by R. A. Boyd
“I’m going with you,” she said, eyes still shut as she massaged the bridge of her nose. “You’re going to give me the pill, and I’m going.”
Bastian flicked his gaze to Jax and Damon.
Damon was the only one whose emotion was clear on his face. His jaw worked as he ground his teeth together. “It’s too soon. Let’s go over the plan one more time, and then we can go tonight.”
“No,” Bastian and Cass said at the same time.
He knew Jax and Damon didn’t want to risk Cass, hell, he didn’t either. But Remus was a crazy bastard whose treachery knew no limits.
“The plan will be the same then as it was when we came up with it,” Bastian said, looking back and forth between Damon and Jax. “With or without Cass, I’m going. And I swear to the Creator, if you try to order me to stay, I will break apart from this entire clan and never come back.”
Cass opened her eyes, and they were back to their normal soft brown. “They will kill her. Louis is dead, I know, but he wasn’t the only blood-thirsty shifter there. We go now.”
Willow cleared her throat to get their attention. “We can’t use the cover of night to hide the others, but know the Zeke, and I can do a spell to keep us hidden. We can do this, and if we do it right, this will all be over. Today.”
“Can you do it?” Bastian asked Cass.
She took a shuddering breath and nodded. “I’ll try. That’s the best I can do, but I promise you this. Heaven’s Flame and bullets don’t seem to affect me. If I can’t pull it off, I will kill every living person in that place to keep you and Nev safe.”
As lovely as that promise was, he and Nev were magnificently fucked if Cass failed at using the gift.
****
“Bastian,” Remus drawled as if he were pleasantly surprised by their presence. “I thought that picture would give you the proper incentive to bring the infamous Cassiopeia. She’s so tiny up close.”
Grimacing at the hatred pumping through him, Bastian cradled Cass’s sleeping form in his arms and presented her to Remus.
Bastian didn’t know how many Rogue members there were, but there must have been at least three or four dozen people in the building, just waiting to see Remus tear apart the bonds of the Ghost shifters.
Bastian eyed them defiantly as a thunderous snarl shook in his throat and bellowed through his open mouth. It was a death call to every single shifter who was smart enough to know what it was. “Where is my mate?”
Remus walked forward, and Bastian had to stop himself from backing away to stop him from getting too close to his alpha. Their plan had flaws and was put together too fast. Cass was a fucking relentless badass, but right now, she was fully unconscious and vulnerable.
“I’m not going to hurt her.” Remus reached forward and carefully lifted one of Cass’s eyelids. When he saw that they shimmered a milky white color, he smiled. “Just wanted to make sure you really gave her the sleeping pill. I made sure to add the loss of eye color to the incantation to make sure you didn’t fib and say you gave it to her. Surprise,” he touted happily.
Bastian glanced up and down the length of the warehouse walls. Nev should be here somewhere. He paused when he saw a waitress that worked with Nev sitting behind Remus’s desk. She smiled and waved at him and then pointed to an area behind her. Bastian didn’t hit girls, but he sure as shit couldn’t wait for one of his sister’s to wreck her treacherous ass.
“Guess this means my initiation is final,” she muttered.
Facing Bastian, Remus rolled his eyes as if sick of the woman’s presence, but when he turned around, he was nothing but smiles. “Yes, Danielle. You have proved your loyalty to the Rogues. You’ll be initiated next week. Lovely ritual,” he said, looking at Bastian. “She’ll be bound to this clan and me. You can put Cass down on the cot and take your mate with you.”
Tension froze Bastian mid-stride as he moved toward Nev. “Yesterday, you said I could take them both with me, Remus.”
“Oh, calm down, Bastian.” His greedy eyes roamed over Cass’s sleeping form.
