by Robbie Cox
Bane looked up and noticed her watching them, his leer turning up the corners of his mouth. “Nice of you to join us,” he said, as he crossed the floor to where she was held. “I hope Augur here hasn’t hurt you too bad. He’s always been a little overzealous in his pursuit of our cause.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Your cause? This isn’t some charity you’re trying to raise money for or some political issue to which you’re trying to raise awareness. This is a bunch of shifters being a prejudiced gang of bullies. You don’t have a cause. You have a fucked up view of life.”
His mouth turned into a sneer, as he leaned down, his face inches from hers. “Ah, but it is an issue of which we’re trying to raise awareness. You see, humans are such inferior creatures, and it’s about time they were put in their proper link on the evolution chain. Shifters need to rise and take control.”
“Shifters and humans coexist, and they do it peacefully, until bullies like yourself try to think themselves better than they are,” she said. “Your chest thumping only means you have a tiny dick and a narrow heart. What’s the matter? Did mommy not love you enough when you were little?”
He backhanded her and her cheek stung from the blow, as her head snapped to the side. “I’d be careful, my little witch. I’ve noticed your sporadic magic the last few times we’ve been close. I kind of think you’re in no shape to be so mouthy with me. The wolves may like that. Coyotes prefer a female who knows her place.”
She slowly turned her gaze to Bane, her eyes narrow slits of hatred. “This woman’s place is to see you’re banished from Bull Creek.” She was about to show him just how wrong he was about her magic, when Augur called out to him. She held off, waiting for another opportunity.
“What?” Bane yelled, as he left her and walked back over to his first-in-command, who peered out the window. The other two at the table paused their game and stared at Augur.
Augur didn’t turn to face the bigger man. “Looks like we have company.”
She wished she could see what they saw. She didn’t want to be the reason Dimitri walked into a trap. She needed to get out of her bonds, and now!
Bane grabbed at the curtain, pulling it to the side to give him a better view at what happened outside of the cabin. “Do you see anyone else or just him?”
“No one else that I can see,” Augur answered. “I’ve got coyotes hiding around the perimeter. If he did bring others, they’ll find them and put them down.”
Bane nodded his approval without turning to look at the other man. “Show no mercy,” he said. He then turned his focus to Adira. “Anyone who sympathizes with the riff-raff will join them in their fate.”
She strained against her ropes, wanting desperately to get her hands around the man’s thick neck and snap it. She’d show him no mercy once she was free from her bonds.
Bane just smiled at her before turning toward Augur. “I’m going out to meet our neighborhood panther. You keep an eye on Witchy Poo there.” He then gestured to the others. “You two keep an eye on the back door. We don’t need any surprises.”
They jumped to obey, as Bane crossed the distance to the front door. As he gripped the doorknob, he turned once more back to Adira, a smirk on his face. “I do hope you had a decent farewell kiss,” he said. “You won’t get another one. At least, not from Dimitri.” He winked at her, as he turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped out into the Florida heat to face his adversary.
Adira growled, as she felt the sparks sizzle from her finger tips. She couldn’t wait to wipe that smug smirk from his pathetic face. He would regret ever sending his goon squad to fetch her.
Augur smirked at her before he turned his focus back to the window and the scene that unfolded. Good, she thought. Keep your attention outside for just a little while longer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dimitri watched, as Bane stepped out of the cabin, the smug, over-confident grin on his face taunting Dimitri’s panther. He could scent Adira inside, could smell her blood in the air from where they hurt her, and it took all Dimitri’s will-power not to give in to his panther’s urgent desire to rush in and rip everyone inside the cabin to shreds.
“Dimitri,” Bane said, “I warned you. I told you to send everyone packing, but oh, no, you just had to show how pathetic you are by sticking up for people who can’t stick up for themselves.”
“Isn’t that the opposite of being pathetic?” Dimitri said, as he took a few steps toward the cabin. “I kind of think you’re the weak one, Bane. You’re afraid of anyone who’s not like you, afraid of diversity. You’re a coward, and you only want to run everyone off, so you don’t have to deal with what you’re afraid to face.”
