“We need to go now, straight out the back.... Caden, make sure I’m between you and the Hunters at all times, they won’t shoot at you if I’m in the way.”
“We’ll get out of this, Lexia,” he whispered, pulling on the clothes she’d brought him.
They walked silently out the back door. Lexia could feel them in the house; every nerve ending in her body was on edge, ready to fight at a second’s thought. As they slowly walked to the back fence, Lexia glanced around for any sign of them but saw no one. Caden’s hand reached for the gate handle when she felt a presence behind the fence.
“Stop,” she hissed. Caden froze, a questioning look on his face. “Behind the fence,” she whispered, and motioned for him to follow her.
Lexia walked along the fence edge listening with every sense in her body until she couldn’t feel anyone.
“You’ll have to climb over here, can you shift?”
“No, it will mess up the stitches.”
“Okay, here, use my back.” Lexia bent over, bracing her back for Caden’s heavy weight.
As he climbed up, six Hunters raced through the kitchen door. “Go, I’ll catch up,” she shouted at him.
The Hunters fired at Caden as he disappeared from sight. Lexia took a second to think of her friend before she turned, and walking towards the Hunters, she fired the rounds in the gun taking down three of them. Pulling the knife from her boot, she felt the rush through her veins, making her smile. Lexia’s dark side came out to play, her mind cleared of all thoughts but one, to kill.
As the sharp blade sliced through flesh, Lexia marvelled at the ease of killing; it felt like second nature and as the Hunter flowed through her blood. She didn’t feel the pain as a knife sliced across her thigh, she didn’t even flinch. She spun around, slicing the knife through her attackers; the hilt of the blade carried on, colliding with the Hunter behind her. As he dropped to the floor; Lexia ran to the fence, scaling it with the ease of a cat.
She landed in a crouch and set off sprinting in the direction she’d heard Caden run. As she raced through the streets, the sound of sirens sounded in the distance. Lexia stopped at the end of the street; she had no idea where to go, she’d only left Caden’s house once. She stood in silence and closed her eyes, the noises around her filled her mind: police sirens, the distant hum of engines, the quiet chatter from early morning risers, and then to her right, the faint noise of pounding feet.
Lexia ran, spreading out her senses but couldn’t feel any danger. “Where are you, Doc,” Lexia mumbled to herself.
Her heart started to race as she heard the sounds of gunfire. Curtains started to open around her. She crossed the road, her feet pounding on the pavement, and as she rounded the corner, Lexia felt the danger she was running toward. Caden, please be okay!
Caden stood in a car park cornered, his shoulder had started to bleed again from the fighting he’d had to do but now he was out of luck. Ten Hunters walked towards him, their dull gold eyes hungered for his death.
He could see now how different Lexia’s eyes were from these Hunters around him. Theirs held no life, where Lexia’s shined bright, sparkling with the power that ran in her blood.
“Tell us where the girl is and we’ll kill you quickly,” one Hunter said to him.
Caden smiled at the tall dark haired hunter closest to him. If he was going down, he’d go down fighting. If he shifted now his shoulder would rip open again and he could bleed to death before he found help, but right now it was his only option. He’d never been the best fighter in his human form. He’d always kept his shifter side separate, not like Lincoln whose cat always lurked close to the surface, ready to strike.
“Have it your way then,” said the dark haired Hunter with a smile.
As Caden shifted he saw Lexia run around the corner. He looked at her now through his leopard eyes as she sneaked behind them. The first Hunter she reached never heard her coming and the rest where too caught up in attacking him to notice.
He leapt at the tall dark haired hunter sinking his teeth into his neck but he slung Caden off, sending him smashing into the hard concrete floor. He struggled to his feet, growling low as they circled him. Blood flowed from the dark haired Hunter’s neck but it didn’t slow him down and he went for him again, swiping his sword. Caden felt the edge of the blade brush past his fur as he twisted out of the way. He jumped and took down the man to his left; blood rushed into his mouth, exciting the beast that he kept hidden within, fuelling him on, giving him more power as his leopard took control.
