by JF Holland
Jaden waited beside the crumbling wall, hunkered on his belly, Maya behind him as they waited. Nicolas had gone over the wall, a minute or two ago, he was double checking that it was still clear before Jaden would allow Maya anywhere near it.
“You okay?”
“Yes, stop asking, I’m fine. I’ll just be happier when this bitch is dead,” Maya hissed back in his mind. “Keep your bloody tail out of my face,” she snapped, nipping it with her teeth as it again moved over her muzzle as she lay there, close to the ground.
“I will retaliate for that later,” he warned head lifting off his paw, turning to glare at her.
“Yeah, yeah, big tough, alpha,” Maya snorted. “Now shift your arse, Nicolas just gave the call. It’s time to get this over with,” she murmured, lifting slightly, still hunkered but edging forward. Jaden moved quickly, knocking into her shoulder with his head, then moving around her.
“Fucking stay behind me, Maya. If you get hurt, I’m going to slap your arse when we get home,” he growled, crawling over the brickwork and down the other side of the wall. They used stop, start motions, sticking to the shadows of the broken statuary and tombstones in the grounds, staying low. Finally, they made it to the first-floor window at the right-hand side of the property, then jumping, quickly pulled themselves up and over the windowless window ledge. They landed on soft paws on the other side, edging back towards the walls of what looked like it had once been an office, and again went low and froze.
There, they waited, Nicolas, again moved off, slinking low to the floor towards the open doorway. Peeking around, and finding it empty he looked back and Jaden moved over to him, Maya right behind him. Standing against the back wall, Nicolas kept watch while Jaden and Maya shifted back to their human form, slowly straightening from four to two legs. Then Jaden kept watch while Nicolas did the same so that they could all now communicate. Maya was the only one he could speak to telepathically in his animal form as she was his mate.
“Where are the others?” Jaden asked, again looking around the doorway, just then they spotted a white tiger come around the corner, Sophia behind a human Edwin, who had hold of her hand. They stopped, all bumping into each other and Jaden rolled his eyes at them, as Edwin’s head cocked, obviously hearing them.
Sophia, had basically fell off John’s back once they’d gotten to the back of the house. Her arms and legs shaking with the effort it had taken to stay on as he’d jumped over fallen trees and roots at speed. When he’d jumped up and over the wall, her heart had nearly stopped, banging painfully against her rib cage, reminding her of being on a horse as she’d clung on as he’d gone up and over the wall. Panting, she now stood with her back against the wall, beside the doorway, trying to calm her racing heart and steady her quivering legs.
She much preferred flying with Luc, being in the safety of his arms than being on the back of a tiger as it ran full pelt across uneven ground. Mumbling, she’d shoved her hair out of her face and then managed to scramble inelegantly over the broken furniture at the back door as they’d made their way inside.
“Sophia? Are you okay?” Edwin asked, amusement apparent in his eyes as he stood beside her.
“Okay, are you kidding? He’s a maniac,” she hissed, blowing out a breath and throwing dirty looks in the white tiger’s direction.
“I’ve always found John’s rides exciting,” Edwin told her with a wink as he slipped by her.
“I’d rather not have to hold on for dear life,” she snorted, and Edwin coughed, covering a snicker.
“A little rough gets the blood pumping,” he winked sobering, putting a finger to his lips. He then took her hand, tugging her behind him as he followed on John’s cat’s heels.
“I’m so out of shape,” Sophia mumbled, stumbling behind them, sucking in air, trying to get her breathing under control.
Edwin stopped so suddenly, she smacked into him, rubbing her nose, and again mumbling under her breath.
“Shh, what was that?” he whispered, head cocking to one side.
“Aunt Sophia,” Maya whispered to their right, head appearing out of a doorway.
“Get back here,” Jaden growled dragging Maya back inside. “Jesus, all get in here, it’s like a day out with the three stooges,” Jaden groused, moving out of the way as they filed into the room with them.
“How are you holding up?” Maya asked her aunt, taking in her flushed face and shaking limbs.
