by Bryce Evans
The sister stone’s energy flowed through her giving her knowledge, whispering to her the spells she needed. Only she could hear it. The spell she cast was only a whisper on her lips. The sister stone had given her what she needed.
“Not this time, Nick. You will die today.”
“Die? You’re not strong enough and you will never outdo me. You will go down just like your mother. But before I kill you, I’m going to have a little taste before you die. We are going to have some fun.”
Before Nick could move, Sage’s hands flew up, this time immobilizing Nick. His hands and legs froze. The only things that could move were his eyes. Even his mouth stood open in disbelief.
She could hear her mate thundering through the woods, trying to get to her. It sounded like a herd as all the Alphas and their guards came to a stop right behind her. She held her hand up, stopping them from advancing. She needed to do this for Brody and all the others. The growls, even in his human form, were fierce coming from Brody, but no one moved, allowing her to finish.
Sage flicked her wrist, saying the spell releasing her bear guard from the hold that the wizard had him under. The bear was locked in a rage. His eyes glazed over, lost to the fury. Nick could only watch as the bear ripped his claws against the ground. Sparks flew off the hard ground as claws hit bits of rock. She could hear the snort of his anger as he closed in.
“I think you should know how helpless it feels when you can’t fight off someone who holds control over you. If you must know, I won’t get any satisfaction out of this.” Brody wrapped an arm around her, pulling her back away from what was going to happen. Sweat trickled down Nick’s face when the bear stood up on his hind legs.
Brody’s breath shook against her. She could feel his fear of what could have happened to her. He bent down, inhaling her scent. His body was still taut with tension as he held on to her even tighter. Sage rubbed her hands up and down the band of steel harnessing her. She felt safe and protected, and knew she belonged to the gentle giant who was her mate.
The sound of impatience penetrated the air as the bear waited for that one command from his Alpha to take the life that dared to touch his Alpha’s mate. She needed this man to feel the fear from all the women he had violated in the past. Nick Bernstein could have been a great wizard and a great leader, but he chose to inflict pain on the people he swore to protect. He’d become a monster. Nick was perfect for Claudia.
“I get no satisfaction in this Nick, but I get pride out of knowing that you will never hurt another woman again, and this is one step in protecting my family and friends. Remember this…Claudia ran and left you here to die. Remember that!” Sage nodded to the bear.
Brody didn’t have to give the order; Sage watched as the massive paw from the bear reached out and drug his claws down the side of Nick’s face before hitting the jugular in his neck. Blood spewed out, seeping into the ground. Every breath Nick took slowed his heart until finally his heart stopped beating.
Sage whispered the spell releasing his body. She watched as his body fell to the ground. Nick was dead and it didn’t bring her peace, but it comforted her knowing that he would never harm another person again.
She turned around, hugging her mate closer, needing his comfort. An alarm rang in her head, where was MJ?
She was barely able to breathe when she whispered, “MJ?” Brody glanced around but she wasn’t with the other bears. “She went to take out the guard that was in the tree in front of the house.”
“Find MJ.” Brody commanded. His bears turned and raced back toward the house.
Sage didn’t wait. Her friend might be in trouble. She broke away from Brody and started running toward the house.
“What the hell is going on?” Ryder yelled.
Chapter Fourteen
Before she could take another step, Brody had picked her up and slung her around his arm to his back. She grabbed hold of his shoulder as Brody ran so fast that she had to close her eyes. She laid her head against his back and waited for him to stop.
She raised her head once she felt him slowing down. When she opened her eyes she almost laughed out loud, but she couldn’t. MJ had the guard tied to a tree. His arms were tied above his head, his eyes were blindfolded, and his mouth had duct tape across it. But what made it so funny was that MJ had stripped the wizard naked.
MJ was dressed and sitting in a chair, waiting for everyone to get back. She even had her laptop out and was typing something.
“MJ?” Sage called out. She suppressed the laugh that was bubbling out of her. It was funny, but this woman was so…over the top, and she loved that about her.
“Everything okay?” MJ asked, still typing.
“Yeah…hmm, everything okay with you?” Sage asked.
“Yep.” MJ closed her laptop and stood up. “I thought Me-Len would like to get some information out of him before I killed him.”
When Sage looked closer at the guard, she noticed he had a black eye. His nose had been bleeding but had since dried. Sage glanced over at the others who were standing there, listening. They, too, looked shocked at how emotionless MJ was. Even her Alpha, Judd, was staring at her. But they just didn’t know her. Even though they thought she was ruthless, MJ was just different. She never got close to anyone. That way, she kept her feelings deep inside so nobody could hurt her. Sage understood that about her now. They had become blood sisters and MJ would always have a friend with her.
Nobody said anything, they just stared at her, and she knew that would bother MJ. She turned to her grandmother and asked, “Me-Len, can you get the information from him? We need to know what they were searching for in the woods.”
Me-Len’s expression sobered. She walked over and patted MJ on the shoulder. “Good job, MJ.”
