Mad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 2)

by Donna McDonald

  “Damn, you lost your stuff and your dignity,” Lake said. “Shit got real for you fast.”

  Sugar nodded. “As real as it gets.”

  “How he’d make it up to you?” Lake asked, truly curious.

  “It’s too complicated to explain.” Sugar removed her arm from around him and tapped fingers against her glass. “Want some advice about Gina?”

  Lake turned and tried not to look too interested. “Sure.”

  “Ignore her. Look at other females but don’t make any Lyran social engagements. If you do, Gina’s never going to give you a chance.”

  Lake chuckled. “I can do that. Who’s the babe with Caesar of Rodu?”

  “Someone off-limits as well. Don’t you have any boundaries? She’s Caesar’s.”

  “Are you Axel’s?”

  Sugar sighed and nodded. “Yes. He’s a good guy, Lake. He’s just…”

  “Passionate,” Lake said, finishing Sugar’s statement.

  “Right,” Sugar said with laugh.

  “I only know because he told me that in the bathroom.”

  Sugar put her hands over her ears. “Stop. Don’t tell me any more.”

  Lake laughed and smiled. Then his chest started hurting—bad.

  “Lake?” Sugar called, grabbing his arm to hold him in place.

  “My chest hurts—vibrating. Something’s happening.”

  Sugar looked around for Rodu. He wasn’t in the throne room. She caught Axel’s eye and looked at Lake. In three strides, Axel was across the room.

  “Get us out of here. We need privacy. Fast…” Sugar whispered.

  Axel smiled calmly and pointed at the door. “Okay. Let’s take a walk.”

  Lake put a hand to his chest. Walk? How could he walk? It was work just to breathe. “I’m dying,” he rasped.

  “You’re not dying, but panic makes it worse, so try not to be scared. And try not to fight what’s happening to you. It will be alright. We’ll help you get through it,” Sugar assured him, hooking her arm through his to help drag Axel drag Lake out of sight.

  In the hallway, Axel looked over at the guards. “Go inside the throne room and stay with the queen until I return. Send someone to find Rodu and tell him Sugar’s visitor is ill.”

  When they disappeared to do as he’d ordered, Axel swept a now gasping Lake up into his arms. “Training room is the closest place,” he said, running with his load.

  Inside the vacant training, Axel carefully laid the now gasping boy on the mat.

  “Artifact, what’s happening to him?” Sugar asked.

  Communication blocked. Protector attempts repair.

  “Is Lake dying again?” Sugar demanded.

  Negative. Pain great. Fix required.

  “Tell the Protector blade not to harm us when it surfaces.”

  Protector knows.

  “Why am I not reassured by that?”

  Humans doubt. Protector not human.

  Sugar grunted. “Yeah… well… sarcasm is human too, and you do that as much as I do.”

  Lake’s body thrashed and rolled. He clutched his throat, unable to speak.

  “Come on. Get it done. Why is it taking so long?” Sugar complained.

  Axel reached across the boy’s body and lifted Sugar’s chin to direct her gaze to his. “Lake Allen Wright is brave—just as you were when we met. He will learn to deal with his blade just as you did yours.”

  Sugar nodded against Axel’s fingers. “Great. Now you decide to be calm. Guess that’s a good thing because I’m completely freaking out here.”

  She closed her eyes, took a breath, and rose reluctantly to her feet.

  “Doing this is the only way I know how to help him, but if the artifact hurts this dress, there’s going to be serious hell to pay.”

  Axel grunted at her teasing and watched with concern as Sugar touched the trident point hidden deep between her breasts. He winced as he watched her conversion. In all the time they’d been together, he’d only watched the process in reverse. It was apparent how painful it was by the agony showing on Sugar’s face. Is this what his mother said he had to live with? Watching a kind of suffering he could do nothing in his power to change?

  Sugar looked down at Lake and gasped as the pain of the change overwhelmed her. She struggled to stay herself long enough to explain. “It always hurts, but the pain fades quickly. Let it happen, Lake. The only choice is to go through it. There is no denying the change.”

