Marshaling his concentration and grabbed the spikes with his mental powers, he found a heavy resistance to their removal from his body.
Baffled by the resistance and distracted by trying to keep Mina and Sabine from touching the spikes to help with their removal he failed to keep the slavers from using some sort of water-filled tube to make their way back to the second floor of their home to stand in a soaked but menacing line.
"You got him, Drake, he got the drop on us once not trying to go for another swim." One of the human slavers said to a slightly built wolfman.
"Yea I got him, Heath, its gonna take me hours to dry out after we bring them in though," Drake said as he violently shook, spraying cold river water all over the wood flooring and the other slavers around him.
"Damn it Drake we all don't want to smell like a wet dog for the rest of the night. Than dry us off please, damn dog." Heath said sputtering as the deluge of cold river water reached even him from three men away.
"Done." Said Than a tall heavily built orc.
Cade watched as what he assumed was their water mage remove the river water from his companions with half a mind.
The other half was back to running a million miles per hour, this time on how to get him and his mates out of this situation.
He attempted to slip them back into his mental grasp, but one of the spikes drove deeper into his chest puncturing his right lung, the pain and the momentary inability to breathe breaking his concentration.
"No no no, can't have any of that," Heath said in a tone that reminded Cade of the scoldings he had given his kids when they were children.
"Men, secure the women, the cat Rista wants and the snake will fetch a nice price after we cut out the more valuable pieces," Heath ordered to his men.
Before the slavers could lay a hand on his mates Cade drew deep of the power available to him and threw copies of his mental shield around his mates tying off the power drain to his generator.
He was sure he would hear about that later from at least Mina if the scowl and fiery golden gaze directed at him were any indication.
Halting their movement at the appearance of the softly glowing shields, Heath held up both hands twin flames burst from his hands to slam against Mina and Sabine's shields.
Cade mentally screamed both his mate's names as they disappeared from his view, their shields covered completely in red hot flames.
A relieved breath left him as he found them both unharmed and still annoyed at him for keeping them out of the fight.
"We will talk of this later my mate after these vermin are exterminated," Mina said with a growl, her annoyed tone and the nod from Sabine sealed Cade's fate.
"Maybe them killing me wouldn't be so bad." He thought to himself.
"You wouldn't dare."
As Sabine's vehement voice sounded in his mind Cade's anxiety doubled.
"Sorry sorry, just a stray thought my little snake." He thought back with a mental cringe, mental lips puckered and searching for a small bubbled snake booty to lay one on.
"Good my Cade do not let those thoughts come again, I have not had a chance to enjoy that body you are so willing to let go yet," she replied into his mind, her soft but firm voice rallying more than his will with her implied promise.
"Yes mam, now let get this sorted, one second of peace please,"
"You have five minutes my mate, or I will take over for your protection duties," Mina said with a fierce purr into Cade's mind.
Thinking quickly through the encounter with the slavers, he realized he couldn't stop their powers or even sense their use.
He could kill them all with a thought, only his foolish indecision kept them alive earlier.
Hoping that Heath, Drake, and Than were the only mages, he planned to kill Heath and Than and let the girls work out some catharsis on the rest.
He would like to keep Drake alive to figure out how he kept him from removing the spikes, but the others would die and hopefully lessen the stern talking to he was going to get from the girls later.
"Ok boys, playtime is over, Heath and Than you two die first then the rest the ladies are gonna take care of. Drake, me and you are going to have a talk."
Cade said evenly as he lay on the deck, still impaled by the metal spikes.
"You aren't going to do shit," Heath said with a smirk as he resumed pouring flames on Mina and Sabine's shields.
With his plan laid out for the slaver's demise, he implemented it.
Through gritted teeth, as the dozen spikes drove deeper into his flesh by Drake after his declaration, he obliterated Heath and Than's brains.
The two mages dropped bonelessly to the floor before Cade suddenly felt the spikes resistance to him fall away as Drake's eyes widened as he looked between the two dead mages.
As Drake's surprise destroyed his concentration the force of Cade's power shot the metal spikes out of his body to fly away at bullet speeds in every direction.
He was doubly glad for the shields around his mates to either side of him as a few of the projectiles pinged off the shields and ricochet into the darkness.
