20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Set didn’t dare move. His brother had mated himself to the only female dragon who rivaled King Sansabonsom in cruelty.

  “Yesterday, you offered to help find the villain who shot me and killed my hatchling. You didn’t mean it. I know that now. But I’m going to take you up on your offer anyway.”

  Going to the window, she yanked up the dark-blue blinds and opened the window. In flew three white vultures, who perched on different places in his room: dresser, chair, bookshelf.

  “Tomorrow, we’ll leave for Nebty. You’ll fight by your brother’s side against demons the way you should’ve done that night. You’ll fight, and you’ll die. Makara and Osiris will mourn you, but you’ll die an honorable death. You’ll make your clan proud, which will elevate them in the eyes of the other clans, especially when Osiris takes his rightful place as king by my side.”

  Osiris, king? No. Set was supposed to be king.

  “You didn’t even blink at the mention of going to Nebty.” Hands fisted, and Set thought Isis would make good on her threat to kill him with her bare hands. “Only someone who knows there is, once more, an opening between the realms wouldn’t be surprised by what I said.”

  She shook her head and relaxed her hands. Set relaxed, too.

  “Nephthys’s vultures will watch you. They’re her eyes and ears. Do anything to betray us again, we’ll know. Fail to arrive at Philae Manor, in twenty-four hours, I’ll come for you again. No matter where you run and hide, I’ll find you.”

  A cobra he hadn’t realized was still in the bed with him crawled on his leg. A second later, a hole, the size of a golf ball, opened in his thigh and the snake slipped inside. The hole closed after it.

  “What the hell?” Set scrambled out of bed, white-hot pain shooting up his leg.

  “Insurance. Philae Manor. Twenty-four hours from now. With my cobra in you, you won’t be able to shift until I remove it.”

  Dammit, the snake hadn’t blended into his skin the way the others had done with Isis. The reptile stretched out under his skin like a grisly vein that ran from his upper thigh and to his ankle, where the end curled and bulged.

  “A hero’s death or a betrayer’s torture? It’s your choice, brother.”

  Choice? She’d left him no real choice. She’d offered a bad death over a worse death but no option of redemption.

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Don’t sound so angry and ungrateful. I could’ve shot you in the stomach and left you to bleed out the way your demon friend did to me. Or I could’ve cut you into fourteen pieces, and then scattered your remains around the world. Let me know if you’d prefer either of those options. I’d be happy to oblige you.”

  Isis stared at Set for long minutes, so much hatred and disappointment leveled at him that he felt a sliver of regret for his actions.

  He would go to Philae Manor, if for no other reason than to have Isis remove the goddamn cobra from his leg. He’d also travel with Osiris and the women to Nebty. But his death wasn’t a foregone conclusion. He’d figure something out. Set Ombos always did.

  Chapter 15

  Despite her age, experience, and hard-nosed nature, Nut found it difficult to hold the gaze of her daughters. The women had gathered in Nut’s bedroom after Isis returned from Set’s Manhattan apartment. Even after everything she’d learned of his actions these past few months, Nut still couldn’t believe how badly she’d misread the young but dangerous dragon. Like his father before him, Nut hadn’t seen the signs of disloyalty until it was too late.

  In the century since escaping Nebty and the Demon King’s invading hordes, Nut had learned little in her absence. She still trusted when experience should’ve made her cautious.

  Nephthys and Isis reclined on an ivory upholstered tufted sofa bench positioned at the bottom of the matching queen-sized storage bed. Both were barefoot. Whereas Nephthys wore dark-blue skinny jeans and a white button-down shirt, Isis had traded in the black dress she’d had on earlier for a pair of black leggings and an asymmetrical red tunic with a beaded neck top.

  There were other places in the room for the sisters to sit, other than next to each other. Yet there they were, Isis sitting up straight while her sister laid on her back with her head resting on Isis’s thigh, her feet on the bench and knees bent. Both of their dark-brown eyes were on Nut.

