“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. Weaving 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.
Not anymore.
Killing people to protect my
master – my friend – my boss – had been engrained in me since before I could even articulate it, and only now did I realize how much I missed that responsibility. The air rippled with magic that waved from my feathers in thick pulses, and even the earth trembled underneath me at the intensity.
“Stop her, Derek!” Cataclysmic energy heaved around my lungs to encircle my heart, and the wolves surrounding us began to fall. Their screams of pain were music to my ears, their writhing tickling my palms through the ground, and euphoria joined the unstable mixture in my blood.
The atmosphere became heavy with the song of the dying as their hearts strained and failed under the psychological torture, and I laughed.
“That’s enough!” Deep, familiar, the voice crackled over me thunderously, and my wings crumpled under the weight of the command. The shadows dissolved; the wails stopped to leave only a shrill ringing in my ears, and I blinked hard as the dark red seeped from my vision.
Slowly and with great discomfort, my wings shrunk, and I arched sharply as magic dissolved the extra muscles in my back. Gasping at the stinging, needle-like pain, I dropped to my elbows as the strength sapped from my arms. I am out of practice.
The thought brought a frown to my face, and I shook my heavy head to pant harshly against the grass. I wasn’t out of practice; I was in the wrong realm to comfortably use so much magic.
Big, callused hands wrapped around my shoulders, sending sharp shivers down my spine and goosebumps across every inch of my skin. My inner struggle vanished into smoke that curled as it joined the atmosphere, and my gaze flickered up under heavy lids. Cold, serious eyes met mine, and my lip twitched in the barest of smiles when he flexed his fingers against the blood and sweat sticking us together.
“Hi.” A thin thread of warmth broke through the ice that stared back at me at my crackling, hoarse whisper. “W-why did you stop-p me?”
“Why should only you get the pleasure of butchering those bigots?” My heart stuttered as he answered my question with his own, and an uncomfortable fluttering tickled in my belly. His expression didn’t change in the slightest, and I reached up with trembling fingers to caress his sharp jaw.
“I like your face.” Just the thinnest crack in his façade was created, and his lips twitched in a smirk at my mumble. It was enough for me, though, and I leaned forward to sprawl across the thick, soft grass. Rough palms caressed my back, stroking my small wings, and a numbing sensation replaced the bite of pain radiating from my wounds.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Derek
“Linne! Fuck – oh fuck – this is bad – ” The only male human of the group – the one that had so stupidly and courageously fought back – came sliding on his knees to her side, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off her back. Shallow, long cuts seeped blood down either side of her spine from neck to tailbone, and her wings twitched as if in pain.
Her wings – God, they were so fucking beautiful. Even now that they’d somehow shrunk, the onyx feathers glowed blue under the bright flood lights. The feathers were so soft even silk couldn’t compare, and the pristine fibers didn’t hint at any abuse.
“ – he can’t heal these injuries, you idiot! Forget how I know her and get a fucking doctor! You got at least one of those, right?” The human Chad – his panicked voice broke through my daze, and my head whipped up even as the girl Linne’s quick, shallow breathing rattled up my arms. His dark eyes swirled with worry, hands balled into fists in his short-cropped hair, and my heart thundered in my chest when he reached to press on her opened flesh.
“Why can’t she heal?” Rasping the question, I frowned deeply as the reality of the situation began to dawn on me with arduous slowness. Turning back to Linne, my eyes widened as I truly saw how much blood bubbled up from her wounds. Following Chad’s lead, I pinched her skin as best I could, but even with the both of us, we didn’t have enough coverage.
“There’s not enough ‘wild magic’. Where’s the rest of your clan? Where are your doctors? Linne – Linne – shit…” Confusion laced my tongue as I clenched my jaw, but I couldn’t dwell on what Chad had said.
Linne was completely unresponsive.
“I got it! I got it!” Sliding on his knees as he shouted frantically, Todd popped open a first aid box with deft fingers, and the desperation rising in my chest clogged my throat. “Sanitize her. I got this – the doc’s not going to get here fast enough – ”
“You’ve never sewn anyone up – ” Even as I protested, I grabbed the bottle of alcohol; the travel bottle wasn’t going to be enough, but no one seemed to care. Snorting roughly, Todd ripped open a needle package, and he curled in on himself as he tried to thread the eye.
“Fuck off – my mom made me learn to sew. It’s basically the same thing.” Grumbling almost to himself, Todd reached with steady hands to carefully pierce the torn skin near Linne’s right hip, and my upper lip curled in a snarl. Now wasn’t the time to be selfish, but annoyance surged through me that he’d touched her ass before I could. Holding my breath as the needle glistened inside her on its way to the other side of her flesh escarpment, I watched through narrowed eyes as he made good on his word.
