Now he was as well.
Sugar stepped through the portal first.
As a Protector, it was her role to take such risks, or at least that’s what the artifact kept telling her. Yet even her blade-enhanced brain didn’t register the danger fully until Rodu pushed against her back and forced his way through the portal behind her.
Sugar automatically stepped to the side to make room for him. In the exact second she realized the danger, all of the weapons pointed their way fired simultaneously. Both she and Rodu were flung backward against a solid rock wall which had returned to its normal state of being stone.
Sugar slid to the cave floor in pain. Damn… that had hurt even through her armor.
She glanced to the side and saw that Rodu was down and bleeding from a wound on his head. Being so large a target, they’d directed most of their blasts on him.
Her gaze rapidly scanned their attackers. She made a thousand decisions in the time it took her human body to draw a couple of breaths. In the three seconds it took for her to climb to her feet, a golden blade appeared in one hand, and the wicked black dust gun materialized in the other.
Completely armed and ready for battle now, a strange ancient word left her throat and found its way out into the air. Sugar didn’t know what the word meant, but more power immediately surged through her.
Weapons were traded out as they watched her change. A new set of fully loaded guns soon pointed at her. Now Sugar no longer cared.
She stepped further away from the wall and moved to the side, drawing their attention from Rodu who was still sitting with his eyes closed.
“We don’t care what you are or where you came from. Surrender to us or die,” someone next to the men with guns said to her.
Sugar turned toward the voice, lifted her hand with the gun, and fired in the direction of the sound. Now able to see in the darkness, she watched as the man exploded into a shower of black dust that filled the air where he’d once stood.
The men with the sonic weapons screamed obscenities and all five fired again at her. She felt the pressure of all the blasts, but nothing knocked her back this time. The artifact had obviously adjusted her shield to withstand the force.
She swung the long golden blade in her other hand, rotating it rapidly in a circle that created an even larger force field in front of her. Whatever energy the guns were firing was returned with reflected force at short range.
Men and guns were lifted into the air and flung backward. They fell against walls and slid down them as Rodu had.
She thought she heard an animal roar, but that made no sense, so she blocked out the possibility.
Lifting the hand containing the black dust gun, she fired at each downed attacker and kept firing until all humans in the cave had been de-materialized.
Glancing down at Rodu, she saw he was beginning to come around. Wanting to give him more time to recover, she walked to the cave’s exit and out into the night.
The moon was hidden, but she glowed golden in the dark.
Her voice, amplified by the artifact, was so booming loud when she spoke that it shook the rocks around her.
“I am a Protector. I was created to defend the innocent and to fight evil. Tonight you have done evil. Leave in peace or die as your comrades have,” she ordered loudly
Most of the remaining humans were huddled around the flickering fires. They jumped up and ran when they heard the warning. Some paused in fleeing to turn back and stare. For them, she lifted the blade. It extended farther as they stared at it. The glow she and the blade emitted lit the night.
“Go! Leave!” Sugar yelled into the night.
Some swore in urgency. Others yelled warnings to those lingering. Soon all of them ran for their lives. Helicopter engines sprang to life and the crafts finally lifted away into the air.
Sugar stayed where she was and waited until the plateau was empty and the skies were quiet. In less than five minutes after she’d stepped from the cave, all that remained at Machu Picchu were temporary tents and dying campfires.
She returned to the Temple Of The Moon and found Rodu sitting up straighter. His blade’s sparkling black shield got sucked back into his chest as she approached.
Rodu groaned in pain and grabbed his head. “One of the weapons gave me a head wound, but it’s not fatal,” he explained. “Are they gone?”
Sugar nodded in answer. Her gaze wandered over the area. She hoped the dust blew the dead away from this place before tomorrow’s visitors arrived. The black dust gun had gotten rid of all weaponry as well. As far as she could tell, there was nothing left in the cave of their enemies.