  One of Nephthys’s fingers moved back and forth over the gold band of Isis’s wedding ring, while Isis toyed with Nephthys’s braids, wrapping them around her fingers. The actions of the twins were natural and done without conscious thought. Nut once thought as they matured they would outgrow this level of physical closeness. They hadn’t, not even when Isis and Osiris became mates. Nephthys had simply opened her heart to the rock dragon, willing to share her sister, and Osiris had never felt threatened by the twin’s closeness.

  They didn’t treat him as an outsider, no more than they did anyone else who ventured into their circle, like the Tyets. Yet, there were times, like now, when Nut felt it was them versus her. That she was the odd dragon out in their comfortable family of two. Such painful thoughts were products of her own insecurities and not based on anything her daughters had done or said. They were close because she’d raised them to rely on and trust each other.

  “I never liked him, and Set took the bait the way I knew he would. Although I didn’t expect the demons’ response to be so soon. They got here fast, which means they must have more cells in the US than Merit managed to uncover. Maybe the demons from the cell in Mexico City were part of last night’s attack, too.” Nephthys rolled onto her side, bringing her sister’s hand with her and wrapping Isis’s arm around her left shoulder. “Once Aset stumbled upon that demon cell in Cairo, and Chione matched one of Set’s so-called business trips to that area, it was the beginning of an awful and bloody trail.”

  True. Ten trips over the last six months. Set Ombos had claimed they were related to DIG, but no records supported his contention. He’d traveled to heavily populated cities with large numbers of impoverished and homeless, cities where if certain people went missing few noticed or cared. Some were in the United States, like DC, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, but others were abroad Manila, Moscow, Jakarta.

  Nut sank onto a chair across the room from her daughters. She shook her head, wisps of hair falling into her blind eyes. “I can’t believe, all these months, he’s been working with demons and I didn’t see it.”

  “None of us knew, Mother.” Nephthys sat up, mirroring Isis, who was too damn quiet for Nut’s peace of mind. “You can’t blame yourself. It took all of us to figure it out. Merit’s research found reports of homeless children who went missing, which, unfortunately, in some places isn’t that rare. There’s no way any of us would’ve caught the pattern by reading newspapers or watching the news. Even if we did notice a pattern, we would’ve had no reason to ascribe the disappearances to demons.”

  Nephthys was right, which didn’t make Nut feel better about her lack of perceptivity when it came to Set. They didn’t know how the alliance began just that there was one between Set and the demons. Somehow, after a century, a gateway opened between the two realms and demons began coming through. With the help of Set Ombos, they’d managed to live and hide among humans, while also preying on their children.

  She hadn’t sensed the threat, and Isis and Osiris had paid for her lack of vigilance. How was that not her fault?

  Nephthys leaned against Isis, their shoulders touching. “Set must have a demon contact he stays in touch with. Aset was discreet in her investigation. Paid off the right people to keep quiet. She also spied on the demon compound in Cairo from the air and at night using her shadow dragon magic. They wouldn’t have been able to see her. And Merit used satellites for the other compounds. None of the demons could’ve known we’d found their hiding holes.” Nephthys turned to Isis. “Did you ask Set about his contact? Do you think that demon is among the dead?”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  “Why not?”

  “I
saw him last night. Through the fire and smoke, I glimpsed Set’s rock dragon flying away from here. All I could think about, when I was with him this morning, was that his retreating back was probably the last image Osiris saw before the demon hordes overwhelmed him. He regrets nothing. You should’ve seen him. Lying, even in the face of my wrath. It took everything I had not to torture the answer to your question out of him before breaking every deceitful bone in his body then burning him to ash. Set doesn’t deserve to breathe one more day.”

  Isis’s reply not only answered her sister's question but revealed the violent, if not unstable state of the sun dragon’s heart. Vengeance made for the worst kind of meal—empty calories that provided a boost in energy but nothing of true value to the consumer.

  “He’ll serve his purpose, then he’ll die. Set will travel with us to Nebty, the way we planned. Now that I know he’s the traitor, his actions are predictable. His administrative assistant, on our directive, let it slip about her talk with Mother to Set. Like the coward he is, he panicked and called his demon contact. They planned what happened last night. The same way they planned the attack on Osiris and me. Cause, effect, and opportunity.”

