by Selina Woods
Striking fast and hard, I slashed at the front lion’s face and eyes with my claws, seeking to blind him and take him from the fight. Even as I snapped my jaws down on his face, the others slammed into me from both sides, ripping, tearing my hide. I felt little pain under my adrenaline rush, but distantly knew I couldn’t last long against three of them.
I sank my claws and teeth into the lion, shredding gouges in his head and ears, my fangs chewing down on his muzzle as he screamed, and fought to escape me. Suddenly, the others were torn from my flanks, and horrible snarls filled the night. I had no idea who or what they fought, but by the sounds, they fought something.
The lion in my grasp succeeded in leaping away from me. I cast a lightning look at the others and discovered both of them in a desperate struggle to survive two more lions who definitely sported a greater weight advantage over them. From the fast glance, it appeared the night hunters weren’t going to last very long.
My foe also saw what was happening through the blood over his face and turned to run. “Oh, no you don’t,” I snarled, and caught him before he got three strides.
He went down with my heavier body on his shoulders, smashing him to the pavement. My rear claws held me in place while he struggled to throw me off. I couldn’t get past his protective mane with my fangs, so I crunched down on his skull. My jaws almost weren’t strong enough, but my rage added just enough power that his bones split apart.
The lion sank under me, dead, his body relaxing as his life left him. I leaped off of him, ready for another attack if it came. The two big beasts had killed their targets and also stepped aside from the bloody corpses of those they had killed. As one, they licked the gore from their lips and stared at me.
“You’re Logan,” said the one on my right.
“What of it?” I snapped, keeping my eyes on both. “Who the hell are you guys?”
“We’ve been looking for you.”
I suddenly remembered the shifters in the market asking Derek where I was. “What do you want?” I demanded. “I may not survive both of you, but one of you will die with me.”
“We’re not here to kill you,” the lion stated, then shifted into his human self.
The other followed suit. “See? We need to talk with you.”
“Who the hell are you?”
The one with the short blond hair and blue eyes pointed to his chest. “I’m Caesar, and this is my partner, Gray. Believe me; we don’t want you dead.”
Gray’s hair and eyes were the same color as his name, and more oddly, they both had the same small lightning fork tattoos on their left cheeks. Both had rugged, seasoned appearances and were much older than I was. Uncertain about them, I stayed in my lion body but sat down. With my stillness came the excruciating pain that emerged with the loss of the adrenaline that kept the agony at bay.
“Why should I trust you?”
Caesar smiled tightly. “After we just saved your ass, you—”
“Easy, dude,” Gray said, his hand held out toward his friend. “Remember why we’re here. Nobody can trust anybody in a shithole like this.”
“So, why are you boys here?” I asked.
“To keep you alive,” Caesar said, his tone matter of fact. “We have a car. You looked pretty beat up, so will you come with us?”
I hesitated. Two experienced lions here to keep me alive? Outside of it being the weirdest thing I’d ever heard, I was hurting too bad to keep arguing. “We’ll have to go to my place.”
Gray stepped toward me as I shifted into my human self. The pain grew progressively worse, and I watched as he studied my face closely. “Busted nose?” he asked, his voice kind.
“Yeah. When the truck crashed.”
Caesar took my arm, examining my other wounds, and it was a wonder all in itself that I let him. “The car’s back this way,” he said, jerking his chin down the road in the direction I had come from.
“You were following me?” I asked as I limped forward between them.
“Yep. Finally tracked you down, but your friend at the store wouldn’t tell us where you were.”
The car was a small sedan, and Gray opened the rear door to allow me inside. He got in beside me as Caesar slid in behind the wheel and started the engine. “You know where I live?” I asked, leaning my head back against the seat.
“Nope.”
Thus I gave him the directions to the penthouse on the beach, and within twenty minutes, we pulled up in front of the main doors. The guards pointed their weapons at the car and ordered us to get out, surrounding the vehicle. Caesar half turned over in the seat, a snarl on his face. Gray appeared both furious and ready to charge the lot of them once he got out of the perceived death trap.
