“…I hate it when you get sympathetic like this, Tommy.” Dragged down in defeat, the female’s sniffle sounded loudly in the thin space between my skull and my brain. “How are we going to defect?”
“Pack your stuff, babe – I’ll go figure out what’s going on and when. Then, we’ll be out of here. Alpha Jackson will protect us.”
“We need someone a lot more powerful than Alpha Jackson to protect us…this is so dangerous…”
Withdrawing from the conversation, I pulled back my magic and cracked open my eyes to find the human Chad on his knees before me. Crouching down, I reigned in my magic until my wings were their miniature size again, but he barely seemed to notice. My mind whirled with what I had heard, and the clutter only became more dense as I thought of him.
The magical parasite in the human Chad’s eye allowed him to see magic, but it fed on it whenever available. My outpouring would be enough to last it years – maybe even longer. What I hadn’t told him was that without enough magic, the parasite would kill his eye.
But there wasn’t much of a threat of that. The parasite could feed on any type of magic, and a shifter expelled plenty.
“The park…” Mumbling to myself, my mind filled with the images of the park that sat directly across the street from my home. The male – Tommy – was right; the place was very popular with the humans, and it sat right in the middle of town. “I will keep my eyes on it.”
I had a feeling that both the male and the female were right; this clan would involve as many innocents as possible, but it was planned despite being hastily acted upon. They had a general idea of what they wanted to do and accomplish. If everything I heard was true, that is…
Regret seeped into my veins that I had been so ignorant of the things happening right in front of me. I had been so worried about myself that I didn’t realize the life I was struggling to build was threatened.
I miss being a Courtier slave.
CHAPTER SIX
Derek
“Are you sure the kid’s information was good?” Hiding in the shadow of a large oak, I silently cursed my terrible nighttime eyesight even as I rolled my eyes. Glancing only briefly at Todd, my pupils narrowed on the bored skepticism painting his face.
“Alpha Jackson believed him. That’s all that matters. Just keep your fucking eyes peeled, Todd – you know I suck at this shit.” A snigger was all that met my annoyed snap, and my eyelid twitched in irritation. Todd was the absolute last person I wanted to be on sentry duty with, no matter how bad the threat. He could’ve been the last leopard shifter in the world, and I would rather go in almost completely blind.
“Don’t be such a sourpuss, Derek. It’s unbecoming of a noble lion.” My lips curled back into a fierce snarl at that, but the faintest of shimmers across the park stole both mine and Todd’s attention. Stiffening next to me, he leaned forward, and my nostrils flared as the still wind of late Spring settled on the flat field. “Shit – that little bastard was right. I see a wolf – two wolves.”
“Scouts? They must know we know.” Mumbling softly, I squinted but couldn’t make out more than broken silhouettes, and my heart twisted in its cage. I wasn’t meant to be on recon; my talents were best used in full frontal assaults.
Not only was this a shitty post, but I was stuck with Todd. Super.
“They’re not doing anything…” My ears twitched at that, and I pursed my lips into a thin line as my mind churned. “Why aren’t they doing anything?”
I had no answer for Todd’s rhetorical question, and he wasn’t really expecting one, too focused on the scene I couldn’t see clearly. This was a moonless night; it was a brilliant move, since wolves could see much better in the dark.
But the problems with having a pack of just wolves far outweighed that advantage. Their attack, from what I knew, was sloppy and hasty and doomed to fail. Their assumptions were based on prejudices and numbers. I had heard their female Alpha was stupid, but I never imagined she’d be this stupid.
“There are more –” Pointing towards the opposite end of the park, Todd drew my focus from my own thoughts as he spouted his. “I think 30, maybe. Aren’t there supposed to be more?”
“Yes.” The soft breeze brought a barrage of scents, just about as many as Todd had suspected, and I lifted my lips to suck them into my memory. “A lot more.”