  Her throat rose into the air as her mind took on more significant proportions. When the conversion was done, she was covered in gold.

  Her eyes were direct, clear, and pain-free when she finally looked back down. “Greetings, Protector. I await your presence.”

  Lake gritted his teeth and arched his throat almost involuntarily. Sugar watched as a blue veil of energy shot from his chest and covered Lake in blade battle armor. I wonder if my armor was ever blue like Lake’s.

  Negative, the artifact inside her said, answering her thoughts. Protector Sugar chose gold.

  But the choice explained nothing about why Rodu’s blade energy was black and hers was golden. She could see Lake the human fading more and more as the confident blue Protector blade took over his body.

  Her ballsy lover reached out a hand to help the new Protector stand up. Sugar watched the entity controlling Lake accept the help cautiously while searching Axel’s face.

  “Greetings. You are Axel of Rodu, Lyran Guardian of Protector Sugar.”

  “Yes. Greetings,” Axel responded.

  Then the new Protector turned to her. “Greetings, Protector Sugar. It has been a long time.”

  “Yes,” Sugar heard herself say with no idea why.

  Sharing a brain worked like that but she didn’t understand how. The host of blade spoke directly and the blade spoke directly too. It was a very symbiotic thing to feel two distinct personalities functioning inside her and yet acting with one accord.

  Right now both blades were talking directly through her and Lake. She and Lake weren’t really part of the exchange. If the new Protector was anything like hers had been in the beginning, then Lake wasn’t technically even present. He would likely have no memory at all of today.

  “State condition of your host,” Sugar heard her artifact calmly order.

  “Host Lake lives. It was too early to attempt such a complete change, but the danger was too large to not risk it. I needed to communicate my warning fully.”

  Sugar felt her personality surge back into the mix. “Warning? About what?” she asked, forgetting geek-speak as she addressed Lake’s blade.

  The blade who controlled Lake put a hand to his head and another to his throat. “Attack of Lyran traitors is imminent. Guardian leader is in danger.”

  “Queen Nyomi’s in danger?” Sugar gasped the question in shock.

  Axel morphed to his panther form and took off running.

  Sugar looked back at Lake under the influence of the new Protector blade. She was pretty sure the blade had pushed the real Lake completely to the side and out of trauma’s way.

  But she wasn’t sure what to do with him while she went to help Axel’s family. How unstable was Protector Lake in this rushed condition?

  And where was Rodu the Destroyer? They needed him. She needed him.

  “Destroyer Rodu has been detained,” Protector Lake said, answering her unspoken thoughts.

  “Detained? Detained where?”

  Protector Lake frowned. “I am searching for his location now.”

  Sugar watched the entity in Lake rubbing his head again. It seemed to be struggling to use Lake’s mind the way it wanted. She reached out and touched the blue-veiled being on the shoulder. Their power mingled briefly with the contact. It was an indescribable sensation to experience another blade.

  Sugar pulled back in awe and let her artifact ask the next question. “Can you search for Destroyer Rodu’s location while we move about?”

  “I can try. Cognitive functions in the new host ar
e slow. Recalculations may be necessary. Symbiosis has only progressed to eight percent which limits my abilities.”

  “We acknowledge your struggle, Protector Lake. Your host is still healing from the initial merge,” Sugar heard her artifact say. It was amazing how much better the artifact could talk when she let it take her over.

  They headed for the door and Sugar held it open for Protector Lake to pass through. “Is the attack coming from someone internal or external?” Sugar asked, interjecting herself again.

  His body stumbled at the question but kept moving. “Multiple queries are difficult. My host’s brain struggles to handle your additional requests.”

  Sugar nodded as they walked towards the throne room. Up ahead, she heard a panther growling.

  “Internal attack,” Protector Lake said finally.

  Sugar felt panic flare within her again. “Why didn’t I know about the attack if you knew? Why did you have to manifest fully in your host to tell us?”