Bane growled. “Your words mean nothing. Humans are a scourge on the forests and they need to go. They destroy what we cherish. They waste resources that we need. You keeping them here only prolongs the inevitable. My patience has run out. It’s too late for you to save them. My pack will kill them, just as soon as we finish with you and your little girlfriend.”
Snarls and howls erupted from the woods around the cabin and a loud roar from a bear burst from the woods behind it. From off to the side, a panther and a coyote tumbled out, their claws ripping into each other, as they attempted to bite down on the other’s neck, doing their best to get a grip on their opponent. They sprawled out on the earth, snapping and clawing at each other. Dimitri ignored the fight Josh was in and stayed focused on Bane. The leader of the coyote pack did the same, his gaze riveted onto Dimitri. More fights broke out in the woods around the cabin, as coyotes found the shifters Dimitri brought with him. He heard the howl of Alanna’s wolf fill the air, followed by a yelp of pain. He needed to end this and now.
His panther hissed, as he began to shift, claws stretching from his fingers as his panther’s tawny fur slid out from his skin, his bones popping and snapping, as he surrendered to the transformation from man to panther. This ended tonight.
As soon as he was on all fours, he hissed again, and sprang toward Bane, who was also transforming into his coyote. Dimitri hit the other man in mid-transformation, knocking him down on the cabin’s porch, Bane’s bones still popping as he shifted. The door behind them opened and Augur lunged out, reaching out for Dimitri’s neck. Dimitri leaped backward out of Augur’s reach, just as he heard Adira scream from inside the cabin along with the sounds of breaking furniture.
Fifteen
The sounds of fighting could be heard outside the cabin—panthers, a wolf, coyotes, even a bear. Their cries mixed with pain and agony. Augur jerked away from the window and darted toward the front door. Whatever happened outside, apparently scared him. Adira watched, as he jerked the door open and reached outside. One of the men who went to the back emerged and darted to the front door to take Augur’s place. A quick glance over her shoulder, showed that the other guy remained in the back. Now was her time. Taking a deep breath, she sent power through her arms, sending blue light from her forearms to sizzle and help her break the ropes that held her. They shredded, charred, and fell to the ground, as she sprang from the chair, knocking it backward.
The noise startled the goon who headed to the front door, causing him to spin toward Adira. She jerked her arm out, palm up, as blue fire erupted from her hand and sent a ball of energy into the man’s chest. The power picked him up, sending him flailing through the air and into the wall, which he crashed into with a shattering crack, causing shelves and knickknacks to fall around his body.
She focused so much on the man in front of her, she forgot about the one in the back of the cabin until it was too late. He grabbed her from behind, spinning her to the ground and into the tipped-over chair, smashing it as she fell. The shattered pieces of wood sliced into her, causing her to scream as it drew blood. Rolling over onto her back, she called the power she stored and sent it into the man’s chest as he leaned down to grip her neck. The blue fire hit him like a wrecking ball, lifting him into the air and sending him flying to land on the table, playing car
ds spewing into the air. Adira glanced in his direction to see if he would attack her again. He wouldn’t. The table leg protruded from his chest, blood oozing out, soaking into his shirt.
The other man picked himself up off the ground, tossing the remnants of the shelf he broke in his fall to the side. His eyes flashed yellow, his coyote struggling to get out. There was no hesitation. No time for fear. She lashed out, gripping him with her power, and lifting him into the air once more. With a shove of her hand, she sent him flailing through the air until he hit the wall once again, his head snapping back and cracking against the wooden structure. His body slid to the floor, motionless.
As she took a deep breath in a feeble attempt to steady her nerves, she heard the hiss of a panther outside the cabin along with the snarl of a coyote. Dimitri! She didn’t think; she just reacted, moving quickly through the shattered mess of the cabin to the front door. She needed to get to her panther.
