by JF Holland
“Me neither,” replied Lara as she also stepped out and her own feet left the floor as she also levitated in the air, hair moving as if in a breeze, eyes changing from green to amber as if lit with an inner fire. Lana stepped out beside her mother and aunt, her feet also leaving the ground.
“Well, god damn, looks like we’ve brought a little fire power to the party. Should make things interesting,” Leonard grinned as he waited for Agatha to alight the car. He reached in and grabbed her bag of medicinal’s as Maya went from two feet to four, her body contorting and twisting, John and Edwin doing the same to the side. He now stood with Agatha among the two white tigers and the black jaguar, the three women floating ahead of them as if carried on a breeze – although not a blade of grass or leaf moved beneath them. “Choose your ride Agatha, and let’s roll,” he informed her as he stepped past the shifters and followed the phoenix further into the trees.
Agatha looked towards the three large cats now before her, and one stepped forward, front end lowering, lip lifting off the large canines.
“John?” she asked uncertainly and he chuffed in answer, tail slowly moving from side to side as his ears went forward. “Thank you,” she replied, slowly climbing onto the back of the white tiger. “Okay, ready when you are…” she didn’t get to finish, but fell forward, arms going around the wide, furry neck to hold on for dear life as they took off at a sprint.
Leonard’s coat billowed out behind him, his speed even faster than that of the shifter as he overtook the phoenix and took up the lead. Lara moved between her mother and aunt - her cousin running up beside them, her black cat, chuffing as she moved ahead - white tigers on her tail as they picked up speed.
“Balin, can you hear me?” Lana sent, reaching out for him, trying to break through the static. Worry fuelling her anger, and helping to strengthen her Phoenix gene. She now understood his frustration when she wouldn’t talk to him, but damn it, this was different. She just needed to know he was still breathing, anything else they could work with, as long as he was still breathing.
“Balin, I don’t know if you are conscious or if you can hear me, but we’re coming for you. Do you hear me, we are coming for you, so hold on or I swear to god I’ll kick your arse for you myself?” she broke off, swallowing and her internal temperature ratcheted up another notch. She sent the sensation of running her fingers through his hair, soothing him as he remained silent.
Balin was floating in a sea of pain, not sleeping but not fully conscious. His legs on fire, the agony never ending, intense throbbing and stinging. He could still feel where she’d ground her foot into the smashed bone on his left leg, nausea roiling in his gut at the memory and sensation. Buzzing in his head disturbed him, like a nagging sound on the edge of his sub-conscience. He then felt a soft cool hand run over his forehead and lightly through his hair. The touch feather light, soothing and calming, the wild honey scent surrounding and enveloping him.
“Lana,” he sighed.
“Yeah, me, rest, we’ll be with you soon.”
“You sound so close.”
“We are, we’ll be with you shortly, hold on do you hear me? Just hold on.”
“Dangerous…” his voice slurring, fighting to stay coherent even in his dreamlike state.
“A walk in the park Binks.”
“Binks… you know my nick name?”
“Really, I didn’t know, it was just some black cats name I liked. I thought you’d prefer it to dick,” she told him, grinning as her hands ran through his hair again.
“Yeah, much better…” he trailed off with a smile, fatigue and agony sucking him deeper under.
“Soon… rest,” was the last word he heard before he lost his fight – letting the comfort of the dark take him.
“He’s weakening, we need to kick it into gear,” Lana said turning to her mother.
“We can’t, the edge of the trees are coming up, we need to slow down and find out what we can from the others.”
“I’m not sure how much longer he can hold on, we’re running out of time.”
Just then Jaden came into their line of sight, he stood arms folded, legs planted firmly apart as Leonard stopped before him. Maya shifted, contorting as she went from four to two legs again, fur disappearing as she stood before him dark blonde hair trailing down her back.
“I don’t like this,” Jaden said, pulling her into him, kissing her head and rubbing his chin against her hair.
