He lightened up his hold so I could speak. Gasping, I said, “Not telling. And I find it rude that you know who I am, but I don’t know who you are.”
He smiled. “Baron. I’m Baron.”
“Baron what?”
He shook his head as his free hand traveled over my abdomen. “Tell me, are you healed already?”
I thinned out my lips, telling him with my eyes I wasn’t going to say shit.
He made a humming noise in his throat and sent a bolt of energy into the very same spot he hit last time. I grunted, not wanting to give him the pleasure of listening to my scream. He backed off, letting me slump to the floor.
Goddamn, mother-trucker, son-of-a-whore, that hurt! I pulled my hand away from the wound. Bleeding again. I called him all kinds of names as he smiled down at me. My eyes filled with rage and no doubt turned green. Baron cocked his head to the side, a strand of his dark brown hair falling into his face. Ignoring it, he stared at my eyes, his lips curling up slightly as if he knew something I didn’t.
Then I felt a rush of a different kind of energy and smiled up at him. My cockiness unnerved him, and he frowned until he finally noticed what I noticed. Help finally arrived, and they were pissed. Maybe they were feeding off of Landus, who was covered in blood, his eyes feral as he worked his way through the never-ending pile of enemies. When he finally broke through, he charged at the big baddie without care for himself.
And damn, I was pretty sure he was bleeding pretty badly through his leg. The dumbass.
Landus swung his arm, intending to punch Baron’s head off. It skirted Baron’s cheek when Baron took a step back.
“It has been fun, but I don’t have time to entertain you guys anymore,” Baron said and disappeared into the growing crowd of angry bodies, all fighting each other. Baddies versus shifters. After a moment, the rest of his men retreated. At least those who were able to get out of Landus’s warpath.
The moment Baron disappeared, Landus made a soul-shaking, ear-splitting, pissed off sound that landed between a howl and a growl, nearly shaking the entire building. A group of shifters disappeared back out the door to chase down Baron. Then Landus’s silvery eyes went completely wild, and he hacked through the remaining bad guys, not sparing anyone.
I just watched, a little dumbfounded at his fierceness. I guess he had a lot of pent up aggression he needed to release after being made a joke of by the attacks. Landus continued to pound the face of a man into the floor while the room settled down.
“Are you okay?” Slade asked, coming to my side and helping me to my feet. He had some blood and bits decorating his clothes, but he looked unhurt otherwise.
“I’m great, but I don’t know about your Alpha.”
We both turned and watched as Landus broke the last man’s neck.
“I think we should give him some space to calm down. What happened? I don’t see you put on your ass very often.”
“And like all the other times, you won’t let me live it down, will you?”
Landus turned to us, his chest heaving as he fought his mysterious beast for control, trying to come back to the land of the humans. His eyes were laser beams on Slade.
“I think maybe when my Alpha isn’t in such a feral mood.”
I snickered. “Scaredy-cat.”
“I’m not a damn cat.”
“Oh, sorry. Scaredy-pup.”
“Do you want help, or should I dump you back on the floor?”
I stepped away despite wanting to lean against him. “I’ll take my chances with the wall instead.”
He chuckled then took in the room and the carnage. The air already smelled like dead things, the stink of blood so strong it painted my tongue with copper pennies. I took in the mess too and had to take a step back from reality to soak it all in. Carnage. True carnage.
A quick flash of another time, so long ago, when I saw just as much death came to the forefront of my mind, but it quickly disappeared, unable to find a foothold in my head.
“Looks like a bomb went off,” Slade said, lifting his foot up and frowning at something that was stuck to his boots.
I leaned closer to Slade and whispered, “Yeah, and said bomb is still active, ready to go off at any minute again.” I jerked my head towards Landus. He was weirdly still, his eyes intense, as if he were reading my secrets. I knew shifters didn’t have gifts like that but still, I pulled my energy tighter around myself to block him out even if he wasn’t reading me. My paranoia was my lifesaver.
