by Dannika Dark
I lightly gasped when I noticed the falcon perched on his arm. Despite the hood over her head, I recognized the beautiful coloring of Blue’s breast.
“We meet again,” he said with a growing smile.
One I wanted to wipe right off his face with the bottom of my shoe.
I searched the area for his brothers.
“Funny how you’re always meddling,” he went on.
“What are you doing out here? This doesn’t look like loan shark business.”
He lifted his arm, causing the bird to hop. “She won’t fly with the hood on. She also won’t shift.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
He blinked slowly. “I’m a Shifter. We know how to move when we shift to slip out of our clothes and jewelry. Most of us don’t wear necklaces or rings because it hinders the process and might cause injury. Just imagine what a hood might do.” He tugged on the tassels hanging from it.
“What do you want?”
“Compensation. You slaughtered two of my brothers. Not my favorite brothers, but you owe me.”
“Owe you? I paid you the money, and you tried to kill me anyway. I was defending my life. I was defending my father’s life.”
“I can no longer conduct business with the higher authority breathing down my neck. We could have settled this privately, but you had to take matters to the law.” He flashed his teeth at me. “A mutual acquaintance told me about this opportunity, and I couldn’t resist. I’m intrigued that you have such a prestigious job. I wonder what would happen if you failed at this mission.”
I pulled out a push dagger and gripped the T-shaped handle. “You don’t know what you’re up against.”
He clucked his tongue at me and stared at the bird. “We stopped your caravan to see exactly what we were up against. How many of you there are, what Breed, and I especially wanted to see the children.”
My eyes narrowed. “What the hell do you want with those kids?”
Something flashed in his eyes. “Those kids are Potentials, aren’t they?”
I feigned confusion. “They’re orphans. There’s nothing special about them except that they don’t have parents.”
General chuckled. “And I’m supposed to believe that the higher authority would take such interest in orphaned humans?”
I tried to come up with a quick lie to throw him off his game. “They’re the human children of Chitahs, you idiot.”
Doubt flickered in his eyes. “Liar.”
“We were ordered to move these kids out of a Breed orphanage where they were wrongfully placed. Someone lied to you.”
Doubt clouded his expression, and I scanned the trees again.
“I call your bluff,” he said, his voice a low register. “If I’m wrong, I’ll still ruin your mission and sully your reputation. Either way, you lose. If those children are Potentials, I can make enough money off them to live comfortably for two lifetimes. But maybe… maybe I want to get a closer look first. Finding a female companion isn’t as easy as you might think. Especially one who knows her place. Humans are such timid little creatures, and that appeals to me so much.” General licked his chops as if thinking about a tasty morsel of obscenity.
“If you put one paw on those kids, I’ll make confetti out of your intestines.”
Christian would have been proud of that line. He loved a creative threat.
“Is it money you want?” I asked, trying to stall him. Could I stab him faster than he could hurt Blue?
“Do you think I’d come all this way just for a few dollars?” His lips peeled back. “I want your precious cargo.”
“Blue, jump!” I flashed at General and punched him in the stomach, my blade piercing his gut.
Blue’s falcon hopped to the ground and collapsed, her wings flapping chaotically as the hood remained on her head.
General swung his arm and struck the side of my head. An explosion of pain radiated throughout my temple. With my fingertips dripping in light, I reached out and blasted him.
He stumbled backward and bellowed in pain. Despite my dizziness, I lunged and sliced my blade across his chest. It tore his thin jacket, but had it penetrated his skin? I flashed behind him and kicked him behind the knees. General dropped like a stone, and I was certain that bones snapped. Nothing like that had ever happened before, but I was also juiced up on Vampire blood.
General twisted around and, in a fluid motion, shifted to a lion. A giant mane crowned his massive head, and my little knife wasn’t going to cut through that skin. He swatted his paw at me, and I hopped away from his razor-sharp claws.
