Tall, Dark and Furry (The Elementals Book 1)

by Meredith Allen Conner

  Livie swallowed, face drained of all color. “Not alone?”

  Sela stepped closer to Livie. She understood the double meaning in Livie’s question. They were not lonely freaks. “Never lonely again. There are others out there like us.” She whispered. “We’ve never been alone, Livie.”

  Livie trembled. She inched forward. Sela held out her hands. “I need your help, Livie. If this is all true, then we might finally be able to defeat the bad guys. Once and for all.”

  Livie reached out a shaking hand. Her sister blurred again and Sela quickly dashed the tears away. Livie was willing to go on a little faith.

  They might have a chance.

  A twig snapped. The sound echoed around them.

  Livie and Sela froze.

  Livie bent and yanked out her gun. She stayed crouched, feet planted, head and gun twisting, searching for the source of the sound.

  Sela shifted her feet slightly for better balance. She held her hands up, palms out and cocked her head. Nothing nearby. She strained a bit harder. There. Closer to the house. No. In the house. Rustling, a footstep, more footsteps and male voices.

  The bastards had found Livie’s hidey-hole.

  “Livie, they’ve found us.” Sela pitched her voice to just reach Livie. “They’re in the house. At least five, I think.”

  Livie whipped her head around. She pivoted on one heel. Facing the house, gun aimed about three feet off the ground she eased back until she crouched next to Sela.

  “How the hell do you know how many there are?” She whispered.

  “I can hear them.” Sela muttered. “Can’t you?”

  “No. Sela, the house is fifty feet away.”

  Sela narrowed her eyes. Livie was right. The house stood a good fifty feet away from them. She couldn’t remember hearing this well before.

  Before meeting a certain werewolf, that is.

  Two large figures, dressed in black, stepped out of the house. They separated and each went around a different side of the house, away from the sisters.

  Three more black-garbed men stepped out. They fanned out, sweeping the back yard.

  “Damn it. There are three of them heading our way.”

  “You can see them too?”

  Well, fudge buckets. She could.

  “Let’s back up slowly and quietly. Maybe we can just slip away.” Sela murmured. “Stay behind me.”

  Livie began cautiously easing backward. Sela tried to step in front of her, but Livie grabbed her forearm and tugged her to the side. She waved the gun in her other hand. “Have gun. Will shoot.”

  “Okay. Together then.” Sela chanced a quick glance behind them.

  “Livie, move to the side. Large stump.” Livie had already begun shifting before Sela spoke. More than likely, Livie had the entire block and every rock, bush and stump memorized.

  They maneuvered quietly around the stump, maintaining a safe distance between them and the clueless MIBs in front of them.

  About sixty more feet and they would reach the abandoned house behind them. Depending on how the MIBs conducted their search, they could simply continue backing up. A totally rebuilt neighborhood lay just beyond the next set of abandoned houses.

  Sela could hear the kids playing a game of some sort in the street. The MIBs wouldn’t be able to make a thorough search there without someone calling the cops or taking a bat to their heads.

  Hell, considering the neighborhood, the people in those houses might have bigger guns than the MIBs.

  Sela shot another quick look over her shoulder.

  Shit!

  She put a restraining hand on Livie’s shoulder. “Someone’s in the house behind us.” She peered intently through the night. Why can’t we ever catch a break? “There are at least six MIBs coming out.”

  Sela watched behind them for a second. She could hear the ones in front moving closer. She took swift inventory of their options. Livie remained locked in place at her side, gun trained in one hand, aimed at the MIBs in front and – where did that come from? – a large knife in the other pointing towards the bad guys at their back.

  Sela scowled at her sister, Livie, aka Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. “What, are you ambidextrous now?” She huffed quietly.

  Livie scowled at her. “Of course, I practiced until I could shoot with both hands as well. Better safe than in the hands of the assholes.” She shifted in response to a sound then cast a quick look at Sela. “You practiced too, didn’t you?”

  Sela firmed her lips. So, she hadn’t learned to be ambidextrous, or learned anything about guns for that matter. She’d survived hadn’t she? And she still had at least two minutes on Livie in age.

