Verity had approached the shifters so they could retain their freedom from Lycos. If Beck couldn’t protect her from getting dragged back to her father, she hated to find out what Lycos would do to her. He wasn’t fond of disobedience.
She positioned herself in front of the stairwell when she heard Opal’s voice sing out. “Auntie—why make this more unpleasant than it has to be? Just come with us, and we can pretend nothing happened. We don’t have to tell Lycos you went to hide like a big baby if you just come with me now.”
Verity’s breathing became ragged as she thought about what her life would be like if she returned to her father. She’d be a prisoner. That is, if he didn’t make her pay for her disobedience first.
The black-haired girl in the doorway behind Opal was presumably one of Ramsay’s offspring. She was wearing his trademark sadistic grin.
Verity blinked at Dolan’s daughter. She’d shaved off her pretty blond locks since the last time she’d seen her. Opal’s blue eyes seemed that much rounder and doe-like without the interruption of hair. Her innocent appearance was not to be taken at face value. The woman was dangerous and far more powerful than her modest frame suggested.
Opal grinned as if she knew what Verity was thinking. “I’d hate to hurt you, but Lycos said you were to be returned dead or alive.”
So maybe Lycos hadn’t forgiven her. Dying free was better than living in misery, Verity supposed. Plus, there was no way she’d let Riley grow up with Lycos as his mentor. The light in his soul would be snuffed out. He would be kindhearted and sweet no more. He’d either die, not living up to Lycos’s expectations, or he’d become like the girls standing before her now. Wicked.
Beck, the long-haired shifter, peeled his shirt off and reached for the top button of his linen pants. Opal cocked her brow and licked her lips. “That’s not what I came for, but I don’t mind watching.”
The shifter ignored her comment and tipped onto his hands and knees. Verity watched in amazement as gray fur erupted over his flesh. His form morphed and changed at an amazing rate. She’d never seen it happen before her eyes. It was breathtaking. As a veterinarian, she found it fascinating.
Within moments, a lanky wolf stood baring its teeth at Opal and her sidekick. Its hackles raised, and a low growl filled the entryway.
“Well, well,” Opal murmured. “Things are getting more and more interesting with the changelings around.”
She blew a kiss before she spun around, swinging her leg down with speed and power onto the wolf’s muzzle. The animal yelped and scurried aside, snorting from the impact. Beck hunched his shoulders with narrowed eyes.
“Want your chin scratched?” Opal held out her hand to the wolf. The animal launched forward, snapping at her fingers, but she was too fast. She pulled her hand back. In the same motion, she swung her other fist into the side of his jaw.
A flurry of movement caught Verity’s attention, and something impacted her, sending her reeling onto the stairs. She groaned and tried pushing the girl off her.
“I won’t let you take me home to Lycos,” Verity said with finality. Her spine hurt where the tread hit her back, but she didn’t care. “Please leave Riley out of it.”
There was no way she would let her nephew, her sweet, shy nephew, get changed by her twisted family.
Marika glared at Verity and screeched. “He killed my father! Whose side are you on?”
“His side.” Verity righted herself, ignoring the ache in her back. “It was only a matter of time before Ramsay got himself killed.”
A chill traced down her spine as she imagined his breath on her neck, recalling the countless times he’d touched her uninvited with encouragement from their father.
Marika’s fist flew at her face. Verity only managed to turn in time to have it miss her nose, though her ear rung from the pummeling it received. Verity squinted and fumbled to press the girl’s arms down so she couldn’t get punched again. Marika’s knee lifted, hard and fast, straight into Verity’s gut.
Her muscles contracted as she started coughing. Strange noises filled her ears, and she wondered if she was the one making the sound. Verity’s eyes traced past the banister to the entryway behind her.
The wolf was snarling, tearing Opal’s pant leg, dragging her across the wood floor. The vampire squealed, but it was only a show. Verity could tell. She knew her niece well. She’d always been quite the actress. Overzealous with her expressions and showmanship. Verity wasn’t even sure if the girl had ever revealed an honest emotion, Opal had been so busy wrapping her parents and grandfather around her little finger.
