by Chant, Zoe
And Trent wasn’t her mate. Would she be able to accept their bond so readily now that she’d seen the creature he could turn into? The marsupial lion was a fearsome predator, after all – built to kill. Euan wouldn’t blame her if she found it frightening.
Delilah was staring at him, eyes wide.
“So… so this is your shifted form?” she asked in a whisper. “The one you thought you’d lost?”
Euan lowered his head, letting out a sound that, if he’d been a housecat, would have been a mew.
It’s still me, Delilah, he told her. Please – know that it’s still me.
Perhaps he should shift back, to reassure her and let her know that no matter what, she was still his precious mate, who he’d die to protect –
“Wow,” Delilah breathed, reaching out a hand to run her fingers lightly over his shoulder. “Is it – is it okay for me to do this?”
Our mate is patting us!!!
His lion’s burst of joy was sudden and brilliant. Euan ducked his head, pushing it against the flat of her palm as a deep, booming purr rose from his chest.
“Ha! Okay, I guess it’s fine then,” Delilah laughed as she buried her fingers in his fur. “I guess I never really thought about… all this,” she continued after a moment. “I mean… not really. Not what it meant. But now that I see it… wow.”
Our mate has described us using the word ‘wow’! Twice!
The lion’s purr grew louder. Euan had to hold it back from smoodging itself along her leg.
As much as I would love that, we have other things to worry about right now.
You’re right, the lion said, tensing and glancing toward where Alisa still sat by the wall. It growled at her again before Euan could stop it.
Euan shifted back into his human form – and even though he’d done it countless times in the past, he took the time to marvel at it in the half-second it took. After all, it was something that, until now, he’d thought he’d never be able to do ever again.
“Oh, you’re back,” Delilah said, still staring up at him. “Hi.”
“I never left, Delilah,” Euan said. “It was still me – it’s always me, no matter what.”
From now on, we work together, he told his lion. The lion, deep within him, purred its assent.
“I… I somehow knew that,” Delilah said. “When I looked at you, I could still tell it was you. I don’t know how, but…”
Euan wanted to sweep her up in his arms and kiss her – he wanted to feel her lips against his, to feel the heat of her mouth…
But he knew he couldn’t do that right now. He glanced toward where Alisa was still watching them, anger simmering alongside the defeat in her eyes.
“You,” he said to her, not bothering to modify his tone. No matter whether she’d asked for mercy or not, he couldn’t forget the fact she’d pointed a gun at Delilah. If Alisa showed the slightest hint of threatening her again, Euan knew he wouldn’t hesitate a second time. “Where are my friends?”
They can’t be dead. If they’re dead, I’ll –
He cut that thought off quickly. He’d overcome his lion’s anger, and now he needed to keep a clear head, no matter what.
“I don’t know, Lev had charge of them,” Alisa said sulkily.
“Is he going to kill them?” Euan asked, sensing it as Delilah stiffened in alarm.
“No. He wanted them to see – he wanted you all to see – what we’ve accomplished here.” There was a hint of pride creeping into Alisa’s voice.
Euan wasn’t sure whether to believe her that she didn’t know where Lev had taken Hector, Callan and Rhys, but he knew he didn’t have time to sit here debating it with her. They were on a yacht – there were only so many places they could be.
But alicorns are powerful. Could I really defeat one who wasn’t already exhausted?
Even as drained of power as she was, Alisa had put up a strong fight. And how long would it take her to recover?
He looked at her uncertainly. Her leg still hadn’t begun to heal, but he couldn’t risk leaving her here unattended.
Perhaps sensing his thoughts, Delilah said, “It’s okay – I have an idea.”
She marched up to Alisa, and, before Alisa could say a word, held out her hand, pushing her palm against Alisa’s forehead.
“Hey –” Alisa began to say, before she slumped over, going limp as a rag doll.
“Delilah –!”
“It’s okay,” Delilah said, turning back to him and looking down at her hands as she wiggled her fingers. “Though it’s going to be so weird getting used to that.”
“What did you do?” Euan asked, staring at Alisa’s prone form.
“Oh! She’s not – she’s not dead!” Delilah hurried to reassure him, holding up her hands. “She’s just unconscious! I’ve been getting these… these weird surging feelings in my fingers ever since I woke up. I, uh, ran into one of their henchmen in the corridor while I was chasing after you, and I just kind of… used it on him before I could think. Maybe it’s like the flashes, but… more controlled? I feel like I have a better handle on it now. It’s more concentrated, and I can direct it at just one person.”
“You took out an alicorn all by yourself?” Euan asked, staring at her.
Delilah laughed shakily. “I guess I did. But I really didn’t mean to. I checked his pulse though, and it was totally fine. I promise!”
Euan could have said that he didn’t really care if someone who might have hurt Delilah was alive or dead, but he refrained.
“And the gun Alisa had…”
“Oh, I, uh, hid it. In a drawer in the bedroom,” Delilah said sheepishly. “I didn’t really want to carry it around, though I guess I could have used it to defend myself. But I don’t really know anything about guns, I probably just would have shot a hole in the side of the yacht and sunk it.”
