I nodded. “Let me know if you need me. I want to help Poppy if I’m able to.”
“I know.” His severe eyes softened briefly. “But stay in here where it’s safe for now.”
The words spilled from my mouth with a grin. “Happy hunting, tiger.”
He blinked. “White tiger. I’m very proud of my coat.”
My chest shook with restrained laughter. I choked, “Okay. Happy hunting, white tiger.”
It just didn’t have the same ring to it as the other one, but I wouldn’t tell the proud man that.
He smirked, his chest expanding with his vanity. “See? I told you. That sounds much better.” The knife pointed at me again. “And accurate.”
Definitely not telling him. I nodded and smiled.
My hands shooed toward the door, perhaps flirting a bit with him. “Your best friends are out there fighting already. You better join them before they think you’re becoming lackadaisical in your old age.”
There was a mass of black golems around Mr. King’s home, the mansion built on a peninsula of rocks with the water on three sides. It was a magnificent property—when there weren’t magical creatures trying to destroy it and to get inside. The golems were on the ground, in the water.
Megan had been wrong. They could climb.
Or possibly, they had been enhanced?
I couldn’t be positive, but they looked faster.
No longer at an elderly person’s pace, but more like stumbling toddlers.
Black creatures were climbing all over the outside of the mansion, and from this distance, they appeared like monstrous spiders on a white, elegant home. Except they jammed their nails into the stucco walls to climb up, searching for entry. With the window still intact, I was betting they were bomb proof as well—even though our world no longer had those.
For immortals, who had been through the final war and viewed its horrors firsthand, their paranoid, cautious approach to safety wasn’t unexpected.
Finn bent down, staring out the window. “Cass isn’t there.” He shook his head as he straightened and walked to the train door. His tone was worried. “He didn’t come home last night like he said he would. His bed wasn’t slept in at all.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. Immortal, yes?”
“An immortal can still get into trouble. The mental kind. He’s got one fucked up job within the shifters.” He tapped on the panel, and the door opened up. I jerked back against my seat as I heard a roar erupt from outside. Finn hummed, “God’s pissed.”
He jumped out the doorway without using the stairs.
I lurched forward in my seat and watched as he soared through the air, landing smack in the middle of a group of black withering golems.
I whispered, “Damn. He has a nice ass.”
Finn’s shout rang through the air. “I heard that!”
The door automatically shut without a sound.
My cheeks flushed. Well, that was embarrassing.
If he heard it, then they all had.
I moved to another seat closest to the window for a better view. I pressed my hand against the glass, hoping they would make it through the fight. Double the amount of golems from yesterday were on this property, and if any had made it inside, then Poppy was fending for herself.
My lips pinched as I considered my options.
I wasn’t going outside. I would only hinder the shifters’ battle. Blades and I were not friendly. I had played with my father’s once and almost sliced off my little finger—and that wasn’t too long ago. Father kept his weapons dangerously sharp, a man who knew how to use them.
The panel’s glow caught my attention.
I eyed it. And a plan formulated in my head.
A foolish plan. But one that might save Poppy.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I rose to my feet and pressed a command on the panel to open the door, preparing to yell for Finn’s help in this plan.
The door didn’t open.
“Access denied, Ms. Kramer.”
My head snapped in all directions, searching for the intruder. “Hello?”
“Hello, Ms. Kramer,” the voice stated. “How may I be of service?”
My brows furrowed as I walked in a slow circle and opened the bathroom door so hard it banged against the wall.
No one was in the train cabin with me.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Choo-Baby-Choo, Ms. Kramer. Mr. Baker’s personal advanced train system.”
“What company installed you?”
“I am owned and operated by Cooper Corporation. Installation and programming are maintained by Cooper Corporation. If you are unsatisfied with my service, please contact your service manager at Cooper Corporation within normal business hours.”
Mr. Wolfe Cooper’s new update on Finn’s train.
I dropped my head back and stared up at the ceiling, sighing in frustration. My eyelashes fluttered at the view. There were tiny white dots on the smooth surface, barely recognizable as they blended with the ceiling. My eyes narrowed, and I questioned, “Can you see me?”
“Yes, Ms. Kramer.”
“Are you recording this right now?”
“Yes, Ms. Kramer.”
I flipped off the cameras plastered all over the ceiling, shoving my topnotch breeding aside in my frustration. Then I lowered my hand, asking, “Where are the speakers?”
“In the cameras, Ms. Kramer.”
I sighed. “Can you call Mr. Baker for me?”
“Hold, please.”
My arms crossed as I waited.
“Little busy, Mina.” Finn’s voice filled the cabin.
I kept it simple, even if my annoyed tone was clear—trapped inside his train. “I have an idea for getting Poppy out of there. Will you come back to the train? I can’t do it without you.”
He grunted, his voice breathless. “Will it work?”
“Possibly. It would be a lot faster than what you gentlemen are doing.” I cleared my throat—loudly. “Or I could just ask…Choo-Baby-Choo…for the help.”