The remaining slavers were less fortunate.
One of them went down with a couple of the spikes in his leg and another with one in a less savory area that caused Cade and a few others to cringe at the high pitch squeal the man let out at his impromptu prince albert.
While the slavers were distracted by the grizzly scene Cade removed the shields from his mates and grasped Drake by the neck with a mental fist, dragging him away from the killing field that was their second floor.
He let the wolfman dangle off the floor next to him as his mates started in on the rest of the slavers.
As Mina and Sabine got to work, he spared a glance at the slaver in his mental grip to ensure the suffocation was distracting him from bringing any more metal spikes to bear.
Drake's rolling eyeballs and claws searching for a grip to break where there was none proved his method of distraction was working wonders.
Focusing back to his mates and the poor souls that were fighting and losing to them, he was pleasantly surprised to find them winning with contemptuous ease.
Mina was easily holding off two of them with her short swords as she faced off against one with a short gladius and another with a pair of hatchets.
She deftly ducked under a stab from the gladius and redirected a double overhand chop from the hatchet guy that sent the blades of the hatchets into the forearm of the gladius guy, severing the hand that had just tried to stab her at the wrist.
She then kicked a flailing slaver back toward Sabine and her playmates as she drove one of her swords into the neck of the hatchet guy.
As the hatchet guy dropped to the deck trying and failing to stem the red tide erupting from his neck, the gladius guy made his last stand against his panther mate as blood flew from his severed wrist.
Figuring Minas fight was all over except for the crying, he looked over to Sabine's bout.
She was wrapped around the chest and neck of a tall muscular orc with her fangs deep in his neck, her human body arched over his head with her arms wrapped around his head.
As Cade watched the orc tried and failed to remove his slender mate's grip on his head as a smaller human tried and failed to pierce the thick scales on the outer part of Sabine's tail that was slowly crushing the air out of the tall orc's chest.
Cade had a moment to wonder why Sabine wasn't using the long blade at the end of her tail to dispatch the dagger guy.
His question was answered as the slaver Mina had kicked her way was swatted back towards Mina with the flat of said tail blade, sending the disoriented slaver back towards her.
As the slaver flew away he had his first glimpse of Sabine's blood magic as she quickly slid off of the orc and pointed a small delicate finger at the dagger guy.
His eyes popped out of his head as the orc picked up his two-handed battle-ax in one hefty mitt and began to attack the dagger guy.
Dagger g
uy's eyes widened in panic as the help he thought he was going to get from the green-skinned orc turned into a battle for his life as Cade watched on.
He noticed a smug smirk thrown his way by Sabine as the orc that she had enslaved decapitated his former ally and turned to Sabine and dropped to his knees, the two-headed battle-ax falling through his slack fingers as a beatific smile grew on his face that was directed at his little snake.
"What shall we do with this one my mate and the one passed out in your grip," Mina asked as she saddled up to Cade's side sliding a furred arm around his midsection.
"We don't need the orc, kill the slaving bastard. Drake is going to answer some questions before I send him to the great beyond." He answered his sexy warrior maye before procuring a quick kiss from her.
"May I drain him, Cade?" Sabine asked, her gory question at odds with the innocent look she directed at him.
Her slowly twisting human half with hands clasped in front, putting her revived assets on display within their tight confines.
"Damn she is filling out in all the right ways." He thought to himself before a huge smile plastered itself on Sabine's face as again he forgot about their mental link.
"Would you like to know how well my mate?" Mina asked as she too was privy to the exchange.
"All in good time, and hopefully soon ladies. Let's deal with the ass holes in front of us first then I will take care of yours thoroughly." He answered, a large predatory grin blooming on his face as his mates shivered in anticipation of his promise.
Sabine snapped her fingers at the entranced orc, gaining his attention before her fangs sprang into view as the orc groaned and blood began to flow from the puncture wounds she had made on his neck.
A large sphere of blood grew as the man's lifeblood flowed into it as a grey pallor spreading across his skin as his body was drained of blood.
As the orc fell forward dead, Sabine extended her right hand as the large sphere flew into her palm.
Biting into the basketball-sized blood sphere as if she was biting into an apple Sabine drank it down to nothing.
