Repairer of the Breach (Stones of Fire Book 4)

by Sarah Ashwood

  “What is this, Nosizwe?” he asked, folding his arms once more across his chest. If he was afraid, he was doing a good job hiding it. “Do you think you’re going to scare me into submission by bringing your kitties out to play? I’ve faced far more intimidating situations than this over the course of the last few decades, I can assure you.”

  Elia raised her chin, her many braids sliding around her shoulder, the beads woven into her hair clinking against each other.

  “Have you, though?” she smirked. She beckoned with her hand. A man stepped forward, coming up next to her.

  Candace blinked in recognition. The bartender. From the Chesterfield Country Club. The one Candace had spoken with the night Elia kidnapped Ellie and forced Ballis into sacrificing himself for her. The one she’d flirted with. She felt like an idiot now. Of course, the bartender working a party for all these shapeshifters would be a shapeshifter himself. She should have known.

  No time for self-recrimination. Candace doubted the guy remembered her or cared. He stood beside Elia, the light gleaming on his ebony skin, a shade darker than the entertainer’s. There was no denying he was a handsome man, with his tall, muscular frame, his hair cut close to his scalp, and a well-trimmed beard circling his mouth and chin. A thin gold chain around his neck glinted wickedly in the headlights.

  Why was he here, though? Even as her brain processed the recognition, along with a strange pang of disappointment, Nosizwe—Elia—continued speaking, answering her own question.

  “Do you know who this is, Sean?”

  Costas looked decidedly unimpressed.

  “A shifter, I presume.”

  “You’d presume right,” the entertainer replied. “This is Adeola. A name denoting royalty. Adeola is a Nunda. You’ve heard of a Nunda, right, Sean?”

  Candace tore her gaze from Adeola to Costas. He flinched. Elia caught it too.

  “That’s right,” she said, almost gleefully. “He controls these animals, Sean. Look around you. We have an army. All Adeola has to do is give the signal. You may be able to defend yourself against some of them. With the help of your Talos, you might even get out alive. However, your Talos is going to be torn between protecting you and protecting that girl. Who do you think he’ll choose?”

  Now Candace cut her gaze towards Ballis and his wife. Still clothed in bronze flesh, his smooth face was unreadable. Nosizwe had a point. He was the best bet for getting Sean out alive, should there be an attack. However, could he possibly get both Sean and Ellie out? If it came down to it, who would he protect? His boss, or the woman he loved?

  Nosizwe went on. “All I have to do is give the signal, Sean. You’ll face a war from both Adeola’s animals and us. I think you know it’s a war you can’t win, not with the numbers you have here.”

  “You always were a lowdown treacherous snake,” Costas snarled. “I thought we agreed to an equal number of reinforcements.”

  “We agreed to an equal number of shifters,” Elia smirked. “I kept my end of the bargain. These animals aren’t shifters.”

  “No, they’re only controlled by one.”

  “It’s still fair,” the entertainer shrugged.

  “Not hardly.”

  Ignoring that, Elia challenged, “What will it be, Sean? You agree to give up all rights to the Stones, forever, to me. You agree to back down from your position. You hand control of your gang, your people, to me. All of them. Including him.” She nodded at Ballis. “I know the blood didn’t work this time, but we’ll keep at it. I want him. I want his blood when the time comes that I need it.”

  Costas appeared unmoved, still standing there stone-faced, arms folded over his chest.

  “And what am I supposed to gain in return?”

  “In return, we allow you to keep control of your other enterprises. No interference from me or my people, not even the ones who used to be yours. You’ll still have an empire, Sean. It’ll simply be a human one. You’re out of the shifter world.”

  “Don’t forget…” Ciara Costas interrupted.

  “Oh, yes, one more thing,” Elia tacked on. “Ciara wants her divorce. No contest. I won’t bother with the legal ramifications. I believe you and she had a prenup, so that’s up to your lawyers to battle out. However, she wants her divorce, her red cap, and full custody of her son.”