Reaching the door, she gripped the knob and flung it open, stepping out into the pandemonium that enveloped the grounds around the cabin. Bane lifted his body off the porch as he continued to shift into his coyote, while out in the yard Dimitri wrestled with another coyote, who she assumed was Augur. Since Dimitri had Augur, Adira turned her attention to Bane. Claws poked out of his fingers as his hands shrunk to paws, his arms and legs popping, twisting into his coyote’s legs, his torso shrinking as fur oozed from his flesh, covering his body. She needed to halt his transformation.
She heard the rustling of the animals behind her, jerking her attention back around. Augur’s coyote was on top of Dimitri’s panther, whose jaws were clamped down on the coyote’s shoulder. She forced her attention away from the fighting animals and back to Bane. Dimitri would have to handle himself for the time being. She needed to put an end to Bane.
With a flick of her wrist, she sent her power outward, wrapping Bane in a web of blue energy, bringing a halt to his transformation. As she lifted her arm, Bane’s body rose into the air, the transformation stopped. It was weird to see him that way, half human, half coyote, his face covered in fur, his ears pointed and flipped back, while the rest of his face remained that of the bastard who kidnapped her. She held him there, his legs—part man, part animal—dangling, as she stepped closer, her lips curled in a snarl. “As you can see,” she said, as she drew closer to him, “my power is no longer in shards. It’s pretty much back to normal.” She squeezed her fingers together, and Bane screamed out as if she squeezed him. “We warned you to leave. A pity you didn’t heed it.”
He jerked his twisted face to her, his gold eyes filled with rage and hatred. Through clenched teeth, he sneered, “I’m going to kill you and everyone else in this god damn pl…”
A tawny blur darted across her vision, as she heard the angry hiss of a panther. Dimitri struck Bane in the chest, his claws digging into the other man, knocking them both to the porch as Dimitri’s fangs bit into Bane’s throat. With a snap of his head, his jaw broke Bane’s neck. He dropped the man to the ground, almost as if he spat Bane out as something disgusting.
Adira heard rustling behind her. Turning she saw the others—Josh, Alanna, and Ezra—coming out of the forest, blood covering their naked bodies, some of it theirs, but most appearing to be that of their enemies. She let out a sigh of relief as she turned back to Dimitri. He had already transformed, his naked body still on the ground held up by his hands and knees. Blood dripped from his mouth and covered his chest and arms. She didn’t care. She raced to where he knelt on the ground, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him against her. He was alive and that was all that mattered.
Sirens cried out in the distance. Dimitri waved at the others to get out of there. While Chet knew about shifters in his jurisdiction, he didn’t need it thrown in his face so that he couldn’t use deniable plausibility and have to start making arrests. The attacks looked like they were done by animals, and that didn’t need to be contradicted by a bunch of naked, bloody shifters in human form.
Josh nodded once, and then led the others back into the woods and out of sight.
“Help me stand,” Dimitri said, his voice harsh, his breathing heavy.
“All right, Catnip, take it easy,” she said, slipping a hand around his arm, as she helped him to his feet. “You know, I did have him under control. Although, you looked sexy as hell when you knocked him out of my spell, all snarly and furry.”
He chuckled, as he stood. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun, now, could I?” He straightened, stretching his sore muscles. “Let’s find me some clothes in the cabin. I don’t think Chet or Deputy Johnson want to see me in the buff.”
She gave him a salacious grin, as she raked her gaze up and down his taut body. “I don’t know. You look pretty damn hot to me. I may want to keep you this way.”
“Later” he promised, as he led her to the cabin. “So what happened in there,” he asked, gesturing toward the cabin.
Adira shrugged. “Seems your mate mark did more than permanently leave an impression of your teeth in my flesh. My power is healed; no more shards I can’t trust. Bane assumed I was still broken, but I guess I surprised him.” She winked at him.
He laughed again as he stepped onto the porch. “I guess you did.”
