Lion Shifter

by Lucia Ashta

  I slumped to the floor, my hand slipping from the doorknob and dragging along the door. My body weight slouched against the door, slamming it shut. “What’s … happening?” My words were slurred, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

  Paige was at my side, her voice traveling from very far away to reach me. “You’re going to take a long nap, just like your friends. And when you wake up … well, if we’re lucky, you’ll never wake up again. Time to die, princess.”

  She punctuated her statement with a kick to the ribs, and unlike me, Paige wore boots. I thought I should curl into the fetal position and protect my head with my arms, but no movement followed the intention. My eyelids fluttered heavily until they failed to win their fight. As my eyes closed, consciousness vanished. I slid to the floor, dead weight.

  I woke with a start but didn’t open my eyes right away as the memories of Paige and her band of bloodthirsty bitches flooded in. My hands and feet were tightly bound; the cold weight of the metallic collar remained around my neck. A dull throb pulsing through both sides of my ribcage suggested that Paige had gotten in another kick or two after I’d lost consciousness.

  I moved my fingertips and brushed across carpet. Where the hell was I?

  I peeked open my eyes, caught sight of Ky slumped in an unconscious heap across from me, and had to work to keep my panic under control. I focused on keeping my breathing and heart rate steady, two factors vampires were particularly attuned to. There was no way I wanted to alert any vamps that I was awake.

  The room we occupied was dark, but a sliver of light shone beneath the closed door, revealing a sparsely furnished, windowless room. There were two cushy gaming chairs and a couple of couches arranged around a monstrous flat-screen TV. Free-weights, a mini-fridge, and a card table pushed to one corner rounded out the room. There were only two doors, the one with the light under it, which I presumed was the only way out of here, and another one, partially open to reveal bathroom tiling.

  Ky’s arms were bound behind his back and tied to a narrow column. His body slumped awkwardly to one side. He was going to have some serious neck kinks to work out once he roused—after he freaked out about our confinement and tried to kill whoever held us captive, of course.

  Like me, Ky sported a shiny silver collar that was undoubtedly disconnecting him from his lion, just as mine was. A faint blue glow surrounded the metal, casting his normally tanned flesh in an eerie glow. He was seriously going to lose his shit when he woke up and found us here. He might be a jerk of a big brother sometimes, but not when it really counted.

  I strained my ears, listening for any sign that someone was coming to check on us. When I was certain no one was heading our way, I yanked my hands against the column behind them, but only succeeded in chafing my wrists. I checked out the binds around my feet. Zip ties, dammit. There was no way I was breaking free without magic.

  “Ky,” I whispered a few times, but he didn’t react. “Ky,” I whisper-screamed again, searching for anything within reach to throw at him. Nothing, of course. I wasn’t even wearing a shoe I could scoot his way.

  “Are you sure they’re still asleep?” The words slithered through the crack under the door and I froze. Though the words were far away, I recognized that prim voice.

  Wendi. Motherfreaking Wendi!

  “I checked on them five minutes ago,” said a deep male voice I hadn’t heard before. “They’re both out cold.”

  “Okay, good. I need to get back before anyone wakes up and discovers them gone. I can’t be linked to this. Those rabbits will kill me if they find out I’m the one who knocked them out.”

  “Rage said that was part of the deal.”

  “And does Rage keep his deals?”

  The man didn’t respond.

  Wendi growled. “He’d better keep his bargain with me or he’ll regret it. I want my mom back home by the end of the night. I’ve done my part, now you tell him that if he ever calls on me again for anything else, I’ll kill him on sight. And if he ever lays another finger on my family, he’ll beg for death before I’m finished with him. And once he’s dead, I’ll turn him over to Thane.”

  The artificial, saccharine chirp was absent from Wendi’s voice. I had no doubt she meant every word she said. And though Wendi didn’t owe Ky or me any loyalty beyond that required of her role as an Enforcer, I couldn’t prevent the stab of betrayal that wound its way through my guts. I’d trusted her. All of us had trusted her. She’d slept in the next room over.

  If I hadn’t happened to wake up at precisely the right moment, I might have never learned of her involvement. She might have gotten away with handing us over to Rage. She’d probably drugged Sadie and Wren, or whatever the magical equivalent of slipping someone a roofie was, to make sure the vamps could slip in while she was away, likely securing her alibi.

  Oh, Sadie was going to rip Wendi’s head off with her bare hands and dropkick it across campus. But in order to inform Sadie of Wendi’s betrayal, I had to get out of here first.

  I imagined that Ky had arrived to share this man cave basement with me after a similar string of events. Damon, Boone, and Leander had probably been forced into a deep sleep while the male vamps had taken Ky. It had probably been Anton and his lackeys, since the Academy Spell ensured only males were allowed in the boys’ dormitories after dark and only females in the girls’—to prevent any after-hours hanky-panky.

