Claimed by Her Panthers

by Hazel Gower

  Draken suddenly appeared next to them as if the mention of Jenika’s name magically conjured him. One look at all their faces, and he sighed. “What has Jenika done now?”

  “See?” Owen pointed to Draken. “Even he knows how much trouble Jenika is.”

  “Your mate has convinced ours to take a little holiday,” Stephan snapped.

  He and Stephan had called the Vampire and told him to get his arse to the air hanger if he wanted to save his mate. They hadn’t given him the details, and he hadn’t waited for them.

  Draken frowned. “So? This is what you called me here for? Perhaps you are all a tad overprotective. Poor girl must get smothered.”

  Owen rolled his eyes. “Jenika took her to the Gold Coast.”

  “What?” Draken shouted. “I thought you had vetoed that idea. Why would she agree to go?”

  Owen looked chagrined. “She doesn’t know?”

  Draken’s eyes widened. “You haven’t told her?”

  “We don’t need you pointing out our mistakes,” Stephan bit out.

  “Clearly, because it seems it would take more than a lifetime to list them all.” Draken rolled his eyes.

  “And yet you came to us asking for help to woo your mate. Hell, maybe we should have helped more. You could have gotten her away from our mate.”

  “Guys, we need to focus on getting both of them back safe, okay? So enough,” Joel ordered, in full detective mode. “Now, what kind of backup are we looking at when we land? And is someone already scouting the area near the hotel?”

  “Yeah. We have a team of Treaty guys. Some will be waiting for us to land, and others are already searching,” Owen explained, eager to get on their way.

  A signal from one of the guys who had been prepping the plane let them know it was good to go. “Well let’s go, gentlemen. We have mates to save and bad guys to kill.”

  ****

  Angelica woke, her head groggy. It took her a moment to remember what happened, and then it all came flooding back. The strange noise, being surrounded and unable to cry for help when their kidnappers moved in.

  Propping herself up, she ignored the wave of nausea that rolled over her and attempted to get a good look at where she was, in some kind of abandoned warehouse. Everything appeared dark. The small amount of moonlight that trickled through allowed her to find Jenika, lying just a few feet away from her, still out cold. Angelica winced at the bruise marring her friend’s face, not sure if that had happened when they dumped her, or if Jenika had fought back. Knowing her friend, it was the latter.

  “Jenika?” she whispered, shaking her shoulder. “Come on. Wake up. I need you.”

  Jenika groaned. “What?”

  “Get up,” she said a little louder, panic finally settling in. “We need to get out of here.”

  “Good luck with that,” Jenika grumbled, tugging at a chain clamped around her ankle.

  “What the hell is that?”

  “What do you think?” Jenika grimaced, gently touching the side of her face. “You weren’t the first to wake up, my dear. And let’s just say the bitch running this show and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye.”

  “What do they want?”

  “Didn’t get that far.”

  “You always did act first. Perhaps some diplomacy would be better given the circumstances.”

  The metal door creaked open, and in walked the woman who had ordered their kidnapping. “You should listen to your friend here. It really is just a simple answer we want, and then who knows? I may just let at least one of you go.”

  Angelica didn’t need to see the woman’s face clearly to know that she was lying. It was in her voice. Whoever she was, she had no intention of letting either of them go. Dammit, why did they come here?

  “Who are you?”

  “You can call me The Siren.” Her smile had a wicked gleam, but Angelica couldn’t help but think of how ridiculously cliché this woman sounded.

  Something flashed in Angelica’s mind. “How do you know Draken?”

  The Siren grinned. “Heard that, did you? Draken and I go way back. And let’s just say, I’m not the only one looking for him.”

  “He isn’t exactly hiding,” Angelica scoffed, regretting her words instantly when she was backhanded by the woman.

  “You’d be surprised how hard it is to get to a man like him. He had been utterly invulnerable … until now.” The Siren seemed to study them for a moment. “So which one of you is it?”

  They both looked at her like she had lost her mind, yet Angelica thought she knew what The Siren wanted.

  “Don’t play dumb, ladies. It doesn’t become you,” the woman sneered. “Which one of you is mated to Draken, son of Theroes?”

