by Meg Ripley
If he jumps, just make sure you protect your throat, said a voice inside his head. It was beautiful and silky despite the anger and fear in it. I’ll get him.
Gabe could feel the mental link to Emersyn almost as well as he could hear it. He didn’t need to turn around to know that she’d shifted but was staying under the wreckage of the table for the moment. She was planning a nice little surprise for any bears who hadn’t been paying attention. No. You just let me keep them occupied while you get out of here.
You’re crazy.
Yes. Crazy for her. Crazy for ever thinking that their experience together the night before could change anything about who they were now and what they wanted out of life. Crazy for taking this job instead of going home and working that factory position his mother had heard about. Maybe. But there’s no way we’re going to get out of this alive. We’re outnumbered by a long shot.
I got through to Garrison.
This last message came through just as one of the lower members of the gang sprang for him. He missed Gabe’s throat with his teeth, but the bulk of him hit Gabe’s shoulder and sent the two of them skidding across the floor. Gabe felt the impact to his spine as they hit the door. He was on his side, and the other bear’s weight was keeping his legs in place. Unable to use his claws, he reached up and gnashed his teeth toward the sensitive flesh of his throat. The bear yanked his head back to get out of the way, slamming his own nose against the exposed brick wall behind him. Gabe took advantage of the temporary stunning effect and thrust all his body weight upward, sending his foe tumbling to the floor as he rose on his four paws once again.
Are they coming? Were you able to tell them about the symbol? He could wait for another enemy to attack, but the adrenaline pumping through his system told him otherwise. Gabe barreled forward to take on the next one.
I didn’t have a chance, but I think they’ll come. They must’ve heard the scuffle when that asshole found me.
Gabe hoped she was right as he twisted and turned, locked in an embrace of death with his opponent. Big claws pressed against his flesh and teeth snapped in his ear as he sought purchase that would rip through the tough ursine skin and take the other bear down.
A high-pitched scream ripped through the air, sending a shiver down’s Gabe’s spine even though he knew exactly where it came from. He could feel the sound in his bones, telling him not only who had made it, but exactly where she was in proximity to him.
Emersyn had leaped onto one of the other tables, calling out a challenge. She hissed as one of the bears took her up on it, crouching her body as she prepared to jump. Gabe shoved his rival back and turned just in time to see the big black cat pounce. Her sharp claws easily drew blood, making inky runnels in the dark fur.
There was no more time to watch her in action as two more bears came at him. He struggled against their weight and strength as he mentally calculated just how many enemies they had in there and how many they could take out before they completely exhausted themselves. Emersyn, I need you to know I’m sorry.
Don’t talk like you’re going to die, she snapped. The others are on their way. I know they are.
It was certainly something to hope for, but Gabe wasn’t counting on anything until he saw it. You need to know I’m sorry whether we make it out of this or not. I never meant to hurt you by going away. And whatever I did to make you upset last night or this morning, then I’m sorry for that, too. He crunched his teeth down on a furry brown ear, clamping them hard against the delicate skin until the combatant bellowed in pain. The second bear was trying to do the same to Gabe, though, and he let go in order to swat him back.
Emersyn was silent for a long time. It was only the fact that he could feel her presence—no words, but simply her—in his mind that kept Gabe from panicking and swirling around to find her. It’s fine.
That wasn’t much, but it would do for the moment. A swift smack of his paw landed just right, his claw scraping against the other bear’s eye as the strength behind the blow turned his head. His foe staggered off, but there was another one in his place. Gabe was drowning in enemies. He backed up, and he could sense the excitement in the other bears as they thought he was retreating. But he was merely getting closer to Emersyn.
She was at his back sooner rather than later, the two of them fighting as the center of a spiral that simply couldn’t last forever. They were outnumbered, and even the time it would take for someone to get there was too long.
There’s one thing we have to agree on, no matter what else we have between us. Emersyn screamed again as she swiped and bit at the bear that had come after her.
Gabe could feel her muscles working, the force of her against his back. They were fighting together, defending themselves from the enemy. It was the stuff of dreams for a man like him, yet he couldn’t help but feel this could also be the end. What’s that?
Lucas. Emersyn shoved off the floor, jumping almost straight up into the air so that she came down on top of her enemy’s head, her claws shredding his face. One of us has to get out of here. For him. He’s already gone through almost the first year of his life without both of his parents. He can’t lose us. Not now.
Thoughts of his son drove Gabe onward, renewing his strength and energy as he put down his head and barreled into the next man who dared to come forward. Grizz still wasn’t one of them yet, standing back and watching his men do the work.
Before Gabe could answer, a door on the opposite end of the bar slammed open. Even in bear form, Gabe recognized Hunter. He charged into the room, his conclave behind him. A path cleared before Hunter as he headed straight for Gabe, revenge clear in his eyes.
He reeled back as the big bear hit him. Gabe’s muscles were already tired, and this fight wasn’t going to be the same as the one back at the San Bernardino conclave. Then, he’d been fresh and readily fueled by his urge to protect Emersyn. He still wanted to do that, but he knew it wouldn’t be possible. He was losing already, and the fight had barely begun. The bear on top of him was gigantic, and he seemed to recover instantly from every blow and bite. Yes, he panted out in his mind, determined to let Emersyn know before the end that there was at least one thing they could agree on. One of us has to survive for Lucas. And it should be you. Go! Please!
