smiled at the thought, there was a serious amount of sexy naked flesh and powerful female pheromones in this room with me.
Besides, the only one that really tempted me to want to look was Sharon, and she was the exact image of her sister, whose body I knew quite well already.
When I turned back around, I was surrounded by a lot of very large cats. If it wasn’t for the pact, I’d have been a bit nervous. They all looked deadly, especially the very large lion shifter. Katie was half again the size of a normal lioness, and looked very formidable. The only other cats that came even close to her size were the two tiger shifters, Nicci and Kristen.
I sat on the couch. Malina and Lilliana joined me there, and then Susan jumped up into my lap and head butted my chest. I guess she’d be guarding me too. I thought about Korrina again, and realized how spoiled I was, I was usually surrounded by all four of them, not just three. That wasn’t what had me worried though, it was her being alone without any backup.
Then I felt someone rubbing against my legs, and was surprised to see Sharon’s ocelot down there. She did a little high pitched lazy roar, and laid across my feet. She was going to protect me too? I also wondered if it meant anything, I knew from what Susan told me that cat shifters are still human in their cat form, but also have less inhibitions to following their instincts.
I’d gotten the idea Sharon had been avoiding me, but not anymore. Which meant what exactly? I wasn’t sure.
The wards went crazy as the mansion was attacked at the front and back door simultaneously. I had to give Darren some credit, he was right at the fore of his people. Of course, he was probably the best shielded as well.
I let it rip with the balefire wards as I continuously poured magic into the physical containment wards. I was doing twenty-three things at once including all the protections and normal stuff I had on, just in case they broke through.
Several of the wolves died right off, their shields buckling under the strain. I also had the five flying demons outside, strafing them with more balefire from above. The green fire shimmered across their protections.
I pulled on the connection with Malina hard, as I fed the wards. So far they were holding. The twenty shifters at the back door slowly dropped in number. First fourteen, then eight, and then five. The last five went down like dominos. Unfortunately, the assault at the front door was a little more successful.
Malina instructed, “The front door may breach, the back door is clear.”
The four cats at the back door ran toward the front, and joined their alpha.
Then a bear running about thirty miles an hour, and weighing hundreds of pounds, charged and broke the door in. I grimaced at the damage, and the magic that drained out of me. Sharon and Susan got up and stepped in front of me. Lilliana did as well. Malina just stayed on the couch and took my hand. I knew she wouldn’t do anything unless the shit really hit the fan.
Although if this wasn’t a moment like that, I wasn’t sure what qualified.
Out of the twenty or so shifters that attacked the front, only about eight made it into the house, which made the odds even. Except five winged demons came through right behind them, and started to slash at their flanks. And I started to cast air spells, mostly because I didn’t want to burn my own house down, to help break down the shields on the remaining shifters.
One of the cat shifters got mauled by the bear shifter, it was the lynx which I’m pretty sure was Erin.
A rage filled me and suddenly I was holding a bladed dagger, by the tip, and I threw it.
Krystal passed through the fae shields around the bear without effort, and the bear screamed in unearthly pain as Krystal drank his life force, I could also feel the edges of her orgasm and her screams of bliss in the back of my mind. When Krystal was done, she flashed with white angel magic, and appeared back in my hand.
Well, that was new, and very useful.
“Always happy to… serve you master.”
I smiled grimly, I loved my crazy woman sword.
“I love you too master.”
I wondered who I should hit next, the cats and wolves were fiercely fighting, and moved very quickly. I didn’t want to hit one of the cat shifters by mistake. With my magical detection, I felt two more wolf shifters die, and suddenly Darren’s large wolf howled and he ran out the door, only two others escaped the ladies’ attacks.
So many shifters had died this night.
I got up and walked over to Erin, and put my hand on her flank. She was still breathing, but barely. I casted a healing spell, and felt her life force recover. A few of the other great cats were injured, but not enough to accept my help, they’d probably be fine in a couple of hours.
I went back to the couch and relaxed back, and held Lilliana and Malina too me as I let the five demon’s spells go, which sent them back to hell.
I connected to the sixth demon through the spell I held, “He escaped, you’re up.”
A breathy voice filled my mind, “Yes master, and master…. Thank you.”
I shuddered a bit at that, the fucker really did deserve what was coming though. Maybe if I kept telling myself that I’d believe it…
Darren was in a wild rage. So close, but that bitch traitor Katie had stopped him. His inner wolf was frustrated as well, the bitch was just too strong for them, and that damned dagger scared the hell out of him. He’d barely escaped with his life, and ran into the nearby woods. It wasn’t a large wooded area, but he’d be able to calm down enough to change back, and then return to the cars.
He’d have to gather some more shifters and come back.
