by Dana Archer
Whether his declaration is just for show or some shifter custom, I can’t say, but Mira’s brow furrows as she asks, “What did they say?”
“Your daughter will mate a Yuran, and together, they will rain hell down upon their enemies.” Asa spreads his arms out to the sides. “And I have remained mateless for many, many years, waiting for the female who could make me into a walking god.”
With an arm around her belly, Mira shakes her head but doesn’t say anything. Josh does, and fire licks along my skin with each word. “Then prepare to earn your place at my daughter’s feet if that’s where you think you belong, because—”
The barn door crashing into the wall jerks everyone’s attention to the little blonde alpha child who’s good at remaining in the shadows. Not so much now. Blotchy marks stand out on her deathly pale skin, and puffy red eyes hold a well of pain someone ten times her age would crumple under.
Molly grips the door, her chest heaving with hard breaths, and points a trembling hand behind her. “Megan…Megan’s dying. The humans shot her. Shot Seth. Shot Rey. Shot Peyton. But she’s dying. Megan…Megan’s dying, and I can’t stop it! I can’t save her! I tried, but I’m not strong enough. Please…somebody, please help her. They’re in the woods, though. The humans. I couldn’t shift. They’d shoot me too.”
Josh cuts a quick look to Mira, who nods. Then he’s out the door, followed by Ethan and his mates, the long-haired shifter with his pregnant mate in his arms, and dozens of the other males. The scant few left behind move closer to Mira, and Jarah wavers, looking between me and the door with the agonized expression of a man deciding who he should save.
Mira grips the front on her loose black dress and bunches the fabric. “Molly, what happened? Tell us everything.”
The little girl who’d been so excited to learn she’d be crashing the alpha’s party with me shakes her head, then bolts through the door.
Levi walks in before anyone else can say anything or follow Molly out. Blood splatters cover Kade’s nephew, dotting his face and the pale blue button-up shirt and khakis he’d worn to the party. More blood covers his hands, drenching them and the small sharpened nails tipping the ends of his fingers. He looks around, then says to no one in particular, “I made him stop.”
“Made who stop?” I walk toward Levi, taking as slow of an approach as I can when all I want to do is rush forward and demand answers.
“The man who kept shooting Megan. Who laughed at her crying…dying. I made him stop.”
I kneel in front of Levi and take his hands in mine, the blood still warm on his skin. “How did you make him stop?”
“The boy ripped the guy’s throat out with his bare hands.” Vince walks through the doorway, two bloody redhaired girls in his arms. “While the other humans watched.”
A scream rings out, and a redhaired woman runs from the back of the barn, where food-covered tables wait to feed the guests. A man runs with her. They take the girls from Vince’s arms. Then they’re gone, along with a couple of shifters who’d remained to guard Mira.
Vince watches them go, then looks from Jarah, who’s remained between me and Asa, to where Mira’s standing alone. “Seth shifted. The humans saw it. And shot.”
Mira covers her mouth. “How did they know the kids would be out there? Or they’d shift?”
I shove against Vince’s shoulder, and the smirk on his face gives me the answer I need everyone to hear. “You set them up. Didn’t you?”
“Prophecies put into motion must be allowed to run their course, Ms. Conway.” Asa steps around Jarah, but the ancient assassin moves too, keeping the Yuran alpha from being able to look into my eyes.
“The prophecy involving me is already in motion.” Mira’s voice booms. “Allowing innocent children to be shot is not part of my babies’ legacy.”
“Mistakes happen.” Vince moves into my line of sight and catches my gaze. Holds it. “But deals must be kept. Payments must be made. And a future king must claim his queen.”
The lights go out. Blackness descends, blocking out everything just as it does in my demon’s world.
Humans storm the barn. Humans that Jarah and the others don’t smell or sense. They’re cloaked in shadows, just like Asa was.
Jerry, the Black Widow’s bartender, lifts a semiautomatic rifle, points it at Mira, and shoots.
