by JF Holland
“What do you mean five-years?”
“The mark appears and the clock really begins ticking for them then. They know they have a mate, but don’t always know who or where she is – hence the telepathy kicking in. If they can talk to their mate it gives them a chance of trying to figure out where she is and who she is.”
“They don’t know who their mate is?” Lana asked, horrified.
“Not a clue. They have to use whatever means necessary to find her because if they don’t find and bind to her by the last full moon before her twenty-sixth birthday,” she stopped and Lana growled.
“What? What happens?”
“They lose their ability to shift back to human, and become their animal full time, only with its limited lifespan and nature. No more human nature, no more immortality,” Maya told her and Lana gasped.
“Hang on a minute. You’re saying if the female doesn’t accept him he loses his immortality and humanity?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my god, that’s awful. Why would fate do that and then not allow them to explain?”
“Because fates a fickle bitch, it’s not enough to emasculate us for a woman we don’t know – she then also sticks it to us by cutting short our life,” Edwin growled. Lana frowned at this because as far as she knew Edwin and John were mates. Shaking her head, she dropped that particular question, and got back to the here and now.
“Has this ever happened?” Lana asked and the men once again went quiet.
“Really, you’re not allowed to tell me that either?” They shook their head.
“But it happens?” she got a quick bob of a head before their chattering and bickering began amongst themselves as they picked up their card game. “That’s barbaric,” Lana scowled taking another drink of her coffee.
“Yes, it is,” Helena agreed, also going quiet.
“I wonder how they are getting on?” Lana asked and Maya closed her eyes and tried to see where Jaden was?
***
Balin groaned, from the fresh cuts to his wrists, burning and stinging as he felt the fresh blood well beneath the manacles as they tightened. He’d kept from Lana the fact that he was now lay down and tied to the floor as he was unable to hold his own body weight. Loss of blood, agony and hunger had taken their toll on him and he was now unable to hold his own himself up. He didn’t have a clue how long he’d been here - as there was no way to judge time. He could have asked Lana, but quite frankly he didn’t want to know. It was bad enough to have woken up again after being gutted, but now he was pegged out on the floor, arms and legs splayed out from his body like an offering. She hadn’t healed him after torturing him, but had instead wrapped a bandage around his middle which was now filthy.
Shifters didn’t normally suffer with infection but due to being unable to change form and heal himself, the wound in his stomach now festered. The infection was bad too, as he himself could smell it. Which, in itself was a miracle - especially as he could scent it on top of his own stench as he was ripe to say the least. Now covered in his own bodily waste, unable to wash or have toilet breaks, due to being left chained. His lips were cracked and bleeding due to dehydration and was now spiking a pretty impressive temperature. Suffering with bouts of intense shivering and each time he did so the manacles tightened. The shaking also made his teeth rattle and was then followed by intense heat, so sweat was covering his pain racked body, the salt from which was stinging his injuries.
“I’m… sorry.” Balin tried to look behind him where Davion, Lana’s father, was presently hanging.
“You okay?” he asked, unable to see him properly due to being limited in his movement.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into… this mess. I no longer care if I live or die, but you… you…” he didn’t finish his sentence but sighed.
“If I don’t make it,” Balin began but Davion hushed him.
“She’s back,” he informed him before going silent.
“Hi, honey, I’m hoo-o-m-e,” Balin heard her shout in a singsong voice - laughing as she came into the room with them. He couldn’t see her but could sense where she stood to the side by his feet, watching them. Malevolence and madness the most potent of emotions when she was around.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?” she queried edging closer, but kept enough distance that Balin still couldn’t see her.
“Leave him… alone,” Davion snarled.
“So feisty,” she laughed.
“Bitch,” he hissed back.
“Mmm, maybe I should remind you who I am,” she sneered.
“What more can you possibly do to me?” Davion jeered.
“Oh, so much more, but instead of threats I’ll show you,” she told him pulling her arm from behind her back.
Balin didn’t have time to react - not that he could have moved out of the way if he wanted to. However, he was unable to clamp down on the shout which was wrenched from his throat when she lifted a lump hammer above her head.
“No,” Davion pleaded as she slammed it down on Balin’s left shin – shattering the bone before grinding her heel into it.
Balin heard Lana’s shocked scream and cut off their connection, wanting to protect her as he was unable to hold back his sounds of agony.
“You did this Davion, not me,” she hissed over Balin’s moans of pain.
“Leave him alone, I’m the one that angered you not him.”
“Yes, but I get such a rush from you when you know someone is being punished for your sins.”
“Take it out on me not him,” Davion pleaded, hoarsely.
“Now, why would I do that?”
“Because I’m the one that tried to warn the boy, not him.”
“Yes you did, didn’t you,” she snapped, just before slamming the hammer down on Balin’s right shin, laughing as the air slammed out of him.
Balin sucked in a shuddering breath, mouth opening on a gasp, about to scream when he passed out from the searing agony.
