by Mikayla Lane
“Drago?” He heard Dree ask through their private path on the Shengari’.
Without looking up from his task, Drago replied. “Yes? Is something wrong?”
“Hell yeah! Don’t you feel it and hear it? Damn, they’re speaking in some superhero code, but something is wrong. Liam won’t tell me either, but he’s hovering around me like he’s expecting to take a bullet for me,” Dree said nervously, determined that her new friend would not get harmed protecting her. She was a big girl and could handle her own, which was something that she was becoming afraid she would have to prove to her new friend soon.
Drago sighed in relief that he wasn’t the only one who thought the Beast killers were keeping them in the dark on something. “What are your thoughts on it Dree?” Drago asked, knowing the smart little Tezarian had an idea of what was going on.
Dree didn’t hesitate. “I think they have another one that is here. That may be a captive. Remember Chris said there were twenty three and a half of them? We’ve only met twenty two of them. I think it’s a female member of their team. Are there female Beast killers? I’ve never heard of one before…,” Dree said, her words drifting off as if just saying it had distracted her thoughts.
Drago’s head snapped up at the suggestion and he looked around the room at the silent, unmoving women that were stationed at the doors in various rooms and hallways. Each one stared almost blankly around the room, watching every movement of the catering staff as if waiting for them to do something wrong.
“No,” he said to Dree. “They can’t have been stupid enough to put one of their own in here. It’d be too damn brazen and dangerous, even for a Dranovian.”
He heard Dree chuckle in his mind. “No more brazen than having all of these beautiful women surrounding us with weapons strapped to their thighs, hips and every other concealed part of their bodies,” Dree said, feel Drago’s shock through his energy.
Drago looked at the closest woman. A very pretty blonde, dressed in a long, red strapless gown. He looked at her much more deeply than he had before and this time, he saw that Dree was right. On her outer thigh, covered by her long dress, Drago could see the telltale bulge of a weapon. If he hadn’t thought to look for it, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all. Thank goodness Dree had, he thought.
“Does everyone else know?” He asked, wondering if he was the only one who had been so distracted with thoughts of his mate that he hadn’t noticed they were surrounded by armed women.
Dree chuckled in his mind. “Yeah… after Lara and I told them. All of you guys missed it. Except the Dranovian’s. Drago they weren’t surprised at all. They knew and expected the women to be armed. But they didn’t expect such heavy security. They know something we don’t. A lot of somethings,” Dree said, her nervousness returning.
Drago looked around the room, pretending to look for another place to set the tray of food in his hands. He studied the women in a new light and tried to figure out in his mind what the Dranovian’s knew that they did not. How it was all connected. There was something that he was missing, something that Dree had noticed as well. Whatever it was, Drago knew that it was important.
He listened along the mostly silent Dranovian path in his mind and decided to see if he could shake out something useful. If not, maybe Dree could pick up something else from the conversation since Liam had given her the same path that Drago had been given.
“Look guys, I know that something is wrong here. It’s pretty damn obvious that you’ve left us out of the information food chain and that whatever or whoever you counted on, has not come through. These women, most likely hybrids, are heavily armed and waiting for us to make a wrong move. I think it’s time you came clean with us before one of us ends up dead,” Drago said, becoming angry that his family could be in more danger than they knew. And Devon as well.
Drago could hear Dree’s indrawn breath at his boldness and knew that the Dranovian’s were also shocked into silence. He felt the increase in energy along the Dranovian path and knew that they were most likely arguing amongst themselves about what, if anything to tell them. He was done putting up with it.
“You can either tell me now or I will force my way past one of these women and get this party started early,” Drago said, placing the tray down loudly on a table, drawing the attention of the women and his own team. Dranovian’s included.
Cole smiled and walked casually over to Drago, his eyes alight with warning. Drago walked away from him, towards the woman in red, giving them no chance to stop him without making a scene.
“Wait!” He heard Chris scream in his mind and Drago turned immediately, making it look as if he was heading to another table.
“Damn it you idiot! You’re going to get everyone killed!” Chris yelled at him through the Shengari’ path.
Drago glared at Cole, Grant and Dusty, the Dranovian’s that were assigned as serving staff with him, while Viper and Mir looked at them all curiously, unaware of what was taking place on the Dranovian path on the Shengari’. Determined to get the damn truth, Drago growled back, knowing all of the Dranovian’s could hear him.
“My family, my friends and my mate may all be in danger because you won’t tell us what the fuck is really going on here! It is obvious that something you had going on has been discovered or the garden entry would not be blocked and your teams would be in place! Now tell me!”
His anger laced energy must have spiked because all of the women turned to look at him curiously before he calmed himself down. He forced a smile and moved to another table, pretending to straighten up the food and drink platters placed on it, while keeping out of reach of the Dranovian’s.
Drago heard Chris’s frustrated growl in his mind before he spoke. “Damn it Drago! We are almost inside so give me a moment!”
Chris had no sooner finished speaking when everyone flinched at the distinct sound of gunfire coming from outside of the house. Drago looked at the Dranovian’s and knew that they were following the outside battle through a path he and Dree did not have access to.