  Candace saw the mob boss’s steely gaze flash. “That’s never going to happen.”

  He sounded like he was speaking through clenched teeth. He probably was. Anger was rolling off him in waves. Elia seemed to be genuinely enjoying the moment. Around the two shapeshifter leaders, the tension had ratcheted up. Even the animals sensed it. Candace heard a few low growls from the gathered assembly of big cats. Fresh shivers snaked down her spine and she looked at Adeola. He stood there, tall, strong, confident, but how long could he really hold back a bunch of wild beasts? Could he truly control them?

  The detective’s finger caressed the trigger of her Glock, but she restrained the urge to shoot both Elia and Sean Costas, putting an end to their quarrel. She wasn’t a murderer. She wasn’t like them, unfortunately. Which meant she’d have to see how this thing played out, thereby putting her own life at risk.

  “Never? You do see what you’re facing here.” Elia swept her hand in a circle, encompassing the threats on all sides. “Are you sure you want to play the hero here?”

  “Go to hell,” Costas growled.

  “I might,” the entertainer chuckled. “But, if I do, I’m taking you with me.”

  She snapped her fingers. The world changed in an instant.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  All of the sudden, humans were animals or monsters or other unspeakable things Candace couldn’t identify. All of the sudden, there were terrifying flashes of black and orange. Of fur and claws and long, wicked teeth. Everything blurred into danger, adrenaline. The notion that they were being truly attacked, that their lives were on the line, had barely kicked in when Candace took aim, squeezing the trigger. She didn’t single out an animal. She didn’t even single out Adeola, who had shifted into some sort of monstrously huge cat that was nearly twice as large as the beasts he controlled. The idea had occurred that if she took him out, his animals might scatter. Quickly, she’d dismissed it, realizing there was a very good chance if she took him out that any control over the army of big cats would disintegrate and they might go berserk.

  Right now, the cats were mainly focused on Sean Costas, so Candace took down some sort of shapeshifter with glowing green skin and scales. Her curves said she’d once been a human woman, but the fangs and tail replacing teeth and legs were more like some kind of snake-creature. Candace didn’t even feel bad about killing her. Maybe she should have, not knowing what the woman was in her human life, but the shifter form was frickin’ disturbing.

  Besides, she comforted herself, the monster was coiling like it was about to strike, and the general direction had been Ellie.

  She thought.

  In the first few seconds of mass confusion, it was hard to keep track of who—really, what—was attacking who, or what. Right before her eyes, the detective was witnessing something few humans would ever get the chance to see. That didn’t make it more pleasant to be caught in the middle of. As the big cats swarmed towards Sean Costas, his shifters moved to defend him. Candace could never have begun to try and identify what they all were. Some kept a more or less human, upright appearance, and they were mostly the ones firing weapons, as well, instead of attacking the cats their own selves, throwing their own altered bodies into the fray.

  Sean Costas himself had reverted back to his animal form. Candace watched in a sort of sick horror as one lioness, smaller and more agile than the rest, made it through the circle of his defenders and jumped onto the bull-man’s back. The Minotaur roared, a deep, bellow that could likely be heard for a mile, reached up and grabbed its attacker, throwing her off.

  Directly towards Candace and Gary.

  It wasn’t until the lioness was hurtling through space,
coming towards them, that it even registered that Ellie was gone. In that split-second of terror, Candace had looked for Ellie to protect her, but Ellie wasn’t there. Gary dove out of the path, yelling something she couldn’t catch. Probably to get out of the way. However, taking the time to check on Ellie had proved costly. There wasn’t time for Candace to get out of the way. Sudden death registered in her brain as the lioness flew directly towards her, yowling an angry, vicious cry. Her mouth was open, showing her teeth, her claws extended, ready to rip into flesh as payback.