  All Isis and Nephthys ever needed were the right data. Inductive logic, invariably, led to broad generalizations from specific observations and facts.

  Nephthys, when she spoke, sounded no different than Isis in her desire for Set’s blood and painful death.

  “We gave Set and the demons the opportunity the night of your baby shower. Set was still here when the Tyets and I left for the club. I remember him watching us prepare to leave. I thought he would ask to tag along, but he didn’t. I didn’t know if he planned on staying the night, like Makara, or drive back to Manhattan. That’s opportunity one. Osiris leaving Isis alone and taking his midnight flight by himself was opportunity two. He called Edjo, Hanif, and his demon contact.” Nephthys kissed Isis’s forehead. “We know what happened after that.”

  Her daughters. She loved them more than she valued her next breath, and she feared to lose them with the same intensity.

  “Have we delayed enough, Mother? We’ve rehashed much of what we talked about when everyone returned home last night. Are you ready to tell Nep and me how we became the Scepters of Nebty?”

  Nut wasn’t, but she would. They had no secrets between them. Except two. She steeled her resolve.

  “The scepters not only contained some of Wadjet’s and Nekhbet’s powers but were made from a genetic contribution from every preternatural.”

  Nephthys leaned up from Isis and scooted to the edge of the bench. “What do you mean by ‘genetic contribution’?”

  “Exactly that. The staff of the scepters was comprised of DNA from the first preternatural of each species type. The reason why the scepters were so accurate in reading the heart and soul of preternaturals wasn’t the magic alone but the goddesses’ powers mixed with preternatural genetic material.”

  “What are we missing? Why would the goddesses do that?”

  Nephthys posed the question, but Nut’s eyes went to Isis. Between the two, Isis normally led and the moon dragon followed. Except, from the way Isis met and matched her gaze, Nut had a feeling her daughter already surmised the answer.

  “The scepters gave dragons the power to rule the preternatural realm. We were always meant to be more than guardians of the Gateway of the Two Ladies. For centuries, your father and I did indeed rule the realm, although we permitted each species to appoint a local leader of their choice.”

  “You and Father allowed the demons to appoint Sansabonsom as king?”

  “No, Nephthys, we didn’t. Queen Taytu was the chosen demon leader. Understand, no demon can be trusted fully, but Taytu didn’t abide the killing and eating of children, even going so far as to outlaw both in the Demon Kingdom. Unfortunately, she chose a consort who usurped her power and took her life. That’s how Sansabonsom became Demon King.”

  Nut knew the minute Isis’s patience had run its course. Her eyes shifted from brown to red, although nothing else changed about her.

  “You’ve said a lot but still nothing at all. Let me tell you what I heard you not say. Wraiths, ghosts, specters, zombies, ghouls, Banshees and the like, what humans refer to as the undead, their genetic material formed the basis of the Scepter of Nekhbet. The genetic material of living creatures, such as gargoyles, trolls, fairies, and demons made up the Scepter of Wadjet. It explains why I can understand the Yumboes, having never heard or studied their language, and Nep cannot. Why my sister could control the demons after they were killed and why I knew the animal who attacked me was a demon, although I’d never seen one. I smelled him, and I knew exactly what he was.”

  Sometimes, there was nothing worse than seeing her shrewd, impatient, and arrogant self mirrored back at Nut through her daughters. Today, Isis was in rare form. Her rough edges were on display and her kind nature hidden beneath layers of anger.

  “We’re some genetic amalgam that was never meant to take living form, and I want to know why.”

  “Geb and I wanted hatchlings, but we couldn’t conceive. We sought out the help of a witch.”

  “Let me guess,” Nephthys interrupted, “the witch betrayed you and Father.”

  “No. She told me, to birth my heart’s desire, I must first swallow my pride and power. Geb and I didn’t understand until we returned to our realm and saw the scepters. For centuries, we did nothing, choosing to forego parenthood in lieu of ruling the realm the way the goddesses intended. Somehow King Sansabonsom discovered the truth about the scepters. Geb and I knew it was only a matter of time before he and his demons came for them. What we didn’t anticipate were dragons joining his cause.”

