by Amelia Jade
He raised his beer to cheer the others, the upcoming battle momentarily forgotten as he got to know his former crew for the first time.
***
The pounding woke Evan instantly. He snapped from the bed and bolted to the door. His brain was trying to tell him something as he pulled it open, but he couldn’t identify it.
“What is it?” he asked breathlessly.
“Are they in here?” Garrett asked, his tone equal parts worry and anger.
“Uh, is who in here?” Evan replied, not understanding.
“Fuck,” Garrett said, turning outside. “Any sign?”
“None!” Evan could hear Corey shouting from elsewhere.
“What’s going on?” he pressed.
“Is, uh, Victoria, here?” Garrett asked, stumbling over her name for a second.
That’s when it hit Evan. He had woken up alone.
“No,” he said slowly, turning to look back at the empty bed. “What the fuck? She told me she’d be home later. Said that she was getting to know Emma and some of the others…” Evan trailed off as he realized what Garrett was doing at his door.
“They’re gone too, aren’t they?” he asked, not needing the confirming nod from Garrett to know it was true.
“Did Victoria tell you what they were doing? Where they were going? Anything?” Garrett was practically pleading with him.
Evan didn’t blame him. His mate was due practically any day now with the first child for the Jade Crew Alpha. If he were in that situation, he would be going crazy, tearing the world apart to find her.
“Did they get them?” he asked softly, shaking his head in answer to Garrett’s question.
Neither of them wanted to voice it, but it was what they were thinking.
“If they did, they managed to do so without leaving any sort of scent, or even scent cover-up. Nothing. I’ve had the crew going over the whole place, but they aren’t picking up a damn thing.” Garrett turned and headed back out to where some of the other Jade Crew were gathering.
Evan finished getting dressed and joined them as fast as they could.
“Garrett, we need to go,” Uriel was saying. “Gabriel is expecting us to be there!”
“Do you expect me to just leave?” Garrett asked, rounding on the other shifter.
“You know that’s an unfair question to ask,” Uriel said quietly, though there was no give in his voice.
Garrett stared at the Stone Bear for a second, and Evan thought the Alpha might actually challenge his friend. But in the end, he didn’t. The giant shifter inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself. He exhaled slowly, and Evan saw the massive shoulders sag slightly in defeat as he did so.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Garrett said. “You’re right, we need to go. I just wish I knew how they managed to get in here undetected and take all of them!”
Evan frowned. “We don’t know if they were taken,” he said, trying to keep Garrett calm and focused. He didn’t say it, but if they couldn’t stop the upcoming attack, it wouldn’t matter what happened to the women. They would all be dead.
“They’ll probably turn up,” Uriel said.
Evan’s eyes narrowed at the almost lack of concern in the Stone Bear’s tone. He wanted to question him on it, but it wasn’t the right time. Like Garrett, he needed to focus.
“Okay Matthew, round ‘em up,” he said, spinning the upraised index finger on his right hand in a circle and then pointing it at the trucks parked in front of the long, low-slung motel building. His second, who had appeared at the doorway of the room he and the others were staying in, nodded and disappeared back into the room. By the time Evan made it to his truck, they were streaming out the door.
Across the parking lot Evan could see the Jade Crew shifters, all of them looking very tense at the absence of their mates. He felt the same. His phone was out and sitting on the dash, and every few seconds he checked it just in case he had somehow missed a message from Victoria. Several phone calls and text messages had gone unanswered, and he felt himself beginning to despair.
Everything had seemed so hopeful, so optimistic the night before. They knew they might have been outclassed, and heavily so, but they were determined to go down fighting for what was right. Now…now he wasn’t so sure. Without Victoria by his side, he felt listless, like a sailboat without a breeze. He was adrift and floating, helpless to the currents around him, without his rock, his anchor to guide him. It astounded him at how important and how integrated into his life she had become, and he desperately wanted nothing more than to be able to tell her one last time that he loved her.