“Let’s just say, I have taken tiger rides off my bucket list,” she replied dryly giving John daggers. He just grinned, then as Edwin put his arm around him and whispered something to him, he grinned. Turning he winked as Sophia, and childishly she pulled her tongue out at them both as they stood together.
“Okay, children, play time is over. We now need to find…”
“Are you looking for us?” Nathan whispered as he came into the room, Daniel and Adam with him, all in human form.”
“Arrgh,” Sophia jumped and Jaden, slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Shh,” Jaden told her, shaking his head. “Jesus Christ, we may have just come through the front door and waved a bloody flag. Keep it down,”
“Anything on your sides?” Jaden asked the different groups.
“Nothing on our side,” John informed him.
“Nor ours,” Nathan replied. “It’s as if she’s gone, I’m not getting any information from the surroundings either.”
“Me neither, but with Maisie, that could just mean she’s masked her presence so stay vigilant.”
“What do we do now?” Sophia asked.
“Now we cool our heels and wait for the fireworks, Nathan added with a grin. As if he was looking forward to the fight to come.
She leaned against the wall and slowly slipped down until she was sitting. There closed her eyes and waited, the silence so deafening, her ears began to buzz.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
T he quiet was split by the front door blowing out. The boom of the explosion and splintering of wood so loud, Sophia covered her ears, eyes going wide.
“I think Maisie has just seen her mate,” Jaden replied dryly, shaking his head.
“Subtlety isn’t really her thing is it,” Nathan grinned by his side.
Sophia looked from one to the other as they stood there, heads cocked, trying to hear what was being said.
“Really, how can you be so calm?” Sophia asked.
“Shh, stop shouting,” Jaden told her, turning with a frown, finger to his lips.
“I’m not shouting,” Sophia growled.
“You are aunt Sophia,” Maya told her, dropping down the wall to sit beside her. “The explosion has obviously affected your hearing.”
“Oh,” she blinked, mouth closing and putting a finger in each ear and wiggling it. Then she removed them and moved her jaw from side to side as they popped, the buzzing that had been overly loud settled down to a manageable hum.
“I think that was our cue,” Adam smiled, dropping to all fours as fur once again covered him, big body moving from side to side as he pranced out of the door.
“Okay, split off, the corridor goes off in three directions, but they all come together again into the hallway at the front.” Nicolas informed them.
“On it, said Nathan, dropping down as he shifted and followed his brother, Daniel on his heels, the leopard looking positively dainty besides the two grizzlies.
“John, you and Edwin, take the far corridor, Sophia, you’re with them?”
“Okay,” she shoved back to her feet, wobbling before she got her balance and then moved to join the tigers. As John once again lowered his front end she shook her head, waiting. “Not on your life, I’ll walk thank you,” and with that she trotted off up the corridor, pulling her bag back up onto her shoulder, a hand in her pocket, stroking over the runes.
“Shall we?” Jaden asked Maya and Nicolas, who both nodded, Maya getting to her feet before shifting, then all three shifters took off towards the centre corridor.
“We
ll, well, Addie, finally grew a set,” Maisie taunted form the hallway at her mate as he stood before the gates. “You’ll not take me back a second time, I should have got rid of you like I did the other two worthless mates that fate stuck me with.”
“Two?”
“Oh yes, I’ve been on this earth for a while,” she smirked. “Far longer than you. I always win, I will not be beaten by you, my strength is growing all the time.”
To prove her point, hands twisting by her side, she lifted one and slung a ball of black energy towards him. He didn’t move, but Helena stepped out of the treeline, hair flowing around her, crackling, feet leaving the floor, levitating, as she moved forward. Her right hand came up, a glowing ball of fire on her palm before she released it, throwing it to connect with the spell, incinerating it. Maisie screamed in frustration, her hand coming up and yet another spell leaving it. Again, Helena countered, a second blast taking out the spell, but this time she followed it up with a third, Maisie again screamed ducking as it sailed past her and into the hallway.
