His vision blurred, then darkened. He felt his body falling on the ground with a crash, the pain tripling.
He heard shouts. He felt the demons’ attention being caught elsewhere, but the rest still latched on and fed on him.
Adam heard Hazel’s shout: a clear, feminine voice filled with panic and horror. He heard even more shouts, louder this time, though they all melded together into a buzz inside his head. The next pain came from his throat, gripping him until he was choking in it. He tasted her magic in the air, felt his own energy respond to it before it died on him and left him with nothing.
He tried to tell her to go away and save herself, tried to think of all the things he could have said to his mate—the woman he’d grown to love in a short amount of time, and the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his days with. But it looked like life had other plans, and his wasn’t living a long one.
Hazel?
Thunder boomed, and he smelled smoke from fire again. Someone dragged his body, possibly to maul or save him—he couldn’t tell anymore.
Adam was down for the count and could no longer feel anything but the darkness.
Chapter 15
She found him covered in blood and demons, and nothing had ever been as terrifying as that sight in her entire life. Hazel felt her world stop as that moment became suspended in the air, with her focus only on the way his dragon face scrunched in pain as he tried to fight them all. But he couldn’t fight them all, because there were too many of the vicious creatures to count.
More than fifteen.
More.
Her heart went in her throat as she stayed rooted in place, watching them sink their teeth on him as if his scales were egg shells. Something else added to her fear—a dark fury that sank in her stomach before spreading, and that was what had her snapping out of it and finally moving forward, magic on her fingers.
She pierced the first demon that came at her with a punch, one filled with sharp energy. Some of the demons nearby felt it, even when it was lesser than the one Adam was radiating—a testament that they were no longer just after Adam’s now. They shifted their attention in her direction, and she braced her feet on the ground and stomped on the nerves to go away.
Come at me.
They did. They crawled in her direction before leaping. Hazel swung to the side and rolled as quietly as she could, pushing her energy in another direction to confuse them. Then she turned it off completely and watched them struggle to find it, blind creatures that felt its lick and hungered for more. When a demon came near her, only a step away, she called that energy back up and sliced, cutting the head off and watching it evaporate before turning her energy off again and racing away.
She did it again and again, following a pattern and sticking to it. Some of the demons caught on, but no one could figure her out completely. She heard Adam grunt in pain and almost lost her control, the magic leaking out of her.
Three demons came for her at once—
A bear shifter roared and slammed the demons out of her way. One claw slid into her skin, but she screamed and got it out. Blood spurted out of her arm, but she didn’t have time to assess it as she whirled in the direction of the bear shifter and saw other bear shifters joining in on the fight. Not just bear shifters.
Vampire cops. Sam, the diner owner. Fox shifters and a few wolf shifters.
The whole police force was here.
She shouted at the nearest to help Adam, and she turned in that direction, too. She dodged most of the fights going around her and headed towards him, who was on the ground and still struggling with the demons, but decidedly less energetic now. She watched his eyes close, screamed his name out.
An arm clamped around her waist and pulled her back just as a demon zoomed in on her. The demon whizzed past, attacked by a vampire and a fox shifter before Hazel crashed on the ground. The fury increased as Adam crashed on the ground, too, and she scrambled on her feet, turning to glance at the shifter who saved her.
“Give me cover!” she yelled.
Then she screamed and released all her magic towards the demons surrounding Adam.
They blasted like dart rays out of her, maiming them on the spot. Some crawled towards her but ended up dying in the process, but there were a few that refused to give up so easily. The shifters gave her the cover she needed, and a few more joined in. Another witch stepped in—the one who lived near a swamp, the hermit who hated people. This witch looked pissed off, and Hazel realized that her house was actually near vampire territory and must have been affected.
“Go get him and get this over with!” the other witch growled. “I’ll deal with these bastards.”
The shock of that offer rang in Hazel, but all she could do was nod. Then she zoned in on a pathway and dove in, running for Adam. She turned off her magic again as the demons were pulled off him. Adam rolled over the remaining ones, their spikes digging into him but their bodies flattened by his size. His tail stomped on the rest, right before his body gave up on him and slowly shifted back to his human form.
Hazel?
His voice in her mind jolted her.
He looked in her direction, but he wasn’t seeing her, not really. Hazel stumbled on her feet as her energy started to dissipate, worn out. Then she crawled towards his lying, shivering form and lifted his head to her lap, desperately searching for something to hold on to…
There. A heartbeat that was faint.
Hazel found hope in that and told him to hold on as she watched the townspeople fight all around her. She didn’t have any fight left in her, but she did have enough left to coat Adam’s energy and hers and shield them.
She held on, and so did he.
*****
The council wanted to know everything in the aftermath, and Hazel did her best to explain it all—that was, when she was recharged and rested fully from her overuse of magic. Apparently, she’d killed a good chunk of the demons in her wake before the others arrived and had saved Orville from complete destruction. That gave her the leeway to plead for her life and not to be granted punishment, but the same couldn’t be said about Adam.
