by Leeda Vada
“All you need to know is that Calli carries the blood of Numee and Meda. Therefore, she is connected to my people. We will always look out for her welfare,” Sebastian announced.
“And I’ve told you before, my mate’s welfare is not your responsibility.”
“You did a really bang up job of meeting that responsibility, my Canid prince,” Sebastian shot back.
Sebastian became airborne as Canaan’s fist connected with his chin with enough force to propel him into the wall.
“Damn,” Saxe exclaimed, surveying the damage. Hearing the crash, he had rushed into the room. “The two of you fighting is not helping matters.”
“We’re done,” Canaan stated. “Mr. Varul is leaving.”
“What did the two of you decide?” Saxe asked.
Neither man answered.
After studying their expressions, Saxe quickly added. “On second thought,” he amended, “don’t tell me. I want deniability, both with the court and my client.”
Canaan rejoined Calli and Sebastian to do what he must.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Permission to approach the bench, Your Honor?”
“Permission granted, Mr. Chandler.”
“Because of the prejudicial nature of the video, the defense requests that the jurors be instructed to disregard it until the defense has time to verify its authenticity,” Saxe requested. “Your Honor, it is also obvious that the scene shown in court on Friday was only a section of the tape, chosen with the intent of prejudicing the jury against my client.”
“I protest, Your Honor,” Prosecutor Allan stated from his seat. “The video has already been authenticated by a court-appointed expert. And as to it being only a partial scene, whether it is a section or a whole is irrelevant,” he countered. “The commission of the crime is clear and indisputable—indeed, Ms. Powhatan has admitted to killing the young men—which is what the video shows.”
“I have to agree with Mr. Allan, Mr. Chandler,” stated the judge. “Request denied. Gentlemen, return to your seats. Mr. Chandler, present your defense.”
“Your Honor, again, I protest,” Saxe insisted. “The video does not show what lead to Mrs. Powhatan’s actions, what precipitated the violence.”
“The motivation for the slayings is irrelevant, Your Honor,” the prosecutor insisted.
“I beg to differ, Mr. Allan. Motivation is the foundation of any action, any defense,” he insisted.
“I agree, Mr. Chandler,” District Attorney Allan concurred. “And that question could be cleared up, Your Honor, if Defense Attorney Chandler would put his client on the stand. Who better to tell the court why she killed those innocent young men than the defendant herself?” he challenged.
“Enough, Gentlemen,” Judge Edwards commanded, slamming his gavel. “Mr. Chandler, again, I am denying your request. Now, step back, both of you.”
As the two men returned to their seats, the judge repeated, “Mr. Chandler, begin your defense.”
Before the two men could turn around, a shrill whistle sounded in the courtroom. A three-dimensional scene began playing in the area between the prosecution table, defense table, and the judge’s bench.
“What the hell?” exclaimed D.A. Allan. “What trick is this, Chandler?”
Saxe did not hear his question. All his attention was on the horrific scene before him.
A Hounds trooper was slicing through the distended abdomen of a woman clearly in the advanced stages of pregnancy. Her arms were stretched above her head, her hands held by another trooper positioned above her. Two more troopers held her legs as the first drew the blade down her front.
“Okay, make it quick, guys. I have things to do and places to go,” the leader admonished. “I have plans for my share of that million dollars.”
“A million dollars for the devil spawn, and a half million bonus for the infant’s mother, dead or alive,” he continued.
“You forgot the extra $25,000 for the video,” interjected the first.
Suddenly, a black-clad figure landed in the middle of the clearing, directly in front of the camera, laser weapons in both hands.
#
Canaan refused to watch the video a second time. His eyes were riveted on Calli. Her face was a blank slate, but her eyes, her soul, was not in the courtroom.
#
Calli had known as soon as she stepped into the circle that there were too many for her. Six robust and heavily armed assailants flanked the lone woman. The few weapons she had on her were no match for the assault weapons her attackers carried.
All Calli could hope to do was hold them at bay until reinforcements arrived. She was on mandatory leave to recover from gunshot wounds and a break in her right tibia she sustained on her last mission. She was headed to her retreat in the wildlife refuge in Northern Maine when she heard the young woman’s screams.
What was a pregnant woman doing out here alone in the wilderness, and from the look of things, a woman in the later stages of pregnancy, about to give birth?
Calli needed help from someone close enough to get to the two of them in a hurry. None of the Scythians were in the country. But the Cumberland nation had a branch office in New York State, so she sent out a distress call to Canaan’s private line.
Though she and Canaan had been estranged for the last five years, she had no doubt about his love for her. He would not hesitate to help her. Even if he could not come himself, Canaan would give her call Emergency Alert Status and immediately route it to the closest available Warrior team.
She couldn’t shift because she knew the episode was being filmed. She couldn’t risk exposing her species, so before the troopers recovered from their surprise, she aimed her laser gun at their legs as she pivoted and fired.
She had incapacitated three of them before the largest two brought her down. That caught the attention of the trooper carving into the woman, who was now unconscious, oblivious to the horror being visited on her body.
