* * * *
Sabrina looked out through the kitchen window. After three hours, the dome was still there. She and Samantha could see it, their mates could see it, but no one else even knew it was there.
“What makes you think they’ll come here? They have what they wanted.”
“Because they’ll want you. They won’t be able to help themselves. The pull, the lure, if you will, of a pure blood, will not leave them alone. Sooner or later, they will come here and when they do, we’ll have them. Just cross your fingers that it’s not more than twenty. Our wall couldn’t withstand the concerted efforts of even twenty-one of them.” Samantha sipped her tea. She had slight dark spots beneath her eyes, a sure sign that she’d been doing too much. Still, what price did you put on a child’s life?
The orb that surrounded the town shimmered in the darkness. The odd pearlescent shine seemed to move and waver as she watched. Suddenly, a bright light came from the Northeast and she knew, beyond a doubt that someone had just attempted to breach their shield.
She closed her eyes as she felt the other’s consternation at being thwarted. The protective dome kept him out, but held him in place. He couldn’t move, even though he struggled in earnest.
“It serves you right, you arrogant prick.” She rubbed her hands together and started toward the door as the others pushed away from the table.
“How can we feel that?” Luke ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s unsettling. Never in my life have I ever wanted to harm another the way I want to go pound this guy into the ground.”
“Close your mind. He’s connecting with you. He wants you to beat him to a bloody pulp. He knows it’s the only way he’ll ever get out of the restraints holding him.”
Luke shook his head. “Stay out of my head, dammit!”
A loud crack sounded in the distance and the man screamed.
“You don’t have to harm him, ladies. We need him for questioning.”
“No we don’t. We’ll soon know everything he does, but that doesn’t mean we’re the ones that just cracked his ass the other way,” Sabrina said with a giggle. “You did that.” She flexed her fingers. “Apparently, you guys also have our power. It’s strange, isn’t it?” It was strange. Never in her life had she thought herself as anything but human. Now she was something else. Some sort of real-life witch or sorceress.
The two sisters ran from the house and into the woods, their men hot on their heels. “We still need to bring the intruder to Ian and Duncan.” Luke was adamant that they not go alone.
“They are already on their way. It will take them a bit longer to reach the area since they’re on the other side of town though. Besides, what do we need them for?”
“Duncan can read minds, remember? And I don’t know about you, but the dome hasn’t told me anything about what’s in this guy’s mind. And we can’t trust a damn thing the newcomer says, even if we beat it out of him. It doesn’t matter what our intruder says. All that matters is what my cousins say.” Luke seemed so sure that his cousins would finish the job before they got there.
* * * *
“The boys are in a camp not far from here. They are guarded, but not well. It’s almost as though they wanted us to find them and take them.”
“No,” Sabrina said, her eyes filled with fear. “They’re here because they want to use the boys as bait to make a statement of some kind.”
Samantha shook her head. “No, it’s more complicated than that. What they thought to take wasn’t in Paradise so much as it’s a part of Paradise. It’s us. All of us and we’ve bound together into one powerful whole.”
They reached the areas where the man stood spread eagle, his back to the slightly curved dome.
“You won’t get me to talk. I won’t say a thing.” His eyes glowed eerily in the darkness.
“Now I know why we had to visualize the glowing eyes.” She elbowed Samantha who just glowered at her.
“You don’t have to tell us where the boys are, you worthless piece of shit.” Luke snarled as the man quivered. The vibrations from the dome kept him shaking. Either that or he was more frightened than his expression let on.
“He doesn’t have to,” Samantha said with a smile. “If this works the way it’s supposed to, he’ll tell us everything we need to know without opening his disgusting mouth.”
“Let me go,” he demanded as they continued their approach. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Sabrina scowled. Not to be outdone, she snarled, “You don’t know who you are dealing with, you son-of-a-bitch.” Her fingers itched to slap his ugly face with his smug expression. She wanted so much to wrap them around his neck and squeeze the life out of him or until he agreed to talk. At the moment, both choices appealed to her…perhaps too much. She pressed her lips together, worried that she could be that bloodthirsty.
Don’t worry, love, it’s merely your maternal instinct needing to protect the cubs you’ve adopted.
She glanced back at Luke and smiled her thanks that he could think to comfort her. She thanked everything that was holy that her two men found her. They had quickly become her life. Now she only needed the twins to feel everything was complete.
The man wriggled helplessly against the power that held him. He turned his head and looked up. “You can’t keep me here forever. When this shimmer dome weakens, I’ll be ready.” He narrowed his eyes. “And then I’ll be gone.”
“You’ll be dead.” Luke stepped forward with a snarl. “If you haven’t told us what we need to know by the time this dome begins to weaken, I’ll personally disembowel you.” He grinned. “And like it.” He turned to Daniel who had just pulled his cell phone from his ear.
“Ian and Duncan are on their way.” He gave Luke a meaningful look. “They’ll get the information from him one way or another.”
Why wasn’t the shimmer dome working the way their grandmother’s journal described? Had they done something wrong?
