by Claudy Conn
Blood was everywhere, on the walls, all over the wood flooring…
Dog was an Alpha, killing would not destroy him, but Cumas were stronger than humans, so they simply had to be better than humans who killed without a thought.
Jacie looked away from Beth’s headless body and saw Retaal throw Shark against the wall and tell him, “Stop! Don’t you understand what I can do to you? Just stop!”
“Never, freak!” Shark yelled back. “Come on…bring it!”
Retaal broke Shark’s arm and then his leg, and Shark screamed in agony, but Jacie thought, at least he was alive.
The colonel was the last one left standing, but she knew he had called for backup during the fight. ACE would be on their way.
Shark had passed out from pain, and seeing this, the colonel roared with fury and came at Retaal from behind.
Jacie screamed out, “Ret…behind you!”
Retaal turned and slammed the colonel to the floor, but the colonel held tight to his weapon and brought it up to aim at Retaal’s chest.
Jacie said, “No…no…” And forced her hand up, but even as she called on her magic, she realized she had given most of her strength to heal Reena.
Retaal sighed and said, “What is it with you humans? Why do you insist on fighting when it isn’t necessary?”
“Die, freak!” the colonel yelled as he pulled the trigger.
Retaal’s speed, as Jacie remembered, was faster than her own, however, as she felt the draft of air, she was astounded at just how fast he moved.
He simply shifted out of the way of the bullets, which were filled with Tricap, an herb Cumas were specifically and sometimes fatally allergic to.
Jacie had been holding her breath as she watched. She was in agony as her body worked to close the holes the pellets had made in her body, and stitch her muscles together. At the same time, her system worked to replenish her blood loss, and her heart beat as it worked to get the blood through her veins to better heal Reena.
Still, she also wanted to help Retaal. The colonel was a wicked human being, more so now that he was enraged. He backed away from Retaal, his weapon pointed once again.
Jacie turned to find Dog howling over Reena’s body, limp now as the poisoning sped through her blood.
“Ret…Reena…we have to help her…I’m not strong enough,” Jacie called to him.
Retaal easily reached for and got hold of the colonel’s weapon, pointing it away as he twisted the colonel’s arm. The colonel dropped the weapon, and Ret brought his arm behind his back and broke it. “Colonel…I could have killed you. Give that some thought. Instead, I merely broke your arm. Do you understand?”
“I understand that my men will be here soon and kill you!” the colonel cried through his agony.
Retaal pulled a face, then knocked the colonel’s head with a blow that rendered the human unconscious.
Good, Jacie thought, then she saw Shark, who was suffering several broken bones, still manage to crawl towards the weapon the colonel had dropped.
“Ret!” Jacie screamed.
Retaal’s easy speed brought him to the weapon before Shark could get a hold of it. Jacie watched her hero break the damn thing in half.
“We have to get out of here,” Retaal said, and began the process of creating a portal to Jacie’s apartment.
Jacie’s attention was on Dog, who had gone human and was holding the unconscious Reena in his arms. She was suffering spasms of pain as poison flowed slowly through her blood.
He looked at Jacie. “Help me, kid…don’t let her die…please, help me.”
Jacie’s heart started to crack. Even if she were at full strength, she wasn’t a ‘healer’. All at once she realized that Retaal, like his father, was a healer. Retaal had that power.
“Ret!” Jacie said, and saw he understood at once.
“I will make her comfortable until I can get us all to safety,” Ret said as he continued to work on the portal.
Jacie felt hope diminish when she heard Shark call out to the ACE members coming up the stairs. “No, oh, oh, no. Ret…the backup. ACE.”
“Right, the portal is nearly ready and that will get us out of here. I would shift us, but not sure I can manage all of us at once.”
“She’ll die…can’t you see, she is in the final stages of silver poisoning…” Dog was frantic. “Take a minute…just a minute, and stop the poison’s progression!”