It was then that his own paths began lighting up and he saw the kitchen staff pushed into the main room that he and the others were in. They were being held at gunpoint by the elegantly dressed women. He heard Lara in his mind as he watched the woman in red draw the weapon from her thigh and point it right at him.
“We’re compromised!” Lara said unnecessarily as she, Liam, Dree and the others came into the room with their hands up.
Drago noted how Liam had used his body to herd Dree closer to one of his brothers, using their bodies to try and shield her. The protectiveness they showed to Dree told Drago that they didn’t know they had been walking into a trap. He knew the Dranovian’s would not have intentionally put them in harm’s way. Whatever went wrong, they had been taken by surprise as well.
Knowing it, did not ease his fears and Drago looked at the armed women as the weapons fire increased outside, this time it was much closer and he hoped that Chris’s teams weren’t far away. Trick confirmed it when his voice exploded through their team path.
“We’re almost there! They’re hybrids guys! Be careful! We’re dodging fireballs, energy blasts and raging bunnies and birds!”
Drago would have thought the rabbits funny if the double doors down the long hall hadn’t opened. A dozen more well dressed women, all holding guns or rifles, came through the door, forming a half circle. Right behind them walked in a man, dragging a woman along the floor by a chain on her neck.
Drago knew in an instant that it was his mate. He took a step towards her, when he was grabbed on both sides by a Dranovian, their strength a surprise to Drago as Cole screamed through his mind.
“STOP! You’ll get her killed!”
The Dranovian path in his mind buzzed with activity, but his mind blanked on what they were saying, his eyes glued to his mate. Her head was down, her blonde hair covering her face. Drago could see the blood and bruises that were covering her upper arms and the torn black dress that pooled aroun
d her battered legs.
His rage boiled and the Dranovian’s held him even tighter, warning him again. “You WILL get her killed! Do not move or I will kill you myself!”
Drago instead turned his rage on the tall, dark haired man who held the chain that was wrapped around the neck of his beloved mate. The man was tall, at least six foot five, with dark, wavy hair that looked almost boyish on him. Playful. The evil vibrating through his black eyes gave away any pretense of playfulness though.
Drago felt his family and the Dranovian’s tense as the man spoke. “Ah, my fellow Prime is here! I am so sorry to keep you and your friends waiting! Tell me, who does this bitch belong to?” He asked as he grabbed Devon by her hair to pull her head up.
Drago looked on in shock as the Dark Prime raised his hand and saw it full of blonde hair. He looked down at the now dark head on the floor and the silky, straight strands surrounding the head of who he thought was his mate.
He was still in shock when Satalis grabbed the woman by her dark hair and pulled her to her feet. It was then that Drago saw the battered face of his mate. Dark hair or not, he would recognize her anywhere.
Drago was stunned yet again when she opened her eyes to glare at the man holding her by her hair, with one blue eye and one brown. Her eyes met his and he was taken aback by the impact of her saddened, defeated look. It was his Devon, but not.
When no one answered Satalis, he shook her by her hair and laughed at her. “No one wants to claim you bitch. Such a failure, you are.”
Devon shook with anger. She knew this bastard planned to kill everyone, using the damn hybrids that he’d beaten and brain washed. She looked at the beautiful man that she knew she was never meant to have forever with and at all the people she loved more than her life and knew what she had to do to save them.
She mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to Drago, then covered the Dark Prime’s hand, holding her hair, with her own.
Using every bit of strength she could muster, Devon pulled herself up and smiled at the evil bastard holding her. “I’m the Angel of Death motherfucker and I’m going to kill you!” Then she slammed her heels to the floor and kicked out at his stomach.
Drago was momentarily stunned at the play of words, knowing there was something she had tried to tell him, but all hell broke loose around him. He watched as Satalis’ white dress shirt exploded with red as the doors were thrown open and Chris’s teams began to come in from all sides, while the hybrids began to surround Satalis and Devon.
Devon slipped from the Dark Prime’s hands at the same time that Cole screamed, “Angel!”
Ignoring everyone around him, Drago slipped from the now loose grip of the Dranovian’s and he ran towards Satalis and his mate. He got within feet of them before a dark energy exploded around them. He was thrown backwards and landed hard on the floor a few feet away. Sitting up he saw Devon struggling against Satalis within what appeared to be a dark bubble of energy.
Drago lunged to his feet and tried to reach his mate, but the dark bubble threw him backwards again. Undaunted, Drago tried again. This time when he was thrown back, he felt a familiar stir in the air beside him and looked next to him as the dark skinned Windwalker appeared and screamed, “Angel!”
The eerie, white eyes looked at Drago intently, as if asking him something that Drago didn’t know the answer to. Drago shook his head, wondering if the man was friend or foe until he reached out one dark hand and pulled Drago to his feet.
The strange man’s next words shocked Drago to the core. “Your mate is not Devon, she is our sister, Angel. Help me get her back,” Mikal, the twenty third Dranovian, son of Grai said imploringly.
Drago shook his head, uncaring what her name was, only that they got his mate back alive. Now he understood her play on words. She was telling him her true name, and her status as a mate of the House of Death. His Angel of Death.