Mira sidesteps as the first bullets hit her, then turns, covering her stomach where red is already blossoming, but bullets keep coming even as the last few guests move in to form a circle around her and others rush Jerry.
Jarah glances over his shoulder as Mira finally screams. An apology hovers in his eyes. There is no question of who needs the ancient more. Mira can’t lose her babies. I push him forward, then follow behind him, but Asa steps into my path before I get far. He grabs my biceps in a crushing squeeze until I jerk my gaze to his. Black flames creep over my vision.
And I careen into my own personal hell.
Thirty-Three
Kade
Molly remembered my rules and obeyed them. She made sure she conveyed that when she reached out mentally to me to tell me the fate of her sister and their friends. Never will I fault the young pride leader for upholding her vow to protect our secret world. Had I been the alpha in Molly’s place, however, I’d have damned us all. My cats wouldn’t have allowed the cowards who attacked Megan and the other children to live.
“He planned this.”
My younger brother Zach’s voice drifts through my head, the intimate form of communication one I reserve only for desperate times. Much like this one. It’s safer for my image as it’s too easy to glimpse insights into my emotions this way, something I avoid even among most of my family. No need to let others know I’m simply a man trying to do the best I can. Or that tonight, I might not be enough.
“Yes.” Rafe moves up to my side, matching my quick but still-human pace, the fastest we can safely get away with while surrounded by humans. “We knew Asa was up to something when he didn’t show up at the welcoming gathering. Never would I have thought he’d come after our children. He’s got to know we won’t let this go unpunished.”
“His actions demand retribution. Asa will pay for what happened here tonight. So will Vince. This I vow.” My voice echoes in the night for all those visiting shifters who followed me blindly into the woods, not knowing the threat but risking themselves to help me and mine. For that, I will remember who stood at my back.
“You have no proof Vince or Asa were involved in this.” Colin Lynch, future leader of his jaguar family, brushes against my arm, his strides matching mine and his words barely audible. “Be careful of your accusations, my friend.”
Casting a sideways glance at my fellow Shifter Affairs agent, I blink, then turn my attention to the woods in front of us. The small acknowledgment is all I can offer when judging eyes follow my every move.
Thumping feet precede us, drawing my focus to the woods flanking Josh and Mira’s property. A heavy splash and a human’s gasp come next, and an image of what I can’t see paints across my mind. A large man took to running in the stream, the icy waist-deep water no doubt shocking him and slowing him down.
Had we not been so close, the human’s desperate escape might’ve proved successful. The humans in these woods carry no scent for us to follow, a feat only possible by injecting or ingesting the drug meant for shifters who need to mask their animals’ presence from the predators after them. Without a scent, all that’s left to hide is their footprints.
Obviously, someone failed to warn these humans shifters hear exceptionally well.
Motioning to a point farther down the creek, I look to Colin and Zach, my gaze on them enough to project my wants. Both males take off, Zach leaping over the creek, and Colin remaining on this side. With them positioned to cut off the human should he escape me, I catch my twin’s gaze and that of another Royal leader who’s followed us out here, then glance upstream to cut off the human’s escape should he turn in the opposite directio
n. Then with two twists of my hand, I direct the other alphas behind me to remain or cross to the other side of the creek. Finally, I zero in on the human’s labored breathing, then move in.
Had I seen the gimmicky outfit in any other situation, I’d have subtly rolled my eyes and dismissed the eccentric man. Today, the human decked out in a ninja outfit with a short sword, shurikens tucked into his belt, and spiked gloves equates to a potential threat, but it’s the missing throwing stars from the two holders closest to his hand that turn him into my prey. If either of those weapons hit a child, the human becomes a victim. His actions will dictate mine.