  Isis stood, her eyes hard and her voice arctic with disapproval and judgment. “So you ate the scepters to keep them away from the Demon King and not because you and Father decided you wanted hatchlings more than you coveted your power and pride. Did you even believe you’d become pregnant when you ate them? Or did you think you’d become the embodiment of the goddesses’ powers instead of the holder of them?”

  Nephthys spoke before Nut could muster an answer to Isis’s painful and hurtful questions.

  “That’s not fair. Mother loves us.”

  “She does now. Geb’s gone. Nebty’s gone. The scepters are gone. We’re all she had left.” Isis kept going, a soft-spoken but erupting volcano. “You once told me, ‘Isis, you may lie to others but never lie to yourself or to Nephthys and me.’ Well, you lied to us our entire lives. I’m part demon and whatever in the hell else Wadjet put in her scepter. Do you even know what we are? Because I sure as hell don’t. And I have no idea what I would’ve passed on to Asim if she’d lived.”

  Nut wanted to scold Isis for being dramatic and heartless. Wanted to defend her actions of a century ago, explaining that she and Geb had decided to become parents because they’d yearned to bring life into the world. But it would be another lie. They had chosen pride and power over parenthood.

  She got to her feet, knowing, if she said nothing, Isis would retreat behind a fortress of anger and distrust.

  “You think your father and I didn’t want you girls, but that’s not true.”

  “If you really wanted children, you wouldn’t have waited until a threat to your precious scepters arose before you had us. You kept your freak of nature twins safe and by your side, which meant you still controlled the scepters. Did Geb play a role in our paternity because sky and earth sure as hell can’t produce sun and moon dragons?”

  “Isis.” Nephthys jumped from the sofa bench and inserted herself between her sister and Nut. “Mother’s not your enemy, sheath your claws.”

  “You’re fine with everything she’s told us?”

  “Of course not. But I also know the way something begins isn’t how it always stays. I’ve never felt unwanted or unloved, and neither have you. You’re still mourning Asim and think it unfair that Mother, who didn’t want a hatchling, no less two, got us when you wanted your
daughter but didn’t get to have her.”

  Tears ran down Isis’s face, but when Nut went to reach for her daughter, Isis shoved past her and headed for the bedroom door.

  “Isis, don’t.”

  “It’s okay. Let your sister go.”

  “I’ll talk to her, once she calms down and has time to digest everything.”

  “What about you? Is there anything you want to say to me?”

  She braced herself. Of the twins, Nephthys had the least tact and the most mouth. Her daughter didn’t disappoint.

  “Isis put you on a pedestal, admiring you while also swallowing your bullshit. I never did. I enjoyed every flaw I could find because it meant you were as fallible as I felt. I hoarded your imperfections like humans believe dragons hoard gold. In my eyes, the cracks in your armor made you even more real to me and lovable. For Isis, you polished your image to a bright shine and tried to make the lie true for her, which means you deceived Isis far more than you have anyone else. She’s hurt and angry with you but also with herself.”

  Nut didn’t object when Nephthys wrapped her arms around her shoulders and squeezed. What she did do, to her surprise, but not to her shame, was weep.

  “It’s okay. Isis will have sex with Osiris, which will make her feel tons better.”

  Nut couldn’t help it, she laughed through her tears.

  After her argument with Nut, Isis had an indescribable need to visit her daughter’s gravesite. That had been an hour ago.

  She sat in front of the headstone, which now bore the name Asim Ombos. Nut had done as she’d promised and had Isis’s hatchling’s name engraved on the stone that marked her resting place. Isis lowered her head. Nut and Geb hadn’t wanted children in the same way Isis and Osiris had, but did that mean the earth and sky dragons loved their hatchlings any less than she loved Asim?

  Isis knew it didn’t, but learning how little value her parents had placed on parenthood stung all the way to her fire belly. Knowing Nut and Geb had sought out a witch to help them conceive meant little when compared to their lack of willingness to sacrifice for the hatchling they claimed they wanted. Isis would forfeit her life for that of Asim’s. At the same time, she couldn’t blame her parents for doing all they could to keep the scepters out of King Sansabonsom’s devious claws.