Marika wriggled free. Verity didn’t know just how old Ramsay’s daughter was, but she wasn’t about to let some kid get the upper hand. She pinched the girl’s stomach as hard as she could and wriggled out from under her. Verity got off the stairs and took hold of Marika’s pantleg and dragged her onto the wood floor. Panting, Verity wiped her cheek. “You have the same wild look in your eye as your father.”
The girl’s forehead creased as she glared at Verity. “I don’t know why he liked you so much.”
“He always wanted what he couldn’t have,” Verity answered grimly.
Snarling came from the waiting room, where Beck and Opal had disappeared. Verity turned to get a better view. The wolf’s lips were raised, revealing its pointed teeth while it stood in the corner with its hackles raised. Verity could sense Opal’s excitement. The lithe woman approached her prey with her arms away from her sides. Though Verity couldn’t see her face, she imagined her niece’s sharp canines bared as well. If that was the case, then Opal’s hunting instincts were triggered. She hoped Beck was prepared.
Pain seized Verity’s ankle, causing her to scream in surprise. Marika’s lips cupped her flesh as Ramsay’s offspring bit into her. Luckily their venom didn’t affect their own, but they were just as susceptible to injury as any mundane. Blood trickled down to her foot, and she reacted without thinking. Verity swung back her free leg and kicked the girl as hard as she could.
Marika clamped down even harder. Stabbing pain traced up her leg. Verity started kicking wildly at her attacker until the girl’s teeth let go. Although her wounded ankle started to shake, she flung her other leg back once more and sent her foot rocketing against Marika’s jaw. It connected solidly. The girl’s head knocked back as her eyes slid shut. She rolled onto her side limply, her mouth red with Verity’s blood.
Something crashed in the other room. Verity limped onto the oriental area rug, her heart racing in her chest. Opal held a chain whip in her hands and began to spin it vertically at her side, preparing to launch it at the wolf standing in the corner. The debris from a broken vase cluttered the floor beside Beck, and he appeared disoriented.
“Leave him alone,” Verity pleaded with her niece. “Leave them out of this.”
Opal launched the whip’s pointed end through the air. The wolf moved fast, and the metal tip impacted the wall where the animal once stood. Opal yanked on her weapon, leaving a hole in the drywall and cocked a brow at Verity. “You’re a disgrace. Standing up for a changeling when you should have come home to Lycos? He wants to see if the boy’s salvageable.”
“Salvageable?” Verity swallowed. “He’s not a broken table. He’s just a child. Leave him with me. I can care for him and will teach him everything he needs to know.”
Opal tipped over one of the waiting room chairs, bracing her foot on one of the legs and pulling on another. The wood broke, and she lifted the jagged piece into the air. She held it in one hand as she started whipping her chain at her side with the other. The wolf’s growls echoed through the room. Beck’s eyes met Verity’s before he launched himself over a table covered with magazines. Opal was too quick, and she flung the metal links at the animal. Verity watched in horror as the chain whip’s pointed end sank into the wolf’s thigh, knowing her niece’s proclivity for lacing her weapons with venom. A loud yelp pierced the air, and the wolf fell to the ground.
The wooden chair leg im
pacted Verity’s forehead, and she stumbled to her knees, growing woozy.
“Lycos is going to want to talk to you.” Opal’s lips parted into a grin as she picked the leg up from the floor and pointed its sharp end at Verity.
The wolf limped to a standing position, placing himself between Opal and Verity.
“Leave them out of it.” Tears welled in Verity’s eyes, and her throat tightened. She tipped onto her hands, too dizzy to remain upright.
“Too late for that now.” Opal spun the chair leg in her hand and swung it against the stumbling wolf’s muzzle.
The animal tipped over and lay on the rug without moving. Opal folded her chain whip in her hands and tucked it in her pocket. She cocked her head at Verity, who was trying her best to cling to consciousness, and spun her leg around, connecting it against the side of Verity’s head.
She collapsed onto the ground with a groan and as her lids blinked, Verity watched her niece bend over the wolf’s still body, fangs elongated, ready for a meal.
