by A. C. Arthur
“Wait,” she said trying to wrap her mind around what her friend had just said. “So now I’m a telepath and a shifter?”
Shya looked at her patiently before replying, “No. This power only exists between the mated couple. You said you thought you heard him say a name. He said he did not say the name aloud. Either he said it in his mind, or was reliving a memory or because of your connection to him, you were able to tap into that memory thereby experiencing it with him.”
Nisa ran her hands through her hair.
“And this only happens to one part of the couple? Because Decan doesn’t seem to be tapping into my thoughts,” she said, but then stopped herself.
How did he always know when she was about to sneak out to go above ground?
“It happens in varying degrees to each person. My mother said the old shaman Yuri, before he went berserk, used to come to the village and speak about all the different powers the Shadows could possess. The younger Shadows in the forest believed it was a bunch of nonsense but it seems, as time goes on, some of the nonsense turns out to be true,” Shya told her.
“Great,” Nisa quipped. “So it doesn’t matter that I’ve only known him for a week, even though he’s watched me for months.” She was now toying with the string that was used to tighten the sweatpants she wore.
“And it doesn’t matter that my father wanted to kill him just twenty-four hours ago. Because of our weird genetic make-up and some shaman from the forest’s legends, I’m now inside his head when I’m sure he doesn’t want me there. And what about love?”
Shya shook her head. “All of those things probably matter a lot. Probably so much that they create the whole.”
Of this duo Shya was definitely the more emotional one. She was the dreamer. The settled, calm, mature personality to Nisa’s adventurous, inquisitive one.
“You know this isn’t what was supposed to happen. It’s not my goal in life,” Nisa admitted.
“I don’t think we get to dictate what happens,” Shya said. “Besides, you are sort of doing what you wanted. You’re helping Jace with his holodeck and you’re showing your father that you can be valuable in other ways than just the computer.”
Nisa thought about that and she recalled her meeting right after breakfast with her father, Jace and Amelia. She’d been able to install the new equipment that had been shipped ahead of her arrival. And with the codes and new security measures that she’d come up with had managed to get the Central Zone’s upgraded holodeck running smoothly. She’d also gone over the specific documents that had been viewed by whoever had hacked into their system with them. Because Decan had assured her that Keller’s hacking had only been into the vehicle controls. They weren’t happy by the time she’d left them alone, but at least they all now knew exactly what they were dealing with.
“My father wants me to go back with you tomorrow,” she said letting her head fall back against the chair.
“What is Decan going to do? Is his assignment over?”
Nisa shook her head. “I don’t know. And that’s a huge problem for me. I don’t know what his plans are. Not for tonight or tomorrow or thirty years from now. I don’t know why he came to be here, now or what will happen if whatever his plan is doesn’t work. I don’t know anything about him.”
Shya slipped off the bed then. She moved to the dresser where she’d set the small pouch she always carried with her. Inside the pouch, Nisa knew, was the small disk that contained her daily medications. Shya had been very sick as a baby, as a result of a dangerous herb from the Gungi that her mother had ingested while pregnant with her. Nisa didn’t need to look to see that Shya would remove the disk and place the small frosted orb over the inside of her wrist. In seconds medication would be released from the disk to seep through her skin and into her bloodstream. It kept Shya from feeling too weak, even when she’d done no more than walk from one end of a room to the next.
“You know that you are feeling something you’ve never felt before. Things are changing for you, Nisa. That is what you wanted, it just wasn’t the way that you envisioned it,” her friend spoke moments after the medication had been administered.
“Is that your way of telling me to stop whining?” Nisa asked as she sat up straighter in the chair just in time to see Shya closing the pouch and turning to face her.
Shya smiled. It was always a slow smile but one that could easily brighten any room she stood in.
“It’s my way of telling you to for once in your life, go with it. Let the questions be answered when the time for the answer comes. To not push. To not try to control. To just be.”
It sounded so simple coming from her. For Nisa, as she clenched her hands, then forcefully released them and placed them on her knees, not so much.
“What if I can’t?” she asked, afraid of messing up, also for the first time in her life.
“You can do anything Nisa Reynolds. I’ve always known that and I believe your parents have too. It’s time for you to believe it and to accept what happens as a result.”
CHAPTER 14
She wasn’t in control.
She was accepting.
She was believing.
Nisa was driving herself insane. Decan had left her in bed for the second time. Only a few hours had passed since he’d been gone but she could still feel him as if he were lying right there. Actually, she could feel the waves of stress and anxiety that had covered him even though he’d insisted there was nothing wrong.
“There’s something,” she’d said when he’d sat in the chair across from the bed.
They’d had crazy hot sex…again. That may have been the only part about this that Nisa understood without too many questions. She was convinced that her body was made specifically for this shifter. Everything he did, every touch and kiss…all of it was exquisite and never failed to bring her to another soul-shattering orgasm. It was the before and after the sex that still perplexed her.
“There’s nothing, Nisa,” he’d said with impatience. “Everything is not a puzzle that you have to figure out.”