“Look what you made me do. Now I’m going to have to wait for him to wake up before I can bleed him again. I need to cast a spell, but he’s no good to me if he’s unconscious,” she hissed at Davion. Sneering, she dropped the lump hammer by the side of Balin’s unconscious form and stormed from the room again, to Davion’s roar.
Chapter Twenty
L ana was brooding over what she’d been told. I mean, she’d always felt that shifter males were arseholes when they found their mates. Relentless in their pursuits of them. Uncaring pricks who ignored the female’s feelings, as they went after them - but how wrong she’d been. She’d always thought they knew who their mates were, especially as they tried to communicate, but now knew better. The telepathy was obviously a small compensation for the shafting fate had handed to them - a tool to try to figure out who and where their mates were – in the form of a booby prize. Angered on their behalf, she swallowed at the thought of how long she’d blocked Balin for, adding to his frustration and stress. What a barbaric practice. They were given no choice in their mate either, and worse still if they couldn’t find them they lost their humanity and immortality. Fate was not kind to the shifters. They seemed to have it much worse than other immortals, or so she assumed and frowning, looked towards Leonard the vampire.
“Leonard?”
“Yes,” he replied distractedly, checking his cards before placing one down on the table and waiting for a replacement.
“Is the process the same for vampires?”
“No,” he snorted. “We have a much easier time – well, compared to shifters.”
“How so, or is it also against the rules to tell?”
“No, not at all, we aren’t held to the same laws of consequences and blocks as shifters. Not that fate isn’t involved, it is, but with us it’s more chemical based,” he informed her, swearing as he picked up his new card.
“How so?”
“We don’t have mates per se, for us, any woman who is not affected by us is a possible mate.”
�
�What do you mean?”
“As with shifters we can mate with humans or immortals, but only a woman who is not affected by us can be a true match. We are born with a natural glamour, an allure so to speak which we have no control over.” The tiger shifters snorted and Edwin spoke up.
“Vamps are natural magnets, straight or not, I’ve seen both males and females follow him around when out.”
“I can’t help it,” Leonard shrugged.
“No you can’t, but you get a kick out of using it to your advantage,”
“Yeah, must be his arsehole gene,” John added, and both him and Edwin snickered. Leonard told them to do something anatomically impossible - or maybe not as they were cats and therefore had immensely flexible spines.
“So you don’t get penalised if you don’t accept a mate chosen for you?”
“No.”
“You have it easier then.”
“To a degree,” he sighed “but don’t forget immortality is a long time. Would you enjoy being alone indefinitely?” he asked Lana his head turning and pinning her with his Lilac gaze.
Lana frowned as she looked back at him, for the first time seeing loneliness, instead of his usually blasé attitude.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured and he just shrugged before turning back to his game.
Settling back against her mother’s chair she thought about all she’d learned. She was just about to reach for Balin needing to check that he was still sleeping when she felt his agony, like a splash of red in her mind as the wall between them crumbled.
She screamed curling into herself at the amount of pain he was feeling, the fatigue, confusion and hunger beating at him. Realisation at what he’d been doing. He’d been hiding his true state from her, guarding her from how truly precarious his position was.
Her mother leaned over to offer her comfort when she too gasped.
“They need to find him now,” Lara spoke up as Lana took a shuddering breath, rocking, her arms around her stomach.
“What’s going on?” Agatha asked removing her crystal and putting her cup on the floor as she swung her legs around and sat up. The men put their cards down on the table and spun to face them.
“So much pain, he’s in so much pain,” Lana sobbed, still rocking.
“Davion said he won’t last if you don’t get to him and fast.”
“What happened?” Leonard asked, the tigers watching from their seats.
“She’s just shattered his legs, and once he comes around she’s going to bleed him out,” Lara informed them, glistening eyes lifting to the men, her hand resting on Lana’s shoulder.
“We can’t help them,” John growled, frustration evident. “We can’t leave you unprotected.”
“You don’t have to, you are going to need us for this,” Lara told them.
“We were told to keep you here and safe,” Leonard spoke up.
“If you don’t get us out there, none of them will be coming back. You are going to need our talents to save the bloodshed that awaits them.”
Helena gasped, pushing up from her seat as the men growled low in their throats.
“It’s just a scouting party,” Edwin said.
“There’s no time, he won’t survive and neither will they if you don’t help us get to them.”
“We’ll not catch up on foot, Leonard’s quick, but ladies, only Maya can move at our pace,” John said.
“You need a vehicle, Balin will not walk out of this,” Lana told them, tears streaming down her face.
“Fuck,” Leonard said, I’ll go grab the grizzly’s cruiser, a 4x4 should get us where we need to be. With that he got up from the table and was gone in a blur.
“Agatha, are you up to this?” Maya asked as she stood, leaning over she took Lana’s outstretched hand and pulled her to her feet.
“I’m recharged and ready to go,” Agatha said grimly.