  Oh shit.

  She saw the look Jenika sent her. Part fear, part apology, and Angelica knew what she was about to do. “I am.”

  “No, I am,” Angelica barked without thinking.

  “No, I am,” Jenika said determinedly. “What are you doing?”

  “Me?” Angelica acted outraged. No way was she letting her friend sacrifice herself. “What are you doing? Stop trying to protect me.”

  “I’m not.” Jenika glared fiercely at her. “Stop trying to protect me. You have someone else to protect.”

  Jeinka’s eyes covertly dipped, indicating the baby. Angelica would agree if she thought for a second that she stood a chance of surviving this, but she wasn’t stupid. The Siren had no intention of letting her go, so Angelica wouldn’t make it easy for the bitch. And if she could delay things, she could give her men more time. Angelica knew Stephan and Owen were already on their way, felt it in her bones. Her men were coming, most likely with Draken and a lot of backup. Jenika may not have her faith in them, but Jenika needed to believe in her.

  “I’m not interested in playing games,” the Siren snarled. Angelica’s eyes widened when her nails grew into sharp talons. Seriously? Stepping forward, she bent down and reached out, dragging one of those terrifying claws along the fragile skin of Angelica’s throat. “An answer. Now!”

  “W-we don’t k-know,” she stuttered, trying to buy time.

  “What? Explain.”

  Her eyes darted to Jenika, hoping her friend would play along. “We were supposed to go to some meeting with him. He claimed not to know which of us was his mate since we regularly swap clothes. We kind of freaked and ran before meeting him.”

  A serious spin on the truth, but Angelica knew that if any of these people had senses like her mates, the tang of slight truth mixed with an emotion like anger, sadness, or fear would be enough to mask her lie. Sad that she only knew that because she had done it to her own mates in order to come here. If only she could see them, and apologize. She’d beg if need be.

  The Siren tapped one scary looking claw against her chin before smiling. “All right then. If that’s true, then it will just be a matter of time until he gets here. And then we can find out the old fashioned way.”

  Standing, the psychotic woman took a few steps away, but Angelica had to ask. “Old fashioned way?”

  The look sent to her over the Siren’s shoulder made her shudder. “Once he arrives I just slit one of your throats in front of him. If he isn’t overcome with grief, then I know I killed the wrong one.”

  Angelica fought the urge to throw up and failed, turning away to empty her stomach.

  “Angelica. It’s okay,” Jenika whispered, attempting to reassure her. “If what she said is true, then the guys are already on their way. You’re the one always telling me to have faith in their abilities, in them. Well, now it’s your turn to do the same.”

  Wiping her mouth, Angelica felt the tears fall. “I know. I know.” And she did.

  God, they needed to hurry up and get here.

  ****

  The plane had barely landed when Stephan and Owen exited, Draken and Joel hot on their heels. Joel carried at least two guns and a knife on him, neither his service gun. Draken’s fangs had already dropped, eyes morphing blood r
ed. Not that Stephan blamed him. Hell, his panther snarled and snapped just under the surface, desperate to find their mate and take out the threat. Among the three of them, someone was going to die a horrible death tonight.

  A group of men standing by three SUVs waited for them. One of them stepped forward, first pulling down his shirt to reveal his Treaty mark, then outstretching his arm. He was around Stephan’s height of six foot four. Stephan discreetly scented the air. Lion Shifter. Skin darker than his or Owen’s, long black hair twisted in dreadlocks. The epitome of Bob Marley wannabe. Everything but the eyes. The hard gleam in those jade orbs suggested this man wasn’t afraid to risk his life or take one.

  Good to know.

  Lifting their shirts to show their own marks, a confirmation that was always needed when coming into someone else’s territory, Stephan took the man’s offered hand.

  “Name’s Raziel, I’m the beta leader here,” the man, the lion, introduced himself. With a tilt of his head, he directed to the vehicles. Once they piled inside and the engine came to life, Raziel explained. “Our faction leader is already on site with a few of our men, keeping an eye on things.”

  “Any word on the girls or what these arseholes want?”