“I think there were two bombs.” Slade pointed around the area where I fought.
“Yeah, maybe.” I hit him hard in the stomach, and he let out a whoosh of air. “What took you guys so damn long?”
“Some men came out of the gate before we went through. They were tough sons of bitches and wouldn’t stay down. By the time we finished up, Landus was threatening to castrate us all if we didn’t get here in two seconds.” He shuddered. “I like my balls.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What, no comment about you liking my balls, too?”
I snorted. “Not in this lifetime, buddy.” I winced when I shifted, and Landus was in front of me in moments, his eyes the beautiful silver they normally were when he wasn’t dishing out death.
“You’re hurt.”
Thank you, Captain Obvious.
“So are you.”
“Let’s go back and have the pack doctor look at it.”
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine.”
“Our pack doctor is a great healer.”
“Hun, I’m sure he is, and he will work wonders fixing your leg.”
Landus grabbed my wrist and yanked it away from my stomach before tugging up my shirt. The wound did not look fine at all. It was bigger now, the edges singed from the energy that entered my body to wreck my insides. I was glad Baron held back. He used just enough energy to reopen the old wound and make it hurt but not to kill me.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, but Nyssa... are you afraid of healers?” Slade asked, staring at me with curiosity. I could see his mind already working, figuring out how to use that little tidbit against me.
“Not at all. I just don’t like getting healed.” More like my body rejected a healer’s touch and the wound only got worse. I had learned that when I first came back to society and a healer tried to heal the wounds on my body.
“Nyssa.”
The command in his voice had me turning to Landus.
“You will be healed. You’ll suck it up, maybe even enjoy it, but we are healing that damn wound.”
I leaned towards him, taking his challenge as it was—a force of wills. “No.” My lips popped out the word, and Landus zeroed in on them. I smirked.
“Yes,” he grounded out between his teeth.
“Why is it so important for you to make sure I’m well and happy? Last I checked, you guys only care about your pack, and I’m not pack.”
“You’re hurt because you helped us. I’m obligated to make sure you are healed.”
“Then let me go home and sleep it off.”
“This isn’t a bad hangover, you can’t just sleep it off,” Landus grounded out between his teeth.
“No.”
“Nyssa,” Slade said in a low, cautious voice. “Do not antagonize a pissed off shifter. Let us heal you.”
I shook my head and let out a frustrated breath. “I don’t mean to be rude. I apologize.”
“Good, let’s go see the healer now,” Landus said and turned to find said healer.
He took a couple of steps before I spoke up. “Still not doing it.”
He growled and turned back to me, his beast fighting underneath the surface to get out to play. I still couldn’t determine what he was hiding underneath that hard human exterior, but whatever it was, was fierce and overly possessive.
“Look. I can’t use a healer because my body rejects them.”
They both looked at me like I was crazy. Expected, I guess.
I sighed and rubbed at the b
ack of my neck. “My body rejects foreign energy. If I let your healer use their energy to heal me, then my body will fight back. I go into shock. The wound gets worse. And I become really grumpy. I don’t like being grumpy.”
They both looked at me like I had sprouted a second head.
“What?”
“Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?” Landus asked.
“Is that why you always slink home after getting your ass kicked?” Slade asked.
“I don’t slink anywhere.” I narrowed my eyes in warning. “And I definitely don’t get my ass kicked.”
“What are you?” Landus asked once again, probably for about the millionth time. Seemed everyone was asking that question lately.
“Right now, I’m tired and want to get out of this death room.”
Slade laughed, breaking the tension building around us, and then made his way out of the room. I grabbed onto his arm for support and let him lead me back to the gate. When we got into the room, which had more dead bodies scattered around in different shapes of death, Landus sighed, clearly irritated with the voices in his head. Unfortunately, they were from his pack, and no magic or medicine could help to shut them up.