  Sela scowled. Damn, irritating younger sisters.

  She leaned over to whisper directly in Livie’s ear. “Let’s head toward that big tree on our right.”

  She saw Livie’s head move in agreement. Sela began edging to their right and Livie . . . headed in the other direction?

  Oh, Holy Hannah! How could she have forgotten?

  “Psst! Livie!” Livie glanced over. Sela could even see the red in her cheeks with her new and improved night vision.

  Livie quickly readjusted and made her way back over to Sela’s side. Once Livie reached her, Sela set a course for the tree. She ignored Livie’s barely vocal cursing regarding lefts and rights and moved as fast as she could without giving away their location.

  At least she knew her left from her right.

  Beyond the large tree, several dark forms roamed through the overgrown deserted yards. If they were lucky, Sela and Livie could zigzag their way through them.

  They were about five feet away when their luck ran out.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sela’s shirt snagged on a thorny bush. Unaware, Sela continued moving on. The branch bent with her at first, reached the end of its stretching point and planted its figurative feet. The bush turned out to be one of those willowy types that refuse to break or snap without a chainsaw. Sela’s shirt gave way first.

  The syllabic hiss ripped through the night air.

  Everyone froze.

  In a strange silent choreography, all the players in the lethal dance adjusted their steps. The MIBs converged on the sisters. Sela and Livie made it to the tree, backs flush against its large trunk, before the bad guys could close off that option of minor protection.

  They stood side by side. Shoulders touching, rough bark pressing against their backs.

  The bad guys swarmed around them like evil, giant black ants. With guns. And knives. And . . . oh, hell. Tranquilizer darts.

  Gotta watch those darts. We’re sunk if they hit us.

  “Well, well. Two for one.” A medium height, dark haired MIB stepped forward. He smiled and light glinted off a gold front tooth. “Looks like we just hit the jackpot.”

  Rough laughter followed his remark. It pissed Sela off.

  “I wouldn’t get too cocky, asshole. Two means two you have to fight, not just one.”

  Gold tooth just widened his smile. He reminded Sela of a mafia goon from a B movie. With really bad taste.

  “Naw, it means more fun for us on the trip back.”

  Did he mean what she thought he meant? Livie choked out something vile. She obviously thought so too.

  The idea of these bastards touching her physically nauseated Sela. She hated them down to her soul. To even think about . . . Sela cupped her hand over her mouth. She swallowed several times before she was certain she wouldn’t heave.

  Where the hell were they finding the new MIB recruits these days? Never before had Sela been threatened with sexual violation, and judging from Livie’s continued stream of promised mutilation and death, she hadn’t either.

  In every previous encounter, all the MIBs cared about was the power. Nothing else mattered. Sela didn’t think they even thought of the sisters as individuals much less females, more like instruments, sexless, animated instruments.

  Was gold tooth a deviation to their norm or had the Order of the Eleme
nts become so desperate to capture the sisters they would hire anyone?

  “Why don’t you put down your little gun and knife before you hurt yourself, and come with us before we have to get tough.” He smiled again. “If you do, we’ll make it nice for you during the trip.”

  Little gun? Did he just say that? Did he think they would enjoy being raped? He had no idea what he was up against.

  Time to give him a clue.

  Sela smiled back at the gold-toothed imbecile, pushed her palms out and splayed his upper torso with her tiny daggers.

  His gold tooth didn’t go quite so well with the blood pouring down his face and chest. Sela ignored his screams as he fell to the ground pawing at his injuries.

  Hah! Guess I don’t need to be cold to create ice.

  Her ice daggers must not melt right away. The bad guys back in the room with the cage had reacted the same way, as if they were trying to claw out the daggers from their skin.

  Goody.

  “Remember, we can shoot them, but we can’t kill them.” Gold tooth’s buddies ignored him as well. “Don’t hit anything vital.”

  She had maybe two seconds. Livie fired a shot. Shit, one.

  Sela poured more energy through her mark, willing her power to swell up. She pushed outwards and . . . BOOM!