“How do we get her to heal?” Flinging my question at Chad, I glanced at the sweaty, trembling, blood soaked human as he shook his head sharply.
“I don’t know – I don’t know anything about any of this shit – she never told me if there was a way now that she was in this realm…”
“Derek – you’re O-neg. There’s stuff for a transfusion in he – ”
“No!” Chad’s voice heightened considerably, cutting Todd off to echo around the quiet park, and the human shot the leopard a weak, unsteady glare. “Do not do that – she’s not made up like you – it’ll fuck with her body. She’s already having trouble with turning human…”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Snarling the question, I tensed as Todd sucked in a sharp breath and gave me a glare of his own. Pursing my lips together, I trained my stinging eyes on Linne to focus on holding her wounds together.
“I don’t fucking know! Jesus Christ – all she said was that being here – in the human realm – was turning her human. It’s not like we’ve had in-depth conversations about her fucking biology.”
“Will you two shut the fuck up!” Clenching my jaw at Todd’s wavering snap, I blinked hard as sweat slid down my forehead to cling to my eyelashes. This wasn’t how I expected to meet my mate – in the middle of battle, and to watch her close to death before I even got a chance to know her beyond just a name.
Time seemed to slow in the vacuum that the absence of sound created, and I struggled to take deep breaths.
“…What did she do to them? Do you at least know that?” I spoke up, remembering the unbearable ringing in my ears just moments before, and couldn’t help but furrow my brows as my gaze roamed Linne’s back. Todd was slowly but surely making his way up towards her wings as they lay limp. Her blood acted as glue between her skin and our hands, plastering her wings to her flesh, thick and sticky as Todd thread the needle through and sutured her wounds.
Feeling the warmth of her blood and seeing her injured flesh, I was struck with the notion that we were all connected somehow – humans, shifters, and whatever she was.
“She can make people – anyone really – feel, see, hear, smell, and taste things that aren’t really there. I guess it’s like extremely potent sensory manipulation, but she has her own word for it where she comes from. This all only happened because she physically attacked Alpha Liza instead of using her magic first…and I know it’s my fault. I knew she was here, and I still got stupid and tried to do it myself.” Shame laced Chad’s voice, and I exhaled slowly to close my eyes.
“Her wings are indestructible to us, but the rest of her is slowly becoming human. Using her magic will never take a toll on her, but anything that happens to her body that’ll kill you will kill her, too.”
“How did you know she was here?”
“There’s a magical
parasite in my eye.” At the nonchalant explanation both Todd’s and my eyes whipped up to Chad, and he screwed his expression into a frown. “It’s a long story, but I can see her. Keep working. Where’s the rest of your clan?”
“They’re back on clan grounds – we were only sent to scout. Alpha Jackson didn’t want to send people unless there was absolutely no choice…but they’re on their way – I called him and told him to send the doc snappy.” Quiet with concentration, Todd’s chin hit his chest as he leaned down close to frown deeply. “This is nothing like sewing clothes. Fuck –“
“Are they dead?” Lifting my head to glance around the brightly lit field, pride ripped into my heart at the dozens upon dozens of bodies that surrounded us. Linne clearly had no problem hurting people – or killing people – that she deemed a threat, and I turned my gaze to her pale, sunken face.
“Not most of them, probably – if I had to guess, I’d say she locked them in their own minds. They’re no threat now, and by the time she heals enough to free them, they’ll probably be insane. It’s scary in there.” Chad spoke as if he had real experience with this particular branch of Linne’s magic, and he gave a slight shrug at my glance and arched brows. “I was curious and drunk… What do you expect? She put a fucking parasite in my eye – there’s no way I wouldn’t get piss drunk for that shit.”
“Speaking of that – she seemed super surprised when you were screaming at Liza.” We fell into a respective calm as the conversation shifted; we were doing all we could, and worrying about it any more wasn’t going to help Linne. A ghost of a smile breached Chad’s drawn expression, and he gazed fondly at her – like she was a little sister or something.
Which was perfectly okay with me; at least they weren’t fucking.
“Like I said – she’s from an entirely different realm. She never even ate anything in the entire 8 months or so she’s been here until yesterday. When I hit her with my car, she couldn’t even speak English – just some gibberish that no one could translate. I did teach her ‘damn’ – you know, for when she got frustrated and couldn’t articulate why, but she hasn’t used it in a while.”
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