With all the stealth of my cats, I approach, my shoulders slightly arched and my fingers aching from the press of the sharp tips of my claws under my skin. Flexing my hands to resist unleashing my claws, I leap, taking down the unsuspecting male and toppling him into the fast-moving stream. His mouth opens on a scream that cuts with the rush of water filling his mouth. With my hand between his shoulder blades, I hold him down, his struggles not enough to break my hold.
His flaying arms slow, along with his heartbeat.
I want to finish it, taking his life as he and his fellow humans sought to take the lives of innocents. It won’t take more than a couple more seconds, and I haven’t even broken a sweat or released a single claw. My superior strength is enough.
Cursing, I clutch the back of his drenched shirt, haul him from the water, smacking him against the hard ground. Then I tug free the sword strapped to him and roll him. Hard choking coughs curl his body, and water gushes from his mouth. He grabs his stomach, coughing harder. More water dribbles out. He’ll live, at least for this moment. His fate after Shifter Affairs evaluates him is another story. It’s also an outcome I won’t be writing.
“I’ve got him.” Colin drops to a knee on the other side of the groaning man, then makes quick work removing the rest of the weapons secured to his body.
“Make sure he lives.” I deliver the order Colin doesn’t need to hear, but I have to voice. For me. For how close I came to betraying my honor. I don’t know if this particular human used those missing stars on the innocents I’m responsible for or if he’d lost them. Without that knowledge, I can’t act.
Molly did the right thing.
“Round them up.” I glance at the shifters around me. “Alive.”
My friends, family, and those shifters who’ve earned my protection tonight move out in stalking waves, dispersing into the woods with a single purpose: to hunt those who’ve come here to hunt us.
With my fingers still curled around the sword’s leather-wrapped handle, I change direction, slipping into Josh’s backyard. My kin’s pain calls to me, urging me into a run. I focus on the section of woods just beyond the barn. The dense woods connect Josh’s property to the Alexander pride’s territory and have become a favorite play area for the children. Sandwiched between our private properties, they can run and climb and play as children ought. Instead of giggling kids, a half-dozen humans wielding guns, swords, and axes descend on the barn and slip inside.
Rage as I’ve never known slips into my soul, turning the world around me into the varied grays belonging to my felines’ sharper vision. I scan the yard, the woods, the side of the barn facing me, and zero in on the slight motion of a rifle’s barrel lifting. The shooter crouched next to the barn fires, and the path of the bullet appears to slow thanks to my feline’s perception, allowing me to move to the side and avoid injury.
The human fires, again and again, as fast as he can, the sound of the shots seeming to multiply and echo as another gun goes off, the shots coming faster than the ones directed at me.
I sidestep each attempt to take my life, then rush the man, whipping the rifle from his hands at the same time as I whack the side of the blade against his temple, the thump widening his eyes. Stunned, the human tumbles into me. I fist his shirt and bounce his head into the side of the barn hard enough to crack the siding and knock the man unconscious.
Dropping the human, I kick the rifle farther into the yard, then turn to the barn, where the sounds of bullets raining pain mix with Mira’s screams. A male rushes out the front door, something bloody in his arms.
My restraint and my honor fade, yet never have my instincts been clearer. And I know what I must do, even if it’ll damn me and mine.
Thirty-Four
Zoe
The familiar darkness of my demon’s world envelops me, cutting off the shouts of enraged shifters, righteous humans, and women’s screams, including Mira’s pain-filled ones. I pivot, scanning the black fog. No sign of the shifters I know must be standing around me in the barn. No sign of the door leading out of this barren hell. No sign of my crazy doppelgänger either.
I’m trapped.
“Then create a door leading to your world, Zoe. You have that power.”
Shadows pull away from my demonic twin. She steps forward, a flowing black robe transforming into a replica of the outfit I’m wearing, but for the first time, she doesn’t look emancipated or beaten down or nasty. She’s beautiful.
My demonic side touches her cheek, then her full bottom lip, and smiles. “It’s about time you saw yourself as the world does.”
“What are you talking about?”
