by E A Price
Zane, aware of the jaguar’s distrusting eyes on his back, wandered over to the windows. They were at the top of the arena, overlooking the cage and all the seats around it. Overlooking the action. Everyone appeared to be seated and waiting for the start. The goons placed around the cage were standing to attention, and there were now two more inside the cage, both appeared to be holding tasers.
“Okay,” piped up one of the male humans in a quivering voice. “Dim the lights and we are ready to go.”
Sasha cleared her throat and started by welcoming everyone to the auction and going through the instructions on how to bid. Her deep, throaty voice was sensual and sexy and grating on Zane’s nerves.
He’d found the control room – how come he couldn’t smash it? His bear was almost pouting. But honestly, Zane was a little curious to see what was about to happen. Then he could smash.
“And now, our first item for sale this evening is a rarity.” Spotlights highlighted the cage. “A species extinct for ten thousand…”
“Eleven thousand,” hissed the mousy human.
Sasha ignored her and continued talking. “We have a male sabre-tooth tiger.”
Zane watched as the floor to the cage opened up and a lift brought the huge sabre-tooth tiger to the floor.
“Weighing in at three hundred pounds and with a height of six feet and ten inches, the male is thought to be in his mid-thirties and in excellent health. Shifted he measures almost two meters in length and weighs nearly eight hundred pounds. A rare male from a species that should no longer exist. Another creature like this won’t come along again in our lifetimes.”
“And cue the shift,” murmured one of the geeks.
Zane watched in surprise as the two mercenaries in the cage motioned to the tiger. The huge male cocked his head to one side and surprisingly, did actually shift into his beast. Zane was expecting some kind of resistance. But no, the male just smiled and did as he was told. The shift fluidly overtook his body and where there was a gruff looking man there was an enormous beast of a creature. Even Zane was impressed by the sight of him. His enormous teeth looked like they could cut you while just looking at them. His huge body was more muscled than a regular tiger, with strong haunches and a massive chest. His fur was mottled dark and golden brown. He wasn’t beautiful in the same way a tiger was, but he had a fierce kind of primal beauty. And there was no shortage of people who were interested in bidding on him. For what, Zane didn’t want to think. Although he pitied whoever thought they could turn this fierce beast into a sex slave.
The tiger walked around the cage, actually playing up to the crowd like some really weird supermodel. Humph. Cats.
Sasha chuckled into the microphone. “Who wouldn’t want to take this kitty cat home? Don’t wait for the next ice age to get one of these beasts, bid on him today.”
And they did. The bidding started at one million and quickly climbed to ten million.
Fuck, who had the money to spend that much on owning another living being?! The bidding continued to grow more heated until Sasha finally announced the end with an amount of money that almost made Zane woozy. An amount Zane could only dream of – wildly dream of.
The bidders politely clapped, and Zane glanced over to see the geeks sending a message to the winning bidder. He looked out the window and scanned the crowd to see one of the bidders was indeed leaving already. Apparently, she now had what she came for.
He watched as the sabre-tooth shifted back to human again, a cold smile on his face. Zane had an idea.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Sky flitted around her cage. Another two shifters had been led away out of their cages. Off to be sold. She had to do something. But what? She was a mild mannered yoga instructor whose animal – although rocking an impressive horn – was even more mild mannered than her human self. Apart from that one incident when she was a kid, she couldn’t remember ever being violent.
What about Melissa? Hhuffed her unicorn.
Okay, yes, her aggressive side was coming out to play a little more often since she started spending time with Zane. She might have even growled at Eric the other day – pussy leaped in the air a freaking mile. And yes beating down Melissa had felt marvelous – bitch tried to steal Sky’s man. But Sky’s true nature was to be gentle, to be kind, to be a peacemaker. Not a hellraiser. But oh, if ever there was a time to raise hell, it was now.
A couple of the guards banged on Georgie the penguin’s cage. “C’mon, blondie. Your turn.”