“They got away,” he growled, his eyes momentarily going beastly until he got himself under control.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll meet them again. Baron seems very determined to take both you and the vamps down. What the hell did you guys do to him?” I shook my head. “He’s nothing but a bundle of anger, hell-bent on revenge, maybe using your heads as soup bowls.”
“Who’s Baron?” Landus focused on me as if I’d been withholding vital information.
I snorted. “The bastard who put me on my ass. He finally introduced himself to me.”
“Why would he do that?” Slade asked.
I just shrugged. I wasn’t a psychologist. How was I supposed to know what went on in a dark and deranged mind?
“Did you recognize him?” I asked Landus, who was too busy frowning to hear me. I waved my hand in front of his face, and he blinked in surprise.
“What?”
“Did you recognize him?”
He shook his head. I sighed and turned to the pissed off gate, gathering my nerves to go through. The wound was only going to make the journey more painful.
“Ready?” I asked the boys.
Both of them looked like they had to eat a porcupine.
Chapter Eleven
I remember a tall man. Broad shoulders. Striking silvery eyes filled with pain. The pain in them consumed my thoughts. I wanted to take it all away from him. I remember my small hands reaching up to him in hopes of alleviating whatever put those shadows in his eyes. I didn’t like that he wasn’t happy.
—Nyssa’s Journal
I stepped through the gate, went weightless, and silently screamed as pain crashed into me, rolling around underneath my skin, trying to explode. When I landed on the other side, it was not graceful. I was on my knees panting through the pain, clenching my side, and cursing Baron for being such a bastard. Did he get pleasure out of using such a gate? Fucking sadist.
“—ssa?”
A hand shook my shoulder, and I let out a growl in warning. If I couldn’t grab the hand and make the owner of it suffer, I was at least going to let them know they needed to back the fuck off before I got enough energy to tear them to shreds. The hand let go.
I blinked past the black spots and looked up at Landus. He held his hands up in a placating way, as if he needed to treat me with kid gloves. I may not be certified crazy, but I was still crazy enough to take on an Alpha.
Actually, that seemed like a fun time. Who would be stronger? Him or me? I had gotten a glimpse of his abilities, but I was too focused on staying alive to pay attention.
“Nyssa,” he drew me from my thoughts, his voice soft with concern. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “These gates are just mean. Not exactly what I want to go through while banged up. You?”
He smirked. “Fine.” I looked him over slowly. Other than the blood seeping from a wound on his leg, he did look fine. Hell, he didn’t even limp when he walked. Damn macho shifter.
Landus reached out to grab my arm, making sure I knew what he was intending, and when I didn’t growl at him, he helped me to my feet. Shifters moved around us, cleaning up more dead bodies. Out here smelled just as bad as the other side of the gate.
“The witches are on their way to help disable the gate,” Slade came over to report, tucking his cell phone away.
Landus nodded and turned back to me.
“Can we at least clean out your wound for you so it doesn’t get infected?”
“It won’t. I’ll be fine.”
His lips thinned out as he unsuccessfully tried to hide his disapproval. “Fine.”
“Fine.” I smiled sweetly up at him.
Truthfully, I just wanted to go home to take a nice hot shower and lick my wounds then knock out for the rest of the night. Landus wanted me to wait until the witches showed up.
While we waited, he grilled me about what happened at the other gate, asking me for every little detail.
“I think Baron has a hard-on for you,” Slade pointed out what I was thinking might possibly be true.
I shrugged and gave him a playful shove. “Wouldn’t be the first time some creeper tried to get into my pants.”
“Hey!” Slade scowled at me, but his expression blanked when he looked at Landus. I turned to look at him too, but his face was already smoothed out, hiding his thoughts.
A doctor eventually showed up with a medkit in his hands. The other patients were already bandaged up. No one had died. Hip. Hip. Hooray. He looked at my abdomen, cleaning it up while tsking to himself and then slapping on some gauze and tape to hold the wound together. That was the most I would let him do, and it was enough to calm Landus’s ruffled fur. Then the doctor turned to the Alpha, who just showed his wound, which was already closing up nicely. Show-off.
