by Bianca D’Arc
Cade held her for a long moment while the silence stretched.
“I hate seeing you in danger,” he finally admitted.
“Then you know how I feel when you do it.”
“Ellie…” He hesitated. “I love you. I don’t care what my people say. I can’t deny it anymore.”
“Cade, I—”
“When this is over,” he cut into her reply. “I want you to be my mate. My wife. The mother of my children. My partner for the rest of our lives. Don’t answer now. I want you to think about it.” He kissed her hard and fast, sealing his incredible words with a kiss that sent her senses reeling. All too soon, he pulled away.
“Cade—” A sharp noise in the warehouse cut her off.
“I let you have a little leash, but it’s time you come out of there, Ms. Spencer,” Fidelio shouted harshly from a few yards away. He’d come out of a closer door than the one he’d used to leave.
Cade moved silently to the outside door, returning just as quickly after pulling it shut.
“There’s a group of men out there,” he reported. “They’re armed, and they’re not ours. We can’t get out that way.”
“Then we have to go out and face this guy. All he has to do is send one fireball into this enclosed space, and we’re both toast.”
Cade nodded in grim agreement. “I’ll go first. When I engage him, make a break for the closest door and see if you can get out.”
“No way. I’m going out. He doesn’t know you’re here. I can buy you some time and give you the element of surprise. It’s the best chance we’ve got.”
“I’m getting impatient, Elaine,” Fidelio called. “Don’t make me come after you.” Orange light flared from the direction of the warehouse, and Elaine knew Fidelio was playing with his fireballs again, trying to intimidate her. It was working too.
“I’m going first,” she insisted as she steeled herself.
After a timeless moment, Cade nodded, agreeing silently to her plan. He was taking a chance, showing his faith in her and it meant more than she could say.
The orange light died down, and she peeked out to see Fidelio reaching for a black box on his belt. It was a walkie-talkie that she’d missed noting before.
“Jorge, Samuel,” Fidelio called over the small radio. “Get back in here.”
“They won’t be coming.” Elaine took a deep breath and strode out of the darkened alcove.
“What do you mean? And how did you get free?” Fidelio looked at her in surprise, walking closer, just as she wanted. Just a little closer…
“Oh, come on, Figgy, you said yourself you didn’t know what my magic was. Maybe I’m an escape artist.” She made an elaborate movement with her hands, trying to distract him while she moved into perfect position. If he reacted the way she figured he’d react, she had to be ready.
Sure enough, the fire started growing to an enormous size in his palm. He was going to throw that sucker, and she wasn’t going to be anywhere in the vicinity when he let loose. Not if she could help it.
She timed her move and sent a quick prayer toward heaven that Cade would know what to do with the opening she was about to give him. She waited for the exact millisecond, then tucked her head and dove for all she was worth. She rolled, keeping low as Fidelio let loose with a fireball that hit the spot on the concrete floor where she’d been standing only a second before.
She rolled to her feet in one smooth move and aimed a knife-handed jab at Fidelio’s throat. She wasn’t going easy on him. She had to make every move count because this guy could kill her in horrible, painful ways.
A furry black blur raced out of the darkness, tackling Fidelio just as her jab connected, ruining the full effect of her strike, but Cade’s claws were much more effective. He had the magic user in his grip as Elaine backed away from the action. She couldn’t do anything now. It was up to Cade.
She watched as they tussled, claws and teeth flashing while Cade tried to get a grip on the slippery bastard. But then the worst happened. Fidelio got a hand free and summoned his fire. Cade roared as the magician pressed a hand to his side. Where Fidelio touched, hair singed and skin burned. Cade writhed in agony and in that moment of inattention, Fidelio slipped out from under the big cat.
“Cade! Get out of there!” Elaine shouted, already on the move. She didn’t even have to think about her response. Cade was hurt. He mattered more than anything in her life. He mattered more than her life.