Calli stayed on the ground, allowing her attackers to believe they had incapacitated her. She allowed herself to be captured to distract the men from their attack on the mother and her child. She was buying time, knowing help would come soon. It should only be minutes before it arrived.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the lead attacker lowered himself to her. She recognized him. David White, the trooper they called Devil.
One of the others anchored her arms above her head and another held her legs flat to the ground, while a third locked on her feet, making it impossible for her to move or escape.
“I don’t know who the hell you are, but I’ll teach you to interfere in the Hounds’ business!”
The trooper who had been performing the vivisection on the pregnant woman handed Devil a large, metal-tipped, fur-covered paw. Devil used it to shred her clothes. He was so enraged at this point that he did not care how much skin he shredded in the process.
Calli felt shards of lightning driving into her as Devil penetrated her. She could no longer hold back the screams of pain that erupted from her throat.
Suddenly, he pulled back, recognizing Calli. A smile of victory lit his countenance and he turned to face the assembled group of men,
“Hell, men. God is good,” he gloried. “Do you know who this is? This is our lucky day. We are going to make much more than a million and a half, much, much more! The sky is the limit, for we have Canaan Powhatan’s mate!”
One of the Troopers stepped back in alarm. “Oh, God, David. We have to get out of here.”
“Hell, no!”
“We can’t do this,” John protested.
“What are you talking about? We have hit the mother lode here,” his leader insisted.
“Are you crazy? We won’t live to spend a penny of it,” John insisted, continuing his protest.
“He’s right,” said Mark, one of the other Troopers, joining John in protest. “Canaan will hunt us down and kill each and every one of us.”
“Not if he can’t f
ind us, he won’t,” Devil countered. “Bland will re-locate us, give us new identities. Anyway, no one else will know it was us. And remember, there won’t be a body: no body, no crime.”
“I still don’t like this,” John reiterated.
“It’s too late, John,” Mark sighed. “We have gone too far to turn back now.”
“He’s right, John,” Devil emphasized. “Stop your bellyaching and help us finish this.”
Returning to his task, Devil raged on, re-invigorated by the shouts and claps of the surrounding troopers, each member anticipating his turn.
Withdrawing once more, and then using both hands, he flipped her and gripped the quivering globes below him, forced them apart, and plunged into the thin crevice, rendering the resistant flesh.
Calli blacked out. She flowed in and out of consciousness as subsequent team members exercised their right to the spoils of war. She retreated into herself, becoming a spectator as the pain went beyond the ability of her conscious mind to absorb.
Her life as she had known it was over. Her dream of accepting Canaan’s claim as his mate died irrevocably as each new member penetrated her bruised and bleeding body.
#
As the video continued to run, Canaan watched Calli’s eyes as life and awareness drained from them. As her pupils voided, so did his heart. His love, the being who meant more to him than life itself, was dying before his eyes, and he had not been there to save her.
The last and largest of Devil’s team, Samson, having finished dividing the woman’s abdomen, came over to the scene. He used his rod to tear and rip into the tight walls of Calli’s vagina. He was relentless. As much as her body resisted, the more force he used to drill into her, finally collapsing amid the blood and torn flesh as he relieved himself.
Her body did not respond because it was no longer sentient, its functionality lost when Calli vacated it for a Netherworld, a place that existed outside of the pain.
She had lost track of time. Where was Canaan? Why hadn’t he come?
Forcing Calli’s knees further apart and positioning his lower body between her thighs, Devil signaled off two of the three men.
“Let go. I can brand this heifer all by myself. Watch and learn, gentlemen,” he boasted. “Watch and learn.”
Once Samson had vacated her body, Devil pulled from his knapsack the 666 metal claws the Hounds had manufactured to symbolize another victory in their war against nonhumans.
He drew the three-pronged rake over the woman’s back, pushing the three sixes deeper into her flesh—trying each time to elicit some movement or sound from her to feed his ego—but there was none.
Furious that she had denied him that final victory, Devil pulled his blade and cut the letter “D” horizontally under the three 6s.
Thinking they had finished her off, the Troopers returned to their first victim. With the vivisection complete, they reached for the fetus. The mother, having regained consciousness, began pleading with the men to spare her child’s life.
“Shut her up,” Devil ordered. “Get the child and let’s get out of here,” he commanded. “Wrap it in the mother’s dress. She doesn’t need it anymore.”
He approached with his blade drawn. As he grasped the woman’s hair to position her neck for the slice, he screamed. Fire suffused his right ankle as it severed his tendon. Simultaneously, he felt the metal rake penetrate his back as his knife dropped to the ground.
Retrieving the dropped blade, a bloodied hand moved to the trooper who had pinned the victim’s right leg. Using the blade in her hand, Calli slashed the back of John’s knees. Roaring in pain, he fell onto his victim’s body.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Calli grabbed his dropped weapon, pulled herself to her knees, and began to mow down the five assailants surrounding the dying woman. Devil was her first target.
Suddenly, a roar of rage filled the courtroom as the projected image began to sputter and finally stilled on its side. All that remained was a bloody, white paw with parts of shredded Trooper uniform visible underneath its claws.