He looked at the strange Windwalker, and nodded his head again. “On the count of three,” Drago said as he gathered his energy around him, preparing to throw himself into the dark barrier.
Mikal, affectionately called Mikey by his beloved sister, nodded his dark head as the fighting erupted around them. He was hoping that the strong Tezarian could breech the energy barrier just enough for him to slip through a crack using his wind form. He and Drago ignored Satalis as the evil bastard laughed at them while flinging a fighting Angel around the floor behind the dark bubble.
“Ahhh, my army is just waiting to kill you! And you can’t hurt them you fools! They are your precious hybrids!” Satalis said of his female killers as he punched the still fighting Angel, convinced that no one would harm the Valendran’s precious hybrids since killing other members of the beast species was abhorrent to them.
Dree watched in horror as Liam launched himself in front of her, taking the bullet that the dark haired hybrid had meant for her. Anger ran heavily through her veins as she pushed the falling man to the floor and stood over his crumpled body to protect him while he was down.
“Fuck you bitch! You’re not a hybrid you’re an anomaly and they get put down for a reason!” Dree said as she pulled her own weapon out of her apron and put a heat seeking dagger right between the hybrid’s eyes.
She didn’t feel the least bit bad about it either. Especially when she saw the Dranovian’s not even hesitating to fire on the brainwashed killers around them. Now she understood why Grai had a team of Beast killers. Someone had to kill the ones that had turned like this, she thought.
Satalis watched in horror as the intruders began shooting the women he thought would be good shields, until none of them remained standing. Only the Tezarian’s, the Prime and whatever the fuck the others were that he couldn’t detect even with his powerful dark energy.
When the large Tezarian and the dark man hit the barrier again, Satalis felt a shift in the energy and became concerned that the powerful and angry men might actually penetrate it.
He radiated fury at how quickly things had gotten out of his control and looked down at the beaten bitch who had managed to destroy part of the empire he had carefully created. “You fucking human bitch! What did you do to the real Devon?” He demanded as he shook her by her hair.
Angel fought the pain and the blackness threatening to overtake her and looked up from the floor. Ignoring everything but the bastard in front of her, Angel tried to blink away the remaining pieces of the blue contact so she could see better. But, seeing only the blurry shadow of the bastard through her one swollen eye, she kicked out with her feet, trying to hit him again with the blades she’d had concealed in the platforms of her heels.
She missed him completely, but laughed anyway to keep him angry and his attention on her. “I killed your puppet whore years ago. It was easy to pretend to be her while I lived in her home and used her contacts to destroy your businesses, your other puppets, the bills you needed passed and the hold you tried to have over the government officials. I, a pathetic fucking human, took you down. What the fuck chance do you think you have against them,” Angel said as she waved one bruised arm at her brothers, her mate, the Tezarian’s and the Prime.
Exhausted from her efforts, Angel laid her head on the floor and smiled through the dark mist between her and her brothers, and the mate she knew she would never see again. She was grateful that Mikey had done exactly as he had promised and been there to protect Drago for her. He meant more to her than anything in the world and she regretted deeply that it would end this way. For them. For her.
Angel knew that Satalis would not allow her to live, not after what she had done, but if she could anger him enough to let his guard down, her brothers might be able to get through the dark shielding around them and take out the damn bastard. She learned enough from the surveillance on the house the Prime had been using to know that this evil bastard was a clear and serious danger to everyone she cared about and the entire planet. If she wasn’t going to make it, then she was going to take him with her.
Angel pushed herself to her fee
t and stumbled a few inches away before righting herself again. She smiled awkwardly through her split lips at her brothers, wishing she could wipe the fear from their eyes. “Tell Daddy I love him,” she said before she flung herself at Satalis, her arms and legs raining a series of blows in any place that she could get to as he tried to block her blows.
Drago knew what she was doing and he roared in rage. Looking over at the strange dark man, he growled, “Move! Now!” Before he launched himself at the dark barrier. Again, and again. So intent on breaching the barrier to get to his mate, Drago barely registered the fact that every Dranovian and Tezarian, including the injured Liam and the smaller Dree, were also ramming the barrier from different sides.
Satalis could feel the dark energy beginning to weaken around him and looking at the still fighting woman, he realized that she was his only way out of there. The fucking bitch actually meant something to the bastards trying to break through his barrier. He backhanded her so hard, her head bounced off of the floor and she remained motionless.
He growled in rage at his loss of control. He hadn’t intended to knock the bitch out, forgetting for a moment that humans could not take the punishment that a beast host could take. This bitch was ruining everything! He thought, as he fought to stop himself from kicking her. He wanted nothing more than to vent his anger on the bitch who had destroyed years of work and now had him trapped. Him!
Lara/Abexis stood back, studying the barrier for a moment before she became bathed in a golden light. “His barrier is weakening.”
Satalis’s eyes blazed with fury when he saw which one was the Prime. “Abexis, how lovely to see you again. Where are the rest of your pathetic brethren? Is this,” Satalis said as he grinned arrogantly and waved a hand at the group around his barrier. “The best you could come up with? A few Tezarian’s and a pack of mutant mongrels?”