“Not so tough now are you bitch,” Helena taunted, moving towards the gates, Sam keeping pace with her, his head swinging from Helena to Maisie.
“Calm it the hell down Helena,” he sent to her.
“Like hell I will. The more of her attention on me, the better chance the others have of reaching her without her noticing. This ends tonight.”
“Good idea, keep at it baby, right here beside you,” Sam rumbled, keeping pace at her side. The wide shoulders of his jaguar, rolling as he moved.
“Come on bitch, I’m sure you can do better than that,” Helena taunted, playing with the fire in her hands, rolling it between her fingers like a penny, smirking as she stood before the gate. Her other hand lifted, touching the chain and it melted, dropping to the floor, the broken gate with it and the other swung open.
“Hey honey, I’m home,” she laughed in a sing-song voice to Maisie as she stood in the grounds, hair rising further, her hair now blowing wildly. “Come play,” Helena laughed, a finger encouraging her to come out.
Maisie’s blue eyes widened, her lank, dirty hair covering her face as her head turned from side to side looking for a way out.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Helena tsked, moving further up the path. “Excuse me Addie,” she murmured to the dream demon, who stepped to the side, arms folded.
“Be my guest,” he told her, as she passed him.
“Sam,” he nodded to the jaguar as he kept pace at Helena’s side.
Screeching, Maisie turned and came to a halt, as coming towards her from three different directions were the others.
Sophia came up the hallway behind John and Edwin, meeting the others at the end. Maisie turned to them, hair matted, clothes ragged, and eyes swirling with madness. As she turned, she spotted Sophia standing with the other shifters and her eyes widened, before a twisted smile split her lips. The back of Sophia’s neck tingled with a warning as Maisie’s eyes turned speculative as she watched them. Her hand raised and Sophia felt around in her pocket stroking over the runes once more before bringing her hands out again, as Maisie threw a spell her way. She went to counter spell, but suddenly she was knocked to the floor. It happened so fast she didn’t have a chance to react, her head hitting the floor hard as she landed. John had thrown himself before her, taking a direct hit, and Edwin growled, standing guard over his mate, snarling at the witch.
Maisie laughed as John rolled on the floor, his body practically vibrated and Jaden moved towards her, going low to the floor, lip lifting as he snarled, canines and incisors flashing as his ears flattened ready to pounce. The next thing, he was hit from the side, John was up on his feet and he’d flung Edwin to the side and had launched himself at Jaden. Maya shifted, grabbing Sophia’s hand and pulling her to her feet as the big cats snapped and snarled at each other, a mass of muscle, razor sharp claws, teeth and anger. The noise was deafening, as the cats spat and clawed at each other, Maisie laughed, then turning, took off down the corridor on the right, pulling a door open in the wall that they’d not spotted and vanished through it.
Sophie, shook her head and assured Maya that she was okay, she then took off after Maisie, Helena coming into the house, Sam by her side.
Jaden had John pinned to the floor, Edwin pacing and snarling to the side, as Helena raised a hand and sent a small ball of fire towards the fighting cats. It hit Jaden between the shoulder blades and he growled, dropping John and spinning, his ears flattening as he had Helena in his sights, advancing. Sam pushed Helena behind him, growling at Jaden, and Maya shifted, taking her human form, her arms going around Jaden, as Edwin stood over a bleeding John.
At that moment, Sophia came running back up the corridor, she whispered an incantation and threw a couple of runes towards them, a puff of smoke filled the area and when it dissipated, Jaden and John lay panting on the floor in human form, chests heaving and shaking their heads.
“What the hell happened?” Sam asked, shifting to human.
“She turned them against one another, a good diversion. Now shake it off, she’s getting away,” Sophia panted, turning and heading back up the corridor, pulling the door open again that Maisie had vanished into and took off down the stairs.
“Sophia, wait,” Helena shouted.