  “The girls seem to be fine, though they radioed in that they’ve been knocked around lightly a few times. Seems one of them put up a fuckin’ good fight at first and now appears to be chained down by an ankle.”

  A growl broke free, and he realized Owen and Draken had done the same.

  Raziel grimaced. “Yeah, fuckin’ sucks, but there was nothing they could do without drawing attention. There are just too many of them to do that. We had no bloody choice but to wait for you.”

  Who the hell was behind this, and what did too many mean?

  As if he read his mind, Raziel informed him, “Our leader can’t quite explain it, but it looks like some Demons and Wraiths are working with some crazy arse chick who goes by the name the Siren. Not sure if she is an actual Siren, but one of the men also swears he spotted a Troll in there, too.”

  Stephan gaped. “A Troll? And since when do they all work together? Demons and Wraiths especially are known for keeping to themselves.”

  Raziel shrugged. “Don’t fuckin’ know, dude. But they aren’t just working together. They’re taking orders.”

  Stephan traded glances with Owen, noticing his friend looked as sick as he felt. What the fuck was going on here?

  “Who gives a shit?” Joel barked. “I may be the only human here, but even I know that while certain perps have routines they stick to, every once and a while one of them will break away from their profile. Not everything is foolproof. What matters is getting my sister and Jenika out of there alive. And you’ll all be bloody lucky if I ever let you near them again.”

  “Now is not the time to challenge our claim, Joel,” Stephan warned his friend.

  “Then maybe you should have taken better care of my sister.”

  Draken leant forward, ignoring their arguing and getting in the lion’s face. “You still have not told us what this demented woman wants with our mates.”

  Raziel racked his eyes over Draken, a sneer forming on his lips. “You must be Draken. You want to know what she wants?”

  They waited impatiently, and Draken nodded.

  “You.”

  “What?” Draken stumbled back as if the man had hit him.

  Stephan snarled. “They’re right. The woman’s voice said your name. In all the confusion and panic, none of us had been paying attention, but I remember that now.”

  “You heard me,” Raziel snapped, ignoring Stephan. “Word has it she was asking the girls which one of them was mate to Draken, son of Theroes.”

  This time it was Stephan’s turn to stumble. “Son of…”

  He turned to the Vampire, his stomach falling. He hadn’t put the names together. Draken was a popular name amongst leeches. He studied the other man. Stephan had known he was old, but not that old. As the son of Theroes, one of the most revered Vampire Elders, Draken had been among the first to join the Treaty and be branded.

  “You. You’re fucking Draken, son of Theroes?” Owen asked incredulously.

  Draken didn’t answer them, instead keeping his gaze locked on Raziel. “I don’t know any Siren. And I have no idea why she would want my mate, but if it is me she wants, then she is mine. I’ll take her down.”

  Stephan used every ounce of control not to launch over the other side of the SUV and rip the bastard’s throat out. He’d better take care of her, as otherwise he and Owen would be taking care of Draken. Son of Theroes or not.

  It felt like hours later, when it was in fact minutes, by the time they were pulling into an abandoned lot nearby. The engine was cut, and the silence was deathly as they mentally prepared themselves.

  “Okay. We go on foot from here. We can make our way up to the end of the street. It should take us to the tree line we need to cut through to come around back of the main warehouse. Let’s go,” Stephan ordered, exiting the car.

  Everyone followed suit.

  As members of the Mount View faction, it was an unwritten rule that everyone followed their lead.

  When they crept through the tree line, they saw that, as predicted, it opened to vacant lots filled with mounds of rubbish on either side. Two factory buildings sat further in front of them to the right, one in front of the other, and there was an open landfill to the left. They made their way to the entry on the side that they knew from a previous scout had only four guards. A few of them could easily take care of the guards. They couldn’t tell if there were any electronics attached, had no idea if there were cameras or alarms, and they were essentially going in blind.

  No alarms went off when they got inside. The passage they were in was overgrown with vines and other leafage. It was obvious that it wasn’t used, so Stephan hoped they weren’t in for any surprises.

  Making their way down a passage, he realized he had thought too soon when the group came to a stop and were suddenly ambushed from both directions.