  I’d work out the exact details of our kidnapping later. For now, I had to get us out of here before Rage or Fury arrived to claim their prizes. With our shifter animals out of reach thanks to our new jewelry, it was time to think outside the box. How on earth were Ky and I going to get ourselves out of this one? No ready answers had arrived by the time footfalls padded toward the closed door.

  I snapped my eyes shut and slumped back down the column, ignoring the painful pull on my arms and ribcage as I settled my face into relaxed inexpressiveness. My insides boiled with a desperate determination as the door clicked open.

  16

  “They haven’t stirred at all since they got here,” said the same deep, unfamiliar male voice from before. “I’ve been checking on them every five minutes. They’ve been out cold.”

  “You weren’t supposed to leave their side,” said another voice I’d probably never forget, and I struggled to maintain my ruse of sleep as an icy chill settled deep in my veins. Rage. I’d spent every day since I’d last seen him trying to block out our last encounter.

  “I told you to stay with them at all times,” he said, his voice vibrating with power.

  “But they have the shift blocking collars on, and their hands and feet are tied. They can’t do anything.”

  “If I wanted you to think for yourself, I’d tell you to. You’re lucky nothing happened or I’d be dealing with you right now. Since they’re still here, then I’ll give some thought to how I’ll deal with your disobedience later.”

  “I didn’t mean to disobey,” said the male voice, not so deep anymore as he scrambled to appease Rage. “I just figured there was no way they could go anywhere.”

  “Well, you figured wrong. They’re mountain lions.”

  “With shift blocking collars on.”

  Rage growled, and I heard scuffling footsteps as I imagined they backpedaled from the furious leader of the Shifter Alliance.

  “I’ll deal with you later,” Rage said, ire simmering in every short word. “Now go get the sorcerer. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner my brother can go back to being himself.”

  “Yes, Rage,” the male said in a submissive chirp, and the creaking of the door opening and closing soon followed.

  Ky and I were completely vulnerable, and in the room alone with Rage. There was no one to protect us here. No one to keep him from killing us right now.

  Never before had it been so difficult to remain still, and never before had it been so important.

  Shifters’ senses weren’t like those of vampires; they were sharper than those of most humans
, but they weren’t overly heightened unless we were in our animal forms. But someone as powerful as Rage, strong enough to dominate every other shifter in North America, might scent my fear anyway. I had so much of it pumping through my body that I had no doubt it was permeating through my pores. Still, I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t keep my heart from straining to leap from my chest in a burst of panic. My instincts were to jump up, grab Ky, and run so fast and so far that Rage would never find us.

  And yet Rage had managed what was supposed to be impossible. He’d stolen Ky and me from the Menagerie right out from under more protectors than ever before. Beyond our personal guards, there were other Enforcers across the campus. Vicious trolls and killer rabbits protected the secret mountain oasis, and Sir Lancelot had the entire staff on high alert. Half of the students were advanced enough in their studies to put up a worthy fight.

  But none of the academy’s heightened defenses had managed to halt Rage. What were the odds that I, bound and limited, could do what the others hadn’t? Slim to none, surely. Still, it didn’t matter. Just as Rage had found the way to beat the odds, I’d have to do the same. Because there was no way in hell I was going to allow Rage to take my brother from me … from Dad. If something happened to Ky, Dad would break, I just knew it. And I’d been a crummy daughter lately. I hadn’t spoken to Dad more than a couple of times since the term started. I had to find the way to make things right.

  Sharp inhales punctuated the silence, and I thought my heart might seize up then and there and put an end to all this suffering. Dying from fear was a real risk as I sensed the shifter’s body heat against my mostly bare skin. He was right next to me, hovering over me, sniffing me.

  Oh God. I wasn’t a good enough actress to maintain the illusion of sleep. I was two seconds away from crawling out of my skin, and it’d probably be less than that before Rage discovered I was awake, negating my one and only advantage.

  When the door creaked open, I very nearly gave myself away. My breath hiccupped in my chest. But Rage didn’t say anything before another voice spoke over the loud whooshing of my pulse.

  “There you are, brother. I’ve been looking for you.”

  Fury. It had to be.

  “It won’t be long now,” Rage said. “Before the night is over, you’ll be restored to your full power. I’ll have finally made things right.”

  A few moments passed before Fury spoke again. “Are you sure this is the way to make things right? I sacrificed my power for your life with full understanding of what I was giving up. Saving your life was worth it. I made a choice after weighing the costs. You didn’t steal my power, I gave it to you. But we’ll be stealing their power, and their lives, if we do this.”

  “Not if, brother, when. I’m not turning back now. I can’t live with what I’ve done to you. I have to fix it.”

  “But you can live with taking their lives, or at the very least their power?”

  “Damn right I can. You’re my brother. They’re strangers. It’s an easy choice.”

  So basically Ky and I were at the mercy of a megalomaniac without a conscience. The brother with a semblance of a moral compass was too weak to do more than protest. Just dandy.