Lexia took down Hunter after Hunter, slicing her way through them to reach Caden. As she broke through the circle that surrounded him, she saw the blood that was now flowing from his shoulder. He had a few other shallow cuts that slashed across his side breaking up the dappled pattern of his fur.
The Hunters had them backed into a corner, more had joined them and the sound of police sirens grew louder and louder. Time was running out and Lexia could only see an escape for one of them. She’d never make it over the high fence behind them before the men and women around her managed to have her pinned down. Her blood hummed through her veins; she stood her ground, keeping herself between them and Caden.
“Go, I’ll fight them off,” she said to the leopard at her back. He growled at her; defiance in his eyes. “Please, Caden, they won’t kill me. Go now.”
As he turned to jump Lexia launched herself at the Hunters. She kicked and sliced at the bodies trying to keep her down. They pushed her to her knees but she kept fighting and as her head hit the floor she thought of Lincoln. If only you were here, my pretty panther...
Chapter 13
Lexia screamed in anger as heavy knees dug into her back, “I am going to kill you all!”
They laughed around her as she struggled against their hold. Fighting with every last ounce of her strength, she flipped the Hunter off her back and managed to elbow him in the face.
“You’ll pay for that,” he spat, but his voice was drowned out by a ferocious roar.
Lexia’s heart gave a lurch, she knew that roar, he’d come for her.
“Lincoln,” she whispered with a smile as the Hunters around her scattered.
She jumped to her feet, jabbing the woman in front of her, then she brought her fist back around slamming it into her face. “I’ll have my knife back thanks,” she said to her body as it crumbled to the floor.
Together Lexia and her panther fought their way to the fence. Lexia picked up Caden’s discarded backpack and threw it over the fence. Before following it, she kicked the hunter who grabbed her ankle in the face and then dropped to the floor. Lincoln landed seconds later and they took off running. Police cars screeched around the corner, their sirens blazing at them.
“Crap,” Lexia muttered as they ran past a screaming woman. “Don’t think the locals appreciate you, baby. We need to find Caden and get off the streets.”
Lincoln looked at her before changing directions; she followed him as he weaved down streets and alleys. “I think we’ve lost them, Lincoln, getting tired back here,” Lexia moaned.
He growled back and turned another corner and stopped, Lexia looked around her but couldn’t see anything but a dead end. “You lost, kitty cat?” she teased.
Lincoln nipped at her leg before brushing past her, his head bent to the floor. Lexia ran her fingers through his think fur as he brushed past. “We really need to get you off the streets.”
Lincoln took off again down someone’s drive. “Lincoln,” Lexia hissed but he’d gone. She ran after him, hoping no one was home. The sun had started to rise and she could hear the city coming to life around her. But as she ran into the back garden she couldn’t see Lincoln. Stopping, Lexia looked around her at the small manicured garden, pots overflowed with fresh herbs and flowers.
“Lincoln,” she whispered again but he didn’t answer. “Okay.” Lexia closed her eyes and let the world drop away, she relaxed until the world around her became white noise and she thought of only Lin
coln, his wild musky smell, the lean grace of his panther, and the mischievous smile that made her heart skip a beat.
Her eyes snapped open. “There.” Lexia turned and took a small path that twisted around the house and there he was crouched low in the shrubs looking through a window.
She bent down next to him running her hand across his back, “What ya looking at?” Lexia peeked through the window to see a leopard laid out on a table. A blonde woman had her back to them, bent over the cat. “Caden!”
Lexia took off back down the path around the house, her panther growling at her heels. She slammed her body into the back door, breaking it from its hinges. She landed in a heap on the floor as the blonde ran into the hall with a gun in her hand, but she froze the second she saw an angry panther.
She gasped, the gun shaking in her hand. “Don’t move,” her voice trembled.
Lexia jumped to her feet. “I... I said don’t move.”
“It will take more than a bullet to kill me, now what are you doing with Caden?” Lexia’s voice dripped with menace and the blonde flinched as if the words physically hurt her.