Deane moved quickly as his eyes combed across the property. He passed the first alligator enclosure without seeing or hearing a thing. He slowed down as he approached the performance moat, trying to look beyond the lawn that led around the other alligator’s pen. A flash of white clothing was visible through the foliage.
“Leave us alone!”
Deane recognized Julian’s voice. He walked past the cement barrier of the moat and the stadium seating to the grass beyond. After rounding a large bush, Deane spotted Lawson and Dolan standing at the far end of the fenced enclosure that held Julian’s show gators.
Dolan crossed his arms and tilted his head. “We did. Clearly that was a mistake. When we left you to make your own choices, you made friends with the changelings. Lycos can’t allow your… questionable lifestyle to risk the rest of us.”
Dolan lifted the latch to enter the enclosure and stepped inside where Julian and Riley were standing. A gust of wind blew in from the east, rustling the palms. Clouds were beginning to fill the sky.
Deane moved across the lawn with intent. Anger boiled below the surface. The kind of anger he’d repressed for a century. When you didn’t have anyone to love or protect, it was easy not to care enough to get mad. He could smell the sweat in the air, and he was taken back in time. He could almost hear the cheers and taunts again. A rush of adrenaline flushed through his body, prepared to fight. His fingers curled tight into fists as he approached Lawson.
The blond vampire faced him. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
Deane threw back his fist and hammered it into Lawson’s nose. The direct and unexpected attack put the man off balance, and he stumbled backward. But only for a minute. Lawson’s eyes narrowed, and a trickle of blood touched his lips. He regained his footing and returned the punch, grazing Deane’s jaw.
And the fight was on. Deane threw a series of blows at Lawson’s head, which he blocked. He moved back, going on defensive just in time. A strand of hair fell across Lawson’s eyes. His ice-blue eyes narrowed and filled with fury. The vampire landed multiple blows into Deane’s abdomen. Deane breathed out slowly, keeping his muscles tight, and wove in a circle.
The taste of blood filled his mouth, and he spit to clear it away. Lawson threw his fist just as Deane did, and they both connected with their opponent’s face. And just as quickly as they’d come together, they backed away again.
Deane was desperate to end the fight. Riley needed his help, and he wanted to return to Verity. He ran at Lawson, thrusting his shoulder into his waist and knocking him off balance. The vampire tumbled onto the ground. His brow was split, and his cheek bones were swollen, making the blue of his eyes all the more bright.
A deep rumbling reverberated from the gator enclosure, and Deane saw Julian through the fence. He was standing behind Gertrude, shooing Riley into the water. The alligator’s mouth was open and facing Dolan.
Deane didn’t waste any time. He rocked back and threw another punch at Lawson, connecting solidly against his jaw. The vampire tipped back onto the ground with a solid thump. Deane stepped closer, confirming he’d lost consciousness before running to the gator enclosure.
He lifted the latch, entered the gate and moved across the sand. Dolan stood on the shore with Gertrude’s attention on him while his face was turned toward Julian guiding Riley through the water across the length of the enclosure.
“Move slow,” Julian muttered to the boy and gestured at the half-submerged closed gate into the performance moat.
Riley nodded and waded thigh-deep through the water. He raised his head to catch Deane’s eye, and the enforcer gave a single nod in agreement. Though Julian might not have been skilled at self-defense, he knew everything about gators, and Deane trusted him to get Riley out of there safely.
Deane searched for Carly and Sobek, finding one of the gators pointed in Julian’s direction and moving slowly through the pond. The other reptile seemed more curious about the visitors on land and had pivoted slowly on the water’s surface with her green slitted eyes focused on Dolan.
Too many memories came along with Deane’s tiger form. When it was a matter of self-defense, he preferred using his fists, but with the gators in play and Riley at risk, there was no time to dwell on the men he’d murdered. He had people to protect. Deane closed his eyes and called to the energy at his core. It was ready at his beckoning. An electric charge of power coursed through his body, altering his cells and changing his structure. He distorted and grew as he hunched over. Fabric tore as it fell from his body. The tickling sensation of fur growing over his flesh ended and a rattling breath poured from his muzzle.