He heard the snap of a twig in the trees to his right and turned his head and growled. His mind couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing. It was a young woman with a delicate beauty, she couldn’t have been a day older than eighteen or nineteen. She had long straight blue black hair, and warm brown eyes. She had the face of a model, and a body built for sin.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life, and she was completely naked.
She smiled at him shyly, “Can you help me?”
He growled as he changed, his mind was long gone, and he couldn’t have stopped his instincts if he wanted too.
The woman’s eyes widened with concern and a tinge of fear. It didn’t matter to him. He grabbed her, threw her to the floor, and buried himself deep inside her nubile body. He expected a scream, a small part of him knew that this was wrong.
But strong legs went around his body, and held him tightly. She moaned softly as she wrapped her legs around him and buried her face in his neck.
; She said softly, sultrily, “Bad doggie, taking without permission is a sin.”
He tried to pull out, but she just laughed as her legs tightened further, and then the woman’s pussy started to undulate, milk and even somehow twist his cock slightly in a way no woman’s body could ever do.
She kissed his neck, and his skin exploded in pleasure which travelled throughout his body. Then she whispered, “Master said I did a good job last week with John, so good he was going to reward me with a plaything. But I think that was a lie. I think he’d never reward me, I think perhaps… he just hates you that much.”
What was left of Darren’s sanity started to gibber in terror, but her pussy felt so good, he couldn’t stop the fast approaching climax. He also couldn’t concentrate enough to shift.
She kissed his neck again, “Don’t worry, we’ll have lots of fun together. Sometimes, it won’t even hurt that much. If you’re a good little pet, I might even let you feel this pleasure again.”
He felt her hot wet core squeeze him hard and milk him, as the woman… the succubus, had a strong powerful orgasm. He couldn’t resist anymore, the pleasure of her body was too much, and he felt his body explode and he started to fill her with his seed. The pleasure didn’t end though, it just ramped up, and he felt something vital leaving his body. He knew instinctually it was his soul.
The pleasure got so intense it overloaded his mind, confused it and crossed the wires, and he was filled with a tortuous pain and screamed, perversely it still felt like the ultimate pleasure at the same time, as the evil demoness sucked out his soul through his cock.
She whispered, “It won’t be so bad, you can call me mistress… or Destiny.”
His mind howled one last time, and then then the darkness took his mind, and Destiny took his soul.
Destiny smiled evilly. She was a lesser succubus, and this soul would fuel her power forever, as long as she could keep a hold of it. She considered staying, searching for another victim, but knew her master wouldn’t allow it. He was too soft hearted. Except it seemed, against rapists and men who beat their mates. Maybe he’d let her take another one of those? The world was full of wife beaters after all, and even an evil succubus had hope.
Or perhaps it had been the betrayal of the treaty, or the sin of leading over a hundred shifters to their deaths. The truth was she wasn’t really sure what had earned him this fate, humans were strange sometimes.
She laughed as she felt Darren’s soul squirm and try and escape her grasp, but she owned him now. He was hers now, he had taken what was offered and she hadn’t forced it on him at all. That meant his soul was fully bound to her, and she owned his ass for eternity. She turned to smoke, and with a last deliciously grateful thought to her warlock master she returned to hell with her prize…
Chapter 14
“Darren’s dead,” I said simply.
Katie shifted and narrowed her eyes, “How?”
I shrugged, not really wanting to share all the details, I was pretty sure he deserved it, for any number of reasons. The death of most of his pack, falling for Elissa’s bullshit, but in my heart I knew the truth. I summoned Destiny because he’d tortured and then tried to kill his mate, and there was a bit of guilt in there because I was attracted to her.
I wouldn’t have touched her before, I wouldn’t have even considered it. But she’s not mated anymore is she, but that was what? A few hours ago? I decided I’d leave it in her hands, the idea of being that asshole and hitting on her anytime soon turned my stomach. The weird thing was she didn’t seem to be grieving at all, if anything, she was acting like she’d been freed from a kind of bondage.
Either way, the fucker might be dead, but his payment for what he did has just gotten started. Regardless, I didn’t really want to explain any of that, so I went with the basics, all true but short of specifics.
“One of the demons I summoned hunted him down as he fled through the woods. He was too far gone to fight the inevitable.”
Fight? The truth is if it had been a hurt or lost human, it would have been rape. No, the truth was demoness or not, he had raped Destiny. That she’d enjoyed it, and turned the tables didn’t matter, it was his intent that had bound his soul to her for eternal torment.
Luckily, we were interrupted before they could ask clarifying questions.
I felt Dion through the wards a moment before he knocked on the door, or rather the door frame. When I walked over and found myself flanked by the same four who’d guarded me on the couch during the battle. Again, I worried about Korrina, if she’d been successful she’d have been back by now. I had no idea where to even start looking for her though, maybe Malina might know.
