Scions: Revelation

by Patrice Michelle

  Emma knew she didn’t have time to go into everything that happened to her so far, so she went for blunt honesty. “I know what I am now.” When Mary started to speak, she shook her head. “Don’t worry, I’m not angry with you for keeping the truth from me all these years. We’ll talk about your reasons later. I just wanted you to know I’m going to do everything I can to get us out of here.”

  Mary’s worried expression softened and tears filled her eyes. “I did it to protect you and because I love you as if you were my own.”

  Tears spilled down Emma’s cheeks and her heart ached for their situation. She hugged Mary tight. Trust was a little hard for her right now, but she cared very much for this woman who raised her all her life. “It’s okay. You don’t have to expla—”

  “No, I want to tell you so you’ll understand…in case I don’t make it.”

  Emma’s heart jerked. “Don’t talk like that. We’re going to get out of here. It doesn’t matter to me that you’re human and I’m panther. You’ll always be my family.”

  Mary sniffled and pushed Emma’s hair away from her face with a gentle caress. “Hush and just listen. My brother and I didn’t have a normal life growing up.”

  Emma listened intently. Mary had only mentioned her estranged brother once in passing, but she’d never told Emma why they didn’t speak anymore.

  Mary’s lips compressed into a hard line, then she continued. “Our parents had a nasty divorce. Throughout our childhood, Roland and I were shuffled back and forth between them for years. Mom and Dad each did and said horrible things, trying to turn us against the other parent, which actually made Roland and me closer. We had only each other, and as kids, we promised ourselves that we’d never have children of our own so they wouldn’t have to go through what we did with our parents.

  “When Roland met Jade, everything changed. I could see his devotion to her right off the bat. No matter our promises about not having children of our own, this young woman instantly became like a daughter to my brother. Only, she wasn’t human.”

  Emma’s heart thumped. “Jade was Velius?”

  Mary nodded. “My brother helped Jade by creating the medicine that masks the panthers’ scent from their natural enemies. I joined their group to be by Roland’s side and just like my brother—” the old woman cupped Emma’s chin, her smile full of love “—I quickly grew attached to a little girl in the Velius pride. The day before I decided to take you away was the last time I spoke to my brother.” Her smile faded and she gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I suppose it’s life’s ironic justice that Roland and I had become so hopelessly devoted to our ‘children’s’ happiness, to the point our dedication has kept us apart all this time. You see, if he had ever learned where I’d taken you, he would’ve brought you back to make Jade happy.”

  “Why would you take me away?” Emma asked, her mind racing in confusion.

  Mary’s lip curled in contempt. “Malac had splintered off from Jade’s group, taking young Hawkeye with him. I was very unhappy about that, but when I later learned that Hawkeye had run away, I knew something had to be done. Even though Jade acted as your guardian and her intentions toward you seemed honorable, because you were special, I knew you’d always be at risk of becoming a pawn in Jade’s and Malac’s constant power struggle, just like poor Hawkeye. I wouldn’t allow that. I wanted you to grow up without strife, to have a happy childhood—at least the best I could provide for you.” She touched Emma’s cheek. “You’re a bit older than I led you to believe, but as far as I was concerned, your life started the day I took you with me.”

  Emma stared in shock. “How old am I?”

  “The medicine slowed your maturity considerably. You’re twenty-six.”

  Emma didn’t really remember any other life than that with her aunt, though she felt sorry for Hawkeye having to live with Malac. She’d have run away, too. Tucking all of the truths raining down on her into the back of her mind for future contemplation, Emma gave an apologetic half smile. “I ran out of my pills and forgot to mention I needed a refill. I think that’s how the Velius finally tracked me down.” When her aunt nodded her understanding, Emma plunged on, needing to know the whole truth. “Malac told me I was created. Does that mean I never had a mother?”

  Mary nodded, her smile sympathic. “I’m the closest thing to a mother you’ve had.”