  “Fuck,” he shouted.

  Not hesitating, Stephan shifted, his clothes tearing and bones cracking. Moments later his paws hit the ground, a growl rumbling from deep inside.

  Tilting his head, he saw that Owen had changed, too, his panther snarling and ready to fit. Nudging the other man’s shoulder to let him know he was ready to find their mate, Stephan launched forward and into the fray.

  All out war had ensued in the time it had taken them to shift. Dodging blasts from warlocks and claws from animals, Stephan fought his way through the crowd until he found himself beside Owen again and a badly wounded Draken. Skin pale, the stark red that matted the Vampire’s hair stood out. His shirt had been shredded already, and Stephan could smell the copper tang of blood.

  He watched in satisfaction as Draken grabbed hold of the Siren and threw her to the ground, the bitch obviously having been unable to flee the warehouse in time. Draken stood over the prone woman, his claws unsheathed, eyes blood red with his need for vengeance.

  “What did you want with my mate?”

  The Siren cackled. “You really think I’ll tell you? I’m already dead, by you or by them. Either way, I’m not feeling inclined to be helpful.”

  Stephan snapped and growled at her.

  “Oh, give me a break, pussy cat. Nothing you could do would be worse than what they would have in store for me, were I to betray them.”

  “Who are they?” Draken demanded.

  The Siren seemed to consider for a moment, before grinning. “You know, I just can’t quite seem to remember.”

  “Pity for you,” the Vampire snarled, swinging out and tearing into the Siren’s flesh.

  The woman let out a blood-curdling scream to rival a banshee’s, finally coming to an abrupt halt when Draken took a final swipe.

  Just as Draken delivered the final blow, another blast suddenly shot out just nipping Stephan’s tail, and he hissed, turning to face the Warlock who had
thrown it. He realized his mistake, however, when sharp claws sliced through his skin, piercing the flesh. The Wizard had just been a distraction, keeping him focused so another could attack. He let out a howl as he fell but found himself unable to move. More blows came, his panther’s body screaming out in raw agony. When he slumped to the ground, unable to fight, the claws disappeared. Out the corner of his eye he saw the Troll who had swiped at him saunter off, no doubt on the prowl for his next target.

  Using everything he had, Stephan tried to stand on all fours again. He needed to save Angelica.

  Blood dripped down his face, and his stomach clenched as he felt more dampness on his back. His legs began to shake, and soon they were too weak to support him, his panther form falling back to the ground. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as the enemy continued their attack, many of their own men falling. Searching frantically for his mate, for Owen as well, Stephan wanted to cry out in despair when he couldn’t find them, though all he could manage was a snarl.

  Christ. Let them be okay.

  ****

  Owen swiped another paw out, relishing the shriek that came from the enemy as he took the Warlock down. He had never seen himself as particularly bloodthirsty before, but these bastards were the same people who had kidnapped his mate. No one was safe.

  The warehouse had suddenly become a battle zone. The doors had been taken down, and Demons, Warlocks, and even Trolls filled the area. They had never faced an attack of this magnitude before. Since when did they work together?

  A Demon shot out of nowhere and tried to attack him. The sly bastard would have succeeded, too, had not a lion, even larger than Owen, suddenly appeared. The lion took the Demon down swiftly, his teeth clamping around the disgusting bastard’s neck. The Demon hissed and jerked, but eventually ceased moving. When the unknown lion lifted his head, Owen recognized his jade eyes. Raziel. The lion tipped his head, and Owen followed his line of sight to where the girls were with a frantic Joel, who appeared to be trying to release Jenika from her chains.

  Angelica.

  Raziel nodded at Owen before taking off towards the girls. Trailing after his new accomplice, they were closing in on Angelica and Jenika when they were pinned in by a group of paranormals. Fighting back-to-back with the lion again, Owen had a moment where he thought they were in real trouble. However, those preparing to attack them were taken down swiftly, one by one. Blinking in shock, Owen cast his gaze around, trying to work out who or what had come to their aid when his eyes landed on Draken. The Vampire gave them a wicked grin before tilting his head in the girls’ direction.