Scent Of A Mate: League Of Gallize Shifters

by Dianna Love

  His words were a mere whisper and filled with love. “Then run when I fight. Please live.”

  Gan didn’t understand every word sometimes. He didn’t realize she held more than his life in her hand. She would keep her vow if she bargained only for him, but she held all the lives present, and Fayth’s, in her hands as well.

  Her father would make them suffer slowly in front of her.

  Teàrlach shook his head and made a disgusted sound. “Yar no worth the effort of givin’ my precious seed for. I’m glad yar no the only one I bred.”

  Her stomach dropped. There were more like her that he could use?

  Teàrlach now sounded as if he would intentionally break their deal. Wouldn’t that have a backlash on him?

  She’d made a grave mistake all right. She’d failed to gain his word not to kill her.

  She should have realized negotiating with the monster she called father meant he’d have a trick card up his sleeve to protect him from a broken agreement.

  “So now you’re not proud of your creation?” she taunted, but only to buy time for some way to stop him. “Did you expect me to be spineless? To just stand by as you hurt someone I love?”

  “Love?” Teàrlach laughed with gusto. “I had no idea ya would turn out so damaged. Our kind doesna love. We rule. Yar not worthy of my blood.” Casting a look across everyone, he declared, “No one who observed this will live to tell about it.”

  Oh, shit.

  Chica said, He fears you. Your power is stronger.

  Scarlett said, I can’t bet everyone’s life on attacking him.

  Teàrlach shouted, “You have poisoned blood, daughter. You have joined with a lowly animal. For that, you forfeit all you protect and your life.” He lifted his hands in Gan and Scarlett’s direction.

  She dove in front of Gan, who grabbed her in his arms and swung her around.

  He dropped her when Teàrlach’s magic struck his back.

  In one second, the powerful hit lit up Gan’s body in a blue glow as if he had been hit by a live power line. His teeth chattered. His muscles expanded. Veins stuck out at his throat and along his arms. His eyes rolled up.

  She screamed and grabbed for Gan. Power flooded her. Chica yelled to save them. Scarlett forced her energy to him, unsure if she could actually do it again.

  He groaned.

  Her heart thundered. He’d live.

  She eased him to the ground then swung around to find her father studying Gan as if shocked his strike had not killed at least one of them.

  “You monster!” She took a step toward him.

  Robert’s gaze jerked to her. He snarled out words full of power and slapped a hand at her.

  The hit knocked her off her feet and had her seeing her life race before her eyes. She sucked in a gulp of air and made a hoarse sound of agony.

  She would not stop.

  He would not stop her.

  He hit her again.

  She screamed. Energy crackled close to her ear and sizzled across her scalp. She struggled to her feet.

  The demented Power Baron lowered his hands, looking a little spent as if he’d emptied the majority of his accessible power, or his manna, on them.

  Standing once more, she narrowed her gaze and flexed her hands where claws shot out.

  Behind her, Gan scuffled around, hissing in pain. Then his arms came around her. He latched his big hands on her arms and said, “We fight as one. With our animals.”

  Energy sizzled through her, shooting down her arms and into her hands that glowed blue.

  If they were going to die, they would die together.

  With Gan’s solid weight behind her, she lifted her arms so loaded with energy they hurt. Before starting forward, she told Gan, “Time to kick ass and take names.”

  Teàrlach stared with a slack jaw. “Ya should be dead.”

  “Is that a problem?” Scarlett balled energy in her hands and sent it barreling at Teàrlach.

  He stumbled back, throwing a hand to the ground to keep from falling flat on his ass, then stood up.

  She’d expected a little more damage.

  Eyes now black orbs, Teàrlach spewed a new verbal attack. “All shifters, stand up and kill Gan and Isleen.”

  Gan’s heart thumped wildly at her back. He hugged her hard. “You are my love. Gemelo and I protect you.”

  Her heart cried out to save him. “We fight together to the end.” She caught her breath. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

  Chica sounded worried. Too many ... but we are strong.