Blue’s falcon cried out, the sharp sound piercing the night. When he turned toward her, I panicked.
“No!”
I stabbed him repeatedly in the haunches, and he roared before pivoting around. I flashed to the side, trying to draw him away from the bird, who could easily become a meal in one bite.
“Come on!” I shouted. “You’re not a real Shifter. You’re a chickenshit! That’s right. And so were your dead brothers.”
He charged after me, and I weaved around the trees. General was nimble and swiped at my leg. He got my boot, but his claws didn’t go deep enough.
I scurried up a hill, adrenaline firing me up like fuel in a race car. Once I reached the top, I was horrified to see his lion ambling back down in the other direction.
Toward Blue.
I scurried down the hill, branches tangling around me as I snapped them away. “I’m over here!”
Once he reached her, he swiped his paw. The falcon went airborne before landing in a pile of leaves.
All sense of reality vanished along with any rational thought. As I tumbled toward them, something caught my eye on the right.
A force of power, a blur of movement—Matteo sailing through the air. His long hair streamed behind him, and his eyes were as black as coal. The grimace on his face revealed his four canines, and he clutched a dagger in each hand. When Matteo collided with the animal, they rolled across the ground and fought like two ancient enemies.
As much as I wanted to taste blood, I reached Blue and slid to my knees. Her feathers were red, and I shuddered to think that her chest might have been ripped wide open. I pulled off the hood and stared into her glassy little eyes.
I cradled her small head in my hand. “It’s Raven. It’s me. You need to shift. I know it hurts, but you have to. Can you hear me in there? Hurry! Please… don’t be dead.”
I had no knowledge of bird anatomy or where to check for a heartbeat. Despair came over me, and images of a funeral flashed through my mind. One of her wings was bent in an awkward position, and I couldn’t imagine how much pain she was in if she was even still alive.
“Please be in there. You can’t do this to us—you can’t do this to Viktor.”
It was as if her skin blurred and became liquid. As I watched her shift, it wasn’t as fast or as effortless as I’d seen before. It was slow and grotesque as the feathers fell away and revealed the gashes across her body and wing. She morphed to a human shape, but the wounds barely healed. One went from her left shoulder over her right breast. Another had cut through between her breasts, and two across her belly. Blood ran down in rivulets from the wounds. Blue’s brown hair carpeted the forest floor, her jaw slack and eyes shut.
I patted her cheek frantically. “Blue, one more time. Wake up!”
Matteo knelt at my side, his hands bathed in blood. “She doesn’t have time. Can your friends heal her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the knife handle protruding from the lion’s skull. General would never bother us again.
“Guard my back,” he said, scooping her into his arms. Matteo gingerly lifted her while looking down at the gashes on her belly. He grimaced when one of them opened. “My flashlight’s in my pocket.”
I patted him down until I found the slender tool and switched it on.
With the wind at his heels, Matteo turned and ran back to camp. He m
oved through those woods as if he could run them blindfolded, and I struggled to keep up while simultaneously guiding his way with the light.
My lungs burned as we picked up speed. Blue was losing too much blood, and some of it was probably spattering on the ground.
What’s that noise? I halted in my tracks and heard a wildcat. Not a lion’s roar, but the one that sounded right after it was.
Joshua.
Torn between helping the teen or Matteo, I caught up with the Chitah and shined the flashlight to guide his way. Blue didn’t have time.
“Christian!” I shouted. “We need help.”
I wasn’t sure how far he could hear, but the third time I yelled for him, he appeared.
“Jaysus wept. What happened to the lass?”
“Lion,” Matteo said. “Your friend will die if she doesn’t shift.”
“Have her drink my blood.”
Not only did Matteo swing away from Christian, but Blue’s arm flew up to cover her mouth.
“For feck’s sake. You’d rather die?”
We continued our jog.
“Christian, Joshua’s out there,” I said, out of breath. “General’s dead, but his brothers aren’t. He’s just a kid. He’s—”
“Let Viktor know where I went.”