Finn shouted in pain. “You motherfucker!” He growled, the noise definitely not human. “Hold on, Mina. Just give me a second and quit bluffing. You know my kickass train won’t obey your orders.”
My shoulders tensed as I listened to him fight.
By how winded he was, this battle was much tougher than the fight yesterday. Finn grunted and growled—a white tiger’s growl—too many times to count. He finally hissed, “Get away from the door, Mina.”
I rushed to the back of the cabin, only catching glimpses out the windows. There were even more golems outside than when we had arrived, each new one stumbling out of the woods as if the wilderness was housing them.
The train door slammed open.
Finn flew inside, landing on his knees. He barked, “Shut the door, Choo-Baby-Choo!”
The train door slammed shut.
I rushed forward, my hands hovering over his shoulders, not sure if I should touch him. His clothes were in tatters, and blood streaked each exposed piece of flesh, though there were no actual wounds. My voice shook as I asked, “Are you okay?”
He shook his head and stood to his feet. “No, I’m not okay. We need a miracle right now to get her out of there. The golems have piled on top of themselves halfway up the house, and we can’t get through to a door or a window. Every time we behead one, another falls in its place. Poppy is going to have her soul sucked right out of her if we don’t figure something out.”
“The green light? It steals a person’s soul?”
The power had felt so right but wrong too.
“Yes.”
I shuddered in horror. “What about the roof?”
“They’ve made a nest up there.”
I inhaled and exhaled to focus. “You know how you’re never supposed to stand directly under a train because of the clean energy heat at the center?”
Finn’s blink was slow. He understood immediately and gradually started nodding his he
ad. “You want to burn them.”
“Yes. If we can hover the train close enough to the top of the roof, it should burn the golems directly underneath it. Then we can burn through the roof. You’ll have to jump down into the house from the train to get her, and you can jump back in easily. But if there’s as many as you say up there, the rest of the nest will follow you inside.”
Finn was still nodding with every word I said. “I’ll get the others. We’ll take the whole team in.”
“Are you positive?”
“This is the best idea we’ve had so far.” He tipped his head and pressed his warm mouth to mine, gently kissing my lips. “Thank you, Mina. Losing Poppy would wreck God…”
I blinked like a person with no wits, leaning against him for more. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“Hell no.” He gently pushed me back a respectable distance. “But when I start, there will be no stopping us. Now isn’t the time.”
I shook my head to regain a sense of clarity, my hair brushing past my bare shoulders. “My apologies. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
He snickered. “I do.”
I closed my eyes. He was probably right.
I wanted him. Monster or not.
I swallowed and peeked out from under my lashes.
The kitty could play with me all he wanted.
Oh, yes.
“I’m going to contact the guys. Get ready for them to enter the same way I did.” He lifted his wrist and tapped on his silver bracelet. But he hesitated, inhaling heavily. His nostrils flared as his beautiful blue eyes narrowed on my heated gaze. His eyes dilated, but he shook his head. “Not right now, Mina. But tonight, we’ll play. Just hold on until then.”
“I’m merely letting you know I’m saying yes. To you. In the bedroom.” I shrugged my shoulders, allowing my cleavage to bulge over the top of my dress. “Tonight will do.”
Finn’s eyes caught on my breasts, and he bit his bottom lip in desire. “You’re not all sweet. You have a little sin in you too.” He tipped his head to my overflowing cleavage. “Because that’s just fucking mean.”
I chuckled. “Call your friends, Finn.”
“Yep.” He inhaled deeply through his mouth, and then jerked his gaze away from my cleavage. He started to tap on his bracelet. “Calling God now.”
The floor of the train shook.
I shot my arms out to my sides for balance and my eyes to Finn’s. Trains didn’t react to outside forces like an earthquake—because of the clean energy powering them.
But the floor only vibrated more fiercely.
I cried out, “What is that?”
Finn steadied his feet, his brows furrowing.
Then his eyes bulged wide. “Cassander.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Cassander’s here? I thought he didn’t make it,” I asked in confusion, my arms teetering in the air like a child pretending to be a plane.
Finn didn’t answer me, his eyes panicked. The white tiger raced to the exit. He demanded, “Open the door, Choo-Baby-Choo.”
The door whipped open.
Finn stumbled down the stairs, his head turning left and right. He shouted in astonishment, “Cassander, don’t do it!”
I shook my head over his shocking exit—and no golems climbing inside the train—and ran to the door. I poked my head outside, my eyes tracking Finn as he raced across the lawn and rock. The golems—every single golem—were arching their backs, as if they were in excruciating pain.
Mr. King charged after Finn, his own body covered in blood streaks, his features etched in pure horror. He bellowed a plea, “Cass, stop! You don’t have to do this!”
The other four corporate kings’ heads turned in the racing men’s direction, following their trajectory with their gazes. Their jaws dropped in shock. Then they were sprinting across the lawn too, swerving in and out of the golem obstacles.
Mr. Cooper leapt through the air, a blur of gray hair flashing in the morning sky, catching up with Finn and Mr. King as he landed in a run, his legs never stopping. He waved his hands frantically. “Cass, we can find another way! She’s still safe!”