Retaal was on his knees beside Reena’s still form. His palm only inches from her body as he moved his palm over her from head to toe. Ret shook his head. “The poison is too deeply entrenched in her blood. It will take much longer to stall its flow. However, I can put her in a statis, meaning something similar to what humans call an induced coma. That will slow the poison ‘til we can heal her. I promise you, Dog, we will heal her.”
Retaal stood and with a flick of his hand, water from the kitchen spout made a wave through the air and covered Reena, freezing her completely as it covered her body.
Ice glistened over Dog’s mate, and Dog wept all the while.
Almost immediately, they heard the sound of marching boots in the hallway outside the apartment and Retaal grimaced and said, “Can you lift her in that state, Dog?”
As an answer, Dog had his frozen mate under one arm.
Wow, Jacie thought, strong, even in human form.
Retaal bent and lifted Jacie from the floor, taking her cradle-like in his arms and softly saying, “Rest your head, little one, on my chest.”
She did that, quietly and as he led Dog to the portal, he asked on a hushed note, “Is your body healing you properly?”
“Yes. Dog…get into the portal, now,” Jacie told her friend anxiously.
The ACE team was working to knock the door down.
They were out of time. ACE wouldn’t ask questions. ACE wouldn’t give them a moment. ACE would start firing their weapons as soon as they entered the apartment. The room would be filled with a spray of pellets and bullets and there would be nowhere to hide. In their weakened condition, she and Reena would certainly be in danger.
Dog being who he was, grinned suddenly and said, “That door, not coming down easily. Reinforced steel.”
Jacie, even through the pain, giggled.
Retaal’s swirling blue portal had started out the size of a tennis ball. Now it was large enough for Dog to step through with his frozen mate. Jacie repeated, “Go on now…get into the portal.”
“I don’t like these things,” Dog said as he carried his frozen mate into the blue portal.
Dog’s apartment door came slamming down and the ACE unit was inside and aiming their weapons.
Retaal, holding Jacie safely in his arms, stepped inside his portal as well, but not before ACE members fired their weapons.
Jacie knew that at their back, ACE members would be astonished and wondering where the hell they had vanished to, as they could not see the portal. That would buy them time—and then she heard Retaal’s grunt of pain.
“Ret…Ret…were you hit?”
He didn’t answer as they all stepped out of the portal and into Jacie’s apartment.
* * * * *
Retaal set Jacie down on the sofa and turned to the portal and began working it while he managed to keep his right shoulder out of Jacie’s view.
“Ret, baby…have you been hit?” she repeated frantically.
He still didn’t answer, but turned to Dog and said, “Hurry…this portal will take you and your mate to Devos, where Apollo is awaiting your arrival. I have connected with him and he will know just what to do for you and your mate.”
Dog hesitated, put his hand on Retaal’s shoulder and Jacie saw him wince. He had been hit. She knew it.
“I’ll be back as soon as I see to Reena,” Dog said. “I have to make certain my pack is…”
“Apollo will see to your pack’s safety. No fears on that score. Now hurry…get her to Apollo.”
Dog turned to Jacie. “See ya soon, kid. You are in good ha
nds with this one.” He hurried into the portal with his precious cargo.
Jacie waited for the portal to close before she demanded, “Retaal, by all that is magic, tell me now—are you hurt?”
“It is nothing,” he said. “We have to hurry. I will collect some of your clothes, and anything else you need…”
Jacie managed to get to her feet. It caused her agonizing pain and she closed her eyes with the effort.
Retaal was there, steadying her. “Jacinta…sit, please…”
“Let me see,” she said, and refused to allow him to see her seated again.
He turned to allow her to examine his wound. His shoulder had caught three silver filled pellets from the spray. With relief, Jacie sat. She had feared he had sustained a wound from Tricap pellets.
He grinned. “Worried about me, were you?”
“Sick, I was worried sick. Are you healing?” she asked.
“Quicker than my little witch is healing,” he answered as he hurried to her bedroom.