In that split second she knew she loved him and would do anything to stay with him. Up to and including bearing the brunt of his people’s disdain or living in hiding for the rest of her days. She’d do whatever it took to have him in her life.
But first they had to get out of this alive. Frankly, she didn’t think their chances were that great.
Cade limped away, but Fidelio was gathering his flame for the biggest fireball he’d summoned yet. Elaine didn’t think. She just reacted, putting her body between Fidelio and Cade. She saw the fireball too late. All she could do was duck with Cade behind her and pray it didn’t hurt too bad to be burned alive.
She felt the impact of the flames, the force of the blow making her sway, but oddly she didn’t feel any pain. Elaine wondered if that’s what it was like to die. Maybe there was a point when something was so painful, you didn’t feel anything anymore, but then she realized she wasn’t on fire.
Her head came up, and she saw flame all around her. She felt heat on her skin, but it was manageable. It felt like the sun on a hot summer day, but it didn’t burn. The flames licked around her, dissipating behind her—well off to her sides. She looked back at Cade and realized whatever she was doing shielded him as well. The fire mage’s flames had no effect on her. She had no idea how or why, but she was going to take advantage of this lucky break.
Elaine stood and faced Fidelio. He met her eyes and cursed.
“You’re a Shield? A gods damned Protector? That’s your power? Of all the—”
Fidelio began to rant, so Elaine tuned him out and went to Cade. She had no idea what Fidelio was talking about, but it sounded like she had a tiny bit of grandpa’s magic. The flame bounced away from her, which was a very handy trick just at the moment.
Cade, still in panther form, was already on his feet but Elaine could see he was in pain. There was a handprint singed into his coat on one side of his torso and angry red marks in his hide. He rubbed against her leg as she stood at his side and roared his displeasure with the mage.
Fidelio’s rant wound down, and he was watching them with calculating eyes.
“It seems we’re at an impasse,” Elaine said in her best calm voice though she felt anything but calm at the moment. “Your fire can’t hurt me, and there’s no way I’ll let you kill this panther so you’re going to call off your dogs and let us walk out of here. Understand?”
“I think not.” Fidelio spit a little when he talked, and she knew he was riding a knife’s edge toward insanity. “You’re going to leave and forfeit the royal panther in exchange for your life.”
“He’s not royal.” She laughed, trying desperately to forget the fact that he was so closely related to the Nyx. That didn’t make him royal, did it? “He’s my boyfriend. He came to get me. Do you honestly think they’d send their monarch out to save one measly human life? You’ve overestimated my importance to them from the beginning.”
Fidelio inhaled loudly and for a moment she thought he’d gone completely around the bend. Then she remembered the sniff test. Please don’t let Cade smell royal, she prayed silently.
“Your boyfriend’s been holding out on you, my dear. He’s as royal as they come. I have a nose for these things.” Fidelio tapped the side of his prodigious proboscis. “He’ll do very well for my spell, in fact. Male, in his prime, full of his power and royal. He’ll make my job easy. Much better than the scrawny female I was anticipating.” Fidelio practically licked his chops in anticipation, but Elaine wasn’t about to make his day easy.
“Aren’t you for
getting something? You’ll have to get through me—and him. Neither of us will go along quietly with your plans. You lose, Figgy. Give up, while you’re still alive.”
The grind of metal as the giant warehouse door opened made all three of them turn. Elaine could see the shapes of men—a lot of men—filing into the warehouse and her heart sank. She doubted they were shifters. She didn’t recognize any of their faces as they walked in and took up positions.
Within moments they were ringed by men, some of whom carried weapons of various kinds. All wore stern expressions on their faces and Elaine feared the balance of power had just shifted in Fidelio’s favor.
One of the men stepped forward. He wore some kind of semi-automatic rifle slung casually around his shoulder and looked like he knew damn good and well how to use it. He looked at Fidelio, then over at Elaine and Cade. His expression gave nothing away of his thoughts.
“Step away from the shifter, ma’am.”