Those thoughts stayed with him as the trucks began to roar to life. Slowly at first, but picking up speed, the convoy pulled out of the parking lot, following the smaller pickup driven by Uriel. The route they were taking was going to be close quarters, and when he saw the size of the vehicle the other shifter was driving, Evan realized they might run into some trouble with the big trucks. He just hoped they would arrive in time to be of some help.
***
“Holy shit, they’re right there!”
Evan was the last in the convoy guarding the rear, and as the truck bounced and jumped around on the small, uneven path, he risked a quick glance in the direction Jared was pointing.
Sure enough, about a mile down the winding road that the convoy was now starting to pour out onto was a solid line of trucks steadily making their way up the mountain.
“This was a little too close,” he muttered as the truck took one final, sharp jolt as it went up the embankment and onto the road, the front screaming in protest as it bottomed out on the sharp incline.
But after that they were safe, and the convoy quickly picked up speed, making a beeline for the LMC offices. They had made good time through the back trail, and despite the size of the trucks, only one had gotten stuck. They had spent five minutes trying to free it before abandoning it and dividing the shifters up amongst the other vehicles.
Now it looked like they had beaten their enemies by mere minutes. Evan heaved a sigh of relief as the road leveled in front of them, spreading out to encompass the parking lot and massive, sprawling mansion complex that was the Lionshead Mining Consortium head office.
The parking lot was mostly empty, and the trucks continued down a ramp hewn from the side of the mountain itself off to the right. There they entered the cavern that housed the Stone Bears, and hastily parked their vehicles. Nobody was there to meet them, but that was no surprise. Evan had seen the other shifters near the entrance to the mansion complex above them.
“Let’s go!” Uriel shouted, and they all headed up to rendezvous with them, leaving the trucks out of the way.
“Garrett, Evan, good to see you,” Gabriel, the leader of the Stone Bears said as the two groups of shifters met up with each other.
“Would be nicer if it were under better circumstances,” Evan said, but he took the offered hand and shook it vigorously anyway.
“Agreed. And unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we have much time either.”
“No, we don’t. They were right behind us. Nobody else is getting up here,” Garrett said, looking around. Evan followed his gaze, wondering what had caught the other’s attention.
He saw Ajax and the rest of the Emerald crew. They were arrayed on the left flank, near the edge of the hill that led back down the mountain. In the middle were the Jade Crew. The right flank, against the face of the mountain, was where an unorganized group of shifters was standing. He figured they were others from the city who had made it up here, and even as he watched, the group of city shifters that had come with his convoy made their way over to them, exchanging greetings.
“Where’s everyone else?” Evan asked. He didn’t see a sign of the Sentinels, or the hoped-for Ruby Crew. Without either of them, they were screwed.
“I sent the Sentinels into the forest there,” Gabriel said, pointing at the thick cluster of trees halfway down the parking lot, on the right-hand side.
“Wh
at about Marcel?” Garrett asked, voicing what everyone was thinking.
“No word from Raphael yet,” Gabriel replied.
Evan frowned. That wasn’t good. “What’s the plan?” he asked, trying to ignore the sense of foreboding that had suddenly loomed large over him.
“The Sentinels are about to set off a bunch of Stink to cover up their tracks,” Gabriel explained.
Stink was a potent cocktail of scents that served to confuse the delicate noses of a shifter’s animal, throwing them off and preventing them from identifying smells. It was extremely unpleasant-smelling, and there was no way to mask the smell of Stink, but it made hiding a shifter’s scent from overall detection feasible.
Or an entire group of shifters hidden in the forest, he thought.
As if on cue, yellow-grayish smoke began to drift across the parking lot. With the way the wind was drifting, the Stink would soon cover most of the flat ground, ensuring their enemies had no idea what would happen.