“Are you friends?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Is that panther going to attack?”
Lexia smiled and turned to look at Lincoln’s snarling face. “Not right this second.”
The blonde turned even paler and gulped. “Follow me.... oh, and fix the door.”
Lexia laughed, “Baby?” She followed the blonde through a door, smiling at Lincoln’s angry reply. “Just shift back when you’re finished, if you want to stay, cat.”
“Since when do you give out orders?” Lincoln laughed.
Lexia never answered. “Caden?” She ran to his side running her hands over his bloodied coat.
“What did they do to you, sweet Leopard?” she whispered.
“I’ve stitched up most of his wounds but the bullet hole on his shoulder... I can’t find a bullet,” the blonde said.
“Oh, I took that out last night, have you given him something?”
“Yes, he should wake soon. I’m not sure how anaesthetic affects shifters compared to animals.”
“How long have you known he was a shifter?” Lexia asked.
“Oh I didn’t, your shifter gave me quite a surprise as he turned into a ...”
She gasped as a loud growl filled the room. Lexia spun around to face Lincoln as he prowled towards them. “Stop it!” she glared at him.
“Sorry..? God I’m sorry, what’s your name? I’m Lexia.”
“Lara.”
“Well Lara you’ll have to excuse my panther he seems to have lost his manners. Caden’s just my friend and my panther here doesn’t like the idea of his mate having another cat. So, tell me why are you not freaking out about him turning into an animal?”
Lara carried on stitching up his shoulder as she spoke. “Before I moved here I worked as a vet in a very small remote town. One night I was brought a mountain lion that was nearly dead but as I started to work on him, the cat turned into a man.... well, anyway to cut a long story short, I dated that mountain lion for quite few years.”
“It never got serious?”
“We never mated if that’s what you mean.”
Lexia smiled. “There’s no escaping once you’re mated... not that I’d want to.” Lexia bent down and brushed her face against Lincoln as his warm heavy body pressed against her.
Caden started to suddenly move. “Doc?” Lexia moved to his side, worry creasing her face.
“I’ve done all I can for him. You can stay till dark and then I want you gone.” She looked over Lexia. “Let me clean your wounds.”
Lexia paused and looked down at herself as if just realizing she had knife wounds across her limbs. “Oh, thanks.”
Lara left the room once she’d cleaned and covered every one of Lexia’s cuts; she never asked how she’d got them or mentioned how the cuts seemed to be healing in front of her eyes. She didn’t want to know.
“Remember, be gone by dark,” she said as she closed the door behind her. Lincoln growled in her direction then stalked over to Lexia.
“Wake up, Doc, please be okay.” She stroked his face over and over, smoothing his matted fur down. “This is all my fault, Lincoln,” she whispered to her panther as he rubbed up against her.
She pulled up a chair and sat down at Caden’s head, slowly he started to come to. “Shush, don’t move, Doc, Lara fixed you up,” she whispered, staring into his vivid green eyes.
“Lincoln is here, he saved me again,” she smiled, kissing Lincoln on top of his furry head. “How did you find me? You shouldn’t have been back till tomorrow.”
Lincoln nipped at her and growled low. “Can’t you just shift back? Does it really matter if she knows who you are?” When he sulked off Lexia huffed, “For god sake Lincoln! I can sense if she comes anywhere near the door and right now she’s upstairs.”
He shifted and Lexia smiled. “That’s better.” She kissed him. “So how did you know we needed help?”
“I just felt it here,” Lincoln’s hand rubbed over his chest. He thought of the days before he’d met Lexia, when he felt such raw ruthless pain in his heart and decided he would never be leaving Lexia’s side again. “I just knew, so I started running. By the time I reached Caden’s the police were swarming all over the place but I picked up your scent and found you. What happened?”