  Protector Lake slowed to a panting walk. “I was programmed for remote viewing. The host need not participate for that. Destroyer learned of the attack at the same moment I did but he was prevented from taking action.”

  Her heart thudded hard and then her chest clenched. “Is Host Rodu still alive?” Sugar asked.

  “The Destroyer blade had to make a new communication path to respond to me. At this moment, Host Rodu still lives.”

  “Good,” Sugar said, breathing better. “Do you know the names of those planning the attack?”

  “Negative. Host brain is incapable of handling such a task. More recovery is needed. More symbiosis must occur. Becoming one with Host Lake is a complex process. It must be done carefully to avoid damage.”

  “Okay. If I have to fight this fight alone, I’m not taking any chances.” Sugar put a hand out to her side and a golden sword extended from it with just a single thought.

  There were no elite guards at the doors of the throne room when they opened it to enter. Inside, she saw everyone had moved forward to surround the throne.

  “Stay beside me, Protector Lake. Don’t let anyone pull you away,” Sugar quietly ordered her counterpart.

  “Order acknowledged,” he answered just as quietly.

  The crowd glanced over their shoulders when they saw her and Lake striding toward the throne. They must have presented quite the sight in their shiny, blue and gold glory because the crowd parted to let them both pass through.

  At the base of the throne, they stopped to take in what was happening. A brooding panther now guarded his queen. Sugar watched as Axel’s eyes constantly scanned the crowd looking for someone to kill.

  A hot-eyed Nyomi was slowly removing a sparkling rod that had been holding up her long hair. She spoke a command and the rod extended into a spear with a deadly-looking crystalline tip.

  Following Nyomi’s glare, Sugar’s gaze dropped to the floor. Nyomi’s foot was on a male’s windpipe. She wasn’t allowing him to talk.

  “Do not kill him yet,” Sugar ordered, her blade enhanced voice booming in the confines of the small room. Everyone stopped whispering to glare at her for daring to give orders to their queen. “We need answers first.”

  Nyomi paused but continued to grip the spear. She barely moved her foot enough to let him get a breath.

  Sugar walked forward until she could look down at the male Lyran on the floor. He was one of those who looked like a cat. Growling in anger, he glared up at her with hate in his eyes. How many more Lyrans felt the way he did? Their bias against Rodu now extended to her and Lake. She could see that bringing Lake here was probably the tipping point that set this attack in motion.

  The male growled, yowled, and fought unsuccessfully to escape Nyomi. “Humans,” he spat. “Your species deserves to die. You are uncivilized heathens.”

  Sugar ignored his scathing words. He was both right and wrong, but his attack made it clear that his mind was unchangeable. “Where is Rodu?” she demanded.

  “You’re too late,” the angry cat spat at her. “Go ahead and kill me because I will tell you no more.”

  Sugar felt Lake’s hand on her arm. She turned to look at him as his body moved forward. The vibrating sword in her hand retracted at his touch which caused the watching Lyrans to sigh in relief. Protector Lake knelt down, pushed Nyomi’s foot gently aside, and put his hand across the Lyran’s throat. He whispered a series of words that Sugar did not understand, but she watched his hand glow more vibrantly blue.

  “Speak only truth,” Protector Lake finally ordered in English.

  Sugar watched the man squirm and gasp in rebellion. Blue energy wrapped around Lyran’s throat and penetrated the cat man’s skin. Lake’s hand, powered by the blade, kept a firm grip while it happened.

  He finally turned back to speak to her. “He is ready. Repeat your query.”

  Sugar looked at the struggling cat. “Where is Rodu?” she demanded. The man struggled like a fly caught in a spider’s web.

  The Lyran yowled in protest as the words unwillingly were ripped from his throat. “In a cryogenic chamber… flash frozen… poisoned. A fitting end to an unfit consort. His children will be next to fall. Then the queen will belong to us again. If not, she will die as well. We are Lyrans, not Earthlings. Some of us have no desire to become as inferior as those we guard.”