  Emma’s head spun with all the new information, yet finding out there were two groups of panthers answered a few questions, while triggering a vague, nagging memory in her brain. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, trying to process everything. Then the memory suddenly flooded her mind. She gripped her aunt’s hands and pulled her over to sit down on the bed. “Has anyone ever called you Margaret? Is that your real name?”

  Mary chuckled. “Roland always calls me that, even when everyone else calls me Mary. How did you know about Margaret?”

  Emma was excited to share some news of Mary’s brother. “I believe I spoke to him. I was waking up from being drugged, so I never saw his face, but I heard him ask me about Margaret. He was worried for you. He’s the one who took me from the club last night.” And the female talking to Roland about me had to have been Jade!

  Mary’s blue eyes lit with hope. “Then he knows they have you! They’ll come for us!”

  Emma shook her head. “It’s a little more complicated than that. He doesn’t know Malac has taken me, but I’m sure others are searching for me.”

  Worry pulled at Mary’s soft features. “What others?”

  “I met a man. Malac says he’s Lupreda—” Emma started to tell her about Caine when the door opened.

  The guard walked into the room. “Time’s up. Let’s go.”

  He stalked over and grabbed Emma’s arm, pulling her to her feet. Mary gripped Emma’s hand tight, her brow creased with worry. “You can’t trust that man you met. Don’t trust anyone other than my brother or Jade. No one else has your best interests at heart, Emma.”

  Chapter 8

  M ary’s parting words kept echoing in Emma’s head as the guard hauled her to the end of the hall, then used his key card to open an elevator to her right. Once they were inside, the man pushed the button and they rode the elevator to the third floor.

  Whom could she trust? Everyone seemed to want something from her. First, Roland and this unknown Jade had kidnapped her, and now, of course, Malac.

  But what about Caine? Did he also have an ulterior motive? Was their attraction just another lie to get something he wanted from her? To keep her from her people? Her people? She didn’t even know what that meant! Mary might love her, but she was human. Emma had never felt more alone or scared. Her heart raced when the elevator pinged and the silver doors slid open.

  “Come in, Emma,” Malac called from somewhere in the room. Piano music played off to the right; it was a classical piece. Straight ahead was a huge mural painting of New York City’s skyline on the far wall directly across from the elevator entrance.

  When a cool breeze blew up her gown, making her skin prickle, she said to the guard, “Don’t I at least get to change clothes or something first?”

  His answer was to shove her onto the thick Persian rug right outside the elevator and punch the elevator button. As the doors slid noiselessly closed, Emma dug her toes into the soft carpet and turned to see Malac sitting at the piano, his fingers running across the keys flawlessly.

  “Ah, there you are.” The music suddenly stopped and he stood, grabbing his glass of wine off the top of the grand piano sitting all the way across the three-thousand-square-foot space.

  As he passed through the sunken living room area, decorated with an oversized couch covered with opulent pillows in similar earth tones to the area rug under her feet in the foyer area, her stomach tensed. Malac was a wiry, slightly built man, but what his smaller frame lacked, his eyes more than made up for in terms of sheer power and determination. The penetrating way he looked at her as he approached could only be described as cold and calculating.
She could almost see his diabolical mind working through the numbers, considering all the strategic angles…how best to use her to his ultimate advantage.

  From the way he’d decorated his living quarters to the clothes he wore—a black silk shirt, dark gray slacks and custom leather dress shoes—it was clear Malac liked to surround himself with the finer things in life. Emma didn’t doubt for one minute that that skyline painting on the wall to her left held some deeper significance for him…something far sinister than a general appreciation of the city. Malac was maniacally ambitious.

  Sheesh, I’m reading all kinds of things into this creep. All she knew for sure was the man made her skin crawl and he definitely had a God complex. She resisted a shiver of revulsion when he stopped a few feet away from her.

  “Now that you’ve seen that the old woman is alive and well, we’re going to talk.”

  “My aunt needs her meds,” Emma stated.