Disgust dumped into Bastian’s stomach as he pulled Cass closer to him. He was going to kill Remus. Make him pay for the harm he’d caused the Ghost shifters. But he needed to get Nev somewhere safe. “You lying sack—”
“No need for the name calling. I didn’t lie. You would have smelled it if I did,” Remus said with a calculating smirk. “Take your mate to lunch. I need two hours. Quick tip. If your people come near this place, I will cut out her heart and decapitate her. Guards are situated all around this plot of land. Then we will see if that ends the bond of the Ghost shifters to their mates. I’m actually doing you a favor by ending the bond. I could just kill her, but that didn’t seem to work when Erin did it..” He started walking to where Nev lay on the cot and waved his hand in front of her face. “Expergisci.”
Nev’s eyes blinked open, and she struggled to sit up as she swiped her hands down her face as if to wipe away a cobweb. “Danni?” she stuttered. Her sleepy eyes locked on the woman, and before Bastian knew what his mate was up to, she leaped toward the Danni and punched her in the temple.
Danni never even had the chance to defend herself. She stumbled backward, grabbing hold of the wall to keep herself upright.
Even with the dire situation they were in, Bastian’s cock responded as he watched Nev clip the woman in her jaw with her foot. Danni slumped against the wall and was out before she hit the ground.
Fuck. Nev wasn’t as rusty at self-defense as she thought.
She searched the room as she wiped at her face again. All fight seemed to drain from her body as her eyes settled on Bastian and Cass.
“No,” she said, shaking her head as she walked toward him. “No, Bastian. You can’t do this.”
He met her gaze and nodded once, hoping like hell she would get his meaning and not say too much. “Nev. This is the only way. I need to keep you. Saber-tooth or not, I can’t lose you.”
“Self-serving as ever,” Remus said. “Put her down where your mate was.” He walked over to his desk and began picking up the discarded items that Danni knocked over on her way down.
Bastian moved to the thin bedding, carefully lowering Cass until she lay on her side. He reached into her pocket and pulled out three salt pills and shoved them under her tongue before he got up.
The effect was immediate. Cass frowned at the harsh taste of the pills that would banish any ingested potion, and stilled her face.
He took a few steps back and grabbed Nev’s hand, shoving her behind him as he looked Remus in the eye. “I’ll stay. Let Nev go, and I’ll stay and make sure you don’t hurt Cass.”
“We’ll stay,” Nev said. Bastian could see her from the corner of his eye as she turned to the shifters watching them. “You all suck. Severely.”
Remus gave them an elated smile and shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m sure it’ll be fun to watch you and Danielle dance once she wakes up.”
“Sounds like a party,” Nev shot back. She gripped Bastian’s arm, forcing him to look at her. “The others are going to murder you.”
He gave her a clipped shake of the head and turned to watch as Remus pulled a large, sharp-looking blade from his desk.
“What the fuck, Remus? You said you wouldn’t hurt her.”
“I won’t. Just need a pint or two of blood,” Remus replied, bending over Cass’s body. “I already have the potion and incantation ready. Once it’s done, I’ll just infuse her with her own blood and…”
Remus’s words trailed off as he froze beside Cass. His body shook and then went rigid as he slammed down to the floor next to her.
“You all right, Remus?” a man asked as he stepped closer. “Did you get her?”
Bastian gently pushed Nev toward one of the tables lined with guns. “Grab a gun, knock that table on its side, and get behind it. I won’t let any of them get to you. Do you understand?”
Her brow furrowed as her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Bastian had told her what
Heaven’s Flame would do to him, but it didn’t matter. Bastian’s job was to keep his mate safe, and even if it killed him, he would do it.
“Trust me, Nevy.” He kissed her temple and whispered into her ear. “Your new sister is wearing her special boots to make sure you and Cass get out of here safe.” He pulled away and winked. “Go!” he said, shoving her toward the table as a group of shifters approached them.
Quickly, he glimpsed behind him to make sure Cass was still awake and trying like hell to use Nev’s gift of empathy to persuade Remus. She had her hands on either side of his face, their lips only inches apart, gazing into his eyes.
“Remus?” another man said as he got closer.
Bastian reached out and grabbed the man by his head, twisting it around completely, and kicked another guy in the center of his chest hard enough to hear the snap of his sternum separate from his ribs. Flail chest was a bitch to heal.
