Gardelle sighed. “My niece is mated to a moron.”
“We?” Lisa pressed up alongside Gardelle. “Who all is with you?”
“Gardelle’s friends and family,” he returned, nodding to Gardelle. “We came to help protect his mate—you.”
Lisa beamed. “You came to a sex club for me? You do care!”
Lazar glanced around the room, his gaze widening. “Why are you here? And why is it one of the waitresses knew Aeson by name?”
“Aeson?” asked Lisa.
Gardelle stared at his friend. “They’re all here?”
Lazar nodded. “All the mated males are outside. Aeson made it as far as the door with me but when a waitress said his name, he panicked and rushed out. He’s very afraid of his mate. I’d judge him, but mine can shoot an apple off someone’s head with an arrow. I have a healthy fear of her wrath.” He stopped and sniffed the air. “The smell of vulture is growing rapidly. How many are here and why am I only now smelling them?”
Allan paled. “A lot are here. More are headed this way. You didn’t smell them at first because of me. Every night I burn some of the same flower and herb mix Lisa’s mother gives her. It screws with our ability to scent another of our kind. I didn’t want more shifters showing up for Lisa. Zalse is enough. And he has been planning this for weeks. His men wish to mate, even by force. They had been grabbing human women at random but that is time consuming. The idea came to him to lure the females to one spot. When he realized human women are drawn to our kind, he knew the perfect way to get them to come.”
Lisa sucked in a big breath. “Ohmygod, he put together a hot-guy stripper show, knowing it would draw a ton of women. This place is packed tonight. This show has been all the talk around these parts.”
Allan nodded. “I found out tonight what he had planned. He also intends to kill the human males here. He and the others will take all the women with them. Zalse wants Lisa for himself. He somehow caught the scent of shifter on her from the start. He knows she’s mate material to our kind. What he wasn’t counting on was Lisa’s actual mate showing up and claiming her. He’s not going to be happy when he finds out. He knows she’s Brimlah’s daughter. I don’t know how he knows, but he does. And he’s got an axe to grind with Brimlah for defecting. Zalse wants Lisa for himself but he’ll kill her to prove a point.”
Gardelle’s breath caught, and he yanked Lisa against him, his gaze whipping to Lazar. “Take her and get her to Sabrina. To safety. I will weed out the enemy.”
Lisa twisted in his arms. “I’m not leaving you. I already saw you falling out of the sky with a sword through you. No way am I letting anything else happen to you.”
“Lisa?” asked Lazar. “You were not there when Gardelle was run through.”
Lisa looked slightly green. “So it really, really happened? I didn’t just imagine it in my head?”
Gardelle gave Lazar a hard look. “Stop helping.”
Allan went to the door and glanced out. “Hurry. We’ll sneak her out of the club the back way.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lisa had to tug on Gardelle as he ushered her through the back door of the club. If he kept going at the pace he was, he’d tear her arm out of its socket. He was that strong. “Gently.”
He twisted fast and lifted her, hurrying her out and into the parking lot. He set her on her feet. “Lisa, go with Lazar. He will take you to Sabrina.”
“I made myself very clear when I said I’m not leaving you,” she returned, her hands going to her hips.
“Your woman looks pissed. Sexy, but pissed,” said a deep voice from behind her.
“Keonae,” said Gardelle sternly.
Lisa spun to find several men there. She didn’t know any of them. They were all incredibly good-looking. “This is pretty much my every sexual fantasy come true. All this hotness in one place.”
Lazar snorted. “They are all very mated.”
“Hey, I’m not,” said a hunk on the end of the row of men. The man glanced at Gardelle. “You found her. Good.”
“He also claimed her,” said Lazar.
The man on the end grinned. “Good. Very good.”
“Thank you, Rhios,” said Gardelle.
The men all looked at Allan as he came out of the back door of the club. “Okay, Zalse is in there thinking everything is going according to plan. Thankfully, you and Lazar weren’t seen.”