“So once they set up, we’ll go after them,” Gabriel said. “I’m hoping they’ll take the bait, assume the right flank there with the shifters from Origin will be weak, and when the Sentinels hit them from that side as well the surprise will hopefully allow us to roll them right up. Hopefully.”
Evan nodded. It was a straightforward plan, but they didn’t have much in the way of options, or time, to set up anything more elaborate.
Across the flat, level ground, the first set of headlights appeared.
The assembled group of shifters stiffened as they realized this was it. There was no way out now. The headlights grew nearer and the vehicle behind them resolved into clarity. They could see the stern-faced men sitting inside of them now.
When the trucks hit the open ground they began to fan out, slowing until they came to a stop a few hundred yards from the building. The ground between them was empty, Evan noted, clear of all debris. The only vehicles visible that didn’t belong to the enemy were two of the ultra-heavy transports the Stone Bears normally used to transport the Dragon Stones. They were parked with their sides visible to him, along the edge of the parking lot, so close to the edge that a few impacts looked like they would send them over.
He wondered why Gabriel would put them there, until he realized the leader of the Stone Bears probably hadn’t had enough time to consider getting them out of the way. His attention was torn away from them by the slamming of doors as the attackers formed a line facing the residents of Genesis Valley.
“Is this really happening?” he muttered softly. “This can’t be real life.”
Others around him echoed his thoughts, but none of them wavered, even as the numbers opposing them grew.
Twenty. Thirty. Fifty. Eighty. Evan lost track once it climbed past one hundred. All he knew is that there were far more shifters than he wished. Likely more than even their most pessimistic guesses.
He could hear some of the city shifters beginning to whisper about the hopelessness of it all, that they were too outnumbered.
“Quiet,” Gabriel urged, trying to calm them.
One of the enemy stepped forward. “Did you really think you could convince us to leave by stinking up the place?”
The deep rumbles of laughter from his comrades echoed across the distance as he made fun of the Stink.
“We wanted you to be reminded of home when we sent you to your end,” Evan replied calmly, his voice carrying easily to the other side, even though he had barely raised it.
“This is our home now,” the unknown shifter said maliciously. “All that’s left is to kick out the squatters.”
Angry growls erupted from Evan’s side, and he knew that an angry look was etched upon his face.
“You’re outnumbered. Bad,” the other shifter said. “Just give up now!”
Evan didn’t have to respond, as half a dozen other shifters from the various crews started hurling insults back before he could open his mouth. The vitriol in them made him smile. One shout caught his attention instantly though.
“Look!” One of the city shifters was pointing up the mountain.
Evan’s head swiveled, and his eyes opened in surprise. There, emerging from the forest a little behind their lines, was a line of bears. The first one was a dark brown, like most of them. It was the nine bears behind him, however, that really drew Evan’s focus, and not just for their massive size. They were pure, stark white.
The Ruby Crew had come at last.
Cheers and shouts of support rang out up and down his line, and the allied shifters began insulting their enemies with renewed vigor, taunting them into hopefully making a mistake.
“Do you really think another ten of you are going to make that much of a difference?” The apparent leader of the mob of attackers spoke again, his voice dripping with condescension.
Evan knew it wasn’t enough. Everyone did. But the polar bears of the Ruby Crew would make the enemy pay dearly for their victory, that was certain. After speaking out before Garrett or Gabriel, he knew that the rest of the shifters were looking for him to respond to the statement, as he had become the spokesman for their side.
Before he could, however, the massive, ceremonial front doors to the mansion gonged and slowly opened.
Silence fell over their enemies as two massive, magnificent creatures strode from within. Although Evan had seen them in their animal form before, the sight of it never failed to move him.
They walked majestically down the stairs, the graceful walk belying the lethality contained within. Even as he watched, the moment the pair hit the ground outside the mansion, their tails began to swish, wings fluttered, and the beaded eyes narrowed down to slits.
A smile broke out across Evan’s face as he turned back to the invaders.
