Raven quickly followed in his wake. As soon as he reached the center, Durant stepped aside, allowing her to see the small shifter male. Small being relative. The man was slim, just under six feet, his body practically vibrating with pent-up rage. A handful of older witches and wizards had cornered him where two buildings adjoined.
At least they had the good sense to keep their distance.
That’s when she saw the bloody knife he brandished at anyone who ventured near. The shifter was in human form, hunched over, his side covered in blood where it appeared he had sliced off a six-inch section of his flesh from his ribs to hip.
“He cut himself.” She hadn’t realize she whispered out loud until the shifter turned toward the sound of her voice and quieted a little.
“He cut out his tag.” Heloise’s answer was grim.
Raven blinked, sure she couldn’t have heard right. “Excuse me?”
The witch looked at the end of her patience. “You should leave while we handle this.”
She meant put him down like some stray animal.
Raven snapped straight at the condescending attitude, and the casual intent to do murder. “And if he’s part of your case? We need to keep him alive and question him. Tell me why he nearly gutted himself. No shifter would voluntarily maim himself without reason.”
The witch clearly didn’t care for being told what to do, and those spooky eyes of hers darkened as magic gusted in the air. In response to the rising tension, the young shifter snarled.
His longish hair was tangled, the black strands matted with blood. His blue eyes were so vivid they appeared lit from behind, making the bruised circles under his eyes even more pronounced. The angles of his face were sharp, his cheekbones prominent. His body was a bit too lean, his ribs clearly delineated.
It was as if he’d been starved, pushed to his limits and then left lying around like a loaded gun. There was a subtle tremor in his body, indicating some sort of trauma…if he had been able to shift, she had no doubt she’d be facing his beast right now.
Before Durant could block her, Raven scrambled forward, halting a few feet away from the shifter…just out of striking distance. The shifter hunched down, looking ready to spring.
“Tell me about the tag.” She directed the softly spoken question to Heloise, not removing her focus from the injured beast.
The shifter stopped snarling, lifted his face and scented the air.
“There are two types of service. Those who pledge themselves as familiars in return for protection and upkeep, and those who sell themselves for a specific time frame. Those who commit are marked. The tag connects the witch to her familiar.”
“So, tell me why would a familiar be willing to practically kill himself to remove the mark?”
That gave Heloise pause…for all of two seconds. She turned her head and gave a regal nod to someone behind her, a queen giving the kill order. “Do it.”
Two men crept forward, the small charms on their persons their only protection. It wouldn’t hold against tooth and claw.
The bait.
A third man hung back with a gun big enough to take down an elephant.
One shot would blast a hole through a shifter’s chest, ensuring he would never get up again.
“I need him alive.” Raven darted in front of the gun, ruining the shot, praying that if they pulled the trigger, there would be enough of her left to regenerate.
The gunman and Heloise both cursed.
Magic built in the air, and Raven planted her feet, concentrating on thickening the armor under her skin to take a hit. Much to her surprise, the power obeyed. Molten heat funneled along her veins. When it cooled, it hardened to a thin armor.
She’d expected the process to be painful, feel weighted down and cumbersome. She flexed her fingers, rolled her shoulders, surprisingly comfortable with the change.
She’d expected to feel different.
Expected her beast to take over.
The creature didn’t even stir.
“You asked me here to solve your problem. You interfere now, and I will assume I’m relieved of my job.” She pointed to the shifter behind her, noticing the two men continued to advance. The fools. “He’s a clue. I need him alive.”
The man with the gun hesitated and lifted his finger from the trigger. Raven stepped forward, grabbed the barrel and twisted. She wasn’t sure which of them was more shocked when the thick metal bent like taffy.
She didn’t have a shifter’s strength.
No way should she have been able to physically manage that.
As quick as the power came, it vanished.
A vicious snarl came from behind her, and she froze.
Idiot.
She made a rookie mistake by turning her back on a threat.
“Look out!” Durant launched at her, but much too late.
When she whirled, it was in time to see a body flying at her.
Raven ducked and received a knee in the face for her trouble. Her lip split and blood spilled into her mouth while Durant hauled the body off her. Free of the weight, Raven pushed herself up on her hands and knees then froze at the life or death struggle just feet from her. The jaguar shifter had the second human on his back, his fangs bared, snapping at the man’s vulnerable throat. The charm around the man flared, barely keeping the bleeding cat shifter at bay.
But even as she watched, the amulet’s small glow began to fade.
It wouldn’t be long before the man’s throat was ripped out. As if he understood, the man desperately tried to scramble away, but the shifter had him firmly pinned.
He wasn’t going anywhere.
In the background, she heard chanting. Magic rose from the ground, creating a shield.
And she was firmly on the wrong side.
With her heart in her throat, Raven crawled forward one inch at a time until a warm hand wrapped around her ankle.
Durant.
She would recognize his touch anywhere.
She expected to be yanked to safety. When she glanced over her shoulder, it was to see him shrug. “If he even thinks of hurting you, I’ll pull you free and personally rip off his head myself.”