She’d pulled her knees up to her chest as she sat on the bed, wrapping her arms around them as she continued to stare at him.
“Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to tell me that,” she’d admitted.
Decan continued to tie his boots.
“But there’s still something,” she continued regardless of whether or not he wanted her to. “It’s like a weight sitting right between us.”
He stood then, his face stern when he looked down at her. “It’s nothing! Let it go!”
She thought about Shya’s words and considered for another moment. Hell no, that was Shya’s nature, not hers.
“I won’t let go a feeling that’s threatening my sanity, Decan Canter!” she yelled back at him.
Then she was getting off the bed and going to stand in front of him.
“You may be older and worldlier but you are not the only one in this room with a brain or an inclination to use it,” she told him. “One of the first things I learned in training was to follow your gut. Well, that’s what I’m doing and I’m telling you that something is going on.”
There was a low rumble, his lion no doubt. Displeased with her too. Well, it could get in line. Her father was angry with her for not wanting to leave with him in the morning. Gold was still irritated with her she figured for what happened at the gala and Kyss who was normally all smiles and love for everyone hadn’t shown her face in the last couple of days.
He inhaled deeply like the action would actually calm the lion inside of him. It hadn’t, she could still feel the beast’s restlessness. It was making her edgy, as if she were pacing the floor herself.
“There is nothing going on,” he said, his voice calmer this time.
Unfortunately, his eyes and the lion that continued to give away everything the man did not want her to know, told a different story.
“You should be packing to leave with your father in the morning,” he�
��d continued.
Whether or not it was intentional—which it probably had been to distract her—Nisa folded her arms over her bare breasts and stared up at him.
“Who said I was leaving with him?” She shrugged. “I didn’t come here with him.”
“You should leave with him,” Decan told her and then he touched her chin.
His fingers had rubbed lightly over the line of her jaw, then back to her chin as he watched her. He continued to breathe steadily, in and out, focusing on each breath. Nisa had begun to focus too, mimicking her breaths to match his and wondering why the act wasn’t calming her in the least.
“You’ve done what you came here to do. Now, you should go. You’re safer at Assembly Headquarters with your father.”
“I’m not in danger, Decan. Those innocent humans above ground who are being murdered because of a familial connection are. The shifter who hacked into our system is. But not me. I’m fine,” she’d insisted.
“That’s not true.” His voice had been solemn. “You are a target to anyone who still hunts your father. That rogue scent we picked up that first night in Florida, they knew you were there.”
“What?” Her arms had dropped to her side once more. “Nobody knows me above ground.”
“Shifters and rogues knew that Kalina was pregnant at the time of the Unveiling. You may have been born in Oasis, but news spread quickly of the Assembly Leader’s only child. You are his weakness and anyone wishing to harm him, will gladly go through you.”
“Are you saying there’ve been threats against my father? Why? He’s been hiding down here in the world he’s created to keep us all safe. How could that still put him in danger?” she asked.
The right side of his mouth lifted into a grin. “You never run out of questions, do you?”
He did not give her a moment to answer.
“Pack your clothes, Nisa. Go home.”
He’d turned and walked out of the room then and Nisa fell to her knees as a wave of sadness rushed over her with the force of a battering ram. She stayed there, hands flat on the floor, head down as she’d struggled to catch her breath. When she did, Nisa had quickly dressed. Then, she’d sat on the edge of the bed and waited.
That’s where she was now, but she knew the waiting was over. It was just after midnight and as she stared at the door Decan had closed on her, she suddenly saw straight through it. On the other side was a war zone, or what looked like one with fire licking cement walls, the stench of burning flesh piercing her senses until she cringed. He was there, lying on the ground, his face pressed into the dirt. Blood poured from the deep slashes over his back and she knew instinctively his front. Around him people were running and screaming, things were falling from the sky—steel poles, flying debris, body parts. It was sickening and frightening and Decan was just lying there not moving. Not shifting. Where was his lion and why hadn’t it appeared to help him move, to get away? Another question her subconscious thought, but one she answered quickly. He wouldn’t let it.
Just as he wouldn’t let her get any closer to him than sex, he was holding the beast inside at bay.
But this time, Nisa thought as she slowly stood from the bed, he wasn’t going to be successful.
The downpour was torrential on the night of the full moon.
Rain falling so quickly in thick drops that flooded streets, while winds blasted through at rates that threatened to knock a mere human off his feet. Good thing Decan was only half human. He was a Shadow Shifter and he knew that from tonight on not only would the shifters in Oasis know that, but every human would know and they would remember that he was the one who killed Ewen Mackey.
Hurricanes of this magnitude, along with raging forest fires, catastrophic blizzards and other amazing weather anomalies had plagued the planet in the last twenty years. His father had spoken of those who had predicted climate change due to global warming in the years of Decan’s youth. Now, he was sad to say that he’d witnessed the devastation and destruction of that very prediction.