The vampire backed away from the water’s edge, moving toward the tiger. His hand went to his hip, drawing a shiny dagger from beneath his waistband. Dolan momentarily glanced at the gator beside them both. Gertrude’s mouth had closed, and she was observing the striped cat in her enclosure.
Deane raised his paw in warning to them both.
At the other end of the enclosure, Riley had reached the partially submerged gate with Julian blocking him from the very curious gator moving toward them in the water. “Stay back, Sobek.”
Riley flipped the latch and opened the egress into the performance moat. Julian waded to his side, and they started through the exit.
A blur moved past on the outside of the enclosure, and Deane blinked at the lawn where he’d left Lawson unconscious. Dolan took advantage of Deane’s distraction and lunged at him with his dagger. Its sharp blade slashed through the air and cut across his paw, stinging his calloused flesh.
A loud shriek escaped Deane’s maw, and he was quick to react, lifting his other paw, lacerating the dangerous vampire. His hooked claws met Dolan’s flesh through the arm of his jacket, causing the vampire to step back from Deane.
The sound of the gate slamming shut at the other end of the enclosure echoed. Deane sighed in relief when he realized Riley and Julian had made it out. That relief turned to fear as frantic shouts filled the air.
“No—let go of him!” Julian hollered.
Deane lifted his head to peer fifty yards away through the chain-link fence. A flurry of movement caught his eye, and he spotted Riley’s surprised face as he tried to free himself from an arm around his waist. Water splashed everywhere, creating an aqueous veil that prevented Deane from seeing more. He considered using his remaining energy to shift into his owl form to fly to Riley’s side until he remembered the netted top of the enclosure.
Dolan didn’t give more than a second look at the commotion and lifted his chin at Deane. “Like I tell my children, never enter a fight you can’t win.”
The yelling stopped following a groan. The splashing concluded as a body fell out of sight. Riley’s voice called, “Julian?”
“Shut up, kid. Let’s go.”
“No!” Riley started wriggling violently. “Let go of me!”
The lad stiffened suddenly. Deane thought he caught the glint of steel against Riley’s neck as he backed away wi
th the arm around him. Horror gripped Deane’s soul while he watched the kid disappear from sight. A snarl ripped from his lips as he faced Dolan.
The vampire’s eyes widened in reaction, but his lips turned into a smile. “See?”
Deane launched at the man with his claws leading the way. The vampire couldn’t react fast enough. Deane’s sharp claws ripped once again through Dolan’s flesh, this time tearing the sleeve of his jacket right off. Blood seeped through the wound on his arm, leaving no trace of the grin on his lips.
The man snarled and stumbled back, clinging to his lacerations. Red trickled from between his fingers as he held his forearm. Dolan backed toward the corner near the gate as a flash of movement caught Deane’s attention.
Julian had warned him not to take his eyes away from the gators. Advice he should have followed once again. Without his notice, Carly had glided the remaining distance to shore and had moved across the sand. Her mouth was open as she scurried at him. Gertrude joined in, snapping at the shreds of his clothing and his wallet that had fallen into the sand. She’d affectively split him away from Dolan, who was currently fumbling with the gate latch and escaping the enclosure. His shouts filled the air, “Leave them—let’s go!”
Deane rushed back and toward the water to escape the pointed teeth coming at him. His paws splashed into the man-made pond while he kept his eyes on the gators. He panted in surprise. Their attack paused only for a moment. Deane was only partially aware of the fact Dolan was running through TailGators to the parking lot.
Before the gators could reach the water where they were fastest, Deane dashed toward the exit, leaping over the sand. Unable to free himself as a tiger, he called to his powers, shifting back to his human form. Deane’s hands reached for the latch, and he rushed through the gate, breathless, leaving the gators snapping at the air.
He had no time to spare, yet his energy was half gone. He couldn’t move as a human nearly as fast as he could as a tiger and pinched his eyes shut while his lungs heaved for oxygen. Deane collected every bit of energy he could to shapeshift once more. Fur carpeted his body, and he didn’t even wait for the change to complete before he started lumbering on his hands and feet.
Half-Blood Secrets: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 2) Page 17