Cat's Cradle: String of Fate, Book 1
Chapter Thirteen
“Sorry,” Elaine said in a tight voice. “That’s the one thing I can’t do.”
“And why is that, ma’am?” The stranger tilted his head as if considering her words.
“Because if I do…” She hated the sob that welled up and would not be denied. Tears tracked down her face as she knelt at Cade’s side. This was it. It was over for them both. She could protect them against Fidelio’s fire, but bullets were another matter. All they had to do was shoot her, and Fidelio would have a clear field for whatever sadistic games he wanted to play. “If I do…” She tried again but couldn’t speak for the emotion clogging her throat.
“Who the hell are you people?” Fidelio asked, making Elaine and Cade both start in surprise. If they weren’t the mage’s people, then who were they and what stake did they have in this mess?
“You’ll get your turn to speak,” the stranger addressed Fidelio with clear annoyance in his tone. “Call me old-fashioned, but I’d like to see to the lady’s safety first.”
Hope rose so fast, she nearly choked on it. “I am safe. I’m the only thing protecting this shifter from that jerk’s fireballs. Speaking of which—” Elaine moved in front of Cade as Fidelio lost patience and started gathering flame again. The men, surprisingly, started chanting in some strange tongue, and Elaine’s skin prickled as an unseen force rose in the midst of their circle. More of that velvet-wrapped electricity she’d felt before. Only much stronger this time. “Are you people magicians?”
“No, ma’am, not in the strictest sense, but we do have a few tricks up our sleeves.” The stranger’s voice rose to be heard over the chanting.
Fidelio let loose with his fireball, but it couldn’t penetrate the circle of chanting men. It stopped about three feet in front of them as if it had hit an invisible brick wall. The deflection pattern was different than the way it had parted around Elaine, but the effect was the same. Fidelio’s fireballs were harmless against it.
Fidelio aimed another one at Elaine in pure annoyance. It parted over and around her while she shielded Cade from it. The fire starter screamed in rage.
“Now, would someone care to explain this little drama?” the stranger asked, casually leaning one arm on his weapon.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you. You’re trespassing in a private matter, and I demand you leave now before you stir up forces you’ll regret to have awakened!” Fidelio screeched but the stranger looked unimpressed.
“Is that a fact? What kind of forces?” It sounded almost like an idle question, but Elaine saw the flashing intelligence in the stranger’s eyes.
“Ancient power the likes of which you cannot even imagine.” Fidelio was nearly foaming at the mouth as Cade tugged Elaine’s hand with gentle but insistent teeth backward, toward the stranger.
She was inclined to agree with the move. Fidelio was insane, and she knew his plans for them ended in certain death. She had no idea what this circle of men wanted, but so far their leader had seemed both polite and reasonable. She began to hope they might come out of this mess alive.
“Oh, I don’t know,” the stranger replied casually, “I can imagine quite a bit. Why don’t you tell me? Are we talking fourth realm power? Fifth realm? Or maybe one of the forgotten realms?”
Fidelio’s eyes sparked red with flames. “You know nothing of what you speak. When I bring Elspeth forth with the royal shifter’s blood she will destroy you for daring to interfere in her return.”
“Elspeth, eh?” The stranger signaled with one hand to his men and the circle started getting smaller as they moved closer and the chant changed. “Then you’re the one we want.”
The man raised his weapon and with a giant boom that reverberated through the empty warehouse, he blew a big hole in the center of Fidelio’s head.
Just like that, the threat of burning to death in agony was removed. Relief washed over her, but it was tempered by fear. The stranger had killed another being in cold blood. He was so casual about it she feared Fidelio wouldn’t be the only one who died that night. Elaine looked away from the gruesome body, burying her face against Cade’s soft fur, praying they wouldn’t be next.
“It’s okay. You can get up, ma’am.”
“You’re not going to shoot us too, are you?”
