by Dianna Love
When Rory couldn’t imagine anything worse, he heard a new roar at the gate.
The Sumatran tiger shifter had been brought to the party and that bastard had already begun shifting in spite of a titanium cuff around his neck.
Muscles bulged around the cuff.
Baatar spared a glance at the tiger, but didn’t back off a step.
Shit. Now Rory had to protect Baatar while defending himself. He called up his jaguar. Ferrell’s need to get out rushed the shift. His muscles tensed and twisted.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Baatar forget about the tiger as soon as he realized Rory was changing, the most vulnerable moment for a shifter.
But as Baatar swung a huge fist, the strike landed on the shoulder of Rory’s jaguar. Ferrell swung around and snapped at Baatar’s head, backing him off.
Rory told Ferrell, Don’t kill the man. He is our mate’s brother.
Ferrell needed a target right fucking now. Rory gave him one. Protect Siofra’s brother from the tiger.
The guard shoved the insane shifter into the hole and locked the cage as a massive Sumatran tiger clawed its way out of the man.
Baatar watched both of them and chose to run at Ferrell even though the tiger had not fully changed, damn him.
Ferrell leaped out of the way of Baatar’s charge and slammed the almost-shifted tiger into the wall of bars. Rory’s animal had never killed a shifter or animal when it was defenseless, but Ferrell believed everyone here was a threat to Siofra.
His jaguar was spot-on and Rory would leave him off the leash as long as he didn’t harm Baatar.
Tripoli shouted, “Only the last one standing walks out.”
As if Rory would pay attention to that lunatic right now?
Even if Rory walked out of here, Tripoli would claim a greater prize than any in his inventory. He wouldn’t know he had a Gallize, but he’d be happy to have captured the elusive Adalbert Wauters and his animal revealed.
He’d auction Rory to the highest bidder.
That would happen only if Rory didn’t take him apart first.
Ferrell roared and sent a string of constant words to Rory. Kill wolf. Kill tiger. Kill fox. Save Mate. Then more crazy mangled sounds.
Those cheering above them were safe only as long as the cage held Ferrell. His jaguar snarled and stalked around, taking in the threats.
The tiger roared to life and lunged at Ferrell, who met him midair. Teeth and claws gnashed. Pain ripped through Rory, but his jaguar never backed away.
Ferrell didn’t know the meaning of quit.
At least Baatar had moved to the side and watched, no doubt waiting to let the two cats tear each other apart, which would benefit him.
Tripoli’s men shouted and pumped their fists when the tiger took Rory’s jaguar to the ground.
Not Tripoli. He was furious, screaming for Baatar to shift.
Vicious clawing and jaws ripping at bodies went on for a minute then the tiger gouged Ferrell’s shoulder. Rory’s jaguar laid on his side, breathing hard, and tried to get up, but the jaguar’s wounds were seeping blood. Not healing.
Ferrell had inflicted plenty of damage on the tiger, too. Blood ran into its eyes. The tiger shook his head as if trying to clear its vision and reorient.
Not for long. With Ferrell still able to bite and claw, but not on his feet yet, the tiger turned to Baatar and roared at the easy opponent.
It could have been an overload of adrenaline or just the need to protect someone who mattered to their mate, but when the tiger headed for Baatar, Ferrell leaped up and landed on top of the tiger.
The cage door opened and a shifter Rory had not seen entered. He had a head of bushy blond hair and angry, orange-brown eyes.
The tiger struggled to get Ferrell off its back and snapped huge jaws at his jaguar, claiming Rory’s attention.
Ferrell caught the tiger across the back of its neck and held on, but he’d need the underside for any hope of ripping out muscle.
A new thundering roar unlike any Rory had heard from a shifter filled the air as the tiger rolled hard to his back to unload Ferrell. The move worked.
Rory’s jaguar barely escaped his stomach being clawed open when the tiger whipped around to face the new threat.
Fucking Tripoli had sent a lion in.