“What the hell is this?” he snarled.
“Home, be it ever so humble.”
I got stiffly out of the car, and the guards instantly recognized me, lowering their guns. “Sir,” said one of them. “We thought you were inside. Are you all right?”
I tried a smile. “Not really. Send that healer fellow up, will you? And enough food for the three of us. Where’s Ramsey?”
“I believe he is in his apartment, sir. Shall I send him up, too?”
“Not yet.”
I limped toward the doors, Caesar and Gray following me, then I half turned back. “Oh, and these are friends of mine. They are permitted to come and go at any hour.”
“Yes, sir.”
The guards in the foyer snapped to their feet as I walked, battered and bloody, across the polished floor toward them. “Sir, we thought—”
I waved my hand at them. “Yeah, I know. I gave you boys the slip.”
“You shouldn’t do that, sir. We’re here to protect you, and now look at you.”
I fished out the key to the elevator. “Lesson learned.”
We waited for the car to return from the top floor where I’d left it, the three of us under the critical stares of my guards. Caesar and Gray said nothing, but I felt their questions simmering under their surfaces. Still, they said nothing until the elevator took us to the penthouse and the doors slid wide.
“I know you have tons of questions,” I said, limping across to the decanters, and pouring myself a golden whiskey. “Can they wait until after I don’t feel quite so pummeled? Oh, and help yourself. The whiskey is first rate.”
I stumbled without spilling my glass to the armchair, and sat down while the two of them poured liquor for themselves. They had no sooner seated themselves than the elevator pinged, and the both leaped to their feet again. “Relax,” I told them. “It’s either the food or the healer.”
It was the healer, whose name I’d finally learned was Robert, a human. He clicked his tongue at me, then helped me to remove my shirt. “Broken nose, more cuts that will need stitches. Logan, pretty soon you’ll look like a rag doll.”
Gray and Caesar looked over his shoulder as he cleaned my wounds, then commented, “You have been a bad boy. Your earlier wounds are nearing infection and the stitches almost ripped out. Have you been taking your antibiotics?”
“Uh, I forgot about them.”
He scowled, looking almost as murderous as the lions before they attacked me. The elevator pinged again, and two guards came in with platters loaded with food. “We need ice for his nose,” Robert snapped at them.
They left quickly while Robert finished cleaning the blood from my face. He stood in front of me, his expression set, determined. “Don’t kill me for this, Logan.”
Before I could react, he reached out and twisted my nose. I half screamed, half roared at the agony, but he stepped out of my reach before I could grab or punch him. I breathed raggedly as he watched me with a clinical expression.
“Sorry, but it’s best if you don’t know it’s coming. The pain will be reduced by quite a bit soon. The ice will help enormously.”
“Bastard,” I muttered.
“Now, now, don’t be nasty.”
The henchman came as Robert happily stitched me up again.
Gray and Caesar ate the food while it was hot. Robert paused in his sewing to pack a cloth in ice, then handed it to me. “Put that on your nose. It’ll keep both the pain and swelling down.”
I had to admit, it didn’t hurt as much as it had, and the ice soon numbed it. Robert resumed his task, humming under his breath, and I wondered if I’d have any appetite for whatever food the two of them didn’t devour. I hurt all over, yet still didn’t trust the pair of lions enough to ask Robert for some pain pills.
He gave them to me anyway. “You’ll need these,” he said firmly. “Take them. You have more than enough guards watching over you that you can relax and sleep. And if you don’t take the antibiotics, then you’ll get a raging infection, and if that happens, not even I can help you.”
“Thanks, Robert. I’ll take them. Promise.”
He huffed and departed the penthouse. I sat up, aching all over, and eyed the bottle of pain remedy longingly. Deciding I should at least eat before taking them, I took some roast beef, ham, and bread, and made a sandwich.