A bullet sped past Bastian’s arm. He glanced back to see Nev with a handgun. She’d stopped a man with a syringe full of Heaven’s Flame from getting him.
“Say it,” he heard Cass murmur from behind him. Her voice was serene and calming. “It’ll all be okay if you just say it, Remus. Say. It.”
Remus hummed as if fighting off her request, but as Bastian gave his body over to his saber-tooth, he heard Remus’s entranced voice say, “Aperi portae per verba de reprobi.”
Satisfaction ripped through Bastian, just as his beast did. Echoing pops and snaps filled the air as Bastian, and a handful of other shifters Changed. The double doors of the warehouse began to open, letting in every New Rose Ghost shifter who could shift and fight.
And kill.
Chapter 14
If Nev didn’t know all hell was breaking loose around her, she would have thought the scene playing out before her was from a video game of animals in a zoo going wild. The growls and snarls of bear and tiger shifters echoed through the high ceilings. Monstrous screams from gorilla and wolf shifters sent chills up her spine, but nothing could overtake the roars of the saber-tooth shifters that demolished every person who tried to hurt one of their clan members.
Audra sported red, soft-looking, knee-high boots as her tiny frame stood in front of the door, preventing any of the Rogue members from escaping. The menacing leer that cracked open her face as she fought was frightening. Zeke stood a few feet away from her, sending bright blue energy bolts toward those who tried to pick up weapons and use them on the Ghost shifters.
A giant, black and white wolf dived for Bastian’s neck as he fought a polar bear shifter, but Nev lifted the gun and aimed, hitting the beast in the flank with one shot. She was no sharp-shooter, but the wolf was in her path and big enough that her aim didn’t need to be perfect. Bastian wrapped his wide, sharp-toothed mouth around the polar bear’s head, and bit down until blood poured from his mouth as he cracked open the beast's skull. Teague walked up to the downed wolf and snuffed out its life by breaking its neck.
“Nevada,” her mother yelled. “Get her!”
Nev looked in the direction her mother’s voice came from, just in time to see Danni standing behind Cass, who still had her hands holding on to Remus’s face.
As Nev watched, Danni’s hand shifted into some kind of paw with long, gleaming, white nails that would slash through Cass’s back. Nev lifted her gun to shoot, but she was too slow.
Still holding on to Remus in a lover’s embrace, Cass reached her hand behind her, palm open toward Danni. Cass balled her hand into a fist, and Danni’s small frame crumpled as if she were a piece of discarded tissue paper. Holy crap. Cass was powerful.
Mom appeared by Nev’s side and said, “Tell her to do it now. His gleam is getting brighter. He’s pulling energy from the remaining Rouges. He’ll break the spell, and she might not get another chance.”
“I can hear you, Gwendolyn. Thanks.” Cass wrapped the fingers of one hand around Remus’s neck as she used the other to reach for the blade he’d dropped.
Another shifter started toward Cass, but Nev shot him in the belly. She was aiming for his head, but at least he was down.
Cass smiled a wicked grin at Remus as she placed the knife-edge under the tender skin of his chin. “We. Win.”
Her voice was clear and crisp as she slid the knife through his skin. Instantly, Remus clawed at his throat, gurgling as he fought to get free. Cass flipped him over, straddling his chest until her knees were on either side of his ribs. Pushing her arm down with the weight of her torso, she sliced through Remus’s neck and severed his head from his body. Nev closed her eyes as Cass lifted the blade again, plunging it deep into his chest.
“I need the heart in one piece,” Willow called. “That is so gross.”
Nev didn’t have the heart or the stomach to watch Cass dig into the dead man’s chest. She covered her eyes and sank back down behind the table, exhaustion taking hold of her as the sounds of war died down.
Wrapping her arms around her knees, Nev curled into herself and rocked back and forth. There were so many emotions racing through the room, and she couldn’t focus on her own. Her ability as an empath was always pretty low, but she’d never been in such a charged situation where people were dying. They were dying, being killed, because of their own actions.
“Nev?” Bastian said. She felt his presence before she heard him. He knelt down and gathered her up into his arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” His hands roamed over her body as she swathed her arms around his neck. “Please tell me you’re okay.”