“Go, Jaden wheezed, keep her safe. I’ll sort John out, I’m the one who hurt him,” he replied, shaking his head and pushing to his feet. “How bad is he?” he asked Edwin, who knelt on the floor beside his mate, pressing his hand into his shoulder.
“He’ll live, but it’s going to sting a bit,” Edwin murmured. “Why the hell does she always single him out?”
“Not a damn clue, but he wasn’t alone this time. I’ve never felt anything like it, I had absolutely no control. I couldn’t make out who was friend and who was enemy,” Jaden sighed.
“Let’s get him outside,” Nathan spoke up, pushing through. He bent and lifted John up, hefting him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift.
“We can’t leave the others here,” Nicolas replied.
“I don’t intend to, I’ll just put him outside, then get him some medical attention,” Nathan replied.
“How are you going to do that?” Edwin asked, keeping pace at Nathan’s side.
“Have you got your phone?” Nathan asked, gently placing John down on the floor and stepping back as Edwin once again knelt beside him. Pulling off his shirt, he balled it up and pushed it against the gaping wound in Johns neck.
“I’m going to ring Thomas; he works at the hospital just up the road. Hopefully, he’ll haul arse here, and get John home.
“I’ll be fine,” John murmured.
“Shit, you scared the life out of me,” Edwin mumbled resting his forehead against his mates.
“Jaden went easy on me.”
“You call this easy?” Edwin grumbled incredulously, sitting back and pressing on the wound, making John hiss.
“Yes, he did. If he’d wanted me dead, I wouldn’t be here now. He went easy on me,” John told him, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.
“Can you shift?” Nicolas asked, stood by them, handing his phone to Nathan who made a call, asking for a lift.
“I think so, just give me a minute,” John groaned, shaking his head, trying to clear his vision, blurry due to the pain. He then hissed, as the movement pulled on his injury.
***
Sophia made it to the bottom of the stairs, after what felt like an age, and let out the breath she’d been holding. With no lights, she’d had feel her way along the walls; either side of the stairs. Each step had required her putting a toe down first, jiggling it around, checking that there was in fact a step there, and that she didn’t fall into nothing. It was so dark, she’d not been able to see at all, a total void, nothing but suffocating blackness.
Now on solid ground once more, she could see light coming from up ahead, and felt confident in pursuing the maniac as she could hear Helena and Sam moving down the stairs behind her. Turning after checking
how far behind her they were, she set off, moving towards the light at the bottom of what she assumed was another corridor. Turning right, towards the source of the light, she blinked, her retina’s protesting the sudden brightness after such a void of light. When she opened them again she gasped, taking a step back in shock, as Maisie was right before her. Her mind blanked as she searched for a spell - something that would keep Maisie before her - but harmless as she needed to speak to her about Luc and his curse. Maisie smiled, a sickly-sweet smile as she swung a hand around from behind her back. Sophia stood immobile as Maisie lunged forward, the smile spreading on her face as something punched into Sophia’s stomach. Her breath left on a whoosh at the force of the impact, knocking her back. Searing pain made itself known, spreading through her stomach and making her double over. Her hands covered her stomach as she huddled over, her eyes lifting to Maisie in confusion. She stood there with a knife in her hand, blood dripping from the blade. Laughing, she lifted it, licking the blood off and groaning, smacking her lips as she shuddered.
“Hmmm, what a rush, I do love a good power hit,” Maisie cackled, again licking the blade.
“Bitch,” Sophia heard from behind her, and Maisie squawked as a fire ball came at her by Sophia’s side. She jumped, dodging it, then laughing, turned and took off through a door to the left, her footsteps echoing as she ran.
Then someone was behind her, hands steading her as she began to sway on her feet. More footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs as Sophia closed her eyes, swallowing as the pain intensified, bile burning the back of her throat.
“You’re going to be okay,” Sam told her. Hands on her shoulders holding her upright.
“Sophia, honey, look at me,” Helena sobbed, standing before her. “You need to tell me what to do? I don’t know how to heal you,” she cried, her eyes filling with tears.