The stranger actually cracked a smile when she looked over at him. He shook his head, resting his hand once more on the weapon now slung downward at his side.
“No, ma’am. I reckon you two are the ones we came here to rescue, but our contact didn’t have a lot of time to pass on particulars.”
“Who are you people?” Elaine asked as she got to her feet. Cade was a warm presence at her side.
The stranger shook his head. “Not here. The guys will handle clean up, but I think maybe you, your furry friend and I should have a little talk somewhere more private.”
Elaine was curious, but after the past few days she’d had, she didn’t trust anyone anymore except Cade. He was the only one who had been honest with her. He and his people were her friends now. She wouldn’t do anything to endanger them and wouldn’t trust anybody she didn’t know.
“First things first. We had two friends outside. What happened to them?”
The stranger stepped closer, speaking in a low voice. “I sent the other panther home with Charlie. He’s my contact. Code Leviathan.”
Cade nudged her hand, and she looked down to see him nodding vigorously. He knew the code. She had to trust he knew what they’d be getting into if they went anywhere with this man.
Elaine looked over to where Fidelio had gone down, but the body was gone and so were most of the men who had formed the circle. They moved silently and fast with almost military precision. The chanting had given her pause, but otherwise these folks seemed like some kind of army.
She wished that Cade could shift and tell her she was doing the right thing but she knew the fewer people who saw his face, the better. She was getting pretty good at reading his body language, and he seemed all right with the idea of talking more with the guy who’d just blown Fidelio away, calm as you please.
“All right,” she said. “Where do you want us to go?”
The stranger tipped a nonexistent hat to her. “Follow me, ma’am. I have a vehicle waiting.”
Cade hopped into the dark SUV and claimed the back seat. His black coat blended in against the dark upholstery so that he seemed like a ghost. Elaine climbed more slowly into the passenger seat, her muscles complaining with every movement. It had been a very long day.
Their rescuer got behind the wheel and started driving. They were clear of the dock area within minutes. Elaine felt better the more distance they put between themselves and that horror show of a warehouse.
“There are some gym clothes in the back if you want to shift,” the stranger said to Cade. “My name is Theodore. You can call me Ted.”
“I’m Elaine.” She left it to Cade to decide whether or not to give Ted his name. “Thanks for helping
us back there. It was a Mexican standoff until you showed up.”
“I feel like getting a hamburger. How about a diner?” Ted asked, seemingly out of the blue.
“The one on the corner of Main and Mayflower has good steaks,” Cade put in as he pulled on some dark grey sweatpants. Elaine was so glad to see him in one piece she reached out through the gap between the front bucket seats and took his hand.
Her heart was in her eyes, but they weren’t alone. Cade took her hand and raised it to his lips, letting her know without words he felt the same. He squeezed her fingers once before letting her go and grabbing a sweatshirt that had been behind the driver’s seat. It had a U.S. Navy emblem on it and Elaine could only suppose it belonged to Ted. She wasn’t surprised. He had a very military bearing.
“You’re in the Navy?”
Ted glanced into the rear view mirror at Cade before answering. “Yes, ma’am. Actually, scratch that. I’m not in anymore. I recently retired.”
Elaine smiled at him. “Must’ve been very recent if you’re still thinking like you’re in.”
Ted lifted one corner of his mouth in an answering smile. “Yes, ma’am. It still needs some getting used to, but it was a good decision. I can use my skills in the civilian world now and still work for the good guys.”
“You’re not Altor Custodis, are you? I thought they had a policy of non-interference.”
“They do. But lately some of us have broken with that tradition and struck out on our own. We believe the AC has been compromised at the highest levels, and we’re not willing to sit around and let the bad guys take over. The firebug tonight was just one of many I’ve had reports of over the past months. They seriously want to bring back Elspeth, an immortal creature known as The Destroyer of Worlds.”
“Oh, Lord, I hope you’re kidding,” Elaine had heard and seen a lot of weird stuff recently but this was by far the weirdest.