#
For what seemed like an interminable moment, the only sound in the stunned courtroom was the wretched, guttural noises coming from Calli’s throat, her head against Canaan’s shirt as he stroked her shivering arms and back, whispering soothing sounds into her ebony tresses.
Sounding like a clap of thunder in the trancelike courtroom, Judge Edward’s voice echoed through the room. He turned toward the prosecution table, “Mr. Allan, I direct you to make every effort to find those responsible for these heinous acts against Mrs. Powhatan and the young woman and infant. And just as important, I want the names of any and all persons responsible for the release and distribution of this video. I want the report in my office within twenty-four hours.”
He directed his gaze to the defense table, “Mrs. Powhatan, all charges against you are dismissed with the heartfelt apology of the court,” he pronounced, slamming his gavel.
There were no cheers or heartfelt words of congratulations from the spectators. District Attorney Allan and Ms. Stanford stepped over to the defense table to shake hands with Saxe and Luna. Neither made a move toward Calli or Canaan.
Canaan raised his eyes to signal Sebastian, disguised as a U.S. Marshall waiting in the back of the courtroom. Sebastian turned and left.
“Canaan, let’s get her out of here,” Saxe urged. “We can go out the back to avoid the crowds.”
“No,” Canaan countered. “We have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said angrily. “And Canid do not run.”
He bent his head, his right hand raising Calli’s chin. Looking into her tear-ravaged face, he bent and rained small kisses over her face, then rested his chin on her forehead.
“No more running, Mitawan,” he whispered to her. “No more going it alone. From this moment on, it’s you and me, together.”
With Saxe and Luna ahead of them, Canaan took Calli’s right hand and led her through the gallery.
Flanking them as they headed for the doors leading to the lobby of the courtroom, Canaan’s Uncle Erol and his wife Vesta reached out to hug them both. Vesta took Calli’s other hand. Shani took Canaan’s. Dakota stepped in front of the group, with Khan bringing up the rear.
As the group stepped out into the brightness of the midmorning sun, Canaan noticed the absence of the Hounds of God special contingent of Troopers. But more Canid, and not just Canid Warriors, had filled the gaps in the security line.
Canaan recognized all the members of his team and the remainder of Odin’s Warriors. Also present were the female Smoke team, Akira, and Vesta’s entire female espionage unit disguised in the crowd. His heart swelled in appreciation of the unexpected display of support for him and Calli. He knew Calli probably was not aware right then of their presence, but she would see it when she viewed the tape later. He could feel her struggling to hold on, her face a fragile mask, her hand trembling in his.
As they continued through the corridor formed by their people, Canaan could not let himself think further than getting Calli aboard Sebastian’s silver-enhanced chopper that had landed in the street.
Canaan and Sebastian had come to an agreement when they had discussed the full video. Sebastian was to override the electronic system in the courtroom to project the images. Sebastian would only show the parts necessary to secure Calli’s acquittal. They both knew they risked Calli’s wrath and maybe her permanent distrust by going against her wishes. Her sense of betrayal was evident in the courtroom when she rejected Canaan’s initial attempts to comfort her as the video began.
One of the bailiffs had tried to interfere when Canaan had leapt over the railing to be with her, but one look at the yellow of Canaan’s eyes and the sound of the growl building from the base of his throat made him pause in his step and back off. Calli’s plea of “No, Canaan, No” did not deter him. He had failed in the past to care for his mate, he would not fail again today.
He knew that part of what Calli was struggling to hold
in was her anger towards him, but Canaan could not allow himself to feel that now. Later, he would suffer her grievances. The priority now was to get her to safety. He knew the Hounds would not take defeat lying down. Neither would Canaan lie down. He had vengeance to enact.
He lifted Calli into her brother Rand’s arms as they boarded the modified jet. Canaan swore that there would be nowhere on the planet the perpetrators of the attack on his mate would be able to hide.
#
Bena quietly closed the door to the cabinet in the break room. She shuddered in horror from the graphic scenes of Calli’s attack. She had disobeyed her parents’ orders about staying in her room and doing her homework. Adults could be so obtuse when it came to young people, as if children would not suspect that something was going on that the adults did not want them to see.
They were Canid children for God’s sake. In early childhood they had become familiar with death, destruction, and attempts on their lives. From before they could walk, they had been taught how to defend themselves from possible kidnappings.
Bena suspected that whatever was going on had something to do with Calli, just the mention of her name raised the anxiety level in Alpha House. The animosity between Calli and Bena’s mother, Belen, was no secret to anyone in Bakari.
And everyone said she was not a fit mate for her brother. So her choice to leave years ago had eliminated a lot of tension in the Canid compound.
Still, Bena felt guilty. When she had agreed with Donoma to keep her mother’s secret, she never thought anything like this would happen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Damn! He married her,” she uttered with bitter awareness. “Okay. It seems fate has turned away from me. That’s okay,” Donoma mused. “A momentary setback. I have waited this long. I can wait a little longer,” she comforted herself.
“Let me think,” she said aloud, as she paced the room. “The pictures on the news revealed the determination and possessiveness of a Canid male. There is no way Canaan is going to let Calli go now.”