  Sela’s second rainstorm completely out-showered the first. The first storm let her know what Elemental power she controlled. She figured the first time was sort of like a game show freebie, a type of Elemental window display. And behind door number three . . . this is what you get.

  After that, Sela had needed contact with some form of water to control it and use it. Water made the city of New Orleans what it was today and destroyed what it had been before.

  Sela had no trouble finding water to use in New Orleans.

  The first rainstorm had been incredible.

  Her second, absolutely amazing. Sela had no idea how far the storm reached, if it encompassed the whole block or twenty feet around them. She didn’t know because she couldn’t see through it. At all.

  Livie yanked Sela down. Sela’s knees had barely touched the ground before she realized what Livie wanted them to do. Sela lay down, raised her head slightly so she wouldn’t drown in the mud and rapidly forming puddles and swiped around with her arm until she located a body part. She tugged and Livie’s voice suddenly shouted in her ear, “I like your style, Seals.”

  Sela grinned, spat out some water and quickly pressed her lips together. She’d smile later when she didn’t have to worry about choking and drowning.

  Lying on her stomach in the river, Sela heard a muffled noise. Then another one. And another one.

  The stupid MIBs were shooting at them through the rain. How the hell did they think they could miss vital parts if they couldn’t see what they were shooting?

  Definitely digging at the bottom of the barrel with these guys.

  Livie turned her body to the side and pulled Sela with her, she placed Sela’s hand on her leg, and they began slithering through the river of muddy water. A long line of Elemental anacondas intent on escape.

  Sela tightened her grip on Livie’s leg. She stroked with her other arm, more gliding and swimming through the rapidly emerging pond now, than pushing and belly crawling.

  A loud, menacing howl penetrated Sela’s Best Ever Deluge.

  Livie’s leg stiffened under Sela’s hand. She didn’t blame her. That howl gave Sela a slight case of the heebie-jeebies too. But mostly, it just thrilled her.

  Mac.

  Hoo Boy, he sounded seriously pissed off.

  Sela still did not know much about werewolf behavior, but what she had learned so far told her to duck and run right now. When a werewolf considered you to be his mate, said werewolf became very possessive and protective of that mate. Which loosely translated meant the MIBs were about to die in nasty ways and when Mac got a hold of her she was in deep doo-doo.

  She knew he would be a little bit upset that she’d managed to escape Kevin and arrived to help Livie since he was “born to protect her” and she wasn’t to “go anywhere near” the MIBs.

  In his werewolf form, Mac dwarfed her. His strength astounded her. Bloody fangs and lethal claws. Sela shivered. She knew he would never hurt her - try cutting off a limb before leaving a tiny mark - well, certain little marks at certain times, like in the throes, were acceptable. Sela shivered again, though this time for a totally different reason.

  Great, chickie. Just great. Get turned on by strength, fur and fangs. Can you say wrong guy to fall for? Mac can break you into pieces. Really, really small ones that leave no evidence.

  Fall for? As in, already in love? When did that happen?

  The howl came again, slightly closer this time. A second howl joined the first.

  Push it down. Push it down.

  A girly shriek pierced the nearly deafening roar of rain. Had to be Gold Tooth. What a putz.

  Livie’s leg began moving again. Sela nearly lost her, Livie took off so quickly. She snagged more jean than leg and held on. She couldn’t blame her. Mac in human form made her body quicken with lust, in his beastly form that lust held a strong edge of caution. In fact, fear could easily be inserted there.

  Livie stopped and Sela flowed up her leg and halfway over her back. She scrambled around with her fingers and managed to at last latch onto Livie’s shoulders and stop, before she floated completely over her sister.

  Sheesh, she’d have to start packing inflatable boats around with her if she kept using her power. The muddy pond had turned into a flash flooding river. Livie and Sela stroked with their arms and kicked with their legs to prevent themselves from floating away and possibly into someone they didn’t want to swim into. Water pushed and sucked at their bodies, twisting them around and around. Sela clenched her fingers into Livie’s upper arm so hard she knew she left a bruise.

