Sphinx Transformed (The Sphinx Warriors Series Book 3)

by Christine Murphy

  ****

  Alexandria shivered with the thought of Joshua’s hands all over her bringing her to the level of need his fingers could magically create. She still couldn’t believe the Power he had to bring her back and his ability to clarify the truths which had been crushing her that even Raven hadn’t been able to reveal. Joshua even had forgiven her for meddling with his sleep patterns and she had to make it up to him somehow. To her, what she had done was still unforgivable. Joshua was a Warrior of incredible ability no matter what insecurities he had about his dionic Power. But like he said, now was definitely not the time to want or dwell on it anymore. They had to go see what her brother had to say. She had a lot of information both the good and the badshe had to let the others know about.

  Joshua quickly turned away when she dropped the sheet covering her body. She smiled when she saw him try and cover the evidence of his desire for her. She slipped into the scrubs quickly since being around him was almost too much of a temptation for her too. With everything that had happened in the last few hours, her system was too wound up and the sight of him now, his skin glowing again with health was driving her crazy. All she wanted to do was grab him and let him claim her endlessly with his gentleness and passion.

  Instead, she crossed her arms across her body and just watched him grab a towel from the medical supplies. He scrubbed as much of the dried blood from his body as he could and slipped into his own pair of scrubs. Once he was finished, Alexandria couldn’t resist any longer and brushed up against him. He put his arms around her, kissing the top of her head, and it felt like coming home to her just touching him.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with,” he said and tucked her firmly against his side. Joshua led the way out of the Trauma Cell and into the Cavern. As they stepped out of the Trauma Cell, Alexandria was surprised to see everyone was still waiting in the Cavern. Several chairs and a couple of older couches from storage had been pulled out and positioned in a circle. Warriors, their Mates, and even Guardian Arik with his team of Elites were sprawled in the furniture or on the floor.

  The first person to notice them was Stormy and she was up and out of Michael’s arms in a blink.

  “Thank God. You’re okay.” Stormy wove through the group and tackled Alexandria, grabbing her in one of her bear hugs.

  Alexandria laughed at her antics. “Yes, I’m much better now. Thanks to Joshua. He saved me once again.”

  “And I owe him for saving my sister.” Alexandria was engulfed by Michael’s embrace with Stormy sandwiched between them. Stormy didn’t appear to be willing to detach herself yet. Soon both Alexandria and Joshua were surrounded by Warriors and Guardians. They all reached out and touched Alexandria gently conveying their gladness she was recovered and congratulations on her Joining with Joshua. She watched as Joshua was slapped on the back, punched in the shoulder, and embraced by his fellow Warriors.

  Once everyone appeared to be satisfied with her well-being, they returned to their seats or the floor. One of the Guardians gave up his leather chair and Joshua sat down in it. No sooner had he sat down, he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap. Blushing furiously from all of the attention, Alexandria leaned back into his embrace and tried to relax wondering what her brother had to say. Joshua must have sensed her nervousness because he started running his hands through her hair.

  Glancing around at the others, Alexandria could tell she wasn’t the only one still wound up. The tension throughout the Cave was palpable with everyone still keyed up and aggravated. Over the past few hours, the series of unplanned, uncoordinated events had left everyone shaken. And others angry, including Michael.

  Yes, her brother was still on edge. He paced back and forth on one side of the circle of chairs running his hands through his hair obviously in agitation. Finally, he stopped his pacing and glared at Alexandria for a moment but then she saw him let go of his anger at what she had done and directed his gaze at the rest of the occupants of the Cave. One after another, he paused making eye contact with every single person present.

  Once he appeared satisfied that he had the undivided attention of everyone, the leader in him came to the surface and he fiercely commanded, “I will say this once and only once. There will be no more heroics and trying to save the world by anyone on their own. Too many times, we have almost lost an important part of this family but we’re running out of luck. We have to work as a team supporting each other as equals. If we don’t, we will fail. And our failure will not only cost this family but it’ll cost this world its very existence.”