At first.
She tried to argue it. They were adamant that he be kicked out, which changed to his imprisonment when she threatened that she would go wherever he went as his mate, leaving Orville. It didn’t help that they knew something else would be coming—something bigger. She almost lost hope that the council would concede, but that hope sparked again when a few of the residents stepped in to state their account of what happened.
That hope bloomed when she heard their stories.
Adam killed more than half of the demons, stopped some fires from spreading completely, and saved vampire children and other civilians from their demise. He also lured the remaining demons away from vampire territory and into a zone where he could fight them alone to avoid further damage.
That shifted the tide. Hazel latched on to it and finished it off by telling the council that they needed a dragon shifter here to help protect the town further and that he was a part of their community whether they liked it or not. They stewed over it, and Hazel could only stand there and wait in her nerves as they discussed it in a magic bubble in the meeting room before turning to face her.
“We would like to ask the sheriff’s opinion of this matter to finalize our decision.”
Nikolai stepped up beside her, and her shoulders went tense. She didn’t look at him, dread settling in her stomach as she waited with bated breath.
Then Nikolai spoke.
“I believe he should stay. He earned his right to. And he helped protect us when he could have just left. We owe it to him. He also owes it to us to stay and fight. This is his home now as much as it is ours, and we all have a duty to work together.”
He glanced at her once, and she let him know with her eyes how grateful she was.
The gavel was pounded, and the final decision was announced.
“Adam Ushmeg gets to stay. Monitored. You will keep monitori
ng him, Hazel. And everyone will need to pitch in to fight whatever’s coming our way. You’ll commit to this, and there’s no bailing. Is that understood?”
The relief that came after was stark, and Hazel found it so much easier to nod her head.
Things were looking up.
“Yes. It’s understood. Thank you.”
*****
She found him in her backyard, planting flowers and covered in bandages. He had a shadow of hair on his jaw, his hands were dirtied, and he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood as he frowned down at the stems he was digging holes for. That expression completely belied the gentle way he handled the planting, practically caressing the petals, and her heart went in her throat at the sight.
Then she was stepping forward.
Adam looked up, eyes wary before softening up as he watched her walk closer. She knelt beside him, not caring that her dress was getting soiled, not breaking eye contact as she took all of him in.
Then she pulled his head with her hands and kissed him.
There was initial surprise before he kissed her back, hungry and sweet and everything else in between. They kissed until they were out of breath, tongues tasting and lips clinging to each other. A sharp groan came from his throat as he disentangled from the kiss and buried his lips on her cheek.
She breathed deeply, dizzy with happiness. Then she took a deep breath and looked at him again.
“I can see your magic. It’s glowing, and it’s beautiful. You’re beautiful,” he muttered.
“I love you.”
Bronze eyes darkened, understanding and amazement swirling in them. She read the same feelings reflected in that gaze alone, and it made her heart feel full. She continued. “I love you, and I’m never leaving you. You told me you wanted this life, and I would love to share it with you if it’s still what you want now. The town accepts you, and even if they don’t, we’re in this together. We’ll fight that last fight, Adam…and we’ll live a good life. How does that sound?”
There were no sounds from him, but he pulled her closer and breathed her in. His arms tightened around her, and her heart beat and calmed down at the same time at the energy and feelings radiating from him.
“It sounds like you’re stuck with me, Hazel. I hope you’re ready for it,” he finally said.
She laughed. He chuckled and leaned to kiss her hungrily again, soil and all.
And she knew she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nikolai
Chapter 1
The magic coated him as soon as he entered their territory.
It wasn’t a booming kind of magic or anything that was big, something that Nikolai Bastet took note of as he walked the first few steps in. Instead, the magic was subtle, a warm coat that started from his toes and traveled up his head as he kept walking.
This particular witch territory was near the border of vampire territory—two kinds of creatures that didn’t like his kind in particular. Perhaps he could say the same about the other shifters and their feelings for these two kinds, but Nikolai couldn’t claim it was the same for him. Working here for years and getting to deal with the troubles of each faction, he had to say that while he was aware of all the hate and prejudice that was going on with some people, he’d grown pretty immune to it and just thought of it as an add-on that would always be a part of this place. Nothing he could do except to try to prevent it from erupting.
It was, after all, his job as the town Sheriff to maintain peace.
Orville was a very peaceful town if he did say so himself—a sanctuary for their kind, especially from humans who didn’t know of their existence and tended to be violent once they did. But lately, that peace had been disrupted, and there was nothing they could do but hang on for the ride and try to find ways to combat the darkness that was coming.
Like trying to enlist the help of some of the most powerful beings here.