Rodu shifted and winced with the movement. “You better check on Axel. I think he’s just knocked out, but he hit the wall pretty hard.”
“Axel is here?” Sugar asked in surprise, turning to scan the area once more. It took her eyes a moment or two to see the black panther lying in the dark. She hurried over and knelt to feel for a pulse. “He lives but is unconscious.”
“He’ll survive,” Rodu said in relief. “I’m not surprised he came despite your message telling him not to come.”
“Message?” Sugar stood, blinked, and then winced as she felt her own golden armor disappearing into her chest. How it managed to penetrate clothing without damage was still a mystery to her—one of many involving the sentient blade.
When she was her normal human self once more, she sheepishly looked at Rodu. “I forgot. I was so caught up in finally being in a real flying saucer.”
“I keep telling you that it’s not an alien craft. It’s Lyran.”
Sugar giggled. “And Lyrans are…”
“No debating. I have a terrible headache,” Rodu ordered, tiredly pointing his finger.
“Father?” Gina ran across the cave floor to kneel by his side.
Sugar winced as the black dust got stirred up and flew into the air. Poor Gina. She was now covered in dead people dust and Sugar couldn’t tell her.
“Talk about gross,” she murmured under her breath, thinking about the men and their guns.
As Rodu fabricated a believable story to his daughter about how he came to be injured, Sugar bent once more to Axel.
“Idiot,” she chided softly, petting his panther neck. “The blade could have killed you along with the bad guys. How would I recognize dead panther dust from dead bad guy dust?”
“Is Axel alright?” Gina asked. “He never called for help, but I saw the helicopters leaving. I came anyway.”
“He…” Sugar glanced at Rodu then back at Gina. “I think our attackers were using sonic weapons. Your brother got caught in a blast. His hard head probably saved him.”
“He’ll stay shifted until he wakes. Only Mother can command him to shift back from his feline form. How did you and father survive a sonic attack?”
Sugar tapped the top of her middle trident. It vibrated in response. “My built-in armor protected us… and your father’s fight training came in very handy. I may have a breakdown later when I recall it all, but mostly we’re okay.”
Gina nodded and stood. “Axel’s airship has a portable levitating transport. Let me get that to help Father to the airship.”
“Uh… Gina?”
“Yes?”
Sugar walked to her. “Your father I and came here for a purpose. We found a hidden room behind the rock wall and a man who’d gotten trapped inside. He’s injured and needs care as well. The transport your father used to fly us here is down in the valley. Can you take him to retrieve it?”
“But…” Gina looked at her father.
“It’s okay, Gina. I can fly,” Rodu said, climbing to his feet. “Sugar’s non-stop chatter will be sufficient to keep me awake for the flight home.”
“But, Father…”
Rodu held up a hand. “I was teasing about Sugar’s chatter, but I really am going to be fine. I’m feeling better every moment. Let’s hurry and get to the transport. Sugar and I still need to find our missing rescue.”
; Sugar sighed in the dark as Rodu and Gina left. The firelight didn’t quite reach into the cave. When her chest started vibrating, she turned in alarm and saw the faint outline of the portal in the dark.
Moments later, Lake Wright walked through it. Or at least his body did. His blade’s armor covered him and now lit up the cave. She couldn’t tell what color it was, but it wasn’t gold like hers.
The blade, fully in control of Lake, turned to her. “Is the threat eliminated?”
“Yes,” Sugar answered.
“Host requires rest,” Lake’s blade said.
“Request acknowledged,” Sugar answered, knowing communication was going to be limited until Lake did a little more merging with the creature controlling him now. She rose and walked to face him. “I will protect your host.”
“Acknowledged. We extend gratitude. Symbiosis has begun.”
“Good,” Sugar said, noting that the kid wasn’t as much of a kid as she’d thought. Lake wasn’t as tall as Rodu or Axel, but he looked pretty grown up to her. “Return control to host. A ruse is necessary to protect the innocent among us.”