  Alexandria caught her breath when Michael returned to looking directly at her.

  “Please know I understand the desire to exact revenge, to save those we love, and find a way to destroy the Gate and stop the Wraith. I don’t begrudge anyone from wanting these things. I myself have foolishly tried to act on my own and still have to be reminded by my Mate that I can’t do this by myself. But losing any of you is slowly killing the rest of us, killing me.”

  Not one person made a sound and Alexandria knew deep inside everyone was feeling the anguish of loss and the need to avenge those who had passed on. She felt it in the way Joshua hugged her closer to him, in the way her brother’s fear and love reached out to her, and the way she had felt when Joshua reached inside of her and had almost died bringing her back.

  Alexandria slid her hands over Joshua’s arms and finding his hands threaded her fingers with his. She met Michael’s intense look and whispered, “I swear on the oath made so long ago by the ancient Sphinx Warrior’s and to my Khenti and brother, I will abide by his command. May others do the same.”

  Instantly the tension broke and oaths flowed from each and every person in the Cave. Alexandria saw Stormy bound from a chair near Michael and throw her arms around him. He embraced his Mate, kissed her soundly, and carefully tucked her into his side keeping her close.

  Appearing to be satisfied his command would be taken seriously, he completed the oath. “The oath is noted and returned. I would suggest not breaking it or the next person to step over the boundaries will have my foot up their ass and a month of kitchen duty or worse.”

  A wave of grumbling spread throughout the Cave but a glare from Michael silenced it immediately. Before continuing, he led Stormy back to her seat and eased her down into it. She still looked a bit pale to Alexandria. She would need to check on Stormy later but now Michael commanded all of their attention again as he started the after action.

  “Alexandria, if you could please regale us of your activities in the other dimension so we know what the hell happened.” Khenti Michael wasn’t pulling any punches and cut straight to the chase.

  Glancing at her audience, Alexandria cleared her throat. “Well, after I realized the extent of Turin’s experiments on the other side, I knew I had to go back and deliver the anti-gene to wipe out the mutated Wraith. He had mutated them using genetic material he had taken from me before he genetically altered me.”

  Alexandria had to pause for a moment, shivering, when she recalled her treatment at Turin’s hands. Joshua instantly started running his hands over her hair to soothe her. Since he had rescued her, he had stayed closely connected to her. His protective actions and strength gave her courage to continue.

  “Those Wraith were more dangerous and stronger than the others having traces of Sphinx integrated into their DNA. So I took the anti-gene in with me and delivered it into the water system. They have only one source of water and guarantees the anti-gene will destroy the mutations.”

  Michael sighed heavily. “But Alexandria, any one of us could have done that.”

  “No.” She spoke up. “I had to go. The reason the Gate kept opening was because Turin had gotten lucky with one of the mutations. The creature was strong and developed the ability to open the Gate like I could. When I was brought back here, Turin trained it as my replacement and so that is why the frequency of the Gate opening increased. I remembered the super-mutated Wraith’s existence when Raven helped
me uncover the rest of the truth.”

  Joshua growled under her and she turned to him. Alexandria kissed him soundly on the mouth redirecting his attention. Lovingly, she touched him though their Link. It’s okay Joshua, I forced him into the Truth finding. He didn’t want to help me, but he had no choice. Don’t be angry with him for that, it was all me. I promise to explain to you later. He gripped her shoulders and deepened the kiss in front of everyone not caring and she knew he was staking his claim. Sphinx Warriors definitely didn’t react well to other males touching their Mates.

  A clearing of throats had Alexandria jerking back from Joshua. He just smirked at the rest of them but she couldn’t believe her behavior in front of the others. Blushing, she adjusted herself in Joshua’s lap and continued with her report.

  “Umm. Well, I knew the only way Turin was going to reveal his newest weapon was to go and reveal myself. The plan worked, the creature showed up, and I delivered a fatal dose of the anti-gene. Without the super mutated Wraith, the Gate should return to its normal pattern and maybe give us a break.” Alexandria glanced over at Ethan hoping he would confirm her theory.