The men all drew swords and pointed them at Allan.
Lisa groaned. “I need to get him a nametag that says, ‘formerly known as the bad guy.’”
The men glanced at Gardelle.
He nodded. “Allan is on our side.”
The men murmured amongst themselves, all seeming surprised.
A man in the center shook his head. “What is the world coming to? I have a best friend who is a falcon shifter, a human wife, and now we’re working with a vulture. Next, I’m going to find out Keonae is into ballet.”
A man with a scar like Gardelle’s gave the guy a sideways look. “Little brother, it would be very easy to break you.”
“That wasn’t a ‘no’ to being into ballet,” said Rossi.
Lazar groaned. “Rossi, try not to antagonize your brother. You know how he is.”
Rossi grinned. “I do. It’s why I do it.”
“Asshole,” said Keonae.
A sports car she knew well sped into the parking lot. It came to a grinding halt, and the next thing she knew, her father was there. He took one look at the men around her and snarled, coming at her fast. He planted himself between her and the rest of the men.
In the next breath, Lazar and the others all went at her father as if they planned to attack him. Lisa rushed around her dad, pushing between the men, throwing her arms out. “Stop!”
They all stared at her.
Gardelle and Allan moved up alongside her.
“Be calm, everyone,” said Gardelle, taking her hand in his.
Rossi pointed at her father. “You do realize who that is, right?”
Lisa nodded. “He’s my dad, who is supposed to be on a flight to see my mom.”
“Dad?” asked Rossi.
Her father came for her, glaring at Gardelle as he did. “Take your hand off my daughter.”
Lisa put her arms out to block her father from getting to Gardelle. “Dad, stop.”
“He’s not what he appears to be,” said her father, his focus moving to the men behind her. “None of them are.”
“General,” said Allan. “If I may. They came to protect Lisa.”
Her dad picked then to put his hand out to her. She glanced at Gardelle and he winked, letting her go to her father. She did.
“Lisa, how is it you know Gardelle and the others?” asked her father as he drew her into a hug.
She looked up at her father. “He’s Sabrina’s uncle and my—”
“This is your best friend’s uncle?” asked her father, the color gone from his face. For a moment, she thought he might actually be sick. “I let you go to his home? I let you spend the night there with your friend? He could have killed you so many different times.”
“Killed me?” she asked with a laugh that bordered on hysterical. “Gardelle? I mean, I’m sure I’ve annoyed him enough over the years to make him want to strangle me, but kill me? Seems a bit extreme. Don’t you think?”
“Lisa, you don’t realize what he’s capable of,” said her father.
“But you do?” She crossed her arms under her breasts and stared between the men. “Dad, I’ve had a very enlightening evening so far. Let’s talk about birds, shall we? Specifically, vultures, hawks, eagles and parakeets.”
“Parakeets?” asked Rossi.
Her father flinched and then stiffened, his attention going to the club. “Why are you here? This is a club that is for deviant pleasures.”
“Um, hey, wow, Gardelle and the others? Never met them,” she said, attempting to change the topic. “Am I related to any humming birds?”
Gardelle snor
ted. “Nice try. I bet he’ll like the idea of you working here even less than me.”
“You work here?” Her father’s gaze narrowed. “Gardelle better have developed a sense of humor in the last hundred-plus years. He better be joking. I never knew him to be funny. This better be him turning over a new leaf.”
Lisa put her hands up. “Hundred-plus years? How old are you guys?”
“Really fucking old,” said Keonae. “Someone want to tell me what the plan is? Are we getting Gardelle’s mate out of here or what?”
“His mate?” asked her father. “Seriously, this better be a fucking joke!”
“Nope,” said Rossi, grinning from ear to ear. “Gardelle claimed your daughter. Sucks for him with the whole vulture thing.”
Keonae reached out and cuffed Rossi behind the ear. “My mate is of the Vultures.”