“Query—is ruse required for Gina of Rodu?”
“Yes,” Sugar said in surprise before she laughed. “Glad to see you’re with the program already. Hey now…” she yelled as she barely caught Lake’s large body before he hit the dirt.
Good thing she hadn’t tried to carry him earlier. She’d have definitely needed the artifact’s help.
“Damn it. Couldn’t you have sat his body down first? Junior’s way heavier than he looks.” She lowered Lake to the ground with her arms wrapped tightly around him. “There you go. Now you just rest until our ride gets here.”
Across the cave, a low growl filled the air. When Sugar raised her head, it was to see an enormous Panther rising to wobbly legs to glare at her.
In two panther-sized leaps, Axel was across the cave. He would have pounced on Lake’s unconscious form if Sugar hadn’t dived upwards to knock Axel out of the air.
The two of them landed hard in the dirt just beyond where Lake lay.
Axel was up on his feet and roaring immediately, swiping at her with his front paws while she dodged his blows.
“Are you trying to make me kill you? What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Sugar yelled, crab-crawling away from the giant angry cat.
Axel blinked and roared again before plopping down on his haunches to look around.
“Bad kitty!” Sugar yelled loudly after she saw Axel had control of his animal once more.
When Axel’s meltdown seemed over, Sugar slowly stood and dusted herself off. The first sonic blast had damaged her. Her body ached worse now after the football tackle she’d done to stop her mad panther. Rodu had taken four blasts. He probably felt like seven kinds of hell.
Sugar glared at Axel as she wiped the back of her jeans which was now covered in bad guy cooties because of him. Gross… and double-gross again. She pointed an accusing finger at the panther staring at her.
“You need to start looking before you pounce. Lake is the host of the other Protector blade, and you’re an idiot for not trusting me,” Sugar announced, walking back to where Lake lay quietly unaware of their fight. “He’s a kid, damn it. And he needs me to watch over him. You know how this works, Axel. He’s in his most vulnerable state right now.”
Her mad panther roared loudly at her chastisement.
Sugar lifted her middle finger in response.
Luckily for both Axel and her, their argument got interrupted when Gina and Rodu chose that moment to return.
Rodu’s gaze went immediately to Lake. Sugar shook her head at his concern.
“Turns out I didn’t have to go searching. He stumbled out of where he’d been hiding and collapsed at my feet,” she said to explain as much as she could with Gina listening.
Rodu’s nod said he both understood and would get the more particular details later. Sugar figured he’d guessed that the blade brought Lake through the travel portal.
She was nothing but grateful that they hadn’t had to retrieve the new host—especially with an angry, roaring panther watching her every move.
But who knew what kind of cross-talking all the blades were doing without them? She and Rodu weren’t clear on the matter, but their blades were definitely in cahoots.
Gina cleared her throat. “We didn’t find the levitating table. Sorry. Axel must have removed it from his transport before I started maintenance.”
“No worries,” Sugar said. “Lake’s not very heavy. We’ll get him on the airship.”
She ignored a brooding Axel as he transformed back into a human. Most days she liked to watch his conversion—found it sexy even—but not today.
Today he’d swiped at her with his paws—panther bastard.
Rodu came over and helped her lift Lake up enough for them each to get an arm around him. Still ignoring the male who watched them both with angry eyes, she and Rodu dragged and loaded the still unconscious Lake into Rodu’s airship.
After they had him strapped securely to a flight bench, Axel stepped close to her. He lowered his voice to something softer but just as threatening as his outright anger had been—or at least that’s how it seemed to her.
“You can fly back with Gina and me so we can discuss your impulsive departure from our bed.”
Sugar shook her head. “It wasn’t impulsive, and the answer is no.”