A bare, delicate smell clung to my nostrils, and I tore my eyes off the silhouettes across the park to gaze down the street. None of the street lights glowed bright enough to reach this far deep into the sparse trees, but I could easily make out the figure weaving between them. Narrowing my gaze into slits, my mind turned out explanation after explanation, but none of them seemed right.
The shimmer of a long, toned, tan leg caught the yellow glow of the lamp, and I tensed as the obviously feminine figure stepped under the flood of light. She wore nothing but booty shorts, her body glimmering even as my gaze went right to her small, perky breasts. Saliva pooled in my mouth, my tongue tingling to drag up the long, slender column of her neck. Arousal flooded my veins and seeped from my pores, and I took a short step out from behind the oak only to be held back by a firm grip on my forearm.
Tearing my eyes off her, I glared at Todd even as he shot me a confused look.
“The fuck are you doing, Derek? There’s nothing over there – you couldn’t see it anyway.” Panic caused my heart to stutter at his harsh whisper, and I whirled back around – but she was still there. Standing, tall and alert and poised, she stared at the ground even as she lifted her arms. The shadows of her fingers danced across the pavement, and I ground my teeth at the urge to see them spasm in pleasure.
“Derek!” Todd’s angry snap reverberated up my spine, and I forced my eyes off her a second time to gnash my teeth. He jumped back, stepping on a pinecone whose crunch echoed across the park like thunder in the silence. “Shit!”
Even as I turned back to the street, my heart pounded hard not because of the possibility of being made, but the wide, hazel eyes that were staring right at me. Adrenaline surged through me, replacing my blood with a tsunami of hormones that gorged my cock. Despite the distance between us, I could see the shock that flittered across her features; the shock that parted her lips and caused her eyelashes to shudder when she struggled to blink.
“Dude – what the fuck are you looking at?” Todd’s angry grumble sounded in my ears, but this time, I couldn’t look away. She held me trapped, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to try to free my stiff muscles. The coarse hairs on my body stood up on a thick layer of welts, and my cock strained against my jeans with a painful pulsing that begged for relief.
“You don’t see her?” My eyes widened as my mind finally started to work again, and I licked my lips heavily under furrowing brows. “You can’t see her…”
“Who? There’s no one there, Derek. What happened to keeping your eyes peeled, huh?” The relief that hit me was a punch to the chest, and the woman cocked her head in silent question. She was so graceful, just with that one movement, and I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. Blood blossomed a metallic plume in the air, but even that wasn’t enough to scrub her light scent from my nostrils.
“Beautiful…” Purring the praise, my lips stretched into a wide smirk at the red tinge that spread across her skin. She can hear me. “I see you…”
“See who – you crazy dick – fuck this.” I barely registered Todd’s grumble as the woman stiffened, and for just a fraction of a second, I wondered if I had gone crazy. My partner couldn’t see her; in fact, I didn’t think anyone could if no one had by now. She was standing under the only light source available for twenty yards front and back.
What’s more, she was practically naked and not trying to hide it – holding herself with confidence that struck me as more than skin deep.
“Derek’s finally lost it, Alpha Jackson – he says there’s a woman, but I can’t see her… No – he’s totally gone – he probably can’t even hear me right now… There’s ju
st thirty or so of them – No…I don’t know where the rest are. These guys don’t seem to be intent on doing anything. I don’t know why they’re here – I got no idea.”
“What do you know, huh?” Mumbling more air than noise, my lips trembled with the need to find hers as they came together. Her bright gaze left mine only for the briefest of seconds as she looked around, and my cock strained as her long hair rustled in the breeze. Long legs carried her with firm strides towards me, and only by some miracle was I able to keep my eyes on hers.
“Woah – woah – Alpha… I’ll call you back.” The closer she came, the more detail I could see – the perfection of her nose even as scars ripped down her outer thigh. A strong fist beat on my back, and I whirled around to snarl only to stop short at the grave sneer on Todd’s face. “They have humans. Look.”
Snapping across the field, I squinted, but there was no need when a huge flood light blared down on the group. The white light designed to illuminate a baseball field changed the direction of the shadows, but they no longer mattered.