Well, that’s fair enough, Euan decided as he laughed. “Hopefully it’d take a little more than that.”
Delilah nodded, still looking a little embarrassed. “Should we try to find Hector and the others?”
“Yes.” Euan looked around, sending his shifter senses out in all directions. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to sense his fellow agents anywhere, but at least he might be able to detect danger.
The yacht, however, was eerily quiet.
“Let’s try this way,” he said, pointing to a corridor on the other side of the room.
Together, they made their way slowly and silently down the corridor, Euan quietly opening the doors along the way. The search yielded one storage cupboard, one room with nothing but a giant spa inside it, and one disco dance floor, complete with a giant mirrorball.
“This place has everything,” Delilah breathed as Euan closed the door again. “Is this a yacht or a nightclub? Do evil alicorns go to nightclubs?”
“Apparently so,” Euan murmured, as they turned a corner, and went to the only door right at the end.
On opening it, they found themselves in a dining room as opulent as the bedroom he and Delilah had been trapped in – and over by the corner of the room lay Hector, Callan and Rhys.
Instinctive panic rose up in Euan’s chest at first sight of them. They were lying slumped in a heap, with no obvious restraints.
Oh God, he thought, as he began to dash across the room to them. Are they – Hector has Myrtle and Ruby – Callan has Ella –
But the fear dissipated as soon as he reached their sides. They were breathing.
Swallowing down the overwhelming relief that flooded him, Euan reached out, shaking Hector’s shoulder. “Hey – Hector –”
At first, Hector didn’t move – but then he groaned, his eyelids fluttering. Remembering how painful his head had been when he’d first woken, Euan let him take his time coming to, and turned to shake first Callan and then Rhys awake.
“Oh. My. Fuck,” Hector groaned, holding his head in his hands. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a semi carrying a trailer full of meth.”
“Please,” Rhy
s moaned, covering his ears gingerly. “Please shut up. Don’t ever talk to me again.”
Even Callan, who was famously even-tempered, was looking at the blazing afternoon sunlight as it streamed through the window as if he wanted to kill it.
“I’d really love to give you guys a chance to recover properly,” Euan told them, “but right now we just don’t have the time.”
“Where are we?” Hector asked, squinting around him.
“On an evil alicorn pleasure yacht-slash-nightclub,” Delilah informed him.
“… Okay,” Hector said, apparently deciding his head hurt too much to question that. “Sure. Why not.”
“So… if that’s the case, where are all the evil alicorns?” Callan asked, covering his eyes a little and looking around.
“I don’t know,” Euan admitted. He’d been on high alert as they’d been searching for them, but aside from Alisa and the alicorn Delilah said she’d run into, they’d seen no one. “And I don’t know if I like it.”
“Well, I think that –” Rhys started to say, before he was cut off by the sudden sound of an alarm system going off, honking repeatedly over and over again.
“Fuck!” Hector said again, as he, Rhys and Callan all raised their hands to their ears in a futile attempt to block the noise. “What the hell is that?!”
“Did they realize we’re gone and hit the alert button?” Delilah yelled over the sound of the alarm, wincing as she spoke.
That was possible, Euan thought, but he had a much, much worse suspicion than that –
“Delilah!” he shouted, grabbing her when she stumbled, as the massive yacht rocked violently on the ocean, as if it were moored in a violent storm.
This yacht is massive, designed for ocean cruising, Euan thought as a second surge hit the yacht, sending the ornaments that had been sitting on the shelves around the sides of the room crashing to the floor. There’s no way a normal wave could even so much as move it…
The floor almost seemed to ripple beneath them this time. Euan looked from Hector to Callan to Rhys, and found similarly grim expressions on all their faces.
There was only one thing Euan could think of right now that would cause such a huge boat to shudder like this, as if it weighed nothing at all.
It’s the same kind of power that could cause earth tremors right through the whole of Sydney, Euan thought, as, his hands still around Delilah’s shoulders, they began to make their way across the dining room as it dipped and rocked around them. The same kind of power Lev and Alisa have been trying to unleash…
Euan knew that no matter what, they had to get on deck. They had to find a way to stop this – though he already knew that what Lev and Alisa had been telling them all along was true.
It was too late.
Euan found stairs leading upward, but the door at the top was locked. He kicked it down with two heavy blows, and led Delilah up onto the side promenade – where there were a group of alicorns all standing, staring in awe out at the ocean. Euan spotted Lev amongst them, his face glowing in brilliant happiness as he watched –
– As he watched a massive dark shape slowly rising out of the harbor, water sheeting off its sides, sending wave after massive wave of displaced water right at the yacht.
Euan felt his heart stop in his chest as he stared. Beside him, Delilah gasped, horrified.
The – the creature was so huge he couldn’t even make out its form, especially not with the flybridge above blocking his view. He could only tell that it was huge, dark… and, most likely, very, very unhappy at having been woken up.
Euan had always known there were more mythical beasts in the world than just shifters – werewolves, of course, and alicorns, who seemed to be shifters, but had a far more extensive set of powers. But something like this…
Euan had never contemplated it. He didn’t want to contemplate it.
What the hell even is it?!
