“Wait,” Cora broke in, raising a hand. “I hear something.”
“It’s them,” Diadra whispered in fear, her entire body beginning to tremble. “I can’t go back there. Nate will kill me. He hates me.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Shayna soothed, slipping past the girl to look out the closest window. She almost screamed when she saw the dark yellow pair of eyes staring back at her of a boa hanging from a tree right next to the house. Instead, she held up a fist and then slowly raised her middle finger to the prick. “How many of these bastards are outside, Diadra?”
“Too many,” the girl responded in terror.
“How many is too many?” Cora snapped. “Ten, twenty?”
“More like fifty.”
“Well,” Shayna drawled, glancing over at Cannon, “things are about to get interesting.”
Suddenly, the boa slammed his head hard against the thick glass, causing it to crack down the middle.
“Dammit!” Cora snarled, clutching the shotgun she’d brought with her tightly in both hands. “I am sick and fucking tired of this shit. Those bastards are going down. Every last sleazy, slimy one of them.”
The boa constrictor slammed into the glass again, and Diadra screamed. Cora raised the shotgun, pumped it once, and fired, hitting the snake right between the eyes. “That makes it forty-nine now,” she snapped, before another large bastard slid down the side of the broken window and into the room.
Shayna raised her Glock and pulled the trigger, hitting its body, but not killing it.
“You need a knife or sword to cut its head off,” Diadra cried, squealing loudly when the beast turned to look in her direction. She scurried back away from it when it lunged toward her, but suddenly Cannon was there, his large claws slicing through the snake’s neck. “That works too,” Diadra rasped, her eyes looking wildly around the room.
“Forty-seven,” Camila sang out in satisfaction, as she sliced her own claws through the neck of another one that had slithered in after the first ones.
“Bring it on, you sons of bitches,” Cora hollered. “We’ll take you all out!”
Three more appeared to take their place, and the war was on. Shayna fired shot after shot, her mate cleaning up after her, slicing and dicing. She lost count of how many they killed. It was a fight just to stay ahead of them, the memory of what had happened the last time one of the bastards got the jump on her in the front of her mind. She didn’t want to go through that again, and there was no way she was going to let any of the others either.
Shayna heard a soft cry and swung around to see that a man had slipped through the back door, and now held Diadra tightly in his grasp. The girl was struggling for all she was worth, but he was strong, and refused to let her go. “That’s enough!” his voice thundered throughout the house. When the battle raged on, he yelled, “I will call a truce. I’ll take my sister and go.”
His sister. Shayna hesitated, the acid stench of the girl’s fear filling the room. When their eyes met, Diadra shook her head and mouthed, “He’s lying. He will kill you all.”
Diadra screamed when her gaze went to the ceiling above where Shayna stood, and Shayna looked up to see one of the snakes ready to strike. “Fuck you!” she snarled, letting her own claws out and leaping up, raking them down the long body of the snake. When he dropped to the ground, she sliced through the neck, severing it from his body.
Shayna glanced over in time to see Nate dragging Diadra from the house, kicking and screaming. She couldn’t let him take her. She had no idea what she would do with the child, but there was no way she could let Diadra die.
With one last look at the battle still going on around her, Shayna dropped her weapon to the ground and ran to the door. There weren’t many of the shifters left, and Diadra needed her. Nate had almost made it to the woods already. She glanced back at Cannon, their eyes meeting for an instant, and then she shifted. Most of her clothes shredded, but she quickly shrugged out of what was left, then took off across the yard after Diadra.
She caught them in the woods, just a few yards out where Nate had thrown his sister to the ground and was yelling at her. “You stupid little bitch. What were you thinking, running away like that?”
“You killed Dad,” Diadra yelled back. “You were giving me away to one of your men.”
“So,” he shrugged. “You should be honored that I think you are good enough for one of them. I could have sold you off to another nest.”