“This is down to me, not Maya,” Lana told Jaden, stopping before him, her eyes moving towards the mound visible across the clearing.
Just then a growl sounded, coming from the left and a huge brown wolf stepped out, snarling, lips pulling back across his muzzle - flashing his teeth.
“John, thank you, I need to get off now,” Agatha spoke up as John came to within five feet of Jaden and Maya, the others coming up behind him. The white tiger stopped and lowered his front end to the floor allowing her to slip from his back. Stepping back, his head cocked to one side, warily eyeing up the huge wolf. “Douglas, I’m here. Baby shift so I can hug you,” Agatha said, taking a step towards the huge wolf. The muzzle lifted again, teeth baring as he took a menacing step towards her, staring over her shoulder, the tiger still in his sights.
“Maya, move behind me,” Jaden said taking hold of her arm and putting his body before hers.
“What’s going on?” she asked peeking under his arm, watching the wolf with a frown on her face.
“It’s only a couple of days before the full moon, not a good time for another male to be so close to the mate of a wolf – especially not an alpha. It could be seen as a challenge,” Leonard told her as he stepped up beside Jaden.
“That’s ridiculous, John has no interest in Agatha, he’s with Edwin – plus he was only giving her a lift as she couldn’t keep up on foot.” Maya again peeked around Jaden, scowling at the wolf.
“No one said it made sense, it just is,” Leonard said with a shrug. “Agatha will sort him out, she’s been dealing with him for nearly two centuries.
“We don’t have time for this,” Lana spat, growling towards the wolf.
“Time or not, you move too close and you’ll lose a body part,” Leonard warned her. “Just let Agatha calm him,” he told her.
“Douglas?” Agatha said, taking another step and the wolf strode towards her, his muzzle lifting to her face, blowing on her, her hair moving and Lana gasped. Agatha waved behind her as if telling them to be quiet. “Come on baby, it’s me,” she said holding out a hand. The wolf put his muzzle against her and sniffed, then began to rub himself over her, like a cat as he wound himself around your legs, roughly rubbing his coat over her.
“What’s he doing?” Lana asked, turning to Jaden.
“Putting his own scent back on his mate.”
Maya and Lana blinked as the tigers sat back on their haunches, muzzles resting on their front paws.
“Why haven’t they shifted.”
“Seriously, would you, especially when you have a pissed off territorial alpha wolf who had you in his sights?”
“Good point,” Lana said sighing.
“Douglas, come on just change so I can hug you,” Agatha said, resting her head over the wolfs and putting her arms around his neck. He nudged her, nearly taking her off her feet but she held on, rubbing her face in the fur of his neck. A low growl came from his throat, before he made a whining sound. He contorted so fast - he was a wolf one minute and a man the next. He wrapped his arms around Agatha and picked her up in his arms, staring at the tiger as he carried her off behind a tree.
“What’s happening now?” Lana asked and Leonard raised his brows – waggling them before he smirked. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, seriously?” he nodded. “He’s going to scent mark her by getting busy while we are out here trying to rescue Balin,” she growled.
“It is what it is,” John said with a shrug coming up behind them, now back in his human form - hands shoved into his jacket pockets with Edwin b
ehind him.
“We don’t have time for this macho bullshit,” Lana grumbled.
“He’ll only be a minute,” Edwin replied and Lana’s mouth dropped open. “It’s not about sexual gratification it’s about making sure she carries his scent as a warning to the others.
“That’s ridiculous, you don’t see Jaden doing that,” Maya spoke up.
“Only because you didn’t come into the clearing in such close proximity to another male,” Jaden admitted and Maya’s mouth also dropped open. “We are part animal honey, and where our mates are concerned the animal is always closer to the forefront.” Her mouth opened to say something but he kissed her instead and her arms went around his neck - holding him to her. “He won’t hurt her,” he informed her as he pulled back, rubbing his nose against hers.