They entered the cabin and rummaged through the back bedroom until they found something that came close to fitting Dimitri. Adira had to admit, she dreaded watching him cover up his body. She would much rather he stay naked, that they both were naked, and he was pressing his body against hers, her hands running over his chest, down his legs, and grabbing his cock. She couldn’t understand it. She should be exhausted after the battle they just fought, but she wasn’t. It turned her on, needing him to take her, satisfy her. She grabbed him, pulling him to her, her lips searching out his, as she ran her hands up and down his back. He glided a hand up her spine and into her hair, pulling her head back as he bit down on her neck, hissing as he did.
She cried out, clawing him, as she felt her body tense. Only the sound of sirens and the flashing of lights through the windows kept her from throwing him on the bed and having her way with him. She growled her frustration, to which he only laughed as he finished slipping a shirt on to cover up the blood on his arms. No time to wash up.
“Shall we go fabricate a story for Chet?” he asked, as he gestured to the door.
“Not what I really want to do, but I guess if we must,” she said with an over-dramatic sigh, which she didn’t really fake. She didn’t want to talk to Chet about Bane and the misguided coyotes; she wanted to fuck Dimitri. Needed to fuck him, if she was honest. Never before had lust filled her so much, but the desire she felt for Dimitri right then almost overwhelmed her.
He kissed her nose. “Soon, my witch. I promise. I want it as much as you do, trust me.”
“Then let’s get this over with quick. I need your cock.”
He grinned at her. “Good.” He passed though the doorway, and she wanted to spell him back to the bedroom. This needed to go quick or she would go crazy with want. She stared at his ass as he walked away. Scratch that. I’m already crazy with want. Chet better not be chatty.
Sixteen
It took longer with Chet than they wanted, but by the time they fabricated explanations that could be put down in a report for what transpired at Bane’s cabin, everyone was content, and Adira and Dimitri rushed back to her place. Yet, the craving they felt for each other couldn’t wait, and as soon as they were out of sight of the sheriff and his men, as well as the crime scene unit roping off Bane’s cabin, they groped at each other’s clothing, ripping them from their bodies as they dropped to the ground, their clothes a pile of shredded fabric around them. Twigs and branches poked into their exposed flesh, but neither one of them cared. They each wanted the other, their passion a hunger that wouldn’t be abated until they possessed what their bodies craved.
Adira ran her hands up his back, her nails clawing into him, as he plastered her neck and shoulders with kisses, his lips warm on her fl
esh. She arched her back, shoving her chest into his, pressing into him until there wasn’t even room for the air around them. She wanted him, needed him. His hardness pressed into her thigh, the wetness of his pre-cum on her flesh. Her pussy throbbed, as he bit into her neck, causing her to scream out, gripping his sides, as she sent bursts of power into him. This time, his back arched as his eyes popped wide and he grunted.
Glancing down, his smile reached his eyes. “Now, that was unexpected,” he said. “Nice, but unexpected.” He kissed her nose. “An accident?”
She couldn’t keep the proud smile from stretching across her face as she stared up into his eyes. “Nope. No accident. Like I said, my power’s returned ever since you marked me. Seems that mouth of yours has talents I never even thought about.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.
His smile reached her heart. “Nice to know. Of course, right now, I just want to use my mouth on that pussy of yours.” He kissed her again, leaving a trail from her neck over her chest and down her curvy stomach to the valley that thrummed between her legs.
She moaned, as she felt his tongue glide between her pussy lips, tasting the nectar that waited there for him. She spread her legs wider, urging him onward, as she reached down and gripped his head, holding him in place. He gripped her ass, lifting her into the air as he sucked on her clit, flicking it with his tongue. She pressed her pussy to his mouth, craving more, as the cool air whispered across her flesh, a contrast to the heat that flushed her body. Her free hand gripped the soil at her side, her fingers digging into the ground as they would his flesh, her power shooting into the earth. She couldn’t control it, so lost was she in the passion that wrapped around them. Blue fire shot from her fingers, lifting them into the air, as he slid up her body to drive his cock into her. Her power formed a bed under them, the wind whipping around their naked bodies.