There couldn’t have been more than a dozen wolves, and they surrounded a group of scared humans still in their pajamas. Fear that had been masked by the darkness filled my still lungs, and all thoughts of the woman fled from my mind. Standing in front of the group, Alpha Liza stood like one of those fanatical church pastors with a holy, righteous expression painting her face.
“Shit – this is bad.” Todd and I were trapped in the shadow of the oak; Liza knew we were here, but she obviously didn’t know where as she scanned the area. Her trying to act smart would’ve been hilarious if it wasn’t dangerous, and I ground my teeth as my fingernails dug deeper into my palms.
“No shit, Todd.” My mind whirred at a dangerous pace as I snapped back at Todd, and he lifted his lips in a snarl that simply rolled off my shoulder.
“What are we going to do? She’ll see us coming no matter which direction we go.”
“Is that the human Chad?” The soft, melodic voice caused both of us to freeze, and my eyes flew to the woman to find her staring blankly at the group. Casting me a sidelong glance, her beautiful lips dragged in a frown under furrowed brows. Unease swirled in her gaze, but a clamor across the field stole all of our attentions.
A rather brawny man tried to strong arm his way to the front of the group of terrified humans, and he looked pissed.
“Hey! If you don’t let us go, I’ll fucking bitch slap you into next week – you crazy cunt! You messed with the wrong motherfucker!” Loud and obnoxious, the human Chad – shouted above the scared whimpers of the humans around him. I counted at least three children, but there were probably more in the middle – and every other person was a woman or teenager. Flickering to the woman, an intense shot of adoration rushed into my chest at the absolute shock that rippled across her expression.
She was so cute.
“Did you hear me, you bitch! I said – ” Chad was cut off, and I turned my attention back to the scene to watch him crumple to the ground. My sensitive ears picked up his curses, and my hard on shriveled as realization slammed into me. He’d been rammed in the balls, and I couldn’t help but sympathize.
But my eyes should’ve stayed on the woman.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Linne
Watching the human Chad collapse, his face twisted in pain and arteries bulging in his neck, my heart squeezed and sputtered in its cage. Curling into fists as tension stiffened my arms, my fingers ached as I dropped the veil of magic I had spread across the park. Of course, the human Chad knew I was there; he could see me no matter how thickly I cloaked myself.
I had a nagging feeling his security in my presence wasn’t the reason for his outburst, either.
“Alpha Jackson! Leave the area at once or we’ll start executing the humans! We have more!” My eyes nearly boggled out of their sockets at that, and red invaded my vision as it landed on the woman. Her expression was one I saw too many times to count; that haughty, ‘I have you cornered’, untouchable face that Courtiers made when they believed too much in themselves. Half-crazed eyes widened when they finally landed on me, as if she hadn’t noticed I was there the half a dozen times she glanced over my way.
My skin crawled in disgust as the woman – Alpha Liza – scanned my body. My wings twitched and rustled as they lay flat against my shoulder blades. She didn’t say anything else, and the tense silence only allowed the anger simmering in my chest to grow and gnaw at my organs. Through flared nostrils, I sucked in shallow, quick breaths, and my chest heaved as white-hot fire ripped down my spine and coated my ribs like a thick tar.
“Wait! Stop!” The deep, thundering shout from behind me sounded as my legs released the adrenaline gorging my muscles, but I ignored the voice. The woman stiffened, frozen to her spot, and the details of her face became clearer beyond the shadows of the light raining down. My mind calmed in the face of adversary, and images of the human Chad folded like a paper bag filled my inner eye.
My body crashed into Alpha Liza to knock her clear off her feet and ten feet back, while my wings shivered, aching to stretch in self-preservation. Her grunts and her little shriek echoed in my ears, and the sound set everything around me into motion. Grabbing her face in my sharpening claws, I slammed her head against the hard earth compacted by many, many steps.