They smiled at her nastily, and she shrank back in her cage.
She was a big woman, nearing six feet tall and pretty voluptuous. From what Sky could gather, her penguin was big too – like five feet tall, which may not seem impressive to some, but most penguins barely reach people’s knees. However, she was no match for the two rhino shifters entering her cage, ready to drag her away.
“Get away from her!” bellowed Bernard the mammoth. The whole cage rattled as his chest inflated.
“Say goodbye now,” chuckled one of the rhinos. “Your girlfriend ain’t coming back.”
The mammoth gripped the bars of his cage and Sky sucked in a breath. She’d made that mistake too – the bars were made of silver and toxic to shifters. The boo boo on her palm was still sore. But the mammoth held on for a few moments before actually letting go. Sure, his hands looked red, and he gasped in pain, but he wasn’t exactly screaming in agony as she would expect. Her parents had told her horror stories about shifters who touched silver from a young age to try and get her to stay away from it. It involved a lot of stories where shifters held onto something silver for too long and lost a hand or an arm. Some of the stories kept her up for many a night.
The penguin was screaming at them to leave her alone, and one of the rhinos hit her. The mammoth’s arms rippled for a moment like he was about to shift as he roared.
She’d heard the guards talking. All of them had been given a mild sedative to stop them from shifting in their cages. They could still talk to their animal sides, but it suppressed their abilities to change. Yet the mammoth appeared to be overcoming his. Not surprising. Unless they’d discovered some kind of dinosaur shifter, he was definitely the largest shifted animal on the planet.
One who was also pacing his cage. One who was giving death glares to the rhinos. One who obviously had a huge crush on the tearful penguin. His mate insisted her unicorn. Maybe agreed Sky. He certainly was protective of her. He had the same look in his eye that Zane got every time he saw her.
Definitely, his mate insisted her inner animal. Trust me; I’m a magical creature. Sky rolled her eyes. Her beastie said that a lot and usually it didn’t turn out so well. Case in point when it came to buying that second-hand couch a year ago – it was infested with lice!
Sky edged to the bars of her own cage and tapped one with a finger. It burned slightly and then cooled. Thankfully her reaction to silver had never been quite as severe as other shifters. Probably the magic thing again. It still hurt, but she didn’t burn quite so easily. She tapped the bar again and bit her lip. It was an assumption that the cages were made entirely of silver – safe bet considering they were designed to keep shifters inside them. But actually, it looked like someone had cheaped out when making them and really the bars were just coated in silver. Big mistake she thought happily.
Whether Bernard did think Georgie was his mate or not, he certainly looked like he was going to commit murder for the penguin. And that was something Sky could use.
*
Zane found his way to the ‘collection’ area. Yep, the shifters were really being treated like vases in a department store. All Zane had to do to find it, was grab someone, mumble something about making sure the sabre-tooth pick up worked out, and he got directions. Mercenaries were great – they hardly ever asked questions unless they were asking how much and when they were getting paid.
The buyer, a middle-aged female leopard, circled the sabre-tooth, eyeing her merchandise. She had a couple of large bodyguards.
They looked the part in black suits, but they didn’t seem like they’d stand up to a full frontal assault by an enraged sabre-tooth tiger. They were perhaps realizing that as they looked at him guardedly.
The tiger was being flanked by a few mercenaries, who had wisely, and annoyingly, put him in a pair of cuffs – silver cuffs if they had any sense.
Zane held back.
The leopard stroked the tiger’s taut stomach. His bear grumbled. Zane kind of wished they’d also given him a pair of pants when they cuffed him. The tiger was still swinging free since he shredded his shorts in his shift. Nudity wasn’t really an issue; he just wanted the motorboat between the guy’s legs covered up before Sky saw him. What? She didn’t need that thing haunting her dreams.
The woman smiled up the sabre-tooth who had finally stopped smiling and was watching her through hooded eyes.
“What’s your name, handsome?” she cooed.
He humphed at her.