When he emerged, he had a suitcase and beamed, “I think I have all the toiletries and clothes you will need for now.”
She laughed. “Proud of yourself, huh? My orb?”
He came over and handed it to her.
“Now we shift,” he told her.
“Where to?”
“Look, Jacie, I agree, we have a traitor in our midst. A supernatural working with the Crawly militia. How else could Dog have suddenly been outed?”
“Yes, I agree…but, Ret, who? Not one of your team? No one in your team knows that Dog was working with ACE.”
“I am not so sure about that…it is something I will have to consider.” He sighed heavily and rubbed his wound.
“It has to be one of Niall’s people,” Jacie suggested, and winced from the pain shooting through her body. “He was sure he had a mole on his team, and I think he is in the right of it.”
He took her into his embrace. “You seem to have a favorable opinion about Niall, and I am not certain I like it.”
She laughed. “I can have favorable opinions about people without having romantic ones.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
He chuckled and held her close, and said, “Hold on, baby.”
He lifted her suitcase and the next thing she knew, they were moving through space and time, using the Fae form of locomotion they called shifting.
They stepped out of the shift into a luxurious open living area. Before them was a wall of windows overlooking a body of water.
“How beautiful…is this the ocean? Where are we?” she asked.
He cocked a look at her. “That is the Long Island Sound. This is my safe house. No one knows about its existence, not even the members of my team,” he answered softly.
“Ret…this is beautiful. You come here alone?”
“I have only been here a few times after I purchased the place a year ago.” He eyed her wickedly. “Yes, I come here alone…when I need to think…to plan without distractions.”
“Why do you need a safe house that your team doesn’t know about? Couldn’t you still come here alone? Why keep your team in the dark? Mistrust?”
“No, Jacie, I have trusted my team implicitly, but if one of them was captured by the overzealous ACE unit, he or she would be tortured. I gave orders to each one of my team members to give up our safe houses…in that event. If they did, I would need a place to hide the others while we regrouped.” He sighed. “If ACE finds a supernatural cooperating, they usually ease up on the torture. However, they can’t give up what they don’t know exists. This way, if one is tortured and asked if there are any other safe houses, they can give up one safe house at a time, and buy me time to get the others to safety. I don’t expect or require my team members to clam up when being tortured.”
“Yes, I see.” Jacie mulled this over as she looked around at the open floor plan with the kitchen and dining area at the far end. “I love this place…your built-in cabinets…your furniture. Absolutely beautiful.”
He grinned and dropped a light kiss on her lips. “Good, one day soon I hope…you and I will have our own place in a world of peace, but for now…this is ours.”
“How many bedrooms?”
“Master suite is above…six bedrooms with three Jack & Jill bathrooms on this floor…” he nodded his head towards a wide corridor, “down that hall.”
“Wow,” she said. “Expecting guests?”
“Have to be ready to bring in my team in a time of crisis. I have eight members, six males and two females.”
Something in the way his eyes flickered when he mentioned the female members made Jacie’s witchy senses tingle. He was holding back. What was he holding back?
“Hmm…female Cumas?”
“One is a shifter…wolf, and the other a demigod…Anunn,” he said, and his hand went to her face.
She stiffened without cause. She wanted to slap his hand away, without cause. What was wrong with her? “Cozy,” she said, hating how that sounded.
He laughed. “What is the matter, Jacie?”
She curbed her jealousy. This was stupid. She smiled and said, “Nothing…just feeling weary.”
“Of course you are, baby. Come on, I think soaking in a hot whirlpool tub is what you need during your healing process.” He lifted her again into his arms and walked into the master bedroom, past the enormous bed, and into the oversized bathroom, where he set her on her feet by the whirlpool garden tub. She stared at the incredible view from the tub’s ceiling to the tub’s window and sighed. “I love this place. I wish there wasn’t a war…and we could just nest here…right here forever.”