Placing her hands on the side of his head, Me-Len muttered a spell, taking every piece of information the wizard had in his head.
Meryl stood beside his mate and caught her when she started to fall to the ground. Sage knew how much energy it took for Me-Len to do the spell. She would need to eat and sleep in order to recover.
“Take her in the house. I will get her some food.” Brody ordered. Meryl nodded and followed one of the bears to the back door.
“Lex, take everyone in the house and start cooking. We don’t have much time before we have to leave. I need to talk to Sage.”
Nobody argued with him. Even his friends and guards followed Lex into the house, leaving them alone. Sage stared up into her mate’s eyes. He knew she needed a minute to regroup. Plus, she needed a moment just to touch her mate. She needed him as much as she needed air to breathe. Throwing herself at him, Sage hugged him.
“I was so scared,” Brody whispered in her ear. “I knew before I left that something was going to happen. I could feel it inside of me. I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.”
“Brody, you can’t be with me every minute of the day.” She pulled away from him and smiled. “Well, I know you would try but it’s not possible and plus, I would go crazy if you did that. You have a job to do and yes, we will be together a lot, but sometimes we won’t, and,” Sage placed her finger over his lips, “you have to let me handle some things myself.”
“I know, but I don’t like it. I want to protect you from everything. I made a promise the day we found your mom. I promised that not one hair on your head would ever be hurt again. And I almost lost you.” Brody’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat and glanced away.
“Brody.” Sage pulled his chin until he was staring at her again. “You do protect me, but you had to go and deal with the twins. You are the Alpha of the King Bears, and you’re a great Alpha who has a lot of responsibilities, and that’s why I love you. It shows just how much you care about your people. That’s what I love the most about you. Don’t ever change that. I love you, my gentle giant, and you have done more for me than anyone in my life. Thank you.”
Brody bent down and brushed her lips against his and for a brief moment everything faded away except
each other.
* * *
Brody wanted to pick Sage up and run away to the hidden cave he had on his land. Nobody knew about it except Lex. They had decided to keep it a secret in case they had to have another place to go underground.
He didn’t care that everyone was waiting on them, all he wanted was to wrap his body around her and hold her close, protecting her from any harm. This was too close for him. Nick the snake was what they called him, and he had almost gotten to her. Now he knew that Claudia was crazy enough to send men to his land. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill his mate or any of his clan. He wouldn’t leave his mate’s side until Claudia was dead. Today she got too close.
“Brody?” Sage whispered against his chest.
Pulling back from her, Brody stared into her beautiful green eyes. “Yes?”
“Look at me. I’m okay. I stood up to him and I won. I hope now your people will accept me as your mate,” Sage whispered.
Brody pulled her away from him. “They will accept you, Sage, because you are my mate. I had so many people come up to me today asking when they would get to meet my beautiful mate. They already know all about you. Lex has told them how brave you are and what you did for them. They already accept you and love you. No more thinking like that, okay?”
Brody’s heart broke at Sage’s admission. She stood up to a killer to show his clan that she was worthy of being his mate. Silly girl. How could he love her more than he did already? “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
“Let’s go inside and see what the others have planned for Jamal.”
Sage nodded, her lips brushing against his neck making him shiver.
“If you keep doing that we aren’t going to make it inside.” Brody said as desire flickered to life inside of him. All Sage had to do was look at him and he was flying high on her. His body was already reacting to her touch.
Reluctantly Brody pulled away and picked up her hand. As they walked inside to join the group, everyone was gathered around the kitchen table, they heard Zoey describing what they had come up with.
“Well, we decided to use the flowers around the city, placing them in certain areas, making sure we have the entire city covered. When Jamal flies in the city we will know or if Claudia shows up then we will know. We made sure to put face recognition on the server so it’s constantly searching for them. Also, with the information Sage gave us, it wasn’t hard to get most of Claudia’s minions’ pictures. They have also been entered as well. This will give us a huge advantage in keeping up with them. Also, as of ten minutes ago, Knox and Ransom have placed the bees in some bushes that were blooming right outside the house Claudia is at. They let us know that she did have lookouts, but they never even saw them. Fortunately, her people doesn’t have the skills that Knox and Ransom have. They are placing the flowers all around the area so we can get different views of the compound. We also decided that small bushes would work better than flowers so they have put them around the city and compound too. Once they arrived in the area, they sent me a text telling me that they put some of the bushes down the roadway, which will give us more points of view of who is coming into the property and when they are leaving. We will be able to send out our people to follow whoever is leaving, to find out who we are dealing with. I know that if it’s some of her guards then we plan to take them out. The less people she has, the better. I think that’s all we have for right now.”
“Sounds like we will be getting some great video of who is coming into the city and at the compound,” Nolan said, nodding in approval.
“What happened with the twins?” Sage asked, concerned.