The slight hum of the dome changed pitch almost constantly as it fought to take over and reveal the man’s secrets, but they still felt nothing from him.
After a moment, both women gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Daniel stared down at her, his face filled with concern. He wrapped his fingers tight around Sabrina’s upper arm in an obvious attempt to keep her from danger. Who knew what the strange man was capable of doing?
“He’s fighting it.” Samantha shook her head. “Something’s not right. He’s not what he seems.”
“What do you mean?” His glanced at the man in question. Blond hair stuck out from the stranger’s head as though he’d stuck a finger in a light socket. Sparks jumped and arced about him as he struggled for freedom.
Samantha reached out and placed a hand on Luke’s arm when he would have attacked the nearly helpless male. When both of her mates growled low in their throats at the contact, she snatched it back.
“He’s some sort of agent. He doesn’t really work for the men who took the boys.” She then turned to her mates who still wore angry expressions and scowled. “Get over it, white boys.” She rolled her eyes and gave her sister a wink. ““You’d think they’d realize I have my hands full with them. What would I need with my sister’s man?”
Quinn stepped up behind her and pulled her back against his chest. “It’s a purely animal reaction, love. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“What panties?” Samantha asked as she pressed back against her mate with a grin.
“TMI, guys.” Sabrina said, shaking her head. That was definitely too much information. Besides, we’re getting off track here. Turning back to face the dome, she eyed the trapped man as he continued to struggle. “Something is blocking the dome’s power. He’s been enhanced somehow.” She frowned. “It’s as though he has some sort of mental shielding.”
“Holy Shit.”
Sabrina turned at Aiden’s curse. He stood, his spine stiff, clenching his fists at his sides. “What?”
Fish stepped
forward. “That’s one of the things we worked on before coming here.” He pressed his lips together. “I can’t tell you more. Hell, I’ve said too much already. It’s all classified information.”
* * * *
Luke held up his hand to stop the other man from saying more. The last thing any of them needed was to have Fish tell them more than he should, especially with a witness. The man held by the dome had grown silent, he sat still, watching them, an intense look on his face. “Don’t compromise yourself, brother. Ian and Duncan will be here soon. They can tell us what we need to know.” He waved toward the dome. “Just pull this asshole out of the vortex. They’ll be here soon.”
Quinn and Daniel moved to the dome and reached in. Since their sexual power helped make the dome, they were immune to its effects. They dragged the man from the wall of the dome and held him while the cousins approached.
“He’s had some help to resist the dome.”
Ian looked up at the shimmering cone of power. “How in the hell could he have even known about this?”
“It beats the hell out of me.” Quinn grunted when the man elbowed him in the stomach. We just learned of the thing ourselves. Apparently, he’s some sort of agent. The government has been studying this for years, according to Fish.”
Aiden nodded. “Five years ago, they locked us down and tested us. They wanted to know why we didn’t feel the heat and cold like the other soldiers did.” He ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh. “I can’t tell you anymore.” Releasing the stranger, he turned the man over to the two cousins, hurried back to Samantha and pulled her close.
The stranger nearly broke free when Ian and Duncan took hold of him. It wasn’t over until Ian grabbed his head, his palm resting against the back of the other man’s neck. He held on tight as his eyes glazed over.
“He works for a secret government organization called…” He frowned, squeezing his eyes shut in obvious pain. “He knows where the boys are. The men who took him are on the list of planned abductions.” He paused. “Oh, my goddess. So are we, but they can’t seem to find us. Every time they get close, the barriers send them running.” He opened his eyes and stepped back. “He’s one of us, yet not one of us.” He glanced over at the two sisters who stood clutching each other’s hands. “He’s also one of them. A mixture.” He paused and waved his hands toward Samantha and Sabrina’s mates. “Like you four have become…but not.”
What the hell was Ian talking about? He was nothing but shifter. Perhaps not totally pure, but who was these days? Every one of them had to breed with others over the years.
“Where are the boys?” Sabrina had latched onto that one comment and started toward the trio. Luke reached out and grabbed her. There was no way he would allow his mate to get near the intruder until they knew what he was about.
She attempted to pull free. “Let me go!” She slapped at his hands, frantically trying to escape and make her way to the man who could tell her where her sons of the heart were.
“Stop it, mate,” Daniel said with a growl as he took her by the shoulders in an unyielding grip and shook gently. “The cousins will find out and they will tell us.” He turned to the two Scots. “Won’t you?”
“Aye,” Duncan answered with a grin, his moss green eyes twinkling. “As a matter of fact, we already know.” He glanced toward their prisoner and cocked his head. “What do ye want tae do with this one?”
“Lock him up in the town jail with three round the clock guards,” Adam Greer said as he strode into the clearing. “No one threatens my people and gets away with it.”
* * * *
Two weeks later, a virtual army lurked in the darkness around a compound that resembled the one in Virginia that Sabrina and her sister escaped from nearly a year ago.