Keller and Gold moved quietly beside them. The threesome making their way down the street where Mackey lived. This was where they’d learned he was having a private meeting with his top cabinet members. So they wouldn’t get them all, as they’d planned, but Decan had agreed with Keller that this opportunity was too good to pass up.
While they remained in human form, the eyes of their cat and the extra-sensory sight came in handy as seeing through the cloud of rain and wind would not have been possible without it. They came closer to the house at the end of the cul-de-sac. Most of the large homes in this part of town had been vacated by people who either could no longer afford the exorbitant payments Ewen and his crew exacted from them or had been killed. Because they were shifters. Decan planned to avenge them all.
“There will be six of them present,” Keller stated, the clicking sound of his claws breaking through his skin and the wind whistled around them. “After what happened the other night there will probably be armed guards at the door.”
“Armed rogue guards,” Gold added.
“Nobody lives,” Decan said, the prick of his elongated incisors against his lips going unnoticed. “But Mackey is mine.”
He was a killer. He’d been born with that natural instinct and the military, along with his shifter training, had perfected his skills. His father had never killed a man or a beast before. Decan had done both and was preparing to do so again. That wasn’t the type of mate Nisa deserved.
“We don’t have any back-up so let’s get in and get out,” Keller said.
His voice sounded off so Decan looked over at him to see that the cougar was straining to remain in human form. Water dripped from his hair down to the shoulders of his navy blue t-shirt and down his jeans. He was soaked and still, Decan could see the expanse of his shoulders increasing, the deep breathing that was steadily failing him. The claws and teeth were already visible and Keller’s usually cloudy green eyes were now a vibrant hue as he stared straight ahead. He would shift soon. They all would.
“In and out. Leave them dead. Go home,” Gold said as if he were struggling to read the words on a sign.
There was no fast fight for Gold. The rage this lion held within him came in bursts that ravaged for however long it took for the anger to subside. The Ruling Cabinet, the ones who had ordered the death of his parents all those years ago, was the proverbial thorn that would forever be in Gold’s side. That is, until he killed every single one of them.
While the storm ravaged the other houses, ripping shingles from the roof tops and breaking through windows, the house at the end stayed intact. Mackey would have used the best materials for his house, everything new and innovative that the top scientists and engineers could come up with was at his disposal. While others, such as Marlee and the six children she sold her body to support, lived in squalor.
“We’re going through the front door,” Decan announced. “Just like we’ve been invited.”
They were only about five feet away now and Keller had grown tired of waiting. The cougar took off charging through the wind and rain. Decan continued to hold his shift back, as did Gold. Keller’s hatred for the Ruling Cabinet had always been a bit obscure to Decan, but the anger that simmered beneath the surface of that beast was real and so Decan had never pushed for details. Now, he ran toward the house, toward the destiny the three of them shared in common.
The plan had been to catch them off guard but to let it be known that they were being beat by shifters for Mackey’s crimes against their kind, but the moment Keller crashed through that front window and sparks of electrical volts ripped through the air in glowing gold spikes, Decan knew the plan had been changed. Going for the door he used all the strength of his lion to kick the steel access off its hinges, watching as it indeed fell to the floor and bullets quickly flew in his direction. They seemed to have been prepared for the intrusion, but Decan didn’t have time to think about that at the moment.
He removed the enhanced pistol
he’d tucked in the back of his pants and returned fire until he was able to take out two of the shooters and enter the house. He had the advantage of being able to see clearly through the storm that had blown into the house with just as much force as the shifters had used. Gold brushed past him in a whoosh of growls and roars but Decan kept moving. Mackey was in here. Hiding, as was expected of such a coward. Decan was determined to find him.
The wind whipped around him as he moved through the house, a wall collapsing in front of him just seconds before he stepped into that spot. But he had the scent. It had stuck with him all these years, since he’d been set free of the SIC by that fire which had been set by someone intent on freeing their kind. He took the stairs, not caring that they creaked and moaned as if they too were about to collapse. And then he was there, as if materializing through the fog, the man stood with Lial who was showing his cougar eyes at his side.
“You,” Mackey said the moment Decan stepped through the doorway into the dimly lit room.
There had to be a generator pumping power into this house because there were lamps lit all around this room while the rest of the house had been dark.
“Me,” Decan answered as he looked into the eyes of the one who had put many of those scars on his back and torso.
“Kill him!” Mackey shouted at Lial.
The cougar still in his human form was dressed in all black with some form of body armor around his upper body and a long black leather jacket. He made a move, his teeth bared, a wicked ugly jagged edged blade in his hand as he leapt toward Decan. But he was quickly cut off as Gold roared into the room clamping his lion’s teeth into Lial’s side and taking the cougar down to the floor. They were rumbling and tussling on the floor when Decan moved quickly, leaping over their bodies and going for Mackey. He heard the shots more than he felt them and came down on top of the man, sending the gun rolling across the floor.
His clawed hands immediately went around the man’s plump neck. Mackey immediately grabbed his wrists in a futile attempt to push Decan away.