“What about them?” he asked nonchalantly, tossing a thumb over his shoulder at the pair of massive gryphons that now angrily prowled behind the line of bear shifters.
“That’s all?” the other man said with a laugh. “A pair of gryphons? We have a dragon.”
Evan looked around. “You do? I don’t see him.”
He didn’t want to call out Luthor/Mirrnolax, but he had no choice. None of them had seen Luthor anywhere on the far side, and for the time being, it looked like he wasn’t there. The other man laughed, and turned away from Evan as one of the truck doors suddenly opened.
Evan felt his heart sink as a familiar figure emerged smoothly from within.
Chapter Eleven
Victoria
She cursed herself for her stupidity.
“What were you thinking?” she asked angrily, her back leaning against the wooden doors as she slowly slid to the ground. “Oh you’re so smart, you must know better than everyone else,” she said, mocking herself.
The building upon which she was currently in was surrounded along the front by a long wooden porch. The double swinging doors against which she sat, having completed her descent, were locked solid. Even the red neon sign was turned off. There was nobody present.
“Which shouldn’t be a surprise to you, because it’s five a.m. in the fucking morning,” she said angrily. “Who opens a bar at that time?”
Angrily she slammed her first into the wooden board beneath her, feeling it shiver from the force. She dropped her head, folding one arm across her knees until she could rest on it, her eyes closed.
“If you don’t mind, I just had that rebuilt,” a voice said from in front of her. There was no malice in it, just a gentle reprimand.
She looked up, meeting the eyes of the man in front of her. They were a soft, pale blue, a very calming color. Victoria knew she would likely have felt that way if it weren’t for the sudden overwhelming feeling that this person, despite the middle-aged looks, was old. Not just elderly, but ancient beyond her reckoning.
“You must be Ferro,” she said softly. No one but a dragon could have eyes quite like those. The gentle blue orbs reflected the knowledge that they had seen far more than she would ever dream of. She’d never met a dragon
before, but there could be no doubt about it.
“And you must be the female shifter that had everyone up in arms,” he returned.
She nodded her head slightly. “Guilty as charged.”
“What brings you to the Tongue & Flame?” he asked, gesturing at the building. She turned slightly, taking a moment to arrange her thoughts. While she did that, Ferro walked up the steps and unlocked the doors, pushing them open as he entered. They swung freely behind him. Realizing it had been an invitation to follow, she pushed through and into the bar. The windows were the only source of light, and at such an early hour the interior remained rather dim.
That changed abruptly as she saw Ferro hit several switches along the wall. Potlights flared to life, and above the bartop itself a long luminescent string of lights popped into existence.
“If you know who I am, you know why I’m here,” she said firmly, her voice reaching across the open room.
Ferro looked at her for a moment, then sighed. “I have told them before, I will not fight. I cannot fight.”
Victoria wasn’t going to be dissuaded that easily. “They need you. The Valley needs you Ferro,” she told him, stalking across the room to where he was standing behind the bar. “If Evan and the others don’t have your help, they’re all going to die. The Valley will die. There’s a rogue dragon up there, ready to kill every last one of them. How is it that you can just sit by and let this happen? Are you a coward?”
She bit her lip as the last sentence slipped out. She hadn’t meant to say it, but in the end she had, and in her mind it was a valid question.
Ferro had been busy wiping down the bar with a rag, but now he stopped abruptly, his head snapping up as his eyes impaled her. The gaze hit her with a literal force that had her backing up as far as she could. She stumbled against one of the tables in the middle of the room. The blue had become the cold color of ice, dispassionate and uncaring.
“The Valley will not die. It has not died in the millennia that I have walked this planet.” His voice was deep and haunting, threateningly powerful, filling the room even though it was the same level. “I have seen cities rise and fall. Empires come and go. And I will see it happen again, young bear shifter. More than you could ever imagine has happened in my time here. This Valley has been my home for a long time. It will still be here after Mirrnolax tries his games once more, and it will be here five hundred years after that.”