“No? There is no saying no. It was not a request. I am…”
“Not in any position to be giving me orders about who I’m flying back with. Be jealous of a kid if you want, but I’m not leaving him and Rodu,” Sugar stated firmly, glaring up into Axel’s handsome face. “Look, I’m sorry I forgot to send you a note to let you know I had to leave on blade business. Everything happened fast, and I got caught up. Lake almost died before we got here and…”
Axel swiped at the air with one of his large hands. “That man’s welfare concerns me much less than yours. You can’t just leave me in the middle of the night.”
Sugar snorted. “The danger of what the artifact makes me do was the reason you took me to the palace. How can you resent that I have to obey it now? I will do what I need to do and what I must do. And for the record, our discussion about my staying or leaving as I see fit is over until you accept that you cannot give me orders.”
Having said her piece, Sugar turned and walked to the passenger seat of the airship, sat, and buckled herself in to wait for Rodu.
Rodu clapped a firm hand on his hot-headed son’s shoulder. “There is plenty of time to sort this out later. For now, we need to get the boy back to the palace. The merge just happened, and Lake is going to need a lot of recovery time. So do we, son. Sugar and I fought for our lives tonight.”
Axel glared at his father’s explanation of what had happened while he was passed out. He saw an unfamiliar inflexibility reflecting from his parent’s eyes. He well knew the value of holding his tongue—he just didn’t feel the need to use it often.
Perhaps this moment was worthy of his exception.
“Very well. I’ll return to the palace with Gina. We’ll follow you and see that no one stops your journey back.”
Rodu nodded and clamped down harder to keep Axel from having the last word. It was an annoying trait his son had inherited from his mother. He knew Sugar wasn’t going to tolerate it any better than he did. “Gina does not know what happened. Mind what you say to her.”
Axel nodded tightly at the caution before forcibly breaking away from his father’s grip. He stomped back down the loading ramp. Rodu manually closed the hatch to give himself a little recovery time. He could face a battle with no fear of consequences but facing his children’s strong emotions was another matter. His son was treading down a dangerous path and seemed determined to continue.
Rodu walked to the pilot’s seat and sat. He looked over at Sugar who was battling the power within her and her own anger. Both she and her blade were upset by Axel’s attitude. He well knew
how that felt.
Her gaze when it swung his way was heated and angry. “Your son is arrogant and disrespectful.”
“And passionate about those he loves. Axel will learn to give you space,” Rodu promised. “He was worried tonight and handled it poorly.”
“Will he really learn, Rodu?” Sugar quietly demanded. “I’m not as sure about that as you are. I’ve lived with your son for months. He only knows one way to do things and that’s his way. He wants me to serve the blade only as he thinks is best. It’s hard enough figuring this all out without Axel giving me attitude over everything I do.”
Sighing at the truth of her statement, Rodu started the airship’s engine. Gina was hovering above them in the other airship waiting to make sure they both took off.
“When the urge to kill my son strikes you in the future, please remember he’s the Lyran heir of the Guardians of Earth. If you kill him, Nyomi will never forgive you, or me for letting it happen. I really don’t want to have to deal with all that drama. Let me at least lock him up first to try and teach him better manners.”
Sugar closed her eyes and laughed at the idea of Rodu putting Axel in some sort of Lyran jail until he changed his mind. “I love him, and I’d never kill him, but the new Protector might have if I hadn’t been there to stop Axel tonight. The idiot thought Lake was a threat and tried to pounce on him while he was in panther form. I had to knock him away.”
Rodu grinned. “I’m sure my son will eventually come to understand your defense of the new Protector. Axel does tend to pounce before thinking at times.”
“Yes, he does,” Sugar agreed, still mad about it. “I used to like that about him. Now it just annoys me.”
Rodu nodded. “Love changes over time. Adapting to those changes is critical for the relationship.”
Nodding as well, Sugar stared out the window. Rodu had no idea how depressing his advice was to her. She didn’t see Axel adapting at all, but he would certainly expect her to do so. Axel was the kind of person who made his life be exactly the way he wanted it.
Who wouldn’t do the same if they had the power?
Mad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 2) Page 6