  “Still clinging to that human?” Malac tsked and walked over to a side bar where he poured himself some more wine. “Want some?” he asked as he took a sip and faced her.

  Emma clenched her fists. “I will not be a part of this ‘war’ insanity you mentioned in the truck. Nor am I mating with you or any other Velius.”

  Malac leaned casually back against the bar. “My team of scientists and doctors assure me that they can successfully extract your eggs, fertilize them and implant them in surrogate mothers.” His dark gaze swept appreciatively down her bare legs, then back up to her face. Closing his eyes briefly, his nostrils flared. “I smell the change in your musky scent. You’re heading toward your fertile cycle. Before we extract your eggs to build this army, my offspring will come the old-fashioned way, conceived and carried by my mate.”

  He was going to violate her, then make her his broodmare? Horrified shock slammed through Emma in waves of fury and fear. A chill swept down her spine and bile rose to her throat as her disgust built. “You won’t get within an inch of me and neither will your doctors!” she snapped.

  Setting his wineglass on the bar top, he turned an unconcerned gaze her way. “And what about your ‘aunt’? Doctor Thurman informs me that she’ll need her meds very soon for her health to remain stable.”

  God, Aunt Mary. You’ve given up so much for me.

  When she didn’t answer, his smile held an icy ruthlessness that sent a jolt of fear splintering through her. “You will cooperate.”

  Emma stood there in that thin hospital gown, feeling the most vulnerable she’d ever been in her life. If she said yes, in two seconds he’d have the damn flimsy thing torn off her body. If she said no, Mary might die and she would be responsible.

  She glanced around the open living space for an escape path. A huge glass window, farther down the same wall as the mural, led to some kind of concrete patio partially covered in snow. It dropped to nowhere as far as she could see from her vantage point. The elevator to her right needed a key, so she couldn’t leave that way.

  Every fiber in her being screamed out against the choice she was having to make…and she thought of Caine. How she wanted her first time—her only time—to be with him. Was he sincere in his feelings for her? She desperately wanted to believe he was real. I will come for you, was the last thing he’d said to her. In that, she believed.

  His strength, while fighting his wounds and the tranquilizer, reminded her that she wasn’t completely helpless. “Fine.” She yanked the front of the gown, and the snaps popped open. Cool air hit her spine and she slid her arms out of the gown to let it flutter to the floor. Standing naked in front of him, she tilted up her chin. “You want me?”

  Malac’s white teeth flashed in victory. “Faster by the second,” he murmured, his gaze slitting with lust as he began to unbutton his shirt with quick flicks of his wrist.

  Emma kept her expression calm while her insides quaked. She curled her finger inward in a come-hither movement. “Then you’re going to have to work for it.”

  When he took a step toward her, she turned and fell toward the floor at the same time she let all her anger for her aunt’s current situation, for the impending loss of her own innocence—both mentally and physically—and for what Malac had done to Caine well up inside her. All the strong emotions merged into a brewing storm, fast and furious—ready to unleash its wrath.

  Her panther form hit the floor on all fours. She turned to face him, her roar shaking the pictures hanging on the walls and rattling his glass of wine on the bar.

  “Shift back!” he snarled, his face distorting in fury.

  Emma blew air through her nostrils, then swiped her paw across the wood floor, purposefully digging gouges. Like a bull preparing to charge, she planned to make sure he didn’t come away from their altercation unscathed.

  Sweat coated his forehead. He quickly flipped open a gold engraved box on the bar top. “You’ll pay for this,” he gritted out over her panther roar.

  When her bellow slowed to a steady growl, Emma smelled the beginnings of fear edge his scent, pungent and sharp. She’d almost forgotten he couldn’t shift at will. Now, she was the predator and he was the prey. He was still stronger than a human man, but the fact remained that she was a force to be reckoned with in this form, and with no tranquilizer gun at his disposal, he was as trapped as she’d been a minute ago. The air hit her canines with sweet biting sharpness as she smiled and slowly walked toward the bar, her muscles flexing sleekly with each step she took.