There was a man standing on top of a small hill.
His silver fur jacket whipped in the wind around him, the tall grass up to his leather covered knees. The eyes of the man were pure white, no color whatsoever. His palms were turned upward toward the mansion, his fingers spread wide and curled like claws. The ground around his feet wobbled like small waves on a shore.
It was Cassander.
He was wicked in his determination, his jaw clenched tight, his chin tucked down, and watching the house with those spooky white eyes.
And he wasn’t listening to the others.
Mr. King stopped in his tracks, his chest heaving as the others flew past him, continuing their sprint. The attention he pointed at Cassander was all-consuming as his chest pumped faster and faster. He crouched down with his hands on the ground, his nostrils flaring on his exotic features, and he roared.
The five sprinting men…halted in their tracks.
They then fell to their knees, their heads bowing to the ground, their foreheads kissing the earth. Finn was one of them, his entire body quivering in pain. Their fingers dug into the dirt as their frames shook.
Cassander’s body jolted, and he staggered a step back, but he bent his legs as if he were leaning into a strong gust of wind. He shouted, “You can’t stop me, God!”
“I can sure as hell save you from destroying yourself,” Mr. King growled, standing straight on strong legs. His chest pumped…pumped…pumped…with every inhale, his teeth gnashing at the air like he was biting the oxygen. “When you eventually die, it will be by my hand, not yours. You don’t get to die the hero today.”
Cassander’s chuckle was bitter in the morning air, a tear trickling down his left cheek. “Someone is going to die soon. I just don’t know who yet. I’m trying to keep that from happening.”
Mr. King stood his ground. “It’s not my mate. Not today. All you have to do is hold that power right there, not any more than that, and I can go inside and retrieve her. After that, you can join in the fun of beheading evil.”
Cassander didn’t move, his power still flowing.
Mr. King tilted his head, a playful, teasing smile etching his features, making him appear young and carefree. “Come on, Cass. You know you want to kick some ass by my side again.”
I swallowed down my gasp. He was bribing him.
Effectively using any form of persuasion as his arsenal to keep Cassander from…
What had he said?
Destroying yourself, the words shot like a picture in my mind’s eye.
My lips thinned, and I didn’t dare move. There would be no deaths today from a mistake of mine. All their concentration needed to stay on each other, not a blonde in a disgusting, dirty party gown.
Finn would never forgive me either.
The thought came out of nowhere.
But it was still true.
Cassander’s lips parted. “Do you forgive me, God?”
My brows furrowed, not understanding.
But it appeared to be a deep hurt since Mr. King flinched. He growled, “Dammit, Cass. Stop this now!”
“Dad understands why I had to kill her, his own mate. Why can’t you?”
Mr. King leaned forward and bellowed in fury, “She was our mother! She was both of ours. And you what? Decided that because she had a little darkness in her that she deserved to die?”
“She askedit of me.” Cassander shook where he stood, his features tormented. “I must take every mercy request seriously. It doesn’t matter who asks. I have to put my feelings aside and do my goddamn job. I’m the only person on this planet who grants that kindness.”
“Kindness is not chopping her head off. Our mother!”
“She didn’t want to live. Even Dad knew that.”
“And yet, he still didn’t kill her when she pled with him to help her along into a grave.”
>
Theron stepped out of the treeline, marching forward in old-fashioned cowboy boots and workout shorts, a rolled mat strung over his bare back. His steps were easy, unhindered by whatever power they were using, but his beautiful dark eyes were cold and lethal.
He hissed, “Both of you stop this. I’ve had to listen to this same argument for one hundred years, and yet you both still don’t understand what the other is saying. You never listen to one another long enough to comprehend a viewpoint not your own. Instead, you wallow in your own self-pity. I sure as fuck didn’t raise you to be that way.”
“If you aren’t going to listen to one another then…” Theron leaned forward, his cold eyes dancing between his two sons, and he bellowed, “Shut the fuck up! No one is listening back. You’re arguing at the sky or to a shoe for all you two hear out of each other’s mouth.”
My hand was covering my mouth, so I didn’t release a heart wrenching sob, my pulse hammering in my ears.
These monsters…weren’t monsters.
They were just sad, sad men.
Cassander released a shaking breath, his tone tired and weary. “God, go get your mate. I’ll hold my power just like this—nothing more.”
Mr. King ground his jaw together. “Thank you.”
Then he pivoted and began marching away.
The five wilted men on the ground groaned and fell to their sides, holding their heaving chests, their expressions full of agony.
I ran down the steps and wiped away the few tears that had fallen down my cheeks. I sprinted as fast as I could and dropped to my knees next to Finn. My hands lingered over his sweating face, patting his cheeks with a light touch.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, my voice wobbling.
“Fine,” he hissed and rolled to his back. Finn gasped oxygen into his lungs. “I’d forgotten how painful that is.”
I glanced at the other men, writhing in pain. “Does it happen often?”
“Not since Theron ruled,” he growled. “Unbutton my top buttons. I can’t get enough air.”
Transcend (Origin Book 2) Page 8