  A furious Axel roared over the insults and the sound of it shook the room. Sugar didn’t blame him, but getting angry wouldn’t change anything. The words were from someone with a limited mind unwilling to change their point of view. The Lyran’s heart was closed to the truth. There was no magic in the world strong enough to overcome such a deeply rooted hatred.

  “Rodu?” Nyomi whispered his name in shock as she stumbled backward, her free hand clutched to her heart at the thought of his suffering. Sugar noted her other hand still held the spear and never let it drop. The woman was a warrior through and through, but Rodu’s death at the hands of one of her people might actually break her.

  “Death has not happened yet. Make haste to save him,” Protector Lake advised.

  But Nyomi could not and would not leave her throne while a traitor was trying to take it. She looked to the panther at her side. “Save him if you can, Axel.”

  The command was given to her firstborn, but all the children of Rodu went running—three as human and one still as a panther. Guards and medical help followed closely behind.

  Everyone that remained looked to their matriarch and waited to see what would happen next—what she would order to be done.

  Sugar looked at Lake. There was only one thing left. “Does the Lyran know anything more?”

  The blue energy returned to Lake’s hand as he released his grip on the man’s throat. He shook his head as he stood. “This male has told us all he knew of the matter. I cannot see clearly beyond his thoughts, but I sense those who helped him gloat in secret.”

  He looked down at the Lyran male again and then back up at the worried queen. “Your enemy is of no further use to our cause. He has blocked me from knowing his comrades. He does not know what kind of poison was used. Destroyer Rodu’s body could not compensate for the effects of the poison in time for him to save himself from being incapacitated. He fell to their combined stealth.”

  Nyomi righted herself as she listened. She straightened to her normal, intimidating height and clamped her jaw. “Are you certain of what you say?”

  “Yes. I am certain,” Lake’s blade assured her.

  Without ceremony, Nyomi drew upwards and then plunged the spear into the cat man’s head and twisted it until his skull shattered in multiple pieces.

  Outwardly, Sugar stood her ground while justice was being served, but that was possible only because of the artifact’s satisfaction with it. Sugar, the human, winced and pulled back from the violence. Lyran blood and brains splashed up onto her dress and Lake’s suit because they both had been standing so close.

  Wrestling her gaze from the destruction, Sugar glanced down at her ruined b
lue dress. When she was entirely her human self again, she would mourn its loss. The once beautiful dress would now be consigned to the recycler or burned if the fabric could not be reused.

  Sugar turned to Lake who seemed unaware that he was covered in bits of the cat man’s brain matter. That was Lake’s blade blocking out all of Lake’s human awareness. Sugar understood now why the entity in her had prevented her from collecting bad memories until she was strong enough to deal with having them.

  Reaching out a hand, Sugar wiped what she could from Lake’s face and transferred what didn’t shake off her fingers to her now ruined dress. She could swear she heard the artifact inside her laughing at her actions. She was starting to appreciate the value of being stoic about such things.

  “Thank you again for the warning about Destroyer Rodu. You were right to come forward,” Sugar heard the artifact in her saying.

  Protector Lake’s head bowed in acknowledgment. “Your gratitude is appreciated. Host recovery requires imperative rest.”

  “Yes. Let’s return to your quarters.”

  Lake’s eyes suddenly moved back and forth rapidly. “Random flashes are occurring. Rodu has been found.”

  Sugar watched as Lake’s body spasmed and fell to the floor after the announcement. The blue energy of his armor began to disappear back inside his chest slowly. She pulled Lake’s unconscious form upright and put him quickly over one shoulder.

  Rodu had been right. Lake was far too tall for her to carry comfortably. Yet carrying him was the only way she could think to keep the too curious Lyrans around them from seeing any more than they already had. They could no longer be trusted.

  Sugar turned to Queen Nyomi when she had positioned Lake across her shoulders as best she could. The queen was still glaring at the Lyran she’d killed. He must have been someone Nyomi had trusted. She appeared to still be in shock over what had just occurred.

  “Lake requires rest. I will return shortly,” Sugar said in her booming artifact voice to get Nyomi’s attention.