“Ouch. I know. That sucks too, but I like Lark,” said Rossi. “I’m sure the new chick will grow on me.”
“New chick?” Lisa rounded on Rossi. “I’m going to ram my heel into your groin.”
He smiled wider. “Yep. I like her. Her dad, not so much.”
Allan pulled everyone’s focus to him. “Brimlah, Zalse has at least twenty men within the club and more coming. They plan to seize the human women. And he intends to breed Lisa himself. That or kill her. He knows she’s your daughter. I don’t know how, but he does, and he hates you.”
Lisa’s father hugged her to him and then released her. “Gardelle, I know we’ve had our differences, but I need for you to get my daughter out of here. Keep her safe for me. Please. I have to deal with Zalse once and for all.”
“Now, Brimlah, is that any way to treat an old friend,” said Zalse from the roof of the club.
Lisa couldn’t hide her shock at seeing Zalse standing up there with huge black wings expanded out behind him. All the dancer guys he’d brought with him to perform in the show were there as well. Each of them had wings too.
She didn’t need to be told there were more of them then there were of the good guys. It was painfully clear.
Her father pushed before her. “Zalse, this is between you and I. Lisa has nothing to do with our longstanding issues.”
“When I finally found you, I saw you with her. At first, I thought that you were bedding her. Look at her. It’s easy to think you’d select her to be with,” said Zalse, putting his hand out to the man nearest him.
The guy handed him a long sword.
Zalse spun it around looking like he was an expert swordsman. He pointed the sword down at her father as he continued to remain on the roof of the club. “But then I saw your woman with her. I heard Lisa call you dad. I knew she wasn’t of the Vultures. At first I assumed she was a human that the two of you adopted. When I caught scent of eagle shifter on her, I knew then what you’d done. You’d stolen her from her people. From the village we raided twenty-five years ago.”
“The village you slaughtered,” corrected her father. “You butchered women, Zalse. And you would have killed Lisa as well had you found her.”
Zalse shrugged, not bothering to deny the charges. “The eagle women meant nothing to me. I didn’t understand then that we could force breed them. The scientists here, in the human realm, helped to uncover that truth.”
Lisa stiffened.
Gardelle moved up alongside her father, standing shoulder to shoulder with him. “You come near my mate and I’ll gift Brimlah your head.”
Zalse faltered in his step, giving away the tiniest hint of surprise at Gardelle’s words. “Mate?”
Keonae stared up at the vultures. “You are so fucked.”
“There are more of us than you,” Zalse said, a sick smile coming to his face.
Lisa wondered how it was she’d ever found him handsome. Then again, he’d not looked like a crazed maniac when she’d been around him. He was also missing wings then. Funny how the wings seemed insignificant next to the demeanor. Everything about him standing on the roof screamed evil villain. A far cry from the man she’d begun to fall for.
Gardelle glanced back at her. “Go with Lazar.”
Lisa didn’t want to leave him or her father, but reason told her that she was a distraction they didn’t need. With a heavy heart, she nodded. “Be careful.”
He winked.
As Lisa turned to go to Lazar the visions she’d been hit with showing Gardelle being attacked in the parking lot tugged at the back of her mind. They’d shown this—the vultures ganging up on Gardelle.
“The others are here,” she said without really thinking on it.
A mass of men landed around the club parking lot, effectively surrounding them all.
Rossi laughed as if it were the funniest thing he’d seen lately. “Fun! I call first dibs.”
“Dumbass,” said Keonae. “Aeson, are you good?”
Aeson nodded, holding his sword. “I spoil for a fight as well.”
Allan yanked off his shirt and Lisa knew it was so he could let his wings emerge should the need arise.
The sound of flapping filled the air a moment before a lot of blond men landed close to Keonae and Rossi. When no one in the good guy group made a move to attack them, she realized the newcomers were on their side.
They also leveled the playing field.
Two of the blonds looked exactly alike. They saw her father and drew their swords.
“Bastard!” yelled one as he ran at her father.