  He jammed some kind of short needle into his neck and closed his eyes with a hiss as if he’d just shot himself up with his favorite drug. When his eyes snapped open, his pupils had dilated to the same size as his dark irises. It was like staring into a soulless being.

  He gave her a pleased smile. “Taking you this way will be harder and bloodier, but I’m up for the challenge. It’s probably the best way to show you that my panther rules you just as much as the man does.”

  His threat brought her survival instincts out full force. Emma curled her upper lip back, bearing her teeth once more. She dug her front claws into the wood flooring, then crouched on her back legs, ready to pounce before he shifted to panther form.

  She’d learned Malac’s tactics the last time she’d tangled with him. This time she didn’t leap for his face; instead, she lunged forward and used her strong paws to grab his legs, pulling him to the floor.

  He fell over onto his side, hitting the floor with a hard thud. As her claws dug deep, ripping his calf muscles, his yell of pain deepened to a vicious growling roar. Emma didn’t have time to dodge his blow before his powerful front paw swiped at her shoulder, shredding skin as he sent her flying through the air.

  She hit the back of the couch and her momentum toppled the heavy piece of furniture. Fire raged across her shoulder where he’d wounded her. She panted and quickly rolled off the couch’s plush cushions onto her paws. The smell of her own blood filled her nostrils while she crouched and twitched her ears back and forth, listening for Malac’s approach.

  Before she heard him coming, Malac soared over the couch and knocked her hard, sending her skidding on her side across the floor. She slammed into the legs of a console table and a vase shattered, spewing flowers, water and ceramic bits all around her.

  Malac let out a triumphant rrrrooowl and slowly stalked toward her, his head bent low, his growl promising retribution. His panther body was bigger than hers, easily outweighing her by sixty pounds, but he was still slim in stature, just like his human form. His slightly larger size gave him brute strength, but it probably also slowed him down in agility.

  If she could just get on her feet, she might be able to evade him. Emma tried to scramble to her feet, but the water and pottery bits made her paws slide out from underneath her. She slipped back to the floor, banging her chin hard.

  Panic closed her throat, keeping her from roaring the way she wanted to. Instead, the sound that came out of her throat was a low, warning rumble.

  When Malac reached her side, his roar slowed to an almos
t evil-sounding snarl as he reached out with his forepaw and batted her body out of the mess underneath her and into the middle of the floor.

  Emma spun with his forceful blow and dizziness rattled her mind for a second before she could get her bearings. The moment her head cleared, she jumped up, only to feel Malac’s heavy weight slam over her back.

  The dominant position sent fear spiraling through her belly. She tried to scramble out from underneath him, but he bit down on her neck. Hard.

  Emma howled in pain and her legs began to shake when his hot breath rushed out his nose in a growling grunt. She jerked forward slightly when his hips pushed against hers. As his musky scent elevated several levels, she couldn’t mistake what his vise hold meant.

  She tried to jerk free, but he deepened his bite, sending pain shooting down her neck. Despite her fear, she hissed and tucked her tail underneath her in an act of rebellion.

  He snarled his anger at her defiance, then jammed his right forepaw on top of hers, digging his claws deep.

  At the same time Emma let out a yowl of pain, something big burst through the huge picture window across the room. Glass flew everywhere as an enormous panther barreled straight for them.

  Malac barely had time to release her before the other panther rammed his huge head into Malac’s side.

  Emma heard ribs crack right before Malac careened all the way across the room. He collided with an oversized wooden trunk against the far wall, the piece of furniture exploding on impact. Lying among broken planks and splinters of wood, Malac shook his head to clear it, then jumped to his paws with a roar of fury.

  The panther who’d attacked Malac stood there. Waiting. The only indication he was on high alert was the slight twitch at the end of his long tail.

  Emma backed up when Malac bared his canines and claws and leapt across the room toward the taller, broader panther, who probably outweighed him by at least forty pounds.