I’m not leaving you!
A blur of black flickered across Gabe’s vision. Hunter’s head snapped back to combat the new challenger on his back, and he grunted in pain as she slashed her claws across his cheek. Gabe knew she was helping, but he also knew it was futile. They would never make it. Even if she ran for the door right now, some of the bears would follow. She would be faster, but they knew the place better and there were more of them.
An odd noise reached his ears as he was still pinned underneath Hunter. Gabe didn’t know what it was at first. He ignored it as he snapped his teeth around Hunter’s paws and ground them together, exuding just enough force to make the other bear yank his leg back. It gave him just enough of a chance to force him further back with his bodyweight and pull himself upright again. It wasn’t a win, but it was victory enough to give him a little bit of hope back.
The noise sounded again. It stirred up the members of the gang, making them even snap at each other as they tried to figure out what was happening. It wasn’t the scream of Emersyn’s panther, nor was it the deep roar of a bear. The tinted windows behind the bar shattered as two massive beasts shot through them, their wings filling the air. Everyone in the room froze as two dragons, one onyx and one emerald, entered the room.
Gabe’s heart lifted, knowing Emersyn was right. Garrison had understood what was happening, and the Force had their backs. The gap in the window admitted the brilliant light of the sun, and with it, Raul’s wolf, Hudson and Leona’s lions, and Jude’s bear. They were still outnumbered, considering they were fighting both the biker gang and the conclave, but the odds of getting out alive were definitely ticking upward.
Amar and Garrison cleared the room of most of the gang with blasts of
fire that sent bears running and sizzled the worn oak bar. Hunter and Grizz remained. Grizz attacked the newcomers, finally entering the fray, but he was taken down as swiftly as he came in when the rest of the Force easily overpowered him.
Hunter was younger and more determined. His fighting became more ferocious as he became desperate, and he used his weight more than his skill in one last effort at taking Gabe down. But Emersyn was at Gabe’s side. They attacked as one, their muscles and their souls moving in sync as they fought for the Force, for Lucas, and for each other. Gabe’s mouth filled with blood as they each landed a fatal bite to the big bear’s throat and watched him fall to the floor in defeat.
8
Emersyn sat down hard on her chair in the conference room. They’d reassembled at headquarters, and though they’d had time to wash, tend any wounds that had made it through the shift back to their human forms, and eat to replenish their energy, there was still work to do.
She’d managed a few minutes to hold Lucas, moments that were infinitely more precious than they’d been before. The fight at the clubhouse had seemed to take forever, the threat of her death hanging over her head like a dark cloud. What would happen to Lucas if she died? Worse, what would happen if they both died? The logical part of her brain told her that Melody would take care of the boy, and that even the rest of the Force would help ensure that he was taken care of. But logic didn’t have room to enter her brain when she was fighting so hard for her life.
“I know you’re all exhausted from your efforts today.” Garrison stood at the head of the table, his hair still damp from showering. Amar, Raul, and Jude had already been out on their individual missions when they’d gotten the call from Garrison to head to the clubhouse. Shifting and the fight had worn them all out completely. “I’d be more than happy to say we should all rest and gather ourselves before we continue, but it’s apparent there’s a lot more going on here than we originally thought.”
Hudson nodded. “I managed to get some information out of a few of the lower members of the gang. Apparently, the San Bernardino conclave and the Flaming Skulls were working together. The conclave used the biker gang almost like their own personal army, deploying them anywhere they thought someone was fighting against their cause. Hunter and his group were no better than any other clan or gang who wants to take everything for themselves.”
“Interesting that he proposed wiping the gangs out altogether,” Gabe mused. “He must’ve done that to keep us off the trail of their connection.”
“That’s our best guess, too,” Leona agreed. “The conclave and the Flaming Skulls are fairly well stamped out for now, but of course this puts us in the position of helping to create a new conclave and make sure any other gang activity is settled. I don’t think we’ll have any problem with that. The other gangs that you all met with today seemed on board to find a way to work together, and we’ll no longer have Hunter’s influence over them.”
Garrison smiled as he looked around the table at each of them. “That also means we’ll need to ensure our safety on any future missions by creating that telepathic link. The moon is just right tonight. Since we’re lucky enough to be right up against the woods, I figured we’d just walk.”
Amar was the most excited about this. “I’m eager to see this. I’ve heard tales of this ritual, but I’ve never seen it in person.”
A thrill of intrigue shot through Emersyn’s system, despite her sore muscles and tired joints. She hadn’t seen anything like it, either. In fact, there was very little she knew about dragons at all.
“I’m happy to share it with you,” Garrison replied genuinely. “It’s not very often that I get to perform the ceremony, and it’s even more rare to share it with one of my own brethren.”
Emersyn had heard a few bits of conversation here and there about Garrison’s search for any of the remaining dragon shifters on the planet. They were a very unusual breed, and she was eager to learn more about them as the time passed with the Force.