He laughed. “Forever is a very long time.”
She said nothing to that and watched him click on the digital buttons to fill and set the temperature of the water.
He threw in the contents of an entire packet of scented bath salts and turned back to her, pulling her close with one hand.
She didn’t resist, and watched as he worked with infinite care, slowly undressing her. A wickedly sexy expression glittered in his silver eyes as he pulled down her jeans and thong and huskily said, “Step out of them, baby.”
She did so without a word.
He unbent and began working off her top full of dried blood. The material stuck to her flesh and he drew on his power and gently blew warm air on the material, which melted the dried blood and released the material.
“Hum, what are you doing?” Jacie raised a brow, excited as his hands swept over her breasts as he first gently pulled her denim jacket off, then lifted her top over her head and dropped it to the marbled floor.
“What does it look like I’m doing, baby?” he said, and chuckled
“Well…it looks like you are getting fresh. Are you looking for something?” she teased.
“Am I?” he said, and took his hand away from her breast. “Naw, I know you want me to get even more fresh, but…not doing that,” he said on a cocky note, tongue in cheek. “You see, right now, all I want is to get you undressed and into the tub.”
Jacie snorted and said, “I can undress myself.”
“I’m sure you could have, but I did it better,” he said, and grinned.
“Think much of yourself,” she said, eyeing him with a slight smirk.
His response was to take her mouth with his, to unite his tongue with hers in an age old dance that would not, could not be denied. Jacie was left with no doubt of what she felt for him. Did he feel the same? Did he, or was this just a momentary passing fancy? The gods were not known for fidelity because forever is a very long time. Yet…she and Retaal? Perhaps.
As her body gave in to the desire he elicited from her, she admitted to herself, she loved him, indeed, she loved him more than she could ever express.
As he came away from their kiss, his finger flicked her nipple and he bent to suckle it hard, then harder still. He brushed his shadow beard against the pink pertness and groaned as his palm found and lay against her flat belly. His whisper was hoarse with passion
, “You absolutely take the air out of my lungs and hold it suspended as your own. Do you know that, my witch, do you know the power you have over me?”
Jacie couldn’t speak. She was filled with emotion. She wanted him to make love to her, but wasn’t sure if she had the energy. Even so, she eyed him invitingly.
He groaned. “You are my indomitable love, but no, I am not going to ravage you just yet. I want to, but I won’t because my witch must finish healing. I will help along the process when you are done soaking in the hot soothing water.” He put his forehead on hers. “Jacie…I will be within earshot if you need anything. I am going to shower.” He nodded towards a tiled shower that could have held six people, and added, “Where I will concentrate on healing myself. By the time you are done, I will be at full strength and able to speed up your own process of healing.”
His hand slipped from her belly and he cupped the tuft of hair between her thighs. His finger slid inside her wetness and he groaned. “Damn, baby…damn. When you are better, I mean to take you to bed and fuck you ‘til morning.”
She sucked in air and his tongue licked at her bottom lip, nibbled there for a moment before he lifted her and gently deposited her in the tub.
Jacie put her head back and luxuriated in the steamy water with a groan, then watched him drop his clothes to the tiled floor. He was so incredibly, perfectly masculine and yet beautiful. He turned and she saw his enlarged shaft do a dance as their eyes met. He grinned and moved off towards the shower, where he stopped, evidently diverted by a thought. He turned to leave the bathroom then.
“Where are you going?” surprised, Jacie asked.
“I have to contact my team…let them know they have to lay low,” he said, and smiled softly. “Relax and heal, little one…heal.”
“You need to as well. You haven’t given yourself a chance and you are wounded, Ret,” she said worriedly.
“I heal faster than you…little witch,” he said, and wiggled his brows. “I won’t be but a minute.”
She watched him go, then lay back in the suds. She had to heal as fast as she could. She had to get back to NY City and get the termites on the job, and talk to Niall’s witch about contacting Celine!