Without another word, Christian shadow walked out of sight. When we reached the mouth of the cave, Claude sprinted toward us, his eyes wide with fright.
“Viktor!” he bellowed.
We moved inside the cave, and Claude led us to a pile of his clothes that he’d spread out on the floor. “Set her down gently. Gently!”
Matteo placed Blue on the floor, her naked body bathed in blood. She moaned in agony before passing out.
Shepherd appeared out of nowhere with his bag. “Get out of the way.”
We all backed up as Viktor knelt by her side and cupped her face in his hands. “Wake up, Blue. Wake up. Shift.” In the chaos of the moment, he started speaking to her in Russian.
“Christian tried to give her his blood,” I explained. “She refused.”
“Of course she wouldn’t,” Matteo said. “Vampire blood taints the purity.”
I shook my head. Not long ago, I’d felt the same way. But knowing the healing power, I didn’t understand why she would rather die than have a little Vamp juice in her.
Shepherd took out a syringe and a small vial. Before he did anything, he set her broken arm. The sight made everyone cringe.
“Shouldn’t you stanch the bleeding?” Matteo snarled.
Shepherd ripped a package open with his teeth. “I can’t put hemostatic granules on her stomach. Pressure doesn’t work on the torso—not where she’s got it.”
“She’s bleeding out.”
“Let me do my fucking job, Chitah.” Shepherd quickly prepped the needle.
Viktor stroked her cheek. “Stay with us. It is not your time to leave this earth.”
“What’s happening?” Eve peered down at us from their sleeping spot.
None of us had time to worry about the kids.
Watching blood weep from Blue’s open wounds was agonizing, and Viktor had his fingers on her pulse the entire time. “Hurry.”
Shepherd slid the needle into her arm and pushed the plunger.
Blue gasped for air and opened her eyes.
Viktor’s tone was harsh. “Change,” he commanded.
Her gaze flicked down, but Viktor held her firmly so she couldn’t see the wounds. Tears trickled from the corners of her eyes, and she shifted. Her falcon flapped one wing and looked intoxicated, blood still staining its feathers. The kids were aghast and crying, and I held my breath.
Blue shifted back to human form. She swayed in a sitting position, her eyes hooded and hands holding the wounds on her chest and stomach. Though they had sealed, the scars were horrific.
“Once more,” Viktor urged, but Blue passed out in his arms.
“She’s gonna be fine.” Shepherd pulled out bottles from his bag. “That was enough to seal up organ damage and broken bones.”
“The scars,” Claude said, his voice rough and filled with dread. “She can’t stay like that.”
Shepherd shot him a baleful look. “A man can live with scars. At least she’s alive.”
Shepherd would know. He was covered in them.
He cleared his throat. “Look, if she doesn’t shift, I’ve got some ointment that’ll speed up healing. It won’t fix it all the way. There’s too much damage.”
Matteo removed his long, sleeveless coat, which was a patchwork of different furs. He draped it across Blue as a blanket. “You should move her closer to the fire.”
I turned and looked up. “Kids, go to sleep.”
They all looked horrified. Adam might have just gotten his first glimpse of a naked woman. He was probably traumatized for life and, at the very least, would never choose to become a Shifter, if he chose to become anything at all.
Claude spread out his clothes near the fire, and we all worked together to move her.
Viktor stayed by her side. “Someone get her water. She’s lost blood, and she’ll need fluids.”
Shepherd reached in his bag. “I’ve got a bottle of electrolytes. A few capfuls in her mouth every hour will help, but she really needs to wake up and drink. Claude, why don’t you—”
“Give to me,” Viktor said in broken English as he reached for the bottle.
Claude paced. “Who did this? I want them dead.”
I sat on a large rock. “General’s dead, but his brothers are still out there. I don’t know if they’ll give up or come at us hard.”
“How many?”
I shrugged. “Three?”