Garrison went over the basic procedure for the ceremony so they would all know what to expect when they reached the place he’d set up in the hilly lands behind the house, and then they all filed out the back door.
“So,” Gabe said quietly at her shoulder as they walked out of the house and began leaving suburbia behind, “I take it you’ve changed your mind.”
It was the kind of thing that should’ve been an incredibly hard decision. Staying with the Force or not was a life-changing choice. She’d wavered on it numerous times over the last week, weighing the benefits for Lucas against the greater good. “I was dead-set against it less than twenty-four hours ago,” she admitted. “I felt that I was letting myself go down the wrong path because it was the easier one.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not sure being on the Force could really be categorized as easy.”
She laughed, thinking about just how challenging the missions were already proving to be, and that was with D.C. members there to help them get started. “True enough. But the other things that come along with it are easier. Having a place to live without worrying about rent and utilities. Having Melody right next door, and even you right across the hall.” Her face heated. She hadn’t wanted to tell him just how much he meant to her, but everything had changed that morning as they were fighting. “I’ve often thought about women who have men at their sides as they’re raising children and that it must be better than doing it alone. I didn’t want to stay with the Force just because I was tired of doing all the work by myself.”
“I see.” He was quiet again for some time as they trudged up the pathway that led into the hills. The stars stood out in the deepest parts of the sky where the light pollution didn’t reach, illuminating their path.
Emersyn bit her lower lip, knowing they would need to talk about this more. There had most certainly been something between them, and they couldn’t deny it considering the mental link they already had and that they would soon have with the others. Staying on the Force meant they would still have to deal with each other on a daily basis, but she didn’t yet know what that would entail. Maybe they would be friends, or maybe they would just do their best to raise their son until he was of age, and then each move on with their lives. She didn’t know, and she didn’t even like to think about it. There was unknown territory ahead.
The woods parted to reveal a small clearing. Garrison had placed a pile of wood at the center of it, and he stood near it now. The new Force members did as they’d been told back in the conference room and filed around the edge of the clearing until they stood in a tight circle. Producing a knife from a sheath at his waist, Garrison handed it to Amar.
He turned the curved blade in his hands, running his finger over the handle that bent in the opposite direction, and let out a low whistle. “I’ve heard of these, in old stories my grandmother used to tell me. I didn’t think it could be true, because I never thought a dragon would actually give up his claw for the sake of a knife.”
“Are we ready?” Garrison asked.
The assembly nodded.
Amar began, using the knife to make a slash on each of his arms just above the wrists, just big enough to flow, but not so large as to create any permanent damage. Garrison had explained back at headquarters that although most wounds inflicted on shifters healed when they transformed, the magic in the knife kept the cut open until the ceremony was complete.
They passed the knife around. Emersyn tried to leave her medical training behind as she touched the blade, already dark with blood, against her skin. It was so sharp that she hardly felt a thing and was unsure that she’d even been successful until blood welled from the wound. Finished, she handed it to Gabe.
When they’d all done the first task, the knife was handed back to Garrison. “And now shift,” he reminded them gently, doing so himself.
Emersyn pulled in a deep breath of clean air, and as she let it out, she also let her human body go. It was strange to still feel the cuts as her spine lengthen
ed and her tail flicked through the night air. She twisted her head to one side as the bones of her skull cracked and bulged to accommodate the face of a panther. An electric thrill shivered over her body as short black fur bristled from her skin.
When she had fully transformed, Emersyn looked around. An emerald green dragon stood at the center of the circle, puffing out his chest to ignite the wood he’d put there. To her right stood Raul, now a glorious wolf. Amar was on the other side of him, his magnificent obsidian scales reflecting the glow of the firelight. Jude was next, his hulking bear form similar to that of Gabe next to her.
Emersyn focused on Gabe as they each spread their forelegs so that their wounds touched those on either side of them. She didn’t know if she should feel comforted or more nervous in having him at her side for this ceremony. He incited both feelings in her on tremendous levels. But as she pressed her cut against his, Emersyn felt a spark of something enter her bloodstream.
Dragons were the only shifting species who could speak audibly when in their animal form, and Garrison did so now. But the words that came forth from his long tongue and sharp teeth weren’t English. They rasped and scraped in the air as he chanted in the ancient language of his people, translating it for the rest of them when he was finished. “Our blood becomes one, flowing within each other. Bonded as brothers, our nexus strong.”
For a second, Emersyn didn’t feel anything more than the pulsating blood of the rest of the Force in her veins. Then a jolt shot through from Gabe, sizzling up her left arm and across her chest before discharging into Raul. She gasped, recovering just in time for it to come bursting through her system a second time. The waves surged through her body repeatedly, leaving her numb and limp in between, wondering if she was going to die.
Finally, the bursts of magic subsided, leaving everything eerily quiet in the clearing. It is done, intoned a deep voice in her head that could only be Amar.
Emersyn sat down heavily as she disengaged her forelegs from Gabe and Raul. She was all right. She’d lived, but this was so much more than she’d expected. Her link with Gabe had been more automatic, no more taxing than the typical rush of hormones that came from their physical bond.