  Scarlett prepared to stand with her mate and their animals.

  Shifters howled and screamed, bursting into action as their bodies were freed.

  Chapter 32

  Time slowed until every sound of Gan’s impending death came to Scarlett in vivid clarity.

  The wind high above her whistled in a strange way. Gan’s heartbeats thumped like war drums. The rabid sounds of shifters scrambling to attack her and Gan.

  Through it all, Gan held her surrounded in his love, determined to protect her to the end.

  Energy like she’d never felt began building. She opened herself up wide, calling for more, and the power answered. Gan clutched her to him, trying to surround her with his body and his power surged.

  As the world spun back into focus and the thunder of animals headed their way, she felt an ocean of energy flood her.

  Robert would laugh his last laugh.

  A dark brown missile shot down from the sky and slammed Teàrlach against the wall.

  A mega-burst of power swept out across the chaos.

  Scarlett and Gan were blasted off their feet.

  He hit the ground and rolled, holding her tight. Energy burst from her, zapping the grass and popping trees.

  A blade of silence slashed through the frantic sounds.

  She heard a mechanical whumping noise for just a second then it disappeared.

  She pushed up, wheezing breath after breath.

  All around them shifters were frozen in different positions, but every set of claws and fangs were pointed at the spot where Gan and Scarlett had been standing.

  Even Jaz and Adrian had been about to jump them.

  The massive eagle blistered through the opening, made a hard bank, and returned, landing between them and her father.

  Pushing hair off her face, she said, “Great time for air support, even if your boss sounds like a helicopter.” She took in the mass attack put on pause. “Did Teàrlach do that to the shifters?”

  Gan got up and brought her with him. “No. Guardian is reason shifters stuck. They are safe.” He grimaced with each move. His back, still covered with claw marks, had not healed completely.

  “Good.” Scarlett had one thing on her mind. “I’m ending this.” She had just lived through the most terrifying moment of her life and was done enduring years in constant fear of being found.

  Teàrlach had found her and she would finish him.

  She saw only one way to destroy the deal she’d agreed to and ensure that Power Baron would never harm anyone again. The job fell to her alone.

  Standing, she started for Teàrlach who had crumpled by the wall, still shaking off the hit he’d taken.

  She lifted her hands, calling up her energy. She’d burned a lot of manna with that explosion, but he’d burned more with his last hit. Forcing steel into her voice, she informed him, “You will not hurt anyone I love again, Teàrlach the Scottish Terror.”

  Gan caught her around the waist, holding her in place. “I want to kill, too, but this is not good. The Guardian will not understand.”

  In a flush of energy, the eagle changed into a striking male who appeared to be in his forties with a dash of silver at his temples. She had never seen him in anything but suits. He wore a deep-blue one with a white shirt today.

  He always had clothes on when she’d witness his shifting into human form, another testament to the extraordinary power of the Gallize Guardian.

  Sh
e’d seen those eagle eyes in his human face, so they no longer disturbed her.

  She struggled against Gan. “Let me go.”

  The Guardian’s robust voice softened. “Do not kill him and stain your soul, Scarlett.”

  “No.” She slapped at Gan’s arms. “Put me down. He is mine to destroy. I have to stop him.” She shook with the need to kill.

  “Please, Scarlett,” Gan begged. “Let Guardian help.”

  “He can’t. Teàrlach holds too many lives in his hands. He will never stop coming for me and the people I love. He’s weak now. I can do this.”

  The eagle shifter said, “He will harm no one again. I give you my word.”

  Teàrlach lifted a cocky eyebrow at that and chuckled. “Fools.” His smug gaze went to Scarlett. “Ya think to kill me, daughter? Strike me now and ya shall learn yar last lesson.”

  She stilled, realizing her vow remained intact. “I made a deal that I’m bound by, Guardian.”

  “Maybe not.”

  The Guardian didn’t understand. He had not been present when she made a pact. “I gave my word. The word of our blood is binding.” She would not say the word of her family. That monster had never been family.