He trusted her.
She swallowed hard and gave him a nod of thanks.
“Do something.” The man held beneath the shifter stared at her with stark terror etched on his face. He had only seconds of magic left.
The wounded shifter was so focused on getting to the man, the rest of the world didn’t exist. Raven picked up a rock and chucked it at him.
The stone struck true.
The shifter lifted his head and snarled at her, the beginnings of large fangs flashing as he pinned her with neon blue eyes. Raven lifted her hands and slowly came up into a crouch. “You have to stop.”
He twisted his head as if listening intently.
“You have to let the man go.”
A grumble came from low in his throat, but he never once removed his attention from her, the man all but forgotten except for the way the shifter’s piercingly sharp nails kept him pinned to the ground.
Giving in to the gamble, she reached out to jaguar. “Come.”
The shifter tentatively leaned toward her, his mouth open, tasting her scent. As if satisfied, he crawled off the beaten, nearly unconscious man. Not wanting to end up pinned under the jaguar, Raven slowly stood. Durant’s hold tightened, giving her one last caress before he withdrew.
The man crouched lower and lower like he was actually in jaguar form until he reached her side, and then sat, docile as a trained house pet.
The chanting had stopped, and she was surprised at how loud silence could actually be.
“What’s his name?” No one spoke. Raven took a risk and lifted her focus from the cat. The crowd had grown to thirty-some people. And not one of them had lifted a finger to help. As her gaze moved from face to face, she had a startling realization. “You don’t know.”
No one had troubled themselves to learn it.
&n
bsp; Why bother?
He was just a familiar.
The entire sordid affair disturbed her. No one deserved be treated like a piece of furniture.
“You wanted me here, so let me do my job. Leave him with us. You have more important things to do if you want to find your witch alive.” When Heloise turned and started issuing orders, Raven stopped worrying about them and focused on the wild beast staring out at her through human eyes. He was too weak to shift. He had no pack, nothing to keep him grounded.
Wildness clung to him, the scent of his jaguar slightly off, almost spoiled.
And there was absolutely nothing human left in him at all.
“Why would anyone commit themselves to this? To be marked and treated as a possession?”
“It’s been a way of life for many shifters. He would have been dead long since if he had remained on his own. Weak shifters have very few options.” Durant didn’t remove his gaze from the jaguar, his face grim as he studied the stark condition of the man. “It shouldn’t be like this.”
“So he was a rogue.”
“No, he was sold. A coven this rich would deal with only the best packs, not risk bringing in a wild animal who might lose command of himself. Packs can’t afford to keep the weak. He had to prove he was useful some way.”
“Treating him like a commodity instead of a pack member.”
“You’re doing it again, thinking like a human.” Durant’s patronizing tone grated on her. “Pack members are a commodity to be used to better the group. They’re sacrificed all the time. His service here bettered the pack.”
“It’s barbaric.” Nothing he could say would ever make her understand how this could be a perfectly acceptable way to live.
“It’s a system that has worked for centuries.”
Which didn’t make it right. Frustrated by his attitude, she glared at him.
The instant her focus moved from the shifter, the young man grew agitated and began pacing.
Durant stepped closer, and the shifter snarled, the sound eerily animalistic, which ought to have been impossible from a human throat. Durant immediately stopped.
“It would be a mercy to kill him, so he won’t have to suffer this way.” Pity shaded Durant’s eyes to green. “He had to be insane to even attempt to cut out the tag.”
The logic just didn’t sound right to her. “Or maybe he cut the mark out to stop the madness.”
Durant didn’t seem to have anything to say to that. “You might be an alpha, but there is nothing human left in him to call back.”
She wasn’t willing to admit defeat. “Then why hasn’t he attacked?”
“Females are precious, and even in his state, he recognizes it.” Durant answered reluctantly. “Don’t do this.”
“They’ll kill him.”
He seemed resigned. “He’s dead either way.”
She couldn’t accept that. With reluctance, she tugged off her gloves and shoved them in her back pocket, but couldn’t force herself to move forward. The cat was in pain, she could help him, but what if her touch caused him more misery? She swiped the back of her hand across her split lip, wincing when it came away bloody.
She brushed her tongue across the small cut, surprised to find it had almost sealed shut. The shifter hovered near her, she represented safety—of sorts, anyway—but like a wild animal, he didn’t want to get too close.
She might not be able to heal him, but she could find out what was ailing him. She pulled on the energy around him, ignoring the faint rumble of unease from the cat. His aura lit up, so fragile she was surprised he was still alive. There appeared to be strings attached to his side, directly over his injury, draining his life force away.
He’d tried to cut the connection, but it hadn’t worked. The only thing keeping him alive was his beast. He’d have to be a powerful one, too, in order to survive for so long. If he had been human, a drain that size would’ve killed him instantly.
If the connection wasn’t severed immediately, he would be dead in truth.