I saw her shrug helplessly out of the corner of my eye, so maybe not.
I nodded in greeting, “Dion, come right in.”
He looked around at all the blood and burned bodies, and nodded firmly, “I see you’ve had the same success we had. It is good to know. I’ve come to affirm the treaty between us, same as last time, but just between us, and as a pact.”
I nodded, Malina had already informed me I’d be losing my impromptu spy ring. Perhaps I could modify the divination spells I used for pacts, those weren’t that complicated. I bet I could check for dangers to myself, or to the city, two or three times a week.
Well, there was no time like the present, we were both very knowledgeable about the old treaty, so I held out my hand.
He shook it, and the infernal magic rose up around us and bound us to the pact.
He took a deep breath, “That is well, but we face not an external threat, but an internal one. We need to join together and destroy Elissa, before she can start further mischief.”
Katie broke in, “I’ll make some calls, and have a gathering of alphas tomorrow morning. We will decide who will lead us, and I promise I’ll work with the new head alpha to rebuild the treaty with both of you, as well as one with the mages. Perhaps the next time the shifters fight, it will be with you against the fae?”
I turned to her with a challenging posture, “I have a better idea. Why don’t you kick their asses, and take the position yourself? I wouldn’t have reservations about forming a treaty with you, one of the others? Maybe. The bear or new wolf alpha after this attack? I’d have to be persuaded. A treaty is no good if I can’t trust the word of who signs it.”
She looked startled by that and then thoughtful, “The other shifters wouldn’t be very happy…” she trailed off, obviously not willing to state the obvious reasons.
“Perhaps not,” I agreed, and then argued, “But the wolves are decimated, and the bears lost many as well. Tell me that those were not your main… detractors?”
That was the nicest way I could say they were the ones that used them for sex and discarded them afterwards. I was sure other shifters did as well, but the other shifter races were much fewer. I had a feeling the cat shifters were the most populous right now. There were only nine here, but there were a great number of mated cat shifters that weren’t here right now.
I continued, “I respect you, and I know Karen likes you and respects you. I’m not sure about Dion, but it seems to me it’s the joint council members’ opinions, that would count more for the head alpha position.”
Dion bowed his head, and waved a hand to encompass the situation, “You fought here in defense of the treaty you believed in, and against the insanity of Darren’s actions. I think Shawn is right, you already have the respect of three fifths of the joint council, that only leaves your own vote, and Elissa’s. Obviously, that last one doesn’t count in the least.”
Katie blushed and looked flustered.
I grinned and inserted some levity, “Awesome, that’s a first, she’s totally speechless!”
Katie growled at me, but I didn’t lose my smile.
“Leave me my petty victory woman, I know I won’t be seeing many more, especially if you take the job.”
Katie shook her head, “Fine, I will consider it. I must make those calls however, or n
o alpha meeting will take place on the morrow,” she nodded her head regally and retreated, taking most of her pack with her, except for the twins, Sharon and Susan, who stayed at my side.
I turned back to Dion, “I agree, but I’m not sure how to even find Elissa. Korrina went to look, but she hasn’t come back yet. Perhaps the best thing we can do is come up with a plan to fight her together, instead of separately like today.”
Dion nodded in agreement, “Very well, I agree. If we had faced the spells of the fae on top of the protected shifters I don’t think we’d have come out as unscathed. Fighting together makes sense. We should plan on a meeting then, tomorrow afternoon with the new shifter representative. Do you truly trust this Katie?”
I nodded slowly, “She makes Darren’s cunning look amateurish, she’s a good manipulator, and a good leader, but I also trust her to follow her word without any doubletalk. She also has much better control over her anger, and won’t act out over foolish pride. Perhaps much more importantly, Lilliana and Malina approve of her, and I trust their opinions implicitly.”
Malina kissed my cheek sweetly and took my arm. She was almost girlish about it, and my heart melted a little more.
Dion almost looked amused, “Until then, I must go and prepare, I’ll also contact Karen and let her know about tomorrow.”
We said our farewells, and Dion and left faster than I could really track. I also realized I shouldn’t have dismissed my demons so quickly, they’d have been perfect to clean this mess up. I was way too much a gentleman to ask a lady to clean up blood and viscera, and I was also the only man currently in the house. Which meant I was elected by default, master of the house or not. I looked up thoughtfully, I must have learned a spell that would come in handy for this, if not I’d consult Sal…
Chapter 15
Karen sighed and accepted the inevitable, there was no way she’d be able to go home tonight. They’d managed to beat back the shifters with minimal casualties, although in her opinion even the small handful that died had been too many. The fae were still out there plotting though, and her people were nervous, she couldn’t just leave them.