“When they walked inside the lodge, I hit them with the spell. Once I put them under the new spell, they actually looked relieved. When you are messing with dark magic, it puts a strain on your body and mind. I’m sure the twins did feel some relief. That’s how I felt after they left. But I can’t speak for Brody.” Me-Len answered, then looked over at him. Everyone could feel the tension in Brody at the mention of the twins. His heart was strained on what to do, but he’d made a conscious decision to do what was best for everyone in Alpha City.
“I agree with Me-Len. They actually appeared to be relieved once Claudia’s spell was off of them. We also put trackers on their cars and phones. Lex put hidden cameras in their house in case Claudia gets by us somehow, like she did today. She slipped in undetected. We can’t allow that to happen again,” Brody stressed, the knuckles on his hand became white as he clenched his hands into fists. Today had made him scared. He was scared for his mate and for all of them. “Look at what she did to the twins. They never had a clue. Never had a chance. Now we can watch the twins and see if they are in trouble. Lex owns the house next door to the them, and we have put men in it to keep an eye on them.” Brody continued. He could see the tension leaving his mate’s shoulders once he explained all the extra precautions he had placed on the twins.
“We went to visit Bo and Cat and found out that they have already made the move. They understand about Jamal and have already found some caves for themselves and their people to go in for protection. They haven’t had time yet to get it set up, but they have put enough provisions inside to get them through until the morning. Bo and Cat are very special people, and they have offered their help. We should have enough people if we can come up with something that will help defeat the dragon,” Judd added.
“I guess that’s where you come into play, MJ and Sage. Did you find anything in the books that we could use against Jamal?” Ryder asked.
MJ frowned before she answered. “We didn’t find anything in the books. We still have more to go but we didn’t find any mention of a weapon. I’m running a scan of all the books Brody gave me and if there is any mention of weapons or dragons the computer will let me know. It should help us go through the books more quickly.” Brody could tell that MJ hated the fact that she hadn’t come up with some type of weapon.
“Hmm, London, I know you and the girls are good at computers, but maybe this is just stupid and too sci-fi for this to even exist.” He watched as Sage rubbed her palms down her jeans.
“Go ahead, baby.” Brody urged her to finish.
“If I’m out there in left field, just tell me. I was just thinking about something that would penetrate the dragon’s skin and it just popped into my head. What about a laser of some kind? One that has so much energy that it can cut through his skin?”
Brody glanced around the room when no one said anything. He actually thought it was a brilliant idea. He was going to say so, but Nolan spoke up. “You know, that’s a good idea. We just need to find the right kind of laser that would do that. Any suggestions?”
“I remember when I worked for the Landon Company, they had a division that was top secret. They only work on inventions for the military, but I was asked to make a certain chip that would allow whatever they had on top to swivel around and point wherever they wanted. It was easy to make it and when I asked why they needed it, they never answered me. The day I brought it to them, I caught a glimpse of what they were making. It was a laser that was pointed toward a piece of metal, and it appeared to be something you would put on a tank. That laser was cutting through it like a hot knife cutting through a piece of butter. The door was quickly shut in my face, but I know what I saw…and Sage, that is a brilliant idea. I think it may work.” London smiled at her cousin.
“The hard part is getting a laser big enough and fast enough to keep up with the dragon flying around. This isn’t something we just buy in the store. Hell, I doubt it’s even out there on the black market. Can we make one like that?” Ryder asked, staring at his mate.
“They already have a CO2 laser that companies use to cut through metal. What if we put together a custom-made rifle that we can mount the laser on? We could even put sights on the end of it.” MJ answered. She turned her laptop around and showed the group a picture of the laser.
“I think it will work. Ryder, call Landon and ask him. I
bet he can get us one just like that. Nobody has to know why we need it,” Judd said.
“You know, I did keep a copy of the chip I made so it would be easy to build one with a laser that could swivel on something and fire at the dragon. We could put in a recognition chip that only targets the dragon.” London nodded at Sage.
“Make the laser on the platform, then chase him, and fire at him. Then we use the rifle laser to put him down.” Sage added.
“You girls are vicious. I would hate to piss you off!” Nolan laughed.
“Someone did piss us off, and now they are going to pay and continue to pay until there is nothing left of them,” Sage stated, anger and hurt warring with each other in her eyes.
Brody pulled Sage against him. It was her idea and it was brilliant. She was such a creative person and it turned him on. The only thing missing right now on his mate was a pair of glasses. He loved the smart ones. The ones that surprised you and were total freaks hidden away until you brought that side of them out to play. His body was on fire thinking about her sitting on the couch, with nothing but a book in her hand and a pair of glasses on. Damn he needed to reel it in and douse this fire brewing inside of him. Now wasn’t the time.
“I will call him after the meeting and see if he can help us out. He owes me a favor anyway. Well actually, he owes London a big favor.” Ryder answered bringing Brody out of his lust-filled daydreams. It was just as well, since he needed to get his head back into the game.
“We will never get the laser here in time, but we had already discussed using the fireman hoses and some sort of high-pressured device—like a power washer—to shoot water at him. It may not hurt him, but it’s going to distract him enough for some of you to get off some good shots,” Brody said, he only hoped this gave them an edge.