“I fell to sleep downstairs, Caden must have put me in bed, and I woke knowing someone was in our room but he’d injected me before I could move. I felt the effects straight away but still managed to fight back but there were two of them and the drugs kicked in... It didn’t last long, though, by the time they were carrying me down the stairs my head had started to clear. I sensed Caden in the shadows and he took one out but the other shot him and I’d still been a bit groggy.”
“You should have left straight away,” Lincoln murmured.
“We couldn’t. Caden had been hurt too badly and I had killed the other Hunter before he could report back. I fixed up Caden as best as I could and passed out... Next thing I know there’s Derrick outside with an army of Hunters.”
“Derrick, the one that contacted Tate?”
“Yeah... Today he saw me before anyone else and he never said a word just stared at me like he wished I wasn’t there.”
“Hmm strange... As soon as night falls we’ll have to leave the city, go straight to the forests.”
“But we have no supplies, Lincoln, we can’t just hide in the forests forever.”
“You have two cats that will look after you and until Caden can shift back were stuck.”
“But that won’t be long, will it? You heal almost as fast as me.”
“Yes, but Caden has spent his life suppressing his leopard side, I bet this is the first time he’s been cat in years.” Cat green eyes looked across at them. “We’ll be lucky if we ever get our friend back...”
“What! What do you mean? He’s fine, he’ll heal and he’ll be fine... Won’t you?” Lexia whispered at the now alert Leopard on the table.
“It’s hard to explain, Lex, but when you have spent most of your life pretending to be human when you’re not, well, it has its down sides. Now Caden has shifted, let his beast out to play, felt the rush of the kill again... Well, the cat won’t want to be locked away again and he could probably turn back now but he can’t... Spending so much time as a leopard when you’re not used to controlling it, well there’s a chance he’ll lose his humanity and fully embrace his leopard side.”
“That won’t happen, I won’t let it” Lexia bent, kissing the leopard on the head. “I’ll bring you back, Caden,” she whispered.
A soft knock sounded at the door and Lincoln turned to lights. “Yes?” Lexia asked.
Lara’s petite face peaked through the door. “I brought you some food.”
“Thanks,” Lexia smiled, realizing how hungry she was.
Chapter 14
As darkness fell, Lexia took to th
e streets, two predatory shifters by her side. Every footstep, every paw print was taken with silent purpose. They passed by invisible, deadly ghosts hidden within the shadows of night. All that could be seen was the eerie glow of six shining eyes; eyes full of deadly intent, eyes that would make you gasp and run from the shadows.
They paused briefly at a junction in the road. Two sets of cat eyes scanned the area, whilst another set of fierce gold ones closed. “It’s clear,” Lexia whispered, her gold hunter eyes opening again.
Lexia set off running, the Hunter at the surface, every fiber of her being on red alert, checking, sensing for any life around them, good or bad. Lincoln’s warm heavy body brushed against her hip as he ran by her side. Her hand absently brushed over his back, curling into his fur.
Caden ran on her left; he limped, slowing his pace so she paused for a second to let him catch up as Lincoln took the lead and showed her the way to the forest. But as he went to turn a corner, Lexia hissed, “Stop.” He froze immediately, his gold panther eyes turning to look into hers. “There’s someone on that street.”
He growled low and Lexia walked forward rubbing her hand across his head. “Shush, pretty panther.” She closed her eyes, letting this new strange power take over, and there in her mind’s eye, she could see the life force of two people. “They’re just boys, Lincoln, we need to take another route.”
He growled again. “I know but it won’t take long to go over a block.”
As they ran across the road, Lexia glanced down the street seeing the shadows of tall towering trees in the distance. Their straight road to freedom and it was blocked by two teenagers.
One block over the three of them turned. Keeping to the shadows they made their way down the quiet rundown street. Dogs were silenced as the two big cats padded past. This street didn’t have a clear path like the last one, they’d need to turn off and go over another street. As they were about the cross the road and leave the shadows of the tall tattered building, Lexia felt it, the dark swirling energy of a Hunter. He walked by himself turning onto the same street.
Whispers of Darkness (The Deadwood Hunter Series) Page 8
