“Come on, bitch, talk to me. I’ve missed your whiny voice,” I taunt her. Still… nothing. “It sure is lonely without you to keep me company.” I try for a second time to get her moaning and groaning about our situation. She’s usually a surly thing who hates most of the decisions I make on a daily basis. She voices her opinions, loudly, but the silence is freaking me out. Did something happen to her when I was taken? Have they managed to somehow play a mind trick on me and subdue her? “Come out, come out wherever you are.” I try for a third time with no more luck than the first two times I tried. “Whatever, abandon me, why don’t ya, it’s the story of my damn life. I could write a bestseller. Hell, I can see it now, it becoming a movie and me walking down the red carpet in Hollywood. Then, when I’m rich and famous, I’ll ignore your ass too.”
He’s coming. What the fuck? That’s a new voice I’ve never heard in my head before.
Who the hell is this, and what the fuck are you doing in my head? Better yet, the question of the day is… who’s coming?
I’ve been in contact with your mate. He’s on his way with friends to rescue you. Be ready, this might get a little… shall we say, bloody.
Oh, it’s gonna get bloody alright. I’m gonna rip the heads off every fang banger who’s stuck their chompers into my flesh. So, you need to get ready.
I love your tenacious spirit, young wolf. Never fear, I’ll be right by your side as we get you out of here.
Charisma? It sounds like her the more the voice speaks. I’ve come to rely on this vampiress, she’s been the only bloodsucker here that’s been a help to me. She’s snuck me extra nutrients when she can, and has even fed me her blood to help keep what little strength I have up.
Yes, it is I, child. I have to go meet your mate now and show him where you’re being held. The less we have to fight to get there, the better the odds are for yours and his survival. It is paramount that y’all make it out of here. You two are the prophesied ones to unite us all.
I don’t understand, Charisma. Explain? I wait a few seconds with no more words from her. Charisma? Hello, are you there? Great! This is just fucking fantastic, another entity that has abandoned me.
Did I mention my upcoming bestseller? I’ll title the bitch ‘Abandoned she-wolf’. Yeah, that’s sure to draw some attention.
Maverick
Stay where you are, I’m coming to you. “Stop,” I order my friends. “Charisma is coming.”
“Charisma, the vamp who speaks to you?” Paxton inquires.
No stopping, mate needs us my wolf angrily growls.
She needs us alive to save her, wolf.
These things are not as strong as us. My wolf bares his teeth when he states this.
The wolf is right, we are stronger. My vampire entity shows me his teeth elongating.
We need to be smarter, not stronger. There’s a coven full of vampires. We can use all the help we can get. Calm down, you two, I scold my two beasts. Then, I put a mental block up to keep from having to hear their demands and irritation at me for not charging in.
“Yes, Paxton, that is her,” I answer my friend’s question that was asked before the troublesome duo made an appearance inside my head.
“She’s a good vampire,” Esmerelda expresses. “I’ve seen her, she plays a prominent role in helping Maverick and his mate unite all shifters and vampires alike. She will be extremely helpful in rescuing Maverick’s mate.”
“Yes, I will.” Charisma shimmers, landing behind Landry causing her to jump, squeal and scamper away, standing behind Paxton. Landry’s head comes up over his shoulder and she scowls at Charisma.
“The fuck, lady, some warning and a heads up would be nice next time,” Landry hisses.
“Heads up?” Charisma scowls then looks at me for direction. I shrug my shoulders, because I do not understand this phrase either. Aren’t our heads always up? I really loathe all of these slang words my friends use. No wonder I don’t do people, they are annoying and never use their words properly in my opinion.
“What can you tell us, Charisma?” I change the subject and ask.
“Everyone is beginning to stir as the sun sets. It will be hard to get to her unnoticed, I’m afraid. We will be having to fight to get her free. But I will lead you to the cavern she’s chained up in.”
“She’s chained up?” I growl, doing my wolf proud.