“I’m glad you are here, but I’m afraid with your arrival our time has just ran out,” Sophia said stepping up to them. “
“What, why? You said…”
“Jaden, I wasn’t expecting the others out here, they aren’t carrying any Yew Bark, there’s no protection. As soon as they got to the tree’s ten feet back that way, she would have known. I hope you have a plan as times just ran out and you now need to put it into practice.”
“Bollocks,” he sighed. “Douglas, for fuck sake, we need you and Agatha out here now,” Jaden called, running his hand over the back of his neck.
There was rustling and then Douglas stepped into view, pulling a red-faced, breathless Agatha behind him.
“Sophia, what’s happening?”
“Our time has just run out, well, unless you remembered to pack some yew bark?”
“Damn, no, it never crossed my mind.”
“Well then, there goes our advantage,” Sophia murmured. “Maybe if we come at her from several locations it would work? After all, she can’t keep her eye on all of us at once. Is there a way out of the caverns on the other side of the river?”
“Sam, is there an entrance over the other side?” Jaden asked.
“No, one entrance in and out, but many different tunnels, it’s like a honeycomb down there.”
“Okay, how about separating and coming at her from three directions, east, south and west, a Phoenix with each group?” Sophia spoke up.
“I don’t like the sound of this,” said Sam.
“Me neither, but it could work. She’s going to know they are here of course, but hopefully if the yew bark has worked, she’s not going to have a true idea of numbers,” added Jaden.
“That’s true,” Sophia said.
“There were nine of us here originally, unnoticed. You six have joined us, so you may well be all she thinks are here,” Jaden added.
“We may still have some element of surprise on our side then,” Sam said, looking around the group. “Okay, how are we going to work this?”
“A phoenix to each group, Leonard can split where he feels comfortable and obviously, we need Agatha…”
“I will be staying with Agatha,” replied Douglas.
“Of course, as I’ll be with Maya and Sam with Helena.”
“I will help by sticking with Sophia, as she can’t move as quickly as us,” Luc spoke up.
“Okay, it looks like we have a plan, we’ll work our way up from three directions. Douglas, you and Agatha, take Lara, Daniel and James - the other wolves of your pack and come at it from the left. Sam, you take Helena, John and Edwin, as we’ll keep the tigers away from Douglas for the time being. Nicholas and Edgar, the leopards, can come with me and Maya as they’re agile. Which leaves, Nathan and Adam – now if you hang back with Luc and Sophia, you are our ace in the whole. She’s unaware of any of you, so you could be the difference here in turning this situation in our favour.”
“Okay Jaden, we’ll keep back, signal when you need us and we’ll come running,” Nathan said, Adam nodding also.
“Okay, lets head back into the treeline, about a hundred yards out, then we’ll work our way back in, converging on three sides. If I remember rightly the entrance is east facing, so Douglas, I’m afraid that’s you, as we need Agatha in the thick of things in case she throws anything at us.”
“Aye, I’ll be keepin Aggie safe.” Douglas spoke grimly, jaw tight as he shifted back to his animal form and waited for Agatha to clamber onto his back.
His shifting was the signal for the others, who all took to their animal form once more, before they began to melt back into the denser woods.
Separating, they moved position before they began to wade their way out again once Jaden gave the signal. His jaguars chuff echoed in the silence that had fallen over the woods, all the smaller animals taking shelter from the number of four legged predators now in their midst.
Chapter Twenty-Three
L ana stood behind Jaden, Maya by her side, itching, needing to get this over with.
“Maya, if you’d let me go first I could bring her out?”
She looked towards Jaden and his top lift pulled back, snarling and shaking his head - ears flattening.
“Jaden said if he lets you go anywhere near there, his brother would chew his arse out for him, I’m sorry.”
“I can’t stand here and do nothing,” her eyes began to glow, hair lifting and the black jaguar, pawed at the earth.
“He said if Balin thinks for a minute that you are in danger he’s going to sacrifice himself to keep you safe.”