Rory’s jaguar looked up at Tripoli, who grinned. The bounty hunter said, “Everyone shifts ... or dies.”
Chapter 39
Siofra pressed her back against the bars.
The steroid shifter with her cage door open laughed, enjoying her terror. He said, “Come here, dinner.”
She begged for the energy that had stopped the jackal from raping her to come forward.
Nothing, not even a tingle hummed in her body.
Shouting erupted behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Scarlett in the grip of her guard. Her friend must have tried to run to Siofra’s aid.
Tripoli noticed and shouted, “Toss her in the cage with the other one.”
Scarlett’s face froze in panic, but she recovered as her guard latched onto her arm, dragging her to the cage. Scarlett could shift. Why didn’t she?
The sound of wild animals in a frenzy poured from the hole. Were Rory and Baatar still alive? Either of them?
She couldn’t help anyone from here.
Facing the shifter leaning into the opening with his hand extended to grab her, Siofra shoved her legs to the side, anything to stay out of his reach.
“Move, fucker,” Scarlett’s guard ordered as he dragged her up to the cage.
Monster guy yanked his arm out of the cage and whipped around. He growled a demonic sound. “Mine. Back off.”
Siofra took in Scarlett’s face, where the eyes of an animal glowed. She was close to changing, but holding back. Why?
Now that Siofra thought about it, if Scarlett shifted she’d either face all the guards, who would also shift, or Tripoli might throw her into the hole.
Rubbing her hands together, Siofra pleaded with the universe to help her.
The female ghost returned.
Siofra shouted, “Not now.”
Everyone looked at her for a second, then the men returned to arguing.
The ghost glared at Siofra. Great. She didn’t have enough to do without feeling guilty for yelling at some uninvited spirit?
Energy tingled in Siofra’s hands. She stared at them. Not the mother lode she’d had before, but more than nothing.
The guard holding Scarlett said, “Fuck it. I’m not fighting your hairy ass.”
Siofra hoped this did not turn into the worst idea of her short life. She launched herself at the monster shifter while he was distracted.
Time slowed as if the world had a malfunctioning axis.
A lion roared.
Tripoli and his men cheered the fight.
At the same moment Siofra went airborne, Scarlett shoved her guard at the monster shifter. Siofra hit her target, taking him down with the other guard.
Scarlett followed her guard down, punching his throat over and over. He gagged twice and his body went limp.
The monster shifter had begun changing. He struck at Scarlett with a clawed paw, raking the sharp tips down her arm.
“Shit!” Scarlett grabbed her arm. Her head warped.
Siofra wrapped her hands around the monster’s neck, which was too big for her fingers to meet. She forced what energy she had into him.
The huge paw of the partially shifted monster froze in midair. His eyes bulged and he made strangled sounds.
Holding her injured arm, Scarlett sat back on her knees. She spoke in a low hiss. “Run, Siofra. You’re the most vulnerable of us.”
“I have to save Rory and Baatar,” Siofra answered, just as quietly, but her words were terse and unyielding.
Scarlett gave her a hard look. “Both of them will want you to be safe. We came in here to rescue you. Don’t ruin a great rescue by sacrificing yourself like an idiot.”
“You do realize I jus
t took down this shifter?”
Scarlett paused and stared at both shifters. “What’d you do?”
“I don’t know. I have a power of some sort. It kills and heals. I wish I could say I ruled it, but it rules me. Give me a chance to help the guys.”
Lifting up to look through the cage first, Scarlett squeezed her arm, which had stopped bleeding profusely. She said, “They’re all watching the battle, but someone will smell my blood before I can get it fully healed.” Coming back to face Siofra, she said, “I’ll distract them, then it’s all you. I hope like hell you have a plan and you don’t die or I’ll have an army of apex predators after me.”
Not wasting a second to ask who Scarlett referenced, Siofra stood. Adrenaline and power rushed through her. Her heart held a boxing match in her chest.
She had no real plan, but she nodded and said, “Thank you. Be safe.”