  She braced for the strike, the pain, but it never came. A shadow moved, enormous yet agile, slamming into the lioness and knocking her midair out of flight, throwing her off to the side. She rolled into the darkness beyond the circle of the headlights, yowling, and Candace didn’t see her again. What she did see was Adeola, the massive cat the bartender had shifted into, land gracefully inside the circle of meager light. Despite its size, the beast was light on its feet. It turned to glance back over its huge shoulder, its eyes catching hers. On instinct, Candace raised her gun and took aim, holding it in a steady, two-handed grip. But the animal’s eyes captured hers, arresting her with their humanity. They weren’t yellow, slitted feline eyes. They were dark brown, human, and contained recognition as they held hers. Confused, Candace felt herself involuntarily lowering her weapon.

  Did the bartender remember her from that night? Had their brief encounter made a big enough impression that he would’ve attacked one of his own beasts to defend her? She wasn’t exactly on his boss’s side, so it didn’t make sense that he would do that. Apparently, he had.

  Candace blinked, trying to process it all, but in an instant the gigantic feline had spun about, bounding off its haunches, leaping back into the battle. More shots rang out. If somebody had taken it down, she couldn’t tell. Anyway, the moment had passed, and she had to look out for herself and her partner.

  Confused about Ellie’s disappearance, Candace swung back around to where she’d last glimpsed the young woman, which had been right next to her. She was definitely not there. Where had she gone?

  A glimpse of light reflecting on bronze drew her attention. There was Ballis, in his altered form, as the Talos. He’d gone straight for his boss, which was to be expected. Except for the fact that Ellie was here, as well. He had to have chosen between the two. Had he, in fact, gone with years of service over his heart and chosen his boss over his wife? But Ellie wasn’t with Ballis, either.

  Candace searched for the girl, even as danger hurtled past all around. She’d largely forgotten her own safety, forgotten her partner. Not technically forgotten, but she was furious with him after Sean Costas’s little revelation tonight.

  He can look after himself, just like I can look after myself.

  Technically, Ellie could look after herself too. She could stand her ground. Nevertheless, Candace was on target to find her and make sure they both got out of this war alive, a war neither of them, honestly, should have ever been involved with. She ducked around careening bodies, avoiding wings, hooves, fangs, and claws. Her sole defense, besides her Glock, was the fact that angry shapeshifters seemed so intent on tearing each other apart that they were mostly ignoring her and Gary. Okay, she had checked on him. The two cops were nonentities, unless they happened to get in the way. She did have to pull her weapon on some creature that was slim and pale and almost translucent. A young man, she thought. It ran right up to her, weaponless, as far as Candace could tell. Nevertheless, with her Glock in its nose, and her snarling, “Back off,” it did, palms raised, and ran around her to be absorbed into the fray.

  Nice to know all of these other shifters aren’t impervious to bullets, like Ballis, she thought.

  Even as she did, a flash of light on blonde hair drew her focus.

  Ellie!

  She was behind enemy lines, so to speak, if one were taking sides. Candace wormed her way closer, struggling to make headway while staying safe. It was hard to tell at first, but as she neared, she could see Ellie was down on her knees in front of someone who was seated. It took crossing the line of battle, narrowly avoiding a confrontation with another of Adeola’s massive felines before she stumbled out of the battle and could distinguish who the person was.

  Ciara Costas.

  She was in her wheelchair, staring down at Ellie. The noise of the fight covered their voices.

  Candace couldn’t tell what was being said, but she could see Ellie was speaking to the wheelchair-bound woman in quick, earnest words. There wasn’t enough light to judge by the other woman’s face what she was thinking or how she was receiving Ellie’s message, but it seemed improbable that any good could come out of Ellie directly confronting Ciara Costas. As Candace carefully approached, she couldn’t help wondering what on earth the two women had to say to each other, especially right now.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The conflict exploded before I could take a breath. I knelt there, stunned by the insanity that had erupted around me. I’d seen bloodshed and fighting before, but not on this scale. I think I was in so much shock at how quickly it had escalated that I forgot to be scared. I was in a kind of confusion while all around me humans morphed into fantastical creatures and a pack of big cats surged into action.

  Someone shoved me. I jolted to my feet, catching my breath, to see Carter standing there in his human form.