“We have been in a lot of cities ruled by gangs,” Gray said. “This seems almost as though you are a gang lord.”
I sighed, and discovered that was a mistake. “I am.”
I recognized that I simply raised a shitload more questions, and I held up my hand. “I’ll give you the gist of it now, more when I’m not hurting so bad. Yes, I rule Miami. I got the title only three days ago when I killed the previous monster that preyed on the people here.”
Caesar chuckled. “I can’t wait for your mother to hear—”
His expression widened with shock, and he stared at me, appalled at what he had said. “Oh, shit.”
I had gone bone chilling cold. “My mother?” I whispered. “You know my mother?”
Gray stood up. “Logan, there are things we can’t tell you; we’re sworn to silence. What this idiot here just said is one of those. Yes, we’re from your mother; she’s very important. That’s why we’re here. To protect you and take you to her.”
Stunned, I forgot all about the sandwich in my hand. My mother. Denver. The weird pulling feeling in my blood. It’s her. It’s her. “This can’t be real,” I muttered, staring blankly at nothing.
“Logan? That’s why you know you can trust us,” Caesar told me, near panic. “We’re here to safeguard you. It’s our sacred duty.”
“Sac—” I stared at him. “Sacred duty? Who the hell are you guys? Who is my mother?”
“If we could tell you more, we would,” Gray said, placatingly. “When the time comes, you’ll know everything.”
I swallowed hard, the singing in my blood pulling, tugging me to the north and west. I almost couldn’t resist it; the urge to go to the elevator, ride it down, get into a car, and drive almost overwhelmed me. “She calls to me,” I muttered thickly. “It’s her.”
I stood up, perhaps to do that very thing. But my feet tangled together and I crashed to the floor, my head spinning sickly. Then I passed out.
Chapter Ten
I woke with bright sunlight streaming through the window and onto the great bed in the penthouse. My pain roused with me, but its fires had been banked and only simmered beneath the surface. Sitting up, I discovered I was stiff and sore, and clad in my jeans, my newest stitchery running around my sides and back. Remembering Caesar and Gray, I gently touched my swollen nose and then climbed out of the bed.
Gray stood on the balcony admiring the view while Caesar slept on a couch, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal a very hairy chest. I averted my eyes from it, and moved to join Gray. “There are other bedrooms here, you know,” I said, jerking my thumb at Caesar.
“I slept in one,” Gray answered with a smile. “He chose to sleep there in case you woke up in the night.”
“I’m not a helpless infant,” I grumbled, leaning against the rail.
“No, but you’re injured, and by the way you went down last night, we wondered if you had a concussion.”
“I don’t think so.”
We watched the ocean for a while, and my stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten the night before. “Breakfast?” I asked, turning to go in.
“Now that you mention it, sure.”
Our voices and activity woke Caesar, who stood to stretch. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been through the wringer.” I popped an antibiotic and thumbed the intercom to order breakfast. Shoving the bottle in my pocket so I’d remember to take them, I sat down, and gestured for the other two to sit with me. “I run a small market with my partner, Derek,” I began, seeing their nods. They knew this.
“An enforcer named Kell was killed, and the gang’s boss ordered me brought to him to question me.”
I quickly told them about Duke’s arrogance, his challenge, how I killed him. Their eyes widened slightly, and I stopped my story when the elevator announced the arrival of breakfast. After the guard left, I resumed my story through a full mouth.
“I run this city,” I told them, “but I’m not going to rule it as Duke had. We’re working to turn it into a safe zone with a council and militia of citizens. But the enforcers will try to kill me, as they don’t want anyone interfering with their greed.”
“They will try,” Caesar said, chewing bacon. “But we have orders. We have to take you back.”
I shook my head. “Not until this town is free of the rabble that is preying on it. This is my place, my people. You try to take me, I have a bunch of guards that will chew you down to your ankles.”
Gray laughed. “I think your mom would approve. We’ll stay here and guard your back, Logan. Count on us.”