“We need to get in there, he’s not doing well,” Lana told them reaching out again for Balin.
“Hey, Binks, you okay?” she waited to see if he’d answer, but all she got back was static.
“He’s not answering, he’s not conscious,” Lana told Maya. She must have informed Jaden as his cat snarled and edged to the treeline, his head swinging left and right looking for the others.
Stepping into view, Jaden’s head turned and Maya patted Lana’s arms.
“Okay, show time, I’ve been told to shift, but to stay here. We’re going to have him back very soon,” Maya informed her just before she went from two to four legs.
The shifters edged into the clearing which was between them and the mound. Lana holding back towards the edge of the treeline as told. She was withdrawn, her mind constantly reaching for Balin.
Half way across the clearing, belly’s flat to the ground the shifters halted as a ball of magic headed straight for them.
Agatha stepped forward, mumbling an incantation as she flung out an arm, her own magic meeting the ball of dark energy and absorbing it.
Then twin flames shot across the clearing, lighting up the clearing like dawn had broken. The flames set off sparks as Helena and Lara fire hit and disarmed several of Maisie’s traps.
Grunts and growls could be heard around the clearing as the shifters lay low, waiting for the flames to vanish and the darkness to settle again.
***
“We need to leave, move your sorry hide, maggot,” Maisie spat, kicking Balin and making him suck in a breath.
“He can’t walk, you smashed his legs,” Davion growled at her from the wall he presently hung against.
“Well, you need to carry him then don’t you. I will not be beaten, do you hear me,” she screeched.
“I’m a little tied up right now,” Davion snarled at her. “You’re going to have to release us both if you want out of here.”
“Fine, but try anything and I’ll end him now, do you understand me?”
“Yes, I’ll carry him, don’t do anything else to him though or you’ll have lost your bargaining chip.”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, you are my property you have no views or rights,” she spat holding a knife to his throat.
Nodding, he waited while she spoke a rhyme, words he didn’t understand. The manacles unclipped, and no longer held in place he dropped to his knees.”
“Now him,” Davion said, head bowed as he dug his fists into the earth pushing his shaking body upright.
Again, Maisie stood over Balin’s still form, his breathing
shallow but even. Repeating the rhyme and the cuffs around his wrists and ankles unclipped, but he didn’t move.
“Hurry up, get moving you worthless slug, we need to leave now. They won’t be fooled for much longer, but it should be enough to give us a head start on them. Now pick him up and let’s get going,” she grumbled scathingly at him. Storming from the room, she collected a bag of items from the room beside this one; which she’d been using.
“Balin? Can you hear me,” leaning down, Davion spoke quietly – keeping his voice low so Maisie didn’t overhear.
“What’s… happening?” Balin asked, confused and unable to focus.
“She wants to leave. Your friends and family have found us and she wants to head out and take you with us.”
“Can’t walk,” Balin croaked, wincing as his legs began throbbing.
“I know, I’m meant to carry you.” Balin tried to focus on Davion.
“If we leave here we won’t survive, she’ll kill us,” Balin replied.
“Either way, my time has come. I can’t take much more and I don’t know how much longer I can resist her will.”
“They’ll rescue you too, they can help.”
“I don’t think I can be saved,” Davion told him grinding his jaw. “I’m going to lock you in this room and try to get her out of here without you, then they can find you.
“Stay with me.”
“Not possible, I’m already struggling to keep her will at bay. Tell Lara and Lana I’m sorry, tell them to be happy,” Davion said slowly getting up, using his hands on his knees to push himself upright.
“Wait…”
“No time, she’ll be back in here in a minute. Can you shift, it will help with healing you?”
“Too weak.”
“Damn it, good luck,” with that Davion turned on his heel, and stumbling, shuffled out of the door.
Balin tried to reach out for him, but he couldn’t make his arm move and his vision was off. He heard her screeching at him as he moved out of the room and slammed and locked the door behind him.