  “Get out of here, Ellie,” he said hoarsely. His naturally olive skin looked pale, even in the bad lighting, and his eyes held real fear. “Please go. Now. Get in the car. Go. Don’t look back.”

  I could have argued. I could have stood my ground. But I understood that he was torn between fear for me and protecting his boss. Personally, I would’ve been happy for Sean Costas and Nosizwe to tear each other to pieces if it would end this infernal war, but Carter couldn’t refuse to defend his longtime mentor. For his sake, I nodded and whirled to run, ducking around flying shapes and shadows. None of the shifters seemed focused on me, only on each other. I’d made it to the edge of the fray when I stopped to look back and check on Carter.

  Even in the melee, I could pick out his gleaming bronze form as he picked up a male lion that had pounced for Sean’s Minotaur form, raised it over his head, and threw it off. Even now, despite everything, protecting that man who, in my opinion, didn’t give two craps about him.

  I changed my mind. I didn’t want him getting hurt or killed because of his misguided loyalties. And when I saw the terracotta warrior approach that he’d fought with in the coffee shop, I knew that was a distinct possibility. They’d brought up their own automaton to battle ours. Now Carter wasn’t merely defending himself or his boss, but taking on an equal.

  Great. I can’t leave now. What can I do?

  My gaze desperately roamed the scene. I couldn’t distinguish much, aside from the big cats and picking out a familiar shifter every now and then. Until my attention fell on a silent observer, tucked back a bit from the brawl, between two of the trucks that had been used to haul the Stones. The Stones, which now stood like an ancient ring of sacrificial, ceremonial stones around the carnage and bloodshed inside their borders.

  I shivered. Okay, you’re being a little melodramatic, I warned myself, switching my concentration back to the lone figure.

  It was Mrs. Costas, and I knew she wasn’t fighting because of her wheelchair and the physical limitations not being in or near water placed on her. I knew something else, too. In my hotel room earlier this evening, I’d looked up Merrows, studying them in an attempt to comprehend why her desperation to return to the sea had driven her to betray her husband. I still couldn’t say I understood, but I knew a little more about a Merrow’s power, and why, all those months ago, Britt, the bodyguard, had told me Ciara might look helpless, but she was actually incredibly powerful.

  Could I get her to use her magic? To intervene? To stop this insanity before everyone was slaughtered?

  I didn’t stop to consider the ins and outs. There wasn’t time. I dashed across the
rough, uneven ground, skirting the battlefield as best I could. Sure, I had my Beretta tucked into my jeans, but I didn’t want to use it unless I was forced.

  Luckily, after narrowly sidestepping a figure or two, who were more intent on killing each other than me, I crossed to the other side and worked my way over to Ciara Costas. Her head jerked up when I approached, her hand rising. The sleek, grey barrel of a gun was aimed at my chest, but I knelt, spreading my hands to show her I didn’t intend any foul play.

  “Don’t shoot,” I said.

  “Why not?” Her eyes were cold. “You’ve been a thorn in my side ever since you entered our lives.”

  I blinked at the hatred in her voice. “I—I’m sorry, Mrs. Costas,” I stammered, caught off guard by her animosity. I guess I’d figured anything she’d done to me was business, not personal. “I haven’t meant to be. I never meant to get involved in your world or your lives or…”

  “I know. I know you only meant to save a child’s life. Jackson is the sole reason I’m not pulling this trigger right now.”

  I gulped down my relief, resting temporarily in the fact that she wouldn’t outright murder the person who’d saved her son.

  “Mrs. Costas,” I said, glancing around nervously, “Where’s your bodyguard? Where’s Darla?”

  “After her blast at the mansion this afternoon, she had to recover. That shift takes a lot out of one, you know.” She smirked at her wisecrack. “Don’t worry. Still plenty of shifters around who could tear you to shreds. What do you want, Ellie?”

  “Look, we don’t have to like or trust each other to want the same thing: stopping this insanity before everyone is dead and there’s nobody and nothing left. Can we at least agree on that?”