  The eagle shifter listened with a thoughtful expression. “Have you gone through the ceremony of being brought inside his power circle and bonded to his blood?”

  “Don’t listen to that eagle shifter,” Teàrlach warned, but her father was not backing his words with actions.

  Was he bluffing?

  Gan pulled her around in his arms. “Please trust Guardian’s word. Power Baron does not have honor.”

  She saw all she’d ever wanted in those blue eyes. Her heart had climbed into her throat. “If he doesn’t die, none of us will be free.”

  “Wait for Guardian to talk.”

  Gan’s boss tilted his head at the tiger shifter for the comment of support, then the fierce gaze she’d seen before in those deadly eagle eyes when his shifters were in danger returned.

  Robert curled up his lip and snarled. “I be done with all of ya.” He raised his hands and pushed out power.

  She twisted out of Gan’s arms and raised her hands to block his strike with her power. When it came, she hardly felt his energy.

  The Guardian didn’t so much as twitch in reaction.

  She’d been right about Teàrlach’s power waning.

  Lifting her hands, she stared at them.

  If not for Gan and his boss, she would have destroyed her soul for this mad man. She’d carried fear and hate because of Teàrlach for so long she’d been ready to sacrifice the woman she’d become just to wipe him out of her life.

  Her hands trembled at that realization.

  To have killed her father when he could not defend himself would have been murder, putting her in the same category with him, a place she never wanted to be. She would have lost the woman she’d created to prove her genetics wrong.

  Exhaling relief, she gripped Gan’s forearm that wrapped her waist, letting him know she was so thankful he’d had her back. But where did she go from here with Teàrlach still in power?

  The eagle shifter commented, “It appears you have used all your manna for the moment, Teàrlach. You shall no longer terrify this woman.”

  Scarlett wished it could be as simple as Gan’s boss making a declaration. “I do trust you, Guardian, but I still fear him going after those I love unless you can make him change our deal.”

  Gan spoke up, urging his boss, “Yes, change deal. I go with him if he frees Scarlett and her people.”

  “No, Gan.” She grabbed his face. “You have no idea what he would do with you.”

  “If you are safe, I accept.”

  “I’m not giving up Gan,” she made clear to him and every set of ears listening.

  “Stop ya blatherin’. Changing our deal is no gonna happen,” Teàrlach said defiantly. “It stands as is. You leave with me now and I will let them live.”

  “Actually, it will not be necessary to alter any previous agreement,” the Guardian countered.

  Gan hugged her and started to speak again, but the Guardian said, “Silence please.”

  She turned in Gan’s arms to face his boss in a show of respect for the eagle shifter.

  Sighing as if needing a rest after all his hard work, Teàrlach ordered, “Come now, Isleen. Ya shall regret wastin’ my time.”

  “I am not Isleen. I am Scarlett.” That name settled into her bones. Speaking it out loud made it so. She no longer felt fragmented by her past. She. Was. Scarlett.

  Addressing Teàrlach, the Guardian said, “You and I would not have met had you stayed away from what is mine.”

  Scarlett wasn’t covered by that statement meant for Gan and Adrian, but she’d take any residual help.

  “Isleen is mine,” her father bellowed. “Yar makin’ a deadly mistake to be interferin’. My power regenerates as I stand here. I will no allow this circus to happen again.”

  “There will be no next time, Teàrlach.”

  “Oh, eagle eyes? Who is gonna be stoppin’ me? No a shifter.”

  The Guardian didn’t acknowledge or deny that his power could take down Teàrlach. Instead he said, “You are not my responsibility. Your actions are answerable to the Power Council.”

  All signs of cockiness vanished. “I warn you against threatenin’ me with involvin’ them.” Teàrlach’s demeanor changed again, exposing just what an egomaniac he was when he began talking to himself. “What am I sayin’? The council will no listen’ to you. No Power Baron is foolish enough to draw my ire. Many know I hold more magic than any of that bunch. Soon, I shall rule the Power Council.”