I eyed Caesar, who shrugged. “Why not? We need more free cities in this world. What’s the plan?”
I explained to them the need for guns and a storm to sneak the fishing boat from the marina, Kiana’s gathering of fighters. “As soon as we get our hands on the weapons, we can go.”
The elevator pinged, announcing Ramsey. He came in, eyeing Gray and Caesar warily. “Logan, I didn’t know you had friends. I’ll come back.”
“No, sit and eat,” I told him. “These two are not just friends, but my personal bodyguards.” I made introductions. “They know about our plans, so you can speak freely. Breakfast?”
“Sure.”
He sat down, and filled a plate with the still warm food while staring at my face. “What happened?”
“Night hunters. Would have had me if not for these two.”
“Ah. I made up the strategy you asked for,” he said, his mouth full. “Once we can get weapons, we can position our fighters around the city to start seizing the enforcers. Did you find a place to moor the boat?”
“Yep. We can run it straight into the street and unload it. Derek is looking for an experienced seaman to run it when we get a nice storm.”
“What if we don’t get a storm?” Gray asked.
“Then we’ll snatch it using a diversion,” I said, still eating hungrily. “I’ll tell the guards I think some people escaped with it.”
Ramsey nodded thoughtfully. “The storm idea is better, but if we have to go the other way, then we do.”
“We need a few more days to gain more fighters, to get organized,” I said. “More planning.”
“If things go the way I think,” Ramsey added, “we can remove more than three quarters of the enforcers in one sweep.”
I raised my brow. “That’s great. What about the guards?”
“They are assigned here,” he replied. “We surround them, demand they drop their weapons. They don’t, they get shot.”
“Any guard or enforcer who refuses to cooperate with the new government,” I said, “will get dropped off in the swamps.”
“Eww,” Gray stated with a grimace. “Yuck.”
“Let them fight the alligators and snakes,” I said. “They don’t get back into the city. They have one chance only.”
“If the guards want a place in the new ordinance,” I said to Ramsey, “they can form the heart of t
he militia. Provided they swear an oath of obedience to the new government.”
“You should be the president, Logan,” Ramsey said. “You’d be great as the future leader of Miami.”
I glanced at Gray and Caesar. “That may not be possible,” I replied. “It’ll be between you and Derek, I think. Or another equally good candidate.”
He had seen the look that passed between us. “Who are these guys, Logan?”
“I can’t tell you. But they are with us, and will help keep me alive.”
For a moment, I thought he’d protest, but he simply nodded. “If you live, I probably will, too. All I care about.”
The intercom buzzed, and I stood up to answer it. “Yeah?”
“That whore is here to see you, sir.”
I stopped myself from laughing just in time. “Send her up.”
“Yes, sir.”
All three of them gazed at me in bafflement as I shrugged under their questioning gazes. Within a few minutes, Kiana stepped off the elevator and strolled arrogantly, complete with a hooker’s attitude, across the foyer. She dropped the act the instant she saw me.
“Logan!”
Garbed in simple jeans and an off the shoulder blouse, she ran to me and cupped my cheek with her hand. “What the hell?”
“Night hunters,” I told her, then planted a swift kiss to her lips. “It’s all good. I have people you need to meet.”
My arm over her shoulder, I introduced her to Ramsey, Gray, and Caesar. “This is Kiana, and she’s no whore. She’s my lady, and if you are to protect me, you protect her, too.”
Ramsey laughed into his bacon. “I knew she looked to classy to be a hooker,” he said.
“We made up the story so the guards might not be inclined to use her as leverage against me,” I said. “If they think I pay her for sex, she’s of no use to them.”
“Smart,” Gray said, smiling at Kiana. “So, you’re the one gathering our new forces.”
“We now have over fifty willing to fight,” she said, “and word is spreading faster than I can talk to them. In days, we’ll have hundreds, if not thousands, ready to take the enforcers out.”
“Count me impressed,” Caesar commented with a grin.