Razor-like teeth latched onto my forearm, and my wings burst from my back in a glory of blood and bits. Without magic to ease the way, my skin simply split open from the extra muscles expanding underneath the flesh of my back. Flapping wildly, my feathered appendages swirled the dirt and rustled the grass, and the fangs in my arm tore out a chunk as the body attached to them was flung back in surprise. My fingers throbbed as I cocked back my uninjured arm, and I speared Alpha Liza with my four-inch claws to grant her a humiliating, unexceptional death.
She couldn’t even fight back before her brains came seeping out of her eye sockets.
A low, ground-shaking roar reverberated up my knees and thighs, and I whipped around just as a hulking, black body came skidding to slam into a wolf only four feet from me. The animal ripped viciously into a fleshy, muscular back, but my gaze lingered only for a fraction of a second before a loud, long howl cracked through the air.
A hundred wolves, maybe more, came slinking out of the shadows, and the ones guarding the humans retreated. Scrambling to my feet, wings outstretched and the rage of familiar battle coursing through my veins, I panted softly as I slowly circled. The plan I hadn’t been able to decipher earlier came together in my mind, and I licked my lips to taste the blood that splattered when I extracted my claws.
The purist clan was going to encircle and use sheer numbers to overwhelm. It was so simple – so very effective and devastating no matter where it was implemented.
But I had fought much more powerful and numerous enemies for Kaslni.
Pausing my careful, light steps, goosebumps washed my bare skin at the coarse, short fur that brushed my calf. My eyelid twitched, and I sucked in a sharp breath before glancing behind me.
Wolves weren’t the only kind of shifter, I knew – but nothing could’ve prepared me for the absolutely monstrous lion that protected my back. He was entirely black, from nose to tail, and his thick mane had lost patches in places from the countless fights he’d been in. Easily as tall as me, he tilted his head as if sensing my stare, and a familiar, dull blue eye met mine.
Him. Silent understanding passed between us, and I turned back to the throng of wolves that were shuffling haphazardly as they inched closer. Magic ruffled my feathers, and I flapped my wings in powerful beats before the lion pushed off. My eyes rolled sharply into the back of my head, and the shadows created by the blaring lights surged to converge on me. Raising my arms, my wings twitched as I drew them up, creating a shadowy barrier between the terrified humans and everything else.
Satisfied that they couldn’t see or hear anything, I keyed the lock to a box deep inside my mind, and my wings throbbed and pulsed almost painfully. We
aving with careful precision, I slipped into the easily pliable minds of the humans to coat their senses in fog. Their terror seeped into my very bones as I worked the miniature humans.
Toys. Miniature humans liked toys.
Light. Miniature humans weren’t afraid if they could see.
Candy. Miniature humans were pleased easily.
All of these things, I snuck into the scenario of my own making, and the fear saturating the miniature humans lessened almost instantly.
Cracking open my eyes, I pursed my lips tightly as the sounds of fighting filtered into my scope of comprehension. Whirling around, my eyes widened at the large beasts that tumbled across the ground with vicious snarls and snaps. The black lion had not one but two wolves latched onto his back and a third underneath him. He didn’t seem to feel the pain, and I pressed my palms to the ground and inhaled a deep, calming breath.
High-pitched squeals pierced the air as I entered the wolves’ minds, and they began flailing in the pain I had fabricated. They were not much harder to manipulate than the humans, and an evil kind of a smirk stretched across my lips.
The red hazing my vision became thicker, and I lifted my head to glance around at the wolves that had stalled their advance. Their pack brethren still writhed in pain for no apparent reason, and the plume of uncertainty that thickened the air filled my lungs seductively. Groaning softly with my exhale, I flexed my wings only to send the pair of wolves into spastic convulsions.
My magic – the power I held over their lives – was intoxicating, and I grinned broadly as a tickle of a laugh wiggled into my throat. Adrenaline and happiness mixed into a potent cocktail in my blood; I had been so careful these past months to reign myself in. The magic that I had practiced so hard to master had been neglected.
Finding My Mate Page 4