Shayna listened intently to the conversation as she slowly stalked in a large circle around them. Her plan was to get on the other side of the two of them so they were between her and the house. That way, when her mate came, they could take on Nate together. And he would come. She knew it.
“I’m only fifteen!” Diadra cried.
Once again, the smug bastard shrugged. “What’s your point?”
Shayna paused, her eyes narrowing on the scene in front of her. Nate sounded almost bored, as if he were playing with the girl. His hand was idly fiddling with the butt of a long, thick knife strapped to his belt as he glanced back toward the house. He was playing with her, Shayna realized. But why? What was he waiting for? He glanced at his watch, and then back at the house again, a slow smile beginning to spread across his face.
“Don’t worry, Diadra, it will all be over soon.”
“What do you mean?”
The smile became sinister and he turned to face her. “Soon, everyone will be dead. The Channings, you, and the weakest of my nest will be weeded out, as well.”
“What did you do, Nate?” Diadra demanded, taking a step closer to him, fear radiating from her, but there was also anger.
Nate’s hand shot out, and he smacked her so hard she stumbled back several feet before dropping to the ground. Cradling her cheek, she looked up at him with wide eyes misted with tears. “What did you do, Brother?”
Nate threw his head back and laughed, glancing at his watch again. “That entire place is wired to blow,” he crowed, tapping the glass on the watch. “In just two minutes, it will all be gone.”
“No!” Diadra cried, struggling to her feet.
“And so will you,” Nate said, removing the machete from its sheath at his side. “Dead. All of you.”
A loud scream rose in Shayna’s head, as she turned back toward the house. Two minutes. Her mate and sisters were in that house. They would be gone. Obliterated. Did she have time to make it? And, if she did, what about Diadra? She would die. Unfortunately, no matter how much it hurt, there was no choice for Shayna. Just as she took a step toward the house, it blew sky high, taking everyone she loved with it.
Nate burst into laughter, twirling the knife in his hands when his sister screamed. “So, maybe I was off a little on my count. They are gone. Guess it is just you and me, now.”
“No!” Diadra cried, running at him and slamming her fists into his chest. “How could you do that? You’re horrible! The devil himself!”
Nate grabbed her by the arm and threw her down on the ground, standing over her as he laughed again. “The devil. I like being compared to him. Although, I don’t think even he can stand up to me.”
Shayna slowly turned toward the brother and sister, her heart squeezing tight with agony, nearly suffocating her. They were gone. All of them. Her mate, Cora, and Camila. Gone. There was a hole where her heart had been just moments before. She swayed, almost collapsing at the weight of her sorrow. Gone. Dead. Never coming back. She screamed Cannon’s name over and over inside her mind, lifting her head, yowling loudly for her mate. Again and again she screamed, until her throat was raw, and then the anger hit. A rage like no other. And there was only one place for it to go.
Raising her head, she stared at the man who was standing just a few yards away, staring at her in disbelief. Diadra cowered down in front of him, holding her hands up over her head as if to hold off the strike that was to come from the machete in his hand.
Slowly, Shayna began to stalk him, crouching down and moving t
oward him, her eyes never leaving his. He was a dead motherfucker for taking all that she loved from her.
Chapter Thirteen
Cannon watched Shayna follow Nate from the house, then quickly turned back to the fight at hand. As much as he wanted to run after them, he couldn’t leave his sisters alone. They were both holding their own, fierce warriors against a sea of snakes, but if he left, it could turn the tide. They needed him, and he had confidence in his mate’s abilities.
He had just severed the head from what had to be his tenth boa when Cannon saw the wire. He froze, his gaze narrowing on it as he followed it with his eyes. He’d seen something similar to it before. It’d been a few years, but he and Casen had been messing around near an old mine shaft, and had come across something like it then. He knew what it was.
“Get the fuck out of here. Now!” Cannon roared, when he finally came to the end of it, and confirmed his fears as he stared at the bomb. “This place is wired to blow.”