The pleading in his voice brought her from the emotional stupor. “I’m okay, Bastian.” She shifted closer onto his lap, but let out a startled yelp as she felt his semi-hard length on her arm. “You have blood on your chin from that man’s head. And you’re naked,” she whispered.
“Okay,” he replied nonplussed. “So are a few of the others. That tends to happen when you shift and start killing. Want me to take the pants of a dead man?”
She looked up into his handsome face and saw a grin. Nev had to struggle with simple decency to keep from laughing. There were like thirty dead people in here.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “That sounds even worse. Is it over?” she asked, still not wanting to see if Cass was in possession of Remus’s heart.
“It will be in about ten seconds,” Cass answered. “Here you go, Willow. All yours.”
Like the curious idiot she was, Nev asked, “Why do you need his heart?” She hurped and almost vomited in her mouth when she looked and saw the headless man with a gaping chest wound. “I want to leave now.”
Bastian picked her up and carried her toward the door. “It’s to break the hold he had on the other Rogue shifters. Remus bound them to him. He was the fuel that stoked the fire of the Rogues. If she can get rid of his influence on their will, they will no longer be a threat to us. She needs his heart to complete the spell.”
“They still might not like us,” Audra said, “but at least they won’t be trying to kill us. Hopefully. There’s always a few bad bananas in the bunch, but at least they won’t be mega-jacked up on angel-rage. That’s always unpleasant. Anywho, has anyone heard from Sari and the Coven?”
Zeke waved his phone as Audra and slapped her on the butt. Nev could have gone her entire life with never seeing that. “They’ve already taken down the Harfordsville Rogue location. Ladies and gentlemen, this is over.”
“It’s over,” Cass whispered. The relief in her voice was enough to make Nev look in her direction again. Bloody hands and all, the genuine smile on Cass’s face was heartbreaking and beautiful. “It’s done.” Tears filled her eyes as Jax and Damon both took hold of her. They embraced her as she cried.
Amid the dead bodies and blood splatters, Nev could feel the joy and love and ease that spread through the hearts and minds of the Ghost shifters. It might be the most morbid place in the world to feel such peace, but they did. And so did Nev.
Bastian leaned in and kissed her cheek. “We’re going to have guests for
a few days. The Coven of the Fallen are coming to help clean things up. Make it look like we didn’t murder all these people. Zeke and Willow are going to dispose of the Heaven’s Flame and the guns that hold them just so no one can use them against us.”
“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Nev took in a deep breath and licked her bottom lip. “I’d like to sleep now.”
“You do that,” her mother said, walking beside Nev and Bastian. “Your man has a whole lot of dick, and I’m tired of looking at it.”
Nev peeked up at Bastian. “My mom’s looking at your penis.”
He flushed red and lowered Nev until her butt covered his crotch. “I wish you wouldn’t have told me. Hello, Ms. Gwendolyn.”
Her mom wiggled her fingers. “Well, Nev. I’m really going this time. Not that I didn’t have a total and complete ball with you, but I have tons of stuff to do before I cross. But I promise to come back before I do cross over.”
“I love you, mom. Hey, can you go into secret places and come back so you can tell me what’s inside?”
A girlish grin took over her mother’s face. “Nevada. The Vatican and the pyramids in Egypt are on my list. I love you too, sweetie.” She put up a peace sign and disappeared.
“Well,” Nev muttered, as Bastian helped her get into someone’s car. “She’s gone. Again. And I have you. And I’m so happy. I just hope you’re as happy as I am.”
He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and tennis shoes from the backseat of the car and started to get dressed. “You have no fucking idea how happy you make me. You are everything to me, Nev. Everything.”
After taking a towel and wiping off as much blood as he could from his chin and torso, Bastian stooped down and cupped the back of her neck, pulling her in for a kiss. It warmed her body from the inside out, clearing away all the fear and gore she’d seen. He sat back, watching her with loving affection. His blue eyes were heated with a mesmerizing stare that made everything better.