Endless fields met Nikolai’s footsteps, followed by forests that contained green and orange trees and leaves. Autumn was clearly in the air, lending to breezy weather that was occasionally derailed by the scorching sun or a hailstorm. That was all because of magic, and this particular area was steeped in it.
The warmth coating him steadily turned cold, but still the nice kind as he finally got out of the forest and into a huge clearing. This clearing extended to a cliff, and in the middle of it was a wooden house that looked so picturesque, it could have been part of any fairy tale book, and no one would question it. The front yard had a wooden fence surrounding it and was filled with vegetable patches on one side, chicken coops on the other, and a multitude of flowers trailing wildly all over. Those flowers were on the trees, on the clearing’s grass, on the fence and even on the house’s roof, gorgeously strewn.
So the hermit liked unruly patches.
He stepped inside the yard, wariness sliding in when cold turned warm again. The magic was sharper here, but still so subtle, only felt by the most sensitive of creatures like his kind. Shifters were always so sensitive about their surroundings, and he was more so, considering he needed to hold in that instinct to avoid getting killed on the job.
And this was part of his job.
He kept walking, keeping his eye out for anything untoward. There were no sounds except the clucking of the chickens, but even they didn’t leave their coops when he passed by them. A wind picked up, slightly blowing through his hair before settling, almost as if caressing him. It was hypnotic, to say the least, and he knew without a doubt that any human stumbling upon this territory would immediately be ensnared.
Nikolai almost reached the front porch, where there were more pots of plants and what looked to be tiny rabbits running about, when he felt it—a slight stirring in the air, one that had his hair standing up on end. His body reacted on instinct, dropping low without him having to think about it.
And just in time, too, as something whizzed over his head. Had he not moved, it would have been all over him, knocking him to the side with a brutal force and rendering him unconscious.
Another stirring came, this one near his feet. Nikolai uttered a silent curse before he was flipping and rolling out of the way—again, just in time as something whizzed by. This time, he got a glimpse of what that something was and found himself staring at a wooden boomerang as it flew up in the air. Boomerang, meaning what went up must…
Nikolai dove as both boomerangs whizzed from the sky and back towards him at a speed that would knock him out. One got him by a hair, while the other missed him by an inch or two. He watched as strands of his black hair slid to the ground. He stared at it for a few seconds before scrambling up, slowly getting pissed off at the idea of almost getting killed so easily. He turned to face the porch again, intending to knock on the door with all his might and give a lecture on the importance of safety and not getting an officer killed whenever one deemed to visit here.
He found himself face to face with the barrel of a shotgun, one that was loaded and ready to fire at any second.
Nikolai blinked. Then he let his gaze roam the shotgun, where a pair of dainty hands was attached, followed by slim arms. It was a woman of short height and slight build, encased in the most hideous house dress he’d ever seen. Her startlingly white-blond hair was a frizzy mess at the top of her head, and her nose was as straight as they came, verging on pointed. Eyes the color of the Caribbean ocean clashed with his, threatening and calm at the same time.
The witch.
Well, the witch hermit, to be more precise.
This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her, and he had a feeling that with the situation right now, it wasn’t going to be the last. The last time he’d seen her, the police force had been trying to help another witch, Hazel, in killing the demons that were trying to attack a dragon shifter, Adam—Hazel’s mate. Adam’s blood was special, his kind was rare, and it looked like those demons were in need of it in order to extend their lifespan and live long to terrorize this world. That was just a taste of the terror they broug
ht, and he couldn’t begin to imagine what else was in store now that they were gone and something apparently “bigger” was coming.
That fight had occurred in vampire territory, which the demons had breached—and this witch had stomped right in the middle of it, pissed off because her place had apparently been ransacked by those horrible creatures, too. She’d yelled something along the lines of taking care of them before blasting the last few demons out of existence, an explosion of magic that had Nikolai raising a brow when he first witnessed it.
That magic was hidden now, and her house looked like it got new paint and siding. That demon attack had been a few months ago—enough time for everyone to ease up and lower their guard as they went about their normal lives and forgot all about it.
But not Nikolai. He never forgot—and now that his gut instinct told him there was something different in the air, he wasn’t about to let it go. It only took a few meetings with the council—a group of shifter, vampire, witch and human decision-makers—to get a go-signal for his plan, starting with gathering all the witches they could find and getting them prepared for an upcoming battle no one knew anything about.
The other cops went to talk to the other witches. Nikolai came here as the sheriff to talk to the most powerful one.
But it looked like she wasn’t in the mood to talk.
Recognition flared in her gaze when she eyed him, a flicker that was gone quickly. Then she was holding the shotgun higher, aiming for his forehead with a precision that he knew meant she wouldn’t miss.
He cleared his throat. As calmly as he could, he kept eyeing her back and straightened his shoulders, stance non-threatening but firm.
“We’ve met,” he began. “Not sure if you remember, but I can refresh your memory if you want.”
Bear Guards: A Paranormal Romance Page 22