And there was nothing she could do. Thanks to her blasted beast for stealing her power, she had no energy to give the shifter, and his cat had nothing left she could manipulate. She couldn’t cut the connection without touching it, and couldn’t risk that it would start to drain her, too. When she was bled dry, she would end up siphoning energy from those around her to stay alive, and kill everyone in the process.
She dropped the sight. Though there was nothing she could do using her power, the guys kept reminding her that she was an alpha now.
Her touch alone should help ease his pain.
She held out her hand. He came to her on all fours, low to the ground, every step hesitant. His body moved in a way no human could emulate, as if he lacked bones. His fangs were pronounced in his human form, and looked wicked sharp. As he sniffed the air around her hand, she resisted the urge to jerk away, feeling kind of partial to her fingers. His tongue darted out, bathing the back of her hand with a feather-light touch.
A sound of someone taking a claw to a piece of glass screeched in her ears before it snapped with a loud crack.
The shifter dropped to his knees, his head hung so low it brushed against the grass.
The few witches who’d lingered leapt back in horror. When a light sprinkling of ash fell through the air, the women looked to each other and began to mutter in outrage. “She severed the mark. It’s forbidden.”
“It’s impossible.”
Remembering that Durant had warned her that breaking an active spell was dangerous, Raven crouched to focus on the cat shifter, worried she might have damaged him even more.
Guilt dug its prickly nails into her spine, leaving behind stinging welts. Only when she saw his chest moving, a gusty sigh escaped.
She’d been afraid she killed him.
Durant circled until he came into view. She expected him to be watching her, examining her for injury. Instead, he surveyed the people around them as if they were the bigger threat, those sleek muscles of his tense and ready to strike at the least sign of danger. “What did you do?”
Raven shook her head. “Nothing intentional, I assure you. He licked me. That’s all.”
She lifted her hand, then could have smacked herself when she saw the smear of blood.
She touched her bruised lip, now almost completely healed, and wanted to curse.
“My blood.” He’d tasted less than a drop, but apparently her claim must have been stronger than the spell used to shackle a witch and familiar together. He was now firmly bound to her pack. It wasn’t supposed to work like that. She was supposed to receive the offering of blood and accept or deny them as she saw fit. “How?”
“It’s an ancient ritual. By formally accepting the drop of alpha’s blood you offered, he’s pledged himself to the pack.” Durant scowled at the cowering shifter, his displeasure obvious. “It’s a first step to becoming pack. He has to prove himself worthy before he’s eligible to become a full member.”
Raven’s mouth dropped open in shock. “But I didn’t do anything.”
Durant snorted. “You wanted to save him. It was enough to initiate the bond.”
Stupid shifter secrets.
Raven expected to feel panicked, she couldn’t afford to be responsible for even more people when she wasn’t sure she’d be around to protect them, but as the fragile connection snapped into place, pleasure rang through her.
Then the truth hit her…her creature had done this.
Raven hadn’t even been aware that it had awakened. Her creature wanted to live, and it was using anything to bind Raven to this world, even manipulating the sacred pack bonds. It knew her perhaps better than she did herself. If enough people counted on her, she’d have no choice but stay and protect them.
The sneaky, manipulative little bi—
Raven cut off that train of thought when needle-like claws prickled between her shoulder blades. She flexed her shoulders to dislodge the claws and decided to concentrate on the mission.
She’d worry about herself later.
“We need to find his witch. She’s under attack and fading fast.”
Chapter Six
It didn’t take them long to find the witch in trouble. Heloise must have known who it was all along and left the shifter to die while she worked to protect her witch. As they neared the cabin, a seething mass of magic swirled around the small structure. Raven picked up her pace, Durant and the jaguar close on her heels.
The side window had been shattered, the glass twinkling in the grass.
Someone had wanted out, not in.
The jaguar.
Shifters were a primitive and violent lot, with a hefty fight or flight mechanism. Only something much bigger and badder would have caused him to jump through glass to escape. What could scare a shifter so badly that he’d run in terror and retreat into his animal form?
She was about to find out.
She pushed through the crowd. When she tried to enter the cabin, a man moved to intercept her, blocking her entry. “Let me through.”
“This is not your place.” The man was puffed up with outrage, his voice ringing with condemnation that she would dare sully the place with her mere presence. He was a few inches shorter than Raven, sporting a messy hairstyle that failed to cover his bald spot, and wearing clothes so fine he looked out of place, although no amount of money could cover his pudgy belly.
Raven would not be denied and stepped right up in his space. “Your coven invited me here. I suggest you step aside, or I will go through you.”
A malicious sneer twisted his lips, and his chest swelled further with self-importance. “I’d like to see you try.”
Raven wanted to roll her eyes. Okay, so maybe she’d taken the wrong tack with him. Shifters had a simpler system. They loved all that dominance shit, duking it out to see who would win…if they lived through it. Since she was on top in the shifter world, she had to prove herself.
Often.
And they always accepted the outcome.
Something told her this man would not take the humiliation lying down. The shifter at her feet growled, and the man paled. When he fell back a step, Raven took advantage of the opportunity and shoved forward.
Electric Heat (A Raven Investigations Novel Book 3) Page 5