The two women huddled in the darkness with their mates. Sabrina refused to stay home and wait. Her sister, Samantha, refused to allow her to go on such a dangerous trek without her.
“We must succeed this time.” Sabrina wasn’t talking to anyone in particular. She merely stated a fact. Since their first raid, they had rescued six children between the age of five and eleven. At least twenty more of varying ages lived—no existed—in the camp.
“We have to get them out of here.” Tears flowed down Sabrina’s cheeks as she thought of their brutal training. “How can these…” She waved her arm toward the compound. “Men subject them to this? They’re only children.”
“By slaughtering the animals in front of them, they are desensitizing them to blood, gore and death.” Luke shook his head, his expression grim. “By allowing them to play with the cubs, kittens and puppies before they kill them, they teach them not to care about others. They can’t be hurt if they don’t allow themselves to become attached to anyone or anything.”
“But…that’s so cruel.” Sabrina wasn’t sure what made her feel worse, the senseless killing of baby animals or the fact that they forced these children to watch while they gutted them.
“It’s only a matter of time before they make the older ones fight. That way, they make sure they don’t even come to care for each other.”
“That’s just sick,” Samantha spat the words. She looked ready to jump and rush into the camp by herself.
“Wait, love,” Aiden whispered, his hand on her arm. “We’ll move in soon. We’re just waiting on our intel. We want to know how many we’re up against and where they are. The Alpha doesn’t like surprises.”
“Can we trust him?” Sabrina worried her bottom lip as she thought of the source of their information. Quietly, she shifted position. Her legs were starting to cramp.
Daniel chuckled into her mind. You’re so suspicious. He’s one of us now. He has no reason to lie now, love. He had no idea there were others of our kind. He only knew of those he bunked with during his training. According to the cousins, he only cooperated with the government testing facilities because he wanted to be near others like him.
But—
No buts, sweetheart. He can’t lie to them anymore than you can lie to us. They are his bond mates. He paused. Along with one other. They are all determined to find her. He grinned. And they will, with no small amount of luck.”
“It’s time,” Luke whispered. His link with the alpha and his men kept him informed without the need for a noisy radio. Sabrina could see how the ability to mind talk came in handy in battle.
As one, they all shifted into their beasts. Sabrina chuckled as her cat moved stealthily through the brush. She could only imagine the sight they all made moving in on the compound. She wondered what their prey would think when they got a glimpse of the shifters of Paradise. Most of the adults in town were here, ready to protect their loved ones, their town and their clan. Sixty shifters of different backgrounds and species moved steadily toward the camp, willing to work together toward one goal—freeing children from cruel captors.
Sabrina had one thought before the battle began… Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Here we come, assholes!
They moved as one, the shifters all crashing into the compound at once. Men ran and screamed as the animals pinned them in place. Some fought and died. Others decided they couldn’t fight that many shifters, especially when they found out their attempts to control them wouldn’t work.
“I can’t stop them, Harry!” One of the men gasped. He squeezed his eyes closed, obviously trying to take the ability to fight from the intruders.
Harry ran out with a shotgun and aimed it at Sabrina who had taken on a large liger form. Luke pounced before the man got his first shot off. He lay in a pool of his own blood after her mate ripped his throat out.
Sabrina turned and headed for the scent of the boys. She could smell them, though they weren’t in their hut where they should be at this time of night. The children were all huddled in a small hut with a woman who held the twins in her arms.
Snarling through the window, Sabrina used the bulk of her beast to knock the door off its hinges. The woman cowered in the corner with the children
. She attempted to block Sabrina’s sight with her body. Even though she was frightened beyond belief, she was willing to try to protect her charges.
“You can’t have them.” She looked around her. “God help me keep these children from these beasts.” She looked up. “I don’t care what happens to me, just keep them safe. They don’t deserve this. They don’t deserve any of this.” She glared at Sabrina. “I know you can take them from me.” She stood and grabbed a nearby chair. “I know you can kill me, but God help me, I won’t let you have them without a fight.” She waved her arm. “They’ve been through enough. What these…men,” she spat the word, “have done to them is unspeakable. I won’t—I can’t—just stand by and watch you do the same.”
Sabrina looked at the woman and wanted to smile. She had no idea that she would find such a brave protector for the children here in this compound. Concentrating on the change, she stepped from the cottage and shifted back to her human self, with a nice pair of designer jeans, sneakers and an airy silk blouse before she moved back to the door.
“Brina!” Timmy and Tommy said at once as they ran to her.
She moved inside wishing she could close the door behind her. The battle still raged outside. People and shifters fought to the death while she found her children. “Who are you?” she asked the other woman. Now that she held her boys in her arms again, she took the time to really look at the stranger. Her shoulder length blonde hair could use a good washing and probably her body as well. She looked more like a street urchin than a protector of children. Still, she could hardly judge when the woman had been willing to stand up to an eight-hundred pound liger with only a broken chair for a weapon.
“I-I’m Paige Applewhite. I am…” she paused as tears filled her eyes. “I was a teacher in Michigan.”
“Was?”
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