His twin charged as well. “Murderer!”
Gardelle, Lazar, and Keonae moved into their path, blocking them.
Lisa tried to pull her dad back but he didn’t budge. “Dad!”
The twins looked in her direction and froze.
The one who had first went at her father dropped his sword, his mouth agape.
His twin shared his stunned expression.
Keonae waved a hand in front of their faces. “Great. Someone broke the eagle twins.”
“Rydel, do you see what I see?” asked one.
The other nodded. “I do, Alok. She looks exactly as mother did.”
Lisa looked behind her, wondering who they were talking about. Rhios was standing behind her. He offered a slight smile. She turned back to face the blond twins. “Are you talking about me?”
They blinked and then both nodded at once.
Keonae pointed to Aeson. “If we start acting like that, Rossi better kill us. There will be no doing identical things. I draw the line there.”
“Captain,” said another of the blond men who had only just arrived. “What are your orders?”
Rydel lifted a hand. “Leave Brimlah and his right-hand man alone for now. Protect the girl.”
Gardelle put his hand to Lisa and she went to him. He drew her close. “They told me of their mother who was killed when their village was burned to the ground. They spoke of a baby. A sister.”
Her father stiffened. “I was told you were both dead. That the baby had no family, no clan to speak of.”
“She’s our…?” questioned Alok.
Another of the blond men near him spoke, “She looks exactly like your mother did. I would say there is little chance that she is not related to you.”
Rydel’s jaw set. “Brimlah, we will settle this later. For now, tell me what is happening here.”
Keonae pointed at the roof of the club and then around at the vultures circling them. “Bad guys want to do undesirable things. We need to kill them. Up for some fun?”
Zalse laughed. “Even with the help of the eagles, there are not enough of you to defeat us. We will do what we came her to do on this evening. We will take what we want.”
“How did you manage to hide this level of craziness from me?” Lisa demanded as she stared up at him. “I thought you were a nice guy. I actually liked you.”
Gardelle growled.
She squeezed his hand. “What? I did. I’m not going to lie because you up and decided to claim me.”
“You claimed her?” asked Alok, clutching his sword tighter. “O
ur baby sister is your mate?”
Lisa put her hands up. “Let’s not kill my husband. I’m saving that for myself. Focus on the bad guys. Oh, Allan is not a bad guy. Neither is my dad. So no one stick them with anything. Got it?”
Rossi beamed with self-approval. “I really like her.”
Zalse lifted his sword high in the air. His men all seemed to converge on Lisa and the others at once. The next she knew, Gardelle had his body over hers and mass chaos broke out.
Chapter Fifteen
Gardelle kept himself over his mate, protecting her from the onslaught occurring around them. He caught site of one of the eagle shifters closing in on him. The man had an extra sword. He threw it and Gardelle lifted a hand, coming up at the right moment to catch the sword.
He spun, keeping himself between Lisa and the enemy. He rammed a vulture through the stomach and then kicked him off the end of the sword. Another vulture managed to break through the ranks and just miss touching Lisa. He swung and lodged the sword deep into the assailant’s chest.
An explosion of rage poured through Gardelle and he shut off, going into the battle mindset fully. He was so focused on the task at hand that he didn’t notice Lisa easing away from him. When he realized she was several body lengths from him it was too late.
Zalse descended from above, plucking Lisa from her position and whisking her upwards at an accelerated rate.
With a roar, Gardelle abandoned the sword still stuck in the man on the ground, expanded his wings and took flight. He raced after Zalse as the vulture flew higher and higher with Lisa in his arms. A fear the likes of which Gardelle had never known came over him, driving him onward, helping to increase his speed.
Gardelle watched in stunned horror as Lisa kneed Zalse. While he was all for his mate protecting herself, she was hundreds of feet in the air. As feared, the blow to Zalse’s groin caused the vulture to lose his hold on Lisa.
Under His Wing (King of Prey Book 7) Page 10