I sensed the witches as they approached, their magic parting the energy in the air as if the two didn’t know how to play nicely together. They were a pocket of magic surrounded by energy. I broke out into a huge smile as I tasted familiar magic, it growing stronger the closer they got.
“Why are you smiling?” Slade asked.
“The witches are here.” I jumped from foot to foot.
He didn’t seem impressed with the news. I elbowed him lightly.
“I’m good friends with one of them,” I said to explain my goofiness. Despite always talking to Cecil on the phone, our schedules hadn’t really matched up to see each other face-to-face for the past month and a half. I missed her cup of craziness.
A small group of witches came out of the surrounding brush, looking around at the mini chaos around them. I spotted Cecil hanging around in the back, her green eyes flickering around to all the shifters in different phases of shifting.
Shifters were very good at controlling which parts of their bodies they changed for fights. Many of them looked off with hairy arms, or legs bent at weird angles, or faces a little too snouty, or furry pointed ears, eyes definitely inhuman.
“Baby-cakes,” I called out to Cecil, and she turned to me, a smile slowly spreading across her face. She came over and pulled me into a hug, not caring about the fact that I was covered in blood and bits. She wasn’t one to sweat the small stuff.
At five-six she was only two inches shorter than me. Her hair fell down her back in long strands of reddish-brown, a perfect match to her golden skin. When I first met her, she reminded me of warmth. She looked warm and felt warm. Not temperature warm but a kind of comfort I never felt until I met her. After six years, I still described her the same way. Warm.
“Nyssa. Figures I would find you here. You didn’t tell me you were doing another job.”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t say no to this one.” I moved so I stood between her and Landus. “Cecil, this is the bathroom guy I told you about.”
Her eyes widene
d and pointed at him. “Landus is the bathroom guy?” She cackled, nearly doubling over.
“You told her about me?” he asked, a little put out for being made fun of.
“Of course. Who else would I tell?” I responded.
“You said you wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Not anyone who would want to use the gate to get a gander at you.”
He scowled, and Cecil and I broke out in a laugh.
“Don’t worry, big guy. I would never find you interesting in a million years. You’re too brooding masculinity for me,” she said. I didn’t know if she was trying to make him feel better or make him feel like a brute. Either way, he looked like she’d just punched his ego. Slade looked just as confused as Landus.
“What she’s trying to say,” I giggled. “Is that you don’t have the right equipment. She’s more of a wallflower femininity lover.”
Both boys looked at us weirdly, trying to decode what the hell we just said. Twenty seconds later, understanding crossed their faces, and we broke out in more laughter.
“Cecil, when you’re done playing with the men, I would love it if you would come help us cast the circle. This gate is a nasty one, and I don’t want it scarring the area,” said one of the witches.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cecil called out to the older woman.
“Who’s that?” I asked, not recognizing her. I didn’t really hang out with the witches though so I wasn’t surprised. I’d only met a handful of them.
“Maura Jovana, our coven leader,” Cecil answered before going over to join her coven sisters in taking down the gate.
“Our pack is in partnership with her coven. We help each other out when we can,” Landus expanded.
“Hmm, fun.”
We moved out of their makeshift circle and watched as they began humming and tearing down the gate. Witches were the best at taking them down. They used their inherent magic to protect the area around the gate from harm while the dismantling occurred. Sometimes, when anyone other than a witch attempted to dismantle a gate, it exploded, killing those nearby and scarring the land. Plants no longer grew in areas where the explosions occurred, creating dead spots. The more negative gates were, the more dangerous dismantling them was. I could see why Maura was being very cautious, creating a barrier around the gate and everyone else and also using a good chunk of her coven. Normally only a witch or two were needed, but six of them surrounded this gate, all humming a tune I didn’t understand.
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