Arms out, she turns slowly, looking heavenward, her purple-tipped silver hair brushing her shoulders and the skirt I’d chosen to wear molding her rounded bottom and shapely legs. Tights cover the evidence of old wounds on my legs, and the formfitting top showcases my curves, the checkered pattern minimizing the impression of the wicked raised scars on my stomach, while the black scarf looped around my neck hides Kade’s bite.
Finally, she drops her arms and faces me. “I’m a reflection of you, Zoe. How you see yourself, not how the world does, and for years, you’ve hated yourself. You can thank Dr. Fairchild for that. He buried me deep in your soul with all your hurt and all your pain and all your regret. He didn’t want you to face your past because you’d have to deal with your mistake and the promise you made me.”
“Then he failed because I still hurt. I still cry. And I still suffer the loss of my family. All he buried was you.”
“You don’t hurt all the time.” She tips her head. “Do you? Do the pain and the memories choke you all the time?”
I open my mouth, but she wags a finger at me. “Don’t lie. I know you.”
“When Kade’s with me, I don’t hurt.”
“And when you leave this area, you don’t either. The nightmares don’t bother you once you’re out of this valley. Do they?”
“You don’t bother me.”
“Because I can’t. I’m not strong enough to force you to face your past or your promise.” She raises a hand at the sight of my narrowed eyes. “Because of what Jeremiah did, not because I’m not strong enough.”
“Because he bonded us together?”
She waves a hand. “Yes, and I don’t have time to rehash the injustice of it. We’re in a fight for our freedom. Asa’s ready to steal it. He wants to use us to make him stronger. I’m holding him back, but I can only do so much from here. Being in this area strengthens me, but I can’t break free. I’m tied to you and the overlook where you called me forth.”
“That’s why Dr. Fairchild told me to leave and not come back.”
“Maybe you should’ve listened to him.” She shrugs. “It’s too late for that now. Asa will own us if I don’t stop him, because you can’t. You’re not strong enough.”
“And you want me to release you to do that.”
“We made a deal. You and me. Keep your end of the bargain, and Asa won’t bother you anymore. I’ll even leave you alone, soul intact. You can even keep Kade’s. I don’t want him. I don’t want the souls linked to him. I want one thing and one thing only.”
“Freedom.”
On a slow survey of the barren dark world surrounding us, she nods. “I want to feel the sun on my face, walk among the living, eat and sleep and love.”
“Just what the Gol
den Goddess wants.”
My demonic twin looks over her shoulder at me. “We made a deal. Time for you to keep your end of the bargain, or else Asa will own us both, and we’ll never be free.”
“What was our deal?”
“I answered your prayers.”
“What did I pray for?”
“Life.”
“My life?”
She faces the foggy landscape and chants, her hands twisting and tugging at the inky tendrils in the air around us. The black fog pulls back, revealing trees and shrubs and sunlight. The overlook where I lost my family takes shape out of the nothingness. A lankier Vince steps into view, along with my fiancé. The logo for BJ’s favorite baseball team covers the front of his shirt. Ripped jeans and sneakers complete the outfit he’d worn on his last day, and then…
Then I walk into view, my pregnant belly stretching my maternity shirt and my long black hair pulled into a single ponytail. With a hand at my back, this dream version of me steps forward, glaring at Vince then BJ. My younger self shoves against his shoulder until BJ faces me. “You want me to give up our baby? What has gotten into you?”
My own voice echoes in my head, pulling this memory from somewhere in my mind and dropping me in this moment as if this was me, right here and now. I remember saying that. I remember the hurt, the anger, the rage. Nobody was going to take my baby. Nobody! I’d kill anyone, even my supposed soul mate.
Past and present merge until I can’t separate them. With my hand stretched out, I step forward. My fingers pass through the mist and then…
* * *
I slam my fist into BJ’s shoulder. “Answer me, you jerk!”
BJ swipes at my arm, knocking my hand off him, and steps back. “It’s for the best.”