“Maverick, she’s not on vacation, man, she’s a prisoner. What did you expect? Her to be sunbathing while being handed margaritas with those tiny umbrellas?” Paxton questions.
“How optimistic of you,” Landry smirks. “Maybe when this is all over with, we can all go on vacation. That visual sounded lovely, Pax.”
“Anything for you, mate.” Paxton pulls her to his front and lays a wet kiss on her.
“No time for mating, young ones.” Esmerelda steps up to them and pushes them apart. “Focus.” She snaps her fingers in their faces and Paxton nearly bites them off. Newly mated couples don’t like to be interrupted, but Esmerelda has a point. Good thing she got to them before I did, because I find that I was annoyed at their lack of seriousness at rescuing my mate. Kissing can wait for later, goddammit.
“Esmerelda is right,” I insert my opinion, “we need to stay focused on the task at hand. Saving. My. Mate.” I emphasize each word by stabbing my finger into my chest.
“You’re right, Mav. Sorry, man, sometimes the mating pull is too much to ignore. Esmerelda, can you still cloak us? We don’t want them to have the opportunity to gather forces,” Paxton asks, back in control of himself.
“I can mask the sounds and possibly cloak your bodies. But there’s too many of us for the spell to last long,” she answers.
“What if we cause a distraction?” Landry questions.
“What do you mean?” I inquire of her question.
“Esmerelda, Paxton, and I can cause a distraction while Charisma takes you to your mate. It’s the easiest way to make sure you have a clear path to rescue her.” Landry chews on her bottom lip when a none too happy Paxton’s hands shift into that of his panther. It’s always enamored me when he partially shifts this way; he only does it when his panther is agitated. And surely with Landry’s plan, he must be going bonkers inside of Pax.
“You wish to put yourself in the direct line of danger,” he growls.
“You’ll be there to protect me, Pax,” she gushes out a purr. Really? Now, she’s gonna use her womanly wiles on her man? Is this really a time for her sexual prowess? These two are ridiculous!
“Maverick, dear.” Esmerelda comes up to me as my mind is whirling with vengeance and a little disgust. “We need to let her do what she must to get her mate onboard with what we’re doing.”
“We aren’t taking a boat, Esmerelda.” I sigh, is no one paying attention to me? “We have to do this by foot, plus a boat wouldn’t reach where we’re going.”
She giggles a little before stating, “We need to get you up to date on idioms for particular words.”
“We need to be moving now, ladies and gentlemen.” Charisma expels a harsh breath. I can tell she’s a bit flustered as I am.
“Your mate is a warrior, Paxton. You worry too much,” Esmerelda lightly scolds him.
“Fine, we’ll do it her way.” Paxton sounds irate, but I can tell he’s determined. A determined Paxton is a deadly Paxton. And with Esmerelda at his side, nothing will be happening to Landry.
“Let’s do this,” I demand as my fangs elongate from my gums with the need to taste some blood while beheading my enemies.
After Esmerelda did her magic mumbo jumbo thing, we begin our journey into the coven’s domain. Landry and Paxton call on their panthers, and they switch from their human forms. Esmerelda has a blue light surrounding her, her magic is in full-force and she’s come to do some damage herself. They all begin to charge into the main living quarters where the vamps sleep. Charisma and I break away from them going in the opposite direction, while they cause the distraction we need. They have several cav
es broken down into the hills, it’s an old mining site that they’ve converted into a sanctuary of sorts.
I follow Charisma’s lead down some long, dreary walkways. “Be careful, Maverick, we will be coming upon her guards here shortly. We must fight our way through them. They are strong, but I feel that the two of us together will be able to conquer them.”
“No one will stand in my way of making it to my mate,” I state as I feel my fingernails grow into sharp, deadly points. With my shoulders held high, I take on a warrior’s battle stance before I holler out, “Come and get me, assholes!”
“Well, that is one way to garner their attention.” Charisma smirks as she too takes a defensive stance.