A delighted whoop! from his left recalled him to himself, pulling him out of his horrified contemplation of the enormous creature drawing itself out of the harbor.
Stunned, he looked across to see Lev, his face brilliant with happiness, raising his fists in the air in triumph.
This bastard… what the hell has he done?!
Euan barged his way over to him, grabbing him by his pristine white shirtfront.
“What the hell is this?” Euan demanded, shaking him. “What have you done?”
Lev barely even seemed to register the fact he was being shaken.
“We’ve done it – we summoned it! I knew it could be done!! And now all our planning, all our careful searching has finally paid off –”
Euan stared at him in disbelief. Was he fucking nuts?!
“Is this a joke?” Euan bellowed into his face. He glanced out across the water. The creature seemed to have finished rising now, but it wasn’t moving – or at least, not the bits of it that Euan could see. “Why the fuck would you think this is a good idea?!”
“We will take revenge on the humans for forcing us into exile,” Lev said, his voice taking on an ecstatic, babbling quality. “We will take back what they stole from us!”
A renewed wave of water told Euan that the creature was probably moving now – and, sure enough, when he looked over at it, he saw its huge black form dropping a little, as if preparing to swim.
And it’s coming this way. Oh shit –
“Hector,” he called over his shoulder desperately. “Get up to the control room – we have to get out of here –”
But he saw that Hector was one step ahead of him. He’d already shifted into his griffin form and was launching himself off the deck, heading upward to where the helm was located.
He won’t have time – Euan thought desperately. There was a white V of foam in the water where it parted around the creature as it surged forward, looking a lot like a giant crocodile swimming fast.
“We can control it,” Lev said, laughing. “You think we would do this if we couldn’t control it? It will do our bidding – we’re the ones who woke it up, after all. After thousands of years, it will finally –”
Euan never found out what exactly Lev thought the creature would finally do, because at that moment it surged up from the ocean again beside the yacht, sending it careening over the surface of the water. Euan just had time to see a massive, glaring yellow eye – the same eye that Delilah saw in her dreams, he realized – before it rose too high for him to see.
Water flooded over the deck as it rushed down the creature’s sides, knocking some of the alicorns off their feet.
Euan let go of Lev’s shirt, turning back to find Delilah. She was still standing, but her face was white, her expression horrified.
Lev only laughed again.
“See, it listened to me when I called to it,” he said, just as Euan reached Delilah’s side, scooping her up in his arms and shielding her with his body.
“I’m sure it’s quite easily domesticated, really,” Lev continued. “It’s only a simple beast –”
Those were the last things Euan heard Lev say, before a massive tail swung down, seemingly from the sky, and smashed the yacht completely in half.
Chapter 17
Darkness. And I can’t breathe –
Delilah’s eyes snapped open. All she could see was a murky, shifting haze. When she tried to move her arms, they felt like they had leaden weights attached to them.
Oh, God. I’m underwater.
The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. And this time, she knew it wasn’t a dream. She couldn’t just open her eyes and make it stop.
Delilah had grown up in Sydney – of course she could swim. But right now, she couldn’t even tell which direction she should be swimming in. She couldn’t tell which way was up or down, or even where her head was in relation to her feet – everything was churning, rushing water, battering her this way and that as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. Around her, she could see dark shapes in the water, some sinking like stones, some bob
bing and churning just like her, some flailing and trying to swim –
Help me! she thought, as her lungs began to burn. She needed to breathe – she needed to –
Suddenly, a large, strong hand closed around her wrist. Delilah knew she’d begun to panic – the absolute worst thing you could do in a watery emergency – and now she tried to calm her brain and get control of her swirling limbs, knowing that if she didn’t, she’d likely pull anyone who tried to rescue her down with her.
Okay, okay, deep breaths… all right, not deep breaths. But still, be calm –
There was a strong tug on her arm, and Delilah was hauled quickly through the water, a muscular arm wrapping itself around her shoulders.
Euan. It’s Euan.
Delilah didn’t need to see her rescuer’s face to know that – she’d know that burly arm, that broad chest anywhere. She closed her eyes against the salty water and did her best to ignore the bursting feeling in her chest, knowing that if she could just hold on a moment or two longer, Euan would have her to safety –
Her head broke the surface of the water and Delilah pulled in a massive, heaving breath, choking a little and spitting out harbor water. Her ears were ringing, but she didn’t feel any pain anywhere on her body.
“Delilah, are you all right?” Euan’s arm was still around her shoulder, supporting her in the water.
“I – I think so,” Delilah sputtered out, still trying to breathe. She blinked salt water out of her eyes and squinted around, not really sure what she expected to see –
The monster. The monster destroyed the yacht –
She’d barely had time to comprehend what was going on – not to mention reconcile herself to the fact that giant sea monsters apparently did exist after all – before she’d seen something huge and whip-like sailing through the air, and felt Euan’s arms around her as he grabbed her, pulling her to his chest.
After that, things got a little fuzzy. She remembered an almighty crash, the sensation of flying, and then there was the water all around her… but the bits and pieces of yacht bobbing about on the surface of the sea certainly did suggest that the enormous boat had indeed been destroyed by the monster, as if it had been made out of nothing more sturdy than tissue paper.