  “Your warning to not reach out to them is too late,” the Guardian said.

  Three male images shimmered into view around Teàrlach. They took corporal form and energy pulsed out from them as if in warning. Each stood at least seven feet tall and wore long gray robes, but they all had white hair and beards, looking older than dirt. The more Scarlett thought about it, the men had appeared as if an invisible cloaking had dropped rather than being teleported. She also sensed this was not their real identities, but the way they’d expect others to see them.

  Gan whispered, “Who are they?”

  In reply, the Guardian announced, “My appreciation to the elders of the Power Council for their prompt attention to this flagrant disregard for the laws of this land and mistreatment of preternatural beings. I stand witness to the crimes Teàrlach has committed as well as the threat of treason against his own council.”

  Teàrlach stood perfectly still as if those words had sucked the life from him, then he started rambling. “Liar. These be shifters, lowest of humanity. Ya canna believe them, Seamus. Their word does no stand in our court.”

  All three Power Barons representing the council had long white beards, but this one spoke slowly in a deep tone. “The three of us were witness to your treasonous words.”

  Scarlett’s heart leaped at the oh-shit look in Teàrlach’s face. It sounded as if Seamus and his elder buddies would hold Teàrlach accountable for a transgression against the council they considered worse than any crime against a shifter or human.

  But of course, Power Barons were more important than mere shifters.

  Whatever. She just hoped he paid a penalty that would send him away and stop him from continuing to threaten her.

  “Ya canna do this,” Teàrlach shouted. “Ya shouldna even be speakin’ to me this way before others. Ya—”

  All three elders lifted a single hand and pointed at Teàrlach who saw the move and jerked up his weaponized digits to attack.

  His fingers curled into his hands and melded together into two clubs of flesh at the ends of his arms. His lips clamped shut and blended until he had no mouth.

  Panic rocked his eyes. His arms pinned to his sides.

  In the next moment, he slowly vanished as did the three elders.

  Gan asked, “Where did they go?”

  The Guardian tur
ned to him. “The Power Barons are rarely seen in public. They prefer anonymity and the elders may have all appeared ancient, but those were not their real faces. They have taken Teàrlach with them to face consequences for his actions.”

  A whump, whump, whump sounded in the distance, interrupting conversation.

  The Guardian explained, “That would be a helicopter also cloaked from view.”

  “What will happen?” Gan asked. “Will bad baron escape?”

  “From them? No.” The Guardian left zero doubt. “While that council will ignore smaller infractions, they will never tolerate any threat to their power. I feel confident we shall not see him again, because they punish their own for eternity.”

  Forever? Scarlett’s shoulders relaxed with the release of so much weight she’d carried for years.

  Gan glanced past the Guardian. “Adrian not happy stuck in air.”

  Putting a hand on his forehead, the Guardian muttered, “I forgot the shifters were behind us with the greater threat in front.” Without turning around, he waved a hand over his shoulder.

  Every shifter finished leaping or running a few steps then stopped and looked around.

  When the Guardian spoke, his words reached out in all directions. “You may shift back to your human shape or leave in your animal form, but you will not attack any shifter present.”

  Scarlett pulled his attention back to her. “Thank you for coming after I called. I know you aren’t happy with me—”

  Gan broke in. “Was not her fault. I stole phone and left. She came to save everyone.” He moved his shoulder closer to hers.

  She noticed he had a T-shirt and jeans on. That’s right. The Guardian clothed his shifters when they were naked after shifting. What kind of power did it take to do that?

  Gan’s boss said, “I had hoped to locate you two before we received the alert of Gan and Adrian being in danger. We were very close. While we do not have your ground resources, Scarlett, we can locate a person or vehicle eventually if I put everyone in one region on a single search.”

  Scarlett cringed a little. Hunting her and Gan had shut down the Gallize operations probably across six to eight states.

  Eagle man quieted for a few moments as he studied her. He crossed his arms and propped an elbow then rested his chin on his fist. “I have felt a great deal of power from you, Scarlett, since our first meeting.”