We hear feet rushing our way, they are fast and are upon us in the blink of an eye. “Who goes there?” one of them asks. “Charisma, what’s this about?”
“This is about my mate you have back there,” I answer before Charisma has a chance to answer the fucker.
“And you are?” he asks me, his fangs out and a look of outrage plastered on his face.
“I am Maverick,” I announce. “Son of Rowina; Charisma is my guardian. Do we have any more questions I need to answer before I remove your head from your body?”
“That’s impossible! Rowina’s son was taken care of.”
“Was I?” I ask as I allow myself to partially shift into each one of my supernatural beings. My head takes on that of my wolf while my eyes turn red like that of a blood thirsty vampire.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Asshole number two mutters.
“I do not joke!” I holler as I charge the two fuckers.
“You take these two, I’ll take the one that was left behind,” Charisma hollers out as she levitates over our heads, landing behind my targets. “Join me as quickly as you can. I have a feeling nothing will soothe your mate other than you being there.”
“As soon as I can,” I respond as I land an uppercut to the fuckface’s chin. His head flies back like it does in the movies. I sneer at the second fucker as he comes running at me. As he faces me head on, I simply reach out my hand and wrap it around the fucker’s throat. I lift him up off the ground and slam him down. I can hear his jaw crack and his skull split open as his head snaps up, then it bounces off the ground. Reaching down, I yank on his head with my hands as I twist them with brutal strength. My foot is planted firmly on his chest, as my arms come up, my foot goes down and his ribs crack into several shards underneath my leather soles. “One down, one to go,” I state, turning my attention back to the first guard. He’s a bit dazed as he stands up; he holds his hands up in front of him in a defensive position. My eyes hone in on the stream of blood pouring from an open wound on his head. “Your turn, motherfucker.”
“We didn’t know she was mated.” He tries to reason with me while explaining away his indiscretions.
“When you slaughtered her entire clan, were you worried about the mated couples you took out?” My bellowing echoes off the walls surrounding us.
“It wasn’t like that; we needed an original to boost our powers. We had to eliminate them in order to get what was needed to ensure our survival. Surely, you can understand that. Right?” I understand their warped ways of thinking, but he’s wrong, they didn’t need her blood. There are other ways to feed without kidnapping and holding someone hostage.
“You chose wrong,” I growl before running to him. He spins to run and I grab him from behind. Pulling my machete from its sheath, it cuts through his throat and bone like a butter knife through a slab of butter. I make it a quick death, much faster than he deserves.
Connelly
I hear fighting outside of the open doorway to the room I’m being kept in. I begin to relentlessly pull on my chains. Mentally, I know that this is the rescue mission Charisma warned me about, but physically, my fight or flight instincts have kicked in. My will is strong and I want to fight for my life. The bindings are strong and imbedded deeply into the walls, rendering me incapable of dislodging them, even with the strength of my wolf. Growling out my frustrations due to the fact that all I can do is sit here and wait for whoever is on the other side to win and help me out of my shackles, is a hard pill to swallow for a strong, hard-headed woman like myself.
Being strung up like a sacrificial lamb is not the way I want to meet my mate for the first time. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of coming face to face with the other half of my soul. We’d stop in our tracks, eyes locking onto each other’s, running into each other's arms and living out the rest of our days filled with sunshine and rainbows. Yet, I’ll be meeting him for the first time with him seeing me at my most vulnerable self. “Dammit, I don’t even know his name!”
“It’s Maverick,” a strong, masculine voice says.
“Maverick,” I whisper the name; it feels foreign, but right, leaving my tongue.
“And your name, mate?” I shiver with the way his voice alone is affecting me. I want to jump him, mark him, claim him, but I can’t with this spiked collar around my neck and chains pinning me to this damn cold, wet wall.
“Connelly,” I whisper.
“You are beautiful, my mate Connelly.”
“As are you, Maverick.” He chuckles lightly, but his cool, calm demeanor is contradictory to the blood splattered all over his clothing and skin. “Think you could release me, mate Maverick?” I smile, for the first time in what feels like years.