Cade wolf-whistled as Sabine's body filled out to her mental doppelgangers close twin, firm b cup breasts becoming large c cups that looked almost too large for her slight frame. Her hips and ass also went through a similar transformation her hips flared out to match her bust creating a perfect hourglass figure.
He made a turn around gesture with one finger at his little snake.
As she got the message with a small blush she turned around giving her mate an eyeful.
With a look over her shoulder and her left hand on her left hip, Sabine placed a firm slap across her pert bubbled ass for Cade's viewing pleasure.
"Gonna make you pay for that my little snake," he said with a lust-filled growl.
"I would very much like to see her punishment, my mate," Mina said with a purr.
"Anytime my Cade, I will always be ready for you," Sabine replied a not so innocent smirk crossing her features as a long forked tongue licked her soft lips.
"You two go downstairs and take a look at our home, I was almost ready to show it off until these dumb asses interrupted.
Let me know if you would like anything changed or added girls." Cade said as he adjusted himself making a promise to thoroughly enjoy his little snake's new sinful curves at his leisure at their next opportunity.
As he watched his two gorgeous mates make their way down to the living room hips swaying and small giggles making their way to his ears at his unconscious lustful growls, he looked down to the idiot that was keeping him from his mates.
He growled a few incoherent curses at the dumbass to keep himself from just snapping the idiot's neck and decided against his plan to just tear the knowledge from Drake's mind.
This wolfman and his friends had attacked him and his mates, Drake wasn't getting the easy way out of this life today.
"Let's get this over with, got better things to do," he said to Drake's unconscious body as he slipped into the man's mind.
Half baked
A dark narrow ravine, barely wide enough for him to walk down greeted Cade as he appeared inside Drakes's mind.
He warily looked up at the tops of the ravine walls fifty to sixty feet above his head, finding no one about to drop boulders on him, he began to make his way forward.
After a few minutes of walking down the rubble-strewn corridor, he noticed a brightening of the rocky passage ahead of him.
Speeding up his steps he made it to the end of the ravine and was surprised to see a wide pebble-strewn plateau open before him.
Snow topped mountains covered in what he assumed were evergreen trees abutted up to the wide plateau in the distance.
Wary of a trap Cade took a tentative step onto the rubble-strewn plateau.
Reacting more on instinct than any forethought he jerked his right foot back a moment before a thin spike of rock drove up from the ground, barely missing his booted feet.
"Well know we know what defenses we are gonna be dealing with," he said into the cold breeze as it blew towards him. "Let's just locate our host real quick and get this interrogation over with."
Expanding his power to encompass the whole of the wide plateau, he was surprised to find no trace of the mage.
Cocking his head in concern Cade made a quick trip back to his physical body to find the mage still lying face down on the deck, alive but unconscious.
"Maybe we need him awake for this." He wondered aloud.
Cade raised one finger on his right hand and gathered a small metal spike that had just recently been located in his thigh.
Using his power he cleaned the spike of his blood and with a tiny amount of power provided a small electrical charge to the spike.
With a small grin, he placed the spike against the unconscious Drake's chest. A small zap had the metal mage's eyes open with a snap.
Cade's expression changed to a frown as the spike in his grip shivered as Drake tried to take it from him. As quickly as he could he collected all the small spikes he could reach and surrounded Drake with them.
He stopped short of plunging the spikes into the metal mage as one spike he had missed almost impaled his right eye.
He just barely managed to grip the spike with his power before it drove into said eye.
"Ok, this isn't gonna work," he said as his irritation at being in the same position as earlier, playing tug of war with the metal mage made its way into his voice.
Unwilling to give the mage a chance to regain his footing, Cade threw a burst of power into Drake's left knee causing the joint to fold in the opposite direction.
He took control of the spike in front of his eye as the slaver fell with a scream into the spikes that surrounded him.
He drove the spikes in deep as Drake continued his shrieking, making sure to keep the slaver alive by intentionally missing major veins and arteries.
He reformed the ends of the spikes into broadheads, that would cause more damage when pulled out.
He waited a few moments to ensure the spikes were doing their job of keeping his prisoner from using them on him.
Determining to cover every contingency, he forced the slaver's skin to grow around the spikes, leaving the front of Drake's body looking like a furry pin cushion.
Atomic Mage Page 19