Standing, Scarlett yanked her shirt off as she kicked her feet free of the shoes. She said, “I won’t make it back any time soon to help.”
“I understand, but don’t get caught.”
“Not once I shift.” She shimmied out of the tight shorts and the change that had been threatening to take hold happened fast. Scarlett shifted into a magnificent cougar, huge and sleek, except for the scar across its back.
Moving around to stand between the fighting pit and the Hummer, her cougar gave a deep-throated growl of challenge.
Siofra waited to see how the distraction would play out.
Tripoli shouted at his men, “Fuck! Get her!”
The guard standing near the gate to the hole rushed up the ramp to Tripoli, handed off a key, then joined the other guards already changing.
Scarlett’s cougar took off, getting a head start at a dead run.
Once the shifters raced from the area, Siofra had to act. She went around the back of the truck holding her cage and ran as hard as she could toward Tripoli.
She caught his arms and felt energy push into him as he wrenched around. She snatched her hands back, because he started shaking, then stilled.
The key fell from his hand. She snatched it up and ran to the ramp, falling down in her need to reach the lock. Jumping up, she looked inside the barred enclosure in horror.
Blood covered Rory’s jaguar. Too much to even see the wounds. He fought a huge lion.
Baatar had slashes across his body, but he slammed a fist into the jaws of the tiger.
She had to get Rory and Baatar out of there or they would die.
Shaking like a leaf in a storm, she jabbed the key in the lock, but got yanked back and tossed around to hit the upper part of the ramp. Pain burned across her skin and blood ran down her arm where she’d been cut by claws.
Tripoli stood over her with fangs in his distorted jaws. His eyes glowed with madness.
He would kill her.
She shoved to her feet and he came at her.
Dodging his claws as they reached for her face, she grabbed his arms and screamed as energy surged through her.
She had the advantage of standing uphill from him on the ramp. He stumbled back and back. She went with him, clutching his arms, too terrified to let go.
His back hit the gate.
He shuddered over and over, but she’d let go last time and now faced his wrath.
His eyes bulged. One eye exploded from the socket. Blood poured from his mouth.
Everything blurred for Siofra until she couldn’t see anything.
She must have blacked out.
The sound of roaring and Baatar shouting woke her. She blinked and stared into the dead eye of Tripoli. Scrambling back from the gruesome image, her vision cleared and she snapped back to reality.
She had to shove Tripoli out of the way and open the gate.
Pushing to her shaky legs, she dragged Tripoli’s heavy body aside and reached for where she’d left the key. “No, no, no!”
The key, lock and surrounding metal had melted into one lump of sludge. Her power had destroyed their only way out.
She would lose Baatar and Rory.
A screeching sound in the sky echoed seconds before the silhouette of a massive bird flew above the canopy. Claws shredded an opening a truck could drive through, then a huge eagle dove straight down.
It would crash into titanium bars.
At the last moment, the eagle flared its wings, spun around in a circle and landed at the edge of the hole. She doubted a natural bird could have made that maneuver.
As it shifted, Rory’s boss with the eagle eyes took its place, fully dressed in a suit.
Siofra had never seen a shifter with the ability to manifest clothes like that. Rory’s boss must have some kind of crazy power or maybe even magic. She yelled at him, “The lock and key are ruined. I can’t open it. Rory’s jaguar is bleeding out. Do something.”
“Not even I can break titanium.”
Chapter 40
Siofra would not lose the men she loved. Furious that Rory’s boss had not been the rescue she’d hoped for, she shouted, “Rory and Baatar can’t survive this.”
Rory’s boss looked to her. “The one in human form is Baatar?”
“Yes.”
“What is his entire name?”
Was he serious? Would that make a difference? “Gan Baatar.” Then she corrected it and said, “Ganbattar, all one word. Do something. They’re going to die!”
“No, they aren’t.” The eagle shifter put his hand down on the titanium bar and power sizzled at his touch.
She said, “What are you doing?”
“Opening a small hole in the magic.”
“How is that going to help?”