“I have the keys, Cemon had them on him. He was a little scrappier than I thought he would be. I’m sorta impressed and saddened that I had to take down a superior being,” Charisma says as she holds out her hand with the keys dangling from her finger. I sigh a breath of relief knowing that my freedom is right around the corner.
Maverick
My hands shake heavily with anticipation as I insert the key into the lock. My instinct is to grab all of these steel bindings and pull them from the wall, releasing her. But the reality is, I’d probably end up hurting her more than anything. Once her neck is released, I grab her face in my hands and plaster a quick, reassuring kiss upon her lips. Her eyes momentarily close and a smile graces her face. Charisma grabs the keys from me and unlocks her wrist and ankles. She falls into my arms from weakness, causing my buried anger to rise to the surface once more. “I’m okay,” she states with her head buried in my chest.
“You’re not, but you will be,” I assure her.
“She needs more blood,” Charisma informs me, as she begins to break her skin with her fangs. I stop her with my hand held out.
“You’ve done what you could for my mate, and I appreciate that, Charisma. But I’m here now, I’ll take care of her needs going from this day forward.” She nods at me and exits the room to give us some privacy for this upcoming, intimate act. Leaning my neck to the side, I assist Connelly’s weak head to my pulse point. “Drink, mate.” She swipes my skin with her tongue before I feel her teeth pierce my skin. She hungrily drinks and her moans of satisfaction has my dick growing hard in my pants. I’ve heard tales of how intoxicating and sexual it can be when you find your mate and share blood with him or her. But I never imagined I would feel immense pleasure from the tips of my toes to the roots of my hair. I grind my hips into her, seeking some sort of relief for my pulsating, aching cock. “Get what you need, Connelly, but do it quickly. We need to get out of here.” She takes a few more huge tugs before licking the wound closed on my neck.
“I’m feeling much better… stronger, we can leave now.” Connelly tries to step away from me, but sways slightly. I lift my arms up to help her balance; it’s been awhile since her limbs have been mobile. “I’m better now,” she states, smiling up at me. Even dirty, she’s the most glamorous woman I’ve ever laid eyes upon.
“Stay behind me, you’re not strong enough to fight just yet,” I command, in a soft tone. One that feels foreign to me. A tone I’ve never used on anyone else before. She simply nods her head and reaches out her hand. Confused, I’m not sure what she wants until her palm touches mine. She
laces her fingers with mine and squeezes my hand. I return the gesture, and pull her out of this monstrosity of a room they’ve held her captive in. She will never again be kept in a place like this against her will. I’ll obliterate any fucker who even tries to take her away from me.
I navigate us through the tunnels until we breach the outside. Paxton, Landry, Esmerelda, and Charisma are fighting what seems to be the last of the coven. “Oh my, are those panthers?” Connelly asks me in what seems to be awe. I nod my head at her in confirmation. “I’ve never met panthers before… and, holy shit! That’s a witch, Maverick!”
“What gave her away? The blue light surrounding her, or the shit flying out of her hands? That’s strange, I’ve never seen her do that before. She must really be pissed.” I astoundingly keep my eyes glued to the balls of blue fire flying from her hands as she speaks some words.
“I’ve heard stories about witches… not all of them are great. But she is mesmerizing to watch. Is she good? Your witch friend.”
“Esmerelda? Yeah, she’s great, until she talks anyways,” I tell her.
“So she talks, like we are right now, or is everything that leaves her mouth a chant like what she’s doing now?” Quite the inquisitive little thing I have for a mate.
“You’ve really never met a witch before, huh?”
“Oh, Maverick. Isn’t she stunning while doing magic?” Connelly is impressed that I know a witch and two panthers. Wait until she finds out Colton is a damn dragon. That should really pique her interest.
“She’s something alright,” I mutter under my breath.
“Do you not care for this witch?” she interrogates.
Maverick: Rogue Enforcers Novel Page 3