“Doesn’t matter, I’m going to call you Diego. Like from the movies.”
He actually growled at that, and she giggled. “Ooh, I can’t wait to get you home, sugar lump. You will call me mistress.”
That earned her a snort.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun.”
She looked at the mercenaries. “I’ve brought my own cage. We have a long flight ahead of us; I don’t want him shifting mid-flight. Christian said you would give him a sedative?”
One of them yelled for a doctor, and a small mole shifter came scuttling in, fumbling with a medical bag.
Zane caught the tiger’s eyes and nodded at him. The tiger narrowed his eyes even more and exhaled. His gaze swung to the doctor, watching the mole carefully as he filled a syringe.
The leopard walked away, texting with her phone, or maybe she was just playing Candy Crush – he guessed she got her phone back because she was leaving.
Her bodyguards weren’t paying any attention. One was cleaning out his ear with his little finger while the other hummed under his breath and stared at the ceiling.
The doctor stepped forward trembling slightly at the tiger nearly twice his size. Zane stepped up too, pretending to restrain the tiger, who was now impatiently shifting from foot to foot.
The doctor shook as he got closer, the needle an inch away from the tiger’s skin. Zane inhaled and felt a surge from his bear. In a flash, he gripped the doctor’s wrist and plunged the needle into the mercenary on the right. The guy gurgled and dropped to the ground.
Everyone stilled for a second in surprise before the mole shifter screamed a high-pitch scream – higher than anyone with balls should be able to make.
The tiger flashed Zane a look of surprise before grinning and head butting another mercenary. Zane spun as the third dove at him. His bear took over and shifted, growling and clawing at the male.
The sabre-tooth snarled. He couldn’t shift while in silver cuffs, but that didn’t stop him from bodily grabbing the mole and hurling him at the bodyguards like a bowling ball. Strike! Both the bodyguards and their leopard shifter employer went down in a tangle of limbs and groans.
Zane wrapped his arms around the male attacking him – an alligator shifter – and showed him the true meaning of a bear hug. He gripped and squeezed until he heard some ribs cracking and realized the male’s eyes were about to pop out. That was always messy, so Zane let him go and settled for a few bashes to the head to knock him out.
The tiger, in spite of his handcuffs, was easily fighting off the two bodyguards. Crazy bastard was actually laughing like a loon as he swiped at them.
The headbutted mercenary was trying to get up, and Zane made sure he stayed down.
The mole shifter and the leopard fled, each emitting squeals of panic. The bear wanted to go after them, but Zane stopped him and pushed the shift back to human. The bear groused about letting them get away, but it was all part of the plan. Wouldn’t be a distraction if nobody knew it was happening.
Zane waited while the tiger played with the bodyguards a little bit longer, until he couldn’t take it any longer.
“C’mon, don’t play with your food,” Zane complained.
The sabre-tooth swiped and took them both down. He seemed thoroughly pleased with himself until he looked at Zane. Suspicion entered his expression.
“I’m with the SEA… sort of.” For a second he wondered about Juliet. His bear huffed – she was a vampire, she could sort herself out. Sky, on the other hand, needed him.
Zane rooted around in the various mercenaries’ pockets until he found the key for the cuffs. He hesitated. The brooding male, his body already streaked with blood and a few claw marks glared at him.
“My girl’s in one of the cages. I came to get her out,” Zane explained.
The tiger grunted, seeming to understand that. Zane thought that if he had a non-selfish reason for doing what he did, the tiger wouldn’t have believed him.
“What you want me to do?” he asked roughly.
“Just… create havoc.”
He raised an eyebrow before smiling and thrusting his cuffed hands forward.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The mammoth howled in fury as the penguin was led away.
Georgie was no longer struggling, just allowing the rhinos to clutch her arms and pull her away. “I’ll be fine,” she said uncertainly over her shoulder to the mammoth. “Thank you for making me feel better. I’m glad I met you, Bernard.” That part was sincere. She gave him a wan, longing smile and finally looked away, dragging her feet as she was led away.