  Vision totally obscured, hearing deafened by the roar of rain, Sela and Livie now had wild currents of water to contend with and no sense of direction.

  Sela slammed back into something hard. “Oof.” She sucked in a quick breath and lost it again when Livie’s body slammed into her. “Ack.”

  Pinned between Livie and the hard thing at her back, Sela patted around with her hands. She touched rough bark. Well, now what? They were back at the tree.

  Sela found a low lying branch, gripped it and caught Livie by her arm. She pulled Livie over to the branch next to her. Sela waited until Livie had a firm grip on the branch before letting her go.

  She leaned over, found Livie’s ear and yelled, “How’d we get back to the tree?”

  She felt Livie shrug. A loud menacing growl rent the air somewhere to their left. Then another one to their right.

  Livie edged closer to Sela along the branch. Her hand trembled next to Sela’s. Sela brought her free hand around and squeezed her arm.

  “Werewolves, remember? They’re the good guys.” Livie didn’t respond.

  Who could blame her? Despite knowing about their family heritage and the Elemental power they carried, werewolves still inhabited a separate universe. One entitled Myth. Until now.

  If Mac hadn’t saved her from the cage, Sela didn’t know how understanding she would’ve been about the whole turning furry thing. And the bloody fangs and the lethal claws.

  Maybe if they could see the werewolves in action, not just hear the spine-tingling growls and corresponding screams, Livie would be okay.

  It sounded heartless, to find relief in a person’s death, but the MIBs had hunted their family and erased any chance of a normal life the girls ever had. The sisters had learned long ago that their only chance when dealing with the bastards was to kill first or risk being killed in return.

  No points for morals or a conscience, just bullet wounds and torture.

  When it came to the fanatical MIBs, death proved the only option.

  Suddenly, Sela found herself pressed hard against the tree trunk again, as Livie scrambled backwards. Sela pushed at Livie�
�s back.

  Hard to breathe.

  Livie’s hand slapped her cheek. “Hey!” She slapped her shoulder. “Ouch!” Sela caught her hand and yanked when Livie slapped hers. Fine time to play patty-cake . . . OH. It wasn’t Livie’s hand. It was . . . Sela twisted the hand, manicured nails buffed and trimmed, smooth skin, no calluses, gold pinky ring, ripped ligaments, blood vessels and bone dangling from the severed wrist.

  Sela’s stomach threatened to revolt. She swallowed heavily and closed her eyes, her fingers locked in a white-knuckled grip around the severed hand. She couldn’t seem to get her fingers to let go.

  She had a sudden flash of Gold Tooth’s nasty smile and the lust in his eyes. She remembered the fear and loneliness of all the years without her sisters. Sela forced her eyes back open.

  She stared, inches away, at the unattached hand she held with her own. Her hand shook with the force of her rage, causing droplets of blood to scatter from side to side. These bastards got what they deserved.

  Sela tossed it to the side.

  She hollered in Livie’s ear, “MIBs. Capture, torture and eventual death.”

  Livie sagged, her back slumping into Sela’s chest. She turned and yelled, “Good Point. It’s just so, so . . .”

  Sela shouted, “Dead body-part-ish?”

  Livie’s shoulders moved with her laugh.

  They’d lost their minds for sure. Cracking up in the middle of a torrential pounding, clinging to a tree for safety with werewolves attacking somewhere nearby?

  The only way to stay sane in their terribly insane world.

  Maybe now would be a good time to make their way through the mêlée and find a good spot to hide. Facing a battle-enraged werewolf did not top her list of things to do.

  If only they could see.

  Sela squinted, but it didn’t help. The view stayed the same, pouring rain. It surrounded them.

  A large, clawed paw ripped Sela from her hold on the branch. In seconds she was wrapped in a possessive hold, her nose pressed into wet fur, as strong arms held her tight.

  She inhaled the scent of Mac, woodsy and slightly musky. Delicious heat, stomach-tugging-desire, protection . . . home, it was all wrapped up in him now. Sela couldn’t separate his smell from her feelings for him anymore. Like a tangled ball of string, she couldn’t find a beginning or an end, it all just meshed together.