  Excited, Ethan flipped open his hand held micro-computer and tapped quickly on the phone sized keypad.

  “Dudes. You’re not going to believe this, but right now there’s almost zip on the Gate energy level. Sweet. I can finally check my fucking social network.” He looked up a moment with an appalled expression.

  “Fuck.” He muttered. Alexandria knew he preferred to be known as the computer brain and not a tweeter because the Warriors harassed him mercilessly when they caught him.

  On key, the other Warriors tossed out comments like, “Pussy.” “Geek.” “Loser.”

  “All right! Enough, gentleman.” Khenti Michael shouted. Silence settled again.

  “Continue, Alexandria.”

  Alexandria bit at her lip and realized she had to reveal her failure in the mission.

  “Well, right before I took out the super mutation, I found the Fifth Page of Seven.”

  Agitated, she rubbed at her forehead. “Unfortunately, I think when I mutated as the Wraith attacked me and I transformed into the Sphinx feline in an effort to save myself, I lost the Page.”

  “No, Alexandria. Somehow, you held onto it even in the shape you were in, “Joshua growled.

  She felt his muscles tense under her legs and saw the images flow through his mind from their Link as he relived seeing her crushed under the weight of Wraith while they sucked the Life Power out of her. He rubbed his cheek against her hair and then tunneled under the strands to kiss the side of her neck.

  Distracted, she barely heard Michael.

  “Damn it. I almost forgot I have the scroll page.” Alexandria’s attention was recaptured by her brother’s words. In relief, she watched as he pulled the gold tube shaped container from the side pocket of his fatigue pants.

  Stormy was instantly on her feet grabbing for the Page. “Let me see, Michael. Please.”

  Alexandria smiled at Stormy’s antics and Michael really had no choice but to hand the container over to his Power Mate. Eleina quickly joined Stormy in opening the tube and carefully pulled the Fifth Page out. Delicately unrolling it, the women’s expressions fell when they saw there was only half of the Page left.

  “No, no, no. How are we supposed to know how to interpret this without the full Page? It’s missing too much of the document.” Stormy started to freak out and Eleina had to extricate the scroll from her hands before she caused any damage to it.

  “We’ll find a way, Stormy. We have to.” Alexandria tried to reassure her. “It has to mean something that my Power Signature is on the scroll Page. I’m not sure what, but we can decode the part we have and go from there.”

  “I might have a suggestion.” Caleb spoke up and suddenly he had everyone’s full attention. This was rare the youngest of the Warriors spoke up in a meeting. Alexandria was curious as to what he had in mind.

  “Caleb, don’t you fucking dare!” Ethan shouted aggressively.

  Usually mild mannered, he sprang up from the couch he was just a moment ago relaxed in. He was so instantly on the defense the hand held micro-computer he had been holding hit the ground with an ominous crack and skittered several feet away from him.

  “Yeah, but if it will help.” Caleb also stood up crossing his arms across his chest.

  Ethan angrily strode right up to him getting in his face and poking a finger in his chest.

  “Dude, you fucking promised.”

  Tension in the room escalated again and Alexandria suddenly found herself on the chair alone with Joshua blocking her from a perceived fight getting ready to break out.

  “By the Ancients. Enough.” Khenti Michael pushed his way between the two Warriors, grabbed a hand full of their shirts, and shoved them away from each other. Alexandria was sure Michael was going to kick someone’s butt before the end of the night but all he did was shout.

  “One of you will explain now!”

  Ethan and Caleb scowled at each other, stubborn expressions written all over their faces. The stand-off didn’t last long, though, when Ethan relaxed his stance and ran his hand through his spiked short black hair. “Fine. I may have found a Seer.”

  Alexandria was on her feet instantly pushing around Joshua just as Eleina stepped up closer to Ethan. Power Seers had disappeared even before the Priestesses vanished and Alexandria blurted out, “A Seer? There hasn’t been a Seer in centuries. I think the last one was back on our home planet Athenia. How can that be?