All fighting seemed to stop, even the snakes freezing in shock and fear. That made him hesitate in confusion. What the hell? If they didn’t put it there, who did? After a moment, he decided it didn’t really matter. From the way the bastard was ticking, they didn’t have time to stick around and figure it out.
“Go!”
Grabbing his sisters by their waists, Cannon sprinted for the door, as snakes slithered past him on the floor and out broken windows. He’s just broken through the line of trees into the forest behind their house when the first bomb when off, then the next, and the next. A total of three. The force of the blasts sent him face planting into the dirt, Cora and Camila at his side. It took a moment for him to catch his bearings. His head was pounding, his ears ringing, and his whole body was racked with pain.
“Holy fuck!” he heard a voice yell, as he struggled to his feet. Cannon looked over at the man, blinking several times, then reaching up to swipe a trickle of blood from his face. The boa shifter was staring at what was left of the house in awe, his mouth hanging open. Then he swung his stunned gaze over to glare at Cannon.
“Don’t look at me, you stupid son of a bitch,” Cannon snarled. “You think I blew up my own house? That wasn’t me, but you might want to rethink your choice in alpha. Bastard left all of you there to die.”
Suddenly, a loud screech filled the night, and then another, and another. A lynx, screaming for her mate. A sound so full of pain that it almost brought him to his knees. His kitten was calling for him. Suffering, in agony because she thought he was dead. He’d never heard that much torment and anguish from someone before.
“Shayna!” He called her name hoarsely, screaming for her, wanting her to know he was alive, but he couldn’t be heard over her own cries. “Shayna!”
“Go to her!” Cora demanded, shoving her hand into his leg, nearly pushing him down. “Go, dammit!”
He looked down at her, torn between running to the woman he loved and protecting his sisters from the few snake shifters who remained.
“Go,” Camila said, turning over to lay on her back, throwing an arm over her eyes. “I am in too much pain to move, and she needs you.”
“I don’t know about you, but I want to know what the fuck’s going on,” the shifter next to him snarled. “If you didn’t set those bombs, I want to know who did. Let’s go!”
“I agree,” another man said weakly from where he lay just a few feet away.
When a loud, piercing yowl hit the night sky, followed by a man’s roar and hiss, Cannon took off at a dead run. All he could think about was his mate, in pain, going up against the alpha of a nest of snakes. That fucker was dead.
Cannon broke through a thick patch of trees and stopped short at the sight before him. Diadra cowered on the ground away from where a ferocious fight was taking place. His gorgeous lynx was on a rampage, tearing into a man, half turned into his animal, but unable to finish the shift. Shayna was a thing of beauty, her claws slicing through him, her teeth closing over skin, both snake and human, ripping at it. She fought like a banshee, never giving an inch. He stood, watching her lynx’s body flow, twisting and turning around its prey. She was hurting him, playing with him, making him suffer after taking her mate from her. And then, suddenly, she was done playing. She let out a final scream, clamped her teeth tightly around his throat, and tore it out. Afterwards, she collapsed to the ground next to the carnage that was left, her face on her paws as she cried. Massive sobs that shook the lynx’s body and broke his heart.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he whispered, slowly making his way to her, careful not to startle her. “I’m here. I’m right here.” At first, she didn’t seem to hear him, and then her entire body stiffened, and she raised her head slowly. “That’s right, kitten, we made it out of the house in time. Cora, Cami, and I are all okay.”
His sweet lynx let out a loud yowl, and then began to whine. Rising, she took a stumbling step to him, then fell back to her knees.
“It’s okay, kitten. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“What the fuck happened?”
His mate raised her head, her eyes going to the man who stood behind him, a low growl rising up in her throat as she stood and stared at him.
“My brother happened,” Diadra said, slowly pushing herself to her feet and walking over to stand near Cannon. Shayna backed up, her eyes never leaving the man’s as she stood in front of Diadra as if protecting her. “He set off bombs in the house. Said he was going to take out the Channings and kill off all of the weak snakes in our nest.”