“Two,” Christian said from beyond the fire. When he appeared, Joshua was in his arms, naked and unconscious.
“This is a clusterfuck.” Shepherd rose to his feet. “What the hell happened to him?”
Christian gave him a sharp look. “He fell naked into my arms after declaring his undying love. What the feck do you think? He’s hurt. Get your arse over here.”
Christian set the boy down alongside the wall.
“I don’t see any wounds,” Shepherd muttered, looking him over. “Head injury?”
“I found him that way. Next to a dead lion.” Christian folded his arms and sauntered up to me.
“That must have been some fight,” I said.
He sat next to me on the rock. “Had I arrived a moment earlier, I would have had front-row seats.”
Shepherd smacked the boy on the cheek. “Kid, wake up. You hear me? Wake your ass up.”
“Maybe you should give him an injection,” I suggested.
Shepherd scratched his bristly jaw. “That’s for life-and-death emergencies. His pulse and breathing are normal. I think he just passed out.”
“How is she?” Christian asked quietly.
I followed his gaze to Blue. “Shepherd got her to shift again, but she’s still cut up bad. Do you think she’ll scar?”
“Aye, if they’re deep enough. Shifters heal, but it depends on the wound.”
“I met a guy in a bar once who was showing his off like it was a medal of honor. Why do they use liquid fire to keep the scars if all they have to do is not shift?”
“If they accidentally shift too soon, they’ll lose the scars. They’re just dumb eejits who want to look like a scratching post.”
I rubbed my face and stared at Joshua, who was lying on the opposite side of the room. “We have to find those lions.”
“Joshua!” Carol flew out from her sleeping spot and hit the ground with a loud smack before scrambling over to the sleeping boy. She reached him just as Claude dropped a hat over the boy’s privates.
“That was my hat,” Shepherd grumbled while he dug around in his bag.
“Joshua, wake up,” Carol pleaded, tears staining her flushed cheeks. She quickly took off Claude’s coat and draped it over his body. “He’ll freeze to death. Doesn’t anyone care?”
Claude looked dis
mayed at his good jacket lying on top of a naked man, and Shepherd chuckled when he noticed. Neither appeared concerned about Joshua’s well-being.
I leaned over and whispered, “Do you think he’s faking it?”
Christian answered with an arch of an eyebrow. It was possible. Then again, the kid might have shifted so many times to heal that he passed out.
Carol curled up against him and looked like a mother protecting her young.
Claude patted Shepherd on the shoulder. “Get some sleep. I’m still on shift duty.”
Sensing Viktor’s anguish over our plan unraveling and Blue almost dying, I stood up and squatted next to him. “I’ve never met a stronger woman. I used to think I was pretty badass, but Blue takes the cake. She’ll be okay.”
We both watched her sleep, knowing the consequence if she didn’t wake up soon. Viktor had a tough decision ahead of him. Either we left her alone to fend for herself, or he would have to cut another person from the mission to look after her, diminishing our numbers and putting the kids at risk.
Unless we could eliminate the threat.
I stood up. “I’m going back out. General’s dead, Joshua killed one, and we got two others. Whoever’s left might find General and leave, but they’re weak without him.” I snapped my fingers to get Shepherd’s attention. “Do you have an extra dagger? Full-length?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll go with her,” Christian said, inviting no argument. He pushed up the sleeves of his dark brown shirt, the kind of move a man makes when he’s preparing to get down and dirty.
I wanted to promise Viktor that we’d take care of all his troubles, but all I could do was accept the knife that Shepherd handed me. “We’ll be back by dawn. They won’t have the balls to come in here, but Matteo and Claude will keep an eye out for trouble. You don’t have a thing to worry about.”
I waited for his permission, but Viktor continued stroking Blue’s forehead with his thumb. His silence was answer enough, so I palmed the dagger.
I didn’t need a sheath.
“Try not to stab them in the back like you did with the last one,” Matteo said.