  Agitated, Ethan snarled, “I don’t know.” When Joshua growled at him, Ethan calmed down. “Sorry. Give me a minute.”

  Pacing away, Ethan strode a few feet into the center of the Cavern retrieving his obviously no longer functioning hand held. Turning back to the group, he brushed his fingers over the cracked screen and sighing looked up. “Yes, I’ve been going out on the social networks. And no, I didn’t reveal anything about us. I just monitored the airwaves like I’m supposed to making sure nothing about Complex 46 got out there. There really wasn’t anything other than the usual stories the humans like to make up to entertain themselves about mysterious places or happenings. Nothing significant until about a month ago.”

  Ethan had Alexandria’s undivided attention now and everyone else’s in the Cavern. She wrapped her arms around Joshua and he encircled her with one arm. Together they watched Ethan begin to pace back and forth while he messed his spiked hair up even more.

  To Alexandria’s relief, Ethan stopped the back and forth and went back to his spot on the couch collapsing heavily down in it. He continued with his revelation.

  “Anyway, a conversation on one of the sites led me to a website. On the site were images of paintings and short story entries. I looked and read through them and…well, putting it bluntly it was like seeing and reading about our lives but as if the person was seeing the images through a clouded glass. The paintings and descriptions were close enough I had no doubt the contents were about us, but anyone else wouldn’t know the truth but simply see fiction of someone’s mind.”

  Raven spoke up having to put in his two cents. “You’re fucking crazy. If that’s true then we’re all fucked and the humans would be on our back door any time now. There’s no way there’s a real life Seer out there.”

  “Are you so sure?” Stormy interjected. “I’m living proof your genetic descendants are still living out in Earth society. Perhaps he or she is like me and doesn’t realize it. Can you imagine the difficulty the person’s having with these visions invading their lives all the time?”

  “I didn’t even think of that? Dude.” Ethan pulled at his hair again. “And it’s a she. Her name is Skye.” The name left his lips as if it was precious.

  “By the Ancients.” Raven rolled his eyes before downing his drink. “Women.”

  Jacob drew Alexandria’s attention when he was the next one to come up off his chair. “If that’s the case and this Skye is a Seer, then she’s in
danger. I’ve already let Michael and Hunter know I had trouble tracking the Wraith that escaped the staging cavern and the complex. I suspect the creature was a mutation of Turin’s and if he’s on the hunt for another victim for his madness then she might be next on the list, especially if she has any form of Life Power or a Life Force similar to ours. Ethan’s already examined the readings on the altered energy pattern of the Wraith and I aligned my Tracking ability with it. I think I can track the beast down now.”

  “I’m going with Jacob then. I’ve written to Skye on her website and she’ll know me once I introduce myself.” Ethan reassured his leader and Alexandria thought perhaps the Warrior wasn’t going to be able to take a denial.

  “Besides the Gate isn’t going to be able to open with the over-tasking of its energy Turin forced upon it. Caleb is well-versed in my equipment and since he broke his promise, he owes me anyway.”

  Alexandria felt sorry for the Warrior. He looked beside himself and ready to come unglued waiting for his Khenti’s decision. Finally, Michael nodded.

  “Agreed but not until tomorrow. We all need rest and having you out there, depleted both physically and Power wise, isn’t a good idea. The Wraith will be just as bad off from the recent battle and won’t blend in with humans so will have to hide until it can reach Skye. If she is a Seer, she’ll be mostly human and not register high on the energy readings anyway. I don’t know how Skye can be found and may be near impossible. First thing tomorrow, Ethan, you and Jacob will start tracking the Wraith and woman if needed. But remember, the woman will only be contacted if it becomes necessary. Do you understand?”

  Ethan nodded silently but there was something in his eyes which looked too much like excitement to Alexandria. Ethan was on a mission above and beyond tracking down a Wraith and saving a mere woman. Alexandria suspected Ethan wanted the opportunity to meet Skye in person, but who was she to point that out to her brother. She knew the feeling of finally being with the person who moved the world for her, and if that was Ethan’s plan, then more power to him.