“Watch.” He raised his voice and the power in it expanded, shaking the trees and raising chill bumps on her arms. “Ganbaatar, I am your Guardian. By the power granted me by Vercane, the Gallizenae druidess of the Gallize, I command your tiger to come forth now and show itself.”
Siofra felt sick.
Everyone was insane.
But as she frantically searched for Baatar and found him, Baatar shoved away from the Sumatran tiger.
Her brother’s body arched backward in a painful way. He fell on the ground. His fisted hands unfolded and claws extended. He yelled in pain as bones broke and muscle reconfigured.
She stared. He was shifting?
The Sumatran tiger roared over and over, then dropped its head and went for Baatar.
Siofra screamed, “Baatarrrr!”
~*~*~
Rory’s telepathic plea for Gallize aid had been answered.
The Guardian had found them. He’d heard the Guardian’s order and felt the eagle shifter’s power rush into the hole, but had ignored everything except the lion he’d been battling. His jaguar’s body had been beaten and slashed, with no healing.
Then he heard Siofra’s scream just as Ferrell rallied to land a vicious slash across the lion’s face, sending the beast backing up.
Ferrell jerked around as the Sumatran tiger leaped at Baatar, who was in the middle of a shift.
What the fuck?
But Ferrell didn’t hesitate to lunge across Baatar, taking the hit from the tiger that sent the jaguar rolling over and over.
Pushing to stand on wobbly legs, Rory realized this would be the last moment with his jaguar and he was slammed with deep remorse for losing this animal.
He regretted having never embraced his jaguar and accepted life as a shifter, because his animal stood here prepared to die to protect their mate and her brother. Ferrell did this, even knowing Rory had been willing to give up their lives.
But Rory had changed his mind and wanted a life with Siofra.
He’d clearly changed it too late and would now loose Ferrell as well as Siofra.
How wrong could he have been? He hadn’t chosen to be a shifter, but other people didn’t choose their lives, either. Many had the good sense to not waste time wishing things had been different.
He would not die without letting Ferrell know the one thing Rory had owe
d his jaguar their entire life.
He whispered to his jaguar, Let’s make this last stand together as one. I am sorry for all the years I looked toward death, waiting for the mating curse to show up. I was wrong. If I had a chance to do it again, I would show you how important you are to me and how very glad I feel right this minute to be a shifter. To be one with you. You are better than I ever deserved and while I may not deserve Siofra as a mate, you sure as hell did. Let’s kick some ass and save her brother.
A strange energy rushed through Rory unlike any he’d ever felt, but he had no time to think on it as the lion came for him.
Ferrell moved fast, getting between Baatar who still labored with the change and the two beasts after blood.
His jaguar fought with renewed energy, but his hind legs were badly damaged. Blood ran through his eyes from barely escaping the lion jaws, and his chest had been sliced open by the tiger.
Rory’s jaguar tried to stand his ground, fighting both the tiger and lion until the lion stepped back and circled around, allowing his jaguar to expend the last of his strength to battle the tiger. Ferrell held his own, then slashed the Sumatran’s throat once, twice, then ripped it apart.
The tiger collapsed.
One down.
But the damn lion had been in here the least amount of time and had wisely conserved his energy for the final attack. Rising in the air with huge lion paws slashing, he roared like the king of the jungle he was, but Rory’s jaguar still had fight in him.
Dropping to all fours, the lion seemed to grin, taking one step forward at a time, enjoying the hunt.
Ferrell showed no fear, but he was being pushed back to where Baatar’s straining body made painful sounds.
Rory still recalled his first time shifting. The Guardian had him in a quiet place where he talked Rory through the shift.
For Baatar to change the first time without knowing he was even a shifter would be bad enough. Doing it while fighting in a cage and crazed from holding that animal in so long? Rory couldn’t imagine the pain Baatar suffered.
Ferrell stumbled and Rory couldn’t see through his jaguar’s eyes. Ferrell blinked, but blood loss had his jaguar fighting to remain lucid.