His stared after her, his chest heaving erratically.
“Did you two know each other?” asked Sky carefully.
He let out a bark of mirthless laughter. “We met after we were both captured by these assholes.” He raked his hands through his hair. “She was scared. Can you blame her?”
“No,” Sky said softly. She’d been a prisoner for a matter of hours. She understood that the mammoth and penguin had been kept in cages for about a month.
“I tried to comfort her. Tried to make it easier on her. Not sure how much help I was.”
“You were helpful. I could tell. She really likes you.” Sky paused. “I wonder who will happen to her.”
The mammoth made a low noise of disapproval in the back of his throat, so she continued.
“We won’t see her again, will we? She’ll be taken away by her new owner.”
The noise sounded again, only, this time, it was angrier.
“Who will buy her? How much do you think they’ll pay? Big pretty, blonde girl like her, I’m sure plenty will want her. And penguins are pretty popular animals.” He was becoming more and more agitated, and Sky did have a moment of unease at the fact that she was trying to rile him, to upset him, but ultimately she wanted to get them all out of there – the mammoth and penguin included – and she really didn’t have a better idea.
“There weren’t many female buyers – just about all of them were male. I dread to think what they will do to her.”
“Shut-up!” yowled the mammoth, muscles twitching.
His outburst attracted one of the goons who yelled at him to quiet down as he strolled past.
“Bet it is a male who will buy her,” continued Sky. “He’ll use her and abuse her, and heck only knows, maybe he’ll pass her around to his friends!”
That was it. That was all that was needed for him to push past the drugs and shift into his massive beast. Sky was relieved. She really thought she was going to have to get a lot more graphic, and the thought of it was making her unicorn a little sick. Thankfully, he was already on the edge and just needed a little shove.
“Holy fuck!” yelled the goon. He grabbed his tranq gun and aimed it, unsure whether to fire. The beast was supposed to be auctioned off in ten minutes – he wouldn’t sleep off the tranqs before then.
The hairy beast filled the cell to breaking point, his massive tusks pushing through the bars. He whined as the silver cell bars pressed against his body.
>
“Shift back!” ordered the goon.
“No don’t!” cried Sky. “Get out of there – go save your penguin!”
The mammoth let out a blast of deafening sound, and the walls of the cells creaked ominously.
The goon really started worrying. He grabbed his radio. “You need to get down here now!”
Magical unicorn power away!
*
“That way!” howled Zane. “Fucker’s tearing the place apart!”
The other mercenary nodded at Zane, who was pretending to limp heavily and clutch at his side. He already had a few scratch marks and bruises from his fight, so he looked the part. He was just exaggerating for the other guy’s benefit.
He grunted and ran in the direction Zane pointed. Not wanting to stack the odds against the sabre-tooth too much, Zane promptly tranqed him in the back.
Shooting a man in the back… his bear was very proud of him.
Given all the heightened activity – such as all the people running everywhere wildly while barking into radios – news of the sabre-tooth’s escape was spreading. But he was just one shifter in a building full of other armed shifters trying to stop him. Zane didn’t imagine he would last much longer without being re-captured, and Zane wanted to inflict a lot more damage before that happened.
He made his way back to the control room. Unfortunately, the jaguar was still there. Zane had hoped he had already left. Disagree rumbled his bear. He was going to enjoy this.
The jaguar was alternately yelling into his radio and shouting at the people in the control room. “Find him, take him down… don’t stop the auction… use non-lethal force… keep going like nothing’s wrong… contain him now!” He glared at Zane, taking in his naked, battered form. “What are you doing here? Get out there and contain that tiger!”
His bear roared, and Zane fired a couple of tranq darts in his direction. Damn jaguar was too quick and leaped out of the way. They did find purchase, though – embedded in the neck of the snake shifter who slumped over her microphone and in the left butt cheek of the little human female.