The man hissed angrily, taking a step forward. Cannon reached out an arm to stop him. “I don’t think I would get near my mate or the girl right now,” he said quietly. “You saw what Shayna did to your alpha, right? You want some of the same?”
The man glared at them all for a moment before shaking his head. “Hell no. Bunch of crazy fuckers. I’m going home. Diadra, come on.”
Diadra took a step back, shaking her head. “I’m not going back there.”
“You don’t have a choice. Your brother’s gone. I claim you as mine now.”
Shayna’s growl rose and she began to pace back and forth in front of the girl.
“I’m pretty sure my mate’s already claimed the child as ours to protect,” Cannon said, crossing his arms over his broad chest and glaring at the man. “You want to go up against her? Didn’t work out too well with Baxter.”
The man hesitated, then shook his head, glaring at them. “She’s not fucking worth it.”
“Obviously, she is to us. So, I suggest you move the hell on,” Cora snarled, appearing out of nowhere, Camila at her side. “She’s ours now.”
“You can have her,” he sneered, stalking away, what was left of his small nest following close behind.
Cannon waited until he was sure they were gone before smiling at Shayna. “Okay, my beautiful, courageous lynx. How about you shift now? Your mate needs to hold you.”
One second there was a lynx standing in front of him, the next it was Shayna, tears streaming down her face as she stared at him. “I thought you were dead.”
He opened his arms wide, sighing when she ran into them, holding her tightly to him. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” she snapped, her claws digging into his back as she pressed closer into him.
“I won’t,” he promised, nuzzling the side of her neck. “I love you, kitten.”
She was quiet for a moment, just clutching him to her, crying into his neck before she whispered, “I love you, too.”
Chapter Fourteen
“What are we going to do?” Camila asked softly, her eyes on the fire that was still raging out of control in front of them. The house was destroyed, along with anything that was left in it. “If Casen had a journal in there, it’s gone now.”
Shayna slipped a shirt over her head, then slid her feet into the tennis shoes she’d brought with. Slamming the trunk of her car closed, she walked over to her mate, snuggling in clo
se to his side. “We’ll think of something.”
Cora leaned against the hood of the car, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched everything she’d known for the past three years disintegrate in front of them. “It’s gone,” she said, her voice void of emotion. “Just like Casen.” She turned to Shayna. “What do we do now?”
Shayna returned the woman’s gaze, surprise filling her at Cora’s sudden readiness to follow her lead. She’d been so stubborn about everything before. Always wanting her say, but now it was as if she were handing the reins over to Shayna. That’s when she realized they were all looking at her expectantly, as if she had all the answers. At that moment, she felt as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She wasn’t sure what to say.
“You have more experience in something like this than we do,” Cannon told her quietly. “This is your field of expertise.”
He was right. She’d been a private investigator for over five years now, and that was after working for six as a police officer. She was good at her job, and she needed to try and set her emotions aside for now and concentrate on how to help Cannon and his sisters.
“Okay,” she said, pulling out of Cannon’s arms to begin pacing back and forth in front of them. “Tell me about Casen. What did he do besides work at the bar?” She paused, swinging around to look at them. “Wait, what’s going on with The Hide Out now? You haven’t been there in days.”
Cora waved off her worries. “We have precautions in place if anything like this happens. We’ve lived like this for years, always moving from one place to another. We’ve owned businesses before. Bars are the easiest for us. We hide behind fake entities, use false identities for those fake entities. That’s what Casen does. Makes it so there is no paper trail.”
“Yeah, it was hard to track you down.”
“But not impossible,” Cannon said, and she heard the proud note in his voice. “You found us.”
She shrugged, fighting off a blush of pleasure. “You still use your real names, just not when it comes to your business. You just don’t flash them around is all. No credit cards, nothing to implicate you own anything.”
Chasing His Lynx’s Sass (Sass And Growl Book 4) Page 9