“I hope you mean that, as all hell is going to break loose when we arrive. She will not escape this time,” Helena informed them as she hugged Lana. “We will get him back, I give you my word,” and she headed for the stairs at a run to get ready.
“Jaden, we’re coming to you,” Maya sent to him.
“No, we’re only just coming up to the area now.”
“No time for a thorough scout, also Davion warned if you get too close you won’t survive. Without the Phoenix, no one will get out of this alive, so stay put.” She heard him swear up a storm before reluctantly complying.
Chapter Twenty-One
J aden came to the treeline, about half a mile away from where Leonard had found Michael’s body earlier. He pawed the earth, dropping low and scouting the area around him, looking for recent signs of anyone passing. Finding nothing, he slapped at the leaves, grunting and scattering them before shifting to his human form, the others following suit.
“Nothing, damn it,” he snapped, rubbing his hands over his face and around the back of his neck.
“Luc will be here any minute with Sophia, once she’s checked for any signs we can’t see, we’ll proceed. We can’t rush in there, not without knowing what we’re heading into, once we get the all clear we can move further in. The others are searching to the east and west, then they’ll be sectioning off and heading this way.”
“I know, but to know he’s within reach and I’m standing here doing nothing…”
“Do you not think I feel the same way Jaden? Damn it, he’s my son in every way but blood. It kills me to know he’s within my grasp. I mean he’s hurt or worse and I’m stood here cooling my heels,” Sam swore, hands behind his head, jaw rigid as he turned around.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to dismiss your feelings here, it’s just…” he sighed head dropping forward.
“Yeah, I’m right there with you,” Sam said, turning again and staring towards the river - the mound visible. “It’s galling knowing we can practically see where he’s being kept.”
“Yeah, just to the side of that mound is the entrance to the monk’s caves, they run right below the river, don’t they?”
“Yeah, they do,” Sam said. “It’s the one place I forbade him from entering when he was a growing up as they are so old.”
“I went in there a couple of times to explore when I was growing up, until my dad caught me and beat my arse. I can’t believe it never occurred to me about the place when Lana said he was being kept in some kind of soil bunker.”
“You and me both,” Sam said, turning as Luc landed behind them, stepping back after setting Sophia back on her feet.
“Thank you, Luc,” she smiled as she stepped towards Jaden and Sam.
“Hang on,” Jaden said as Maya began talking telepathically to him.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked as Jaden closed his eyes and swore a blue streak, but he held his hand up without answering while he spoke to Maya.
“Okay, Maya and the others are on their way…”
“Like hell…”
“Sam, listen, Lana said it’s bad. Balin won’t be walking out of there under his own steam, he’s been covering the extent of his condition from her,” Jaden swallowed. “Lara also told Maya to tell us to stay put till they arrive, Davion…”
“You believe anything he’s told her?”
“I don’t know, but damn it Sam, he said if we try to get through there without some serious backup… No one is getting out alive, including us.”
Sophia wandered the perimeter of the men checking for evidence that may not be visible to them. Markers the witch had left behind of herself and mouth grim she turned to the men.
“He’s right,” she sighed, approaching them.
“He is?” both Sam and Jaden asked.
“Yes, she’s been all over here, the ground is full of black magic, truly dark, blood magic.”
“So she already knows we’re here?” Sam asked, staring out towards the mound again.
“I can see markings. She’s used ‘Ansuz,’ in her spells, known as Odin’s rune. It’s a rune which is
used for messages, a way to warn herself of anyone approaching, but there’s also a second symbol, she’s used ‘Ansuz,’ again, but turned around.”
“What does that mean?” Sam asked.
“Once turned it then becomes Loki’s rune, and the god of mischief was known to set traps. As she’s used both, it’s indicative of a set-up. Did you keep your elm bark on you?” Sophia asked them, and they reached into their trouser pockets and pulled it out to show her, including Luc. “Then maybe we still have a chance of being undetected. A small window of opportunity,” she smiled. “The elm bark is your protection against magic, so hopefully it will be enough to buy us a little time at least.”
“How much?” Jaden asked.
“That I cannot say, but I would like to search a little further behind us to see how far back her tentacles of evil spread.”
“I’ll accompany you,” Luc told her stepping forward and holding out a hand for her to lead the way.
Chapter Twenty-Two
L ana sat quietly in the back of the Land cruiser as it left the road and headed into the treeline.
“How much farther?” Maya asked, staring grimly through the Land cruiser windscreen at the darkness surrounding them. The tree canopies blocking much of the moonlight from penetrating through.
“Just up ahead,” Leonard replied, weaving to the left around a large tree in their way - John white knuckling the seat as they bumped along the rough terrain.
“Won’t be long now, it should just be around the bend,” Leonard said coming to a halt beneath a tree. “We walk from here, Maya you shift and we’ll carry the others, we can’t risk the sound of the engine.”
“I don’t need carrying,” Helena informed them, stepping out of the car, her hair lifting, crackling with electricity as her feet left the floor.