  “Excuse me, Fury,” a new voice said. “I’d like to get a look at my subjects.” Two sets of muted footfalls made their way over to me. “The resemblance between the siblings is certainly strong. You’re certain they’re both mountain lions?”

  “A hundred percent,” Rage said. “Fury and I saw both of them a few months ago. They’re both fine specimens.”

  “Hmm, how remarkable. Such an oddity for the same shifter magic to manifest among siblings, and yet there are two sets of you in the room with me.”

  “Save your marveling for later, sorcerer. We’re in a hurry. The Enforcers are sure to start looking for them soon. We’re on borrowed time.”

  “Very well. Our deal remains?”

  “Yes. Once the spell is complete and you’ve succeeded in transferring one of their powers to my brother, restoring his shifter magic to its original state, then I’ll give you the second sibling to do with as you wish.”

  “What will you do with the second one, Jevan?” Fury asked.

  “Experiment with him … or her. There is still so much we don’t understand about shifter magic. Since the Magical Council banned experimentation on living creatures, the expansion of our knowledge has been stunted.” The crazy-ass sorcerer tsked. “I look forward to learning how the identical shifter magic manifested in mother and her two children. It’s most unusual. Pity the mother is dead. I would have liked to study them all.”

  Jevan’s voice was clinical, cold and detached. What the hell was wrong with these fruitcakes?

  “I already got everything you asked for the spell. Your list was long and many of the items were difficult to procure, but I managed it,” Rage said. “I’ll have one of my men fetch them for you.”

  “Very good, very good indeed.” The sorcerer’s voice was greedy, and I imagined him licking reptilian lips. “I’m impressed you managed to find the dwarf bone marrow. Dwarves are notoriously hard to kill.”

  “Like I said, I managed. Now on with it, Jevan.”

  “First I’ll need you to transport them outside. My magic is increased when I’m outdoors, connected to the elements.”

  “Fine.” Rage’s voice was tight. “We can move to the back yard.”

  “No, not the backyard. Thunder Mountain.”

  “Have you lost your damn mind?” Rage snarled. “Didn’t I just say the Enforcers will be looking for them? And the ones who survived our attack are the hardened ones who don’t go down as easily as the others. They’ll put up a fight.”

  “It’s either Thunder Mountain or we risk the success of the transference spell. It’s a super complex spell. Surely you know that or you wouldn’t have asked me to be involved. I need access to the strongest magic in the area. With the academy inside the mountain, its magic will have soaked into the earth around it. Tons of spells are needed to maintain the school. I already told you there’s no guarantee the transference spell will work. It’s incredibly dark, uncommon magic. To increase our chances, we need to be next to the school.”

  “Motherfucker!” Rage roared, and I jumped, then immediately tensed in preparation for whatever would come of their discovery that I’d been listening to their conversation all along. But they didn’t notice my jerk, and my heart stuttered when I realized why.

  Ky groaned as if he were in pain, and the three men in the room with us focused on him. I peeked through half-shuttered eyelids. The two shifters were large and bulky, taller even than Ky and as broad in the shoulders as Boone. Fury might have been stunted in his mountain lion form, but he wasn’t in his human form. He was as muscled and solid as his brother.

  The sorcerer, however, was as petite as Jas and Marcy June, but with none of their evident aggression and ferocity. In skinny jeans and a cable knit sweater, he appeared totally insignificant. In the faint lighting, I pegged him at a scrawny mid-thirties, though with dark sorcerers without scruples, and access to myriad spells that could probably affect the rate of their aging, I suspected it was hard to tell.

  The three men hovered over Ky, allowing me a limited view between their backs. I opened my eyes all the way, struggling to make out the features of his face in the dim light. At least Fury had left the door open, allowing more light from the hallway into the room, but I still couldn’t be sure how badly Ky was injured. I didn’t see blood anywhere, but that didn’t mean much in a world where a blast of magic could end your life in a flash that wouldn’t leave a single mark on your body.

  Ky came to with a start. It took a full three seconds before he registered that Rage, Fury, and Jevan leaned over him. When he did, he kicked out at them with his bound legs while simultaneously tugging on the bindings around his wrists.

  Rage and Fury swiftly evaded his kicks, but Jevan wasn’t quick enough, and the sorcerer stumbled backward, tripping on his own feet
, and fell flat on his ass. He sat up gingerly, hissing at my brother. “I hope he’s mine.”

  Ky growled, perhaps too furious for words, and kicked out again. But Rage and Fury were out of reach. He heaved and jerked his arms until the column behind him groaned—but it wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Where am I? What have you done to me? Why can’t I shift?”

  Jevan claimed his feet and strutted back toward Ky, though this time he kept his distance. “That would be me. You’re wearing one of my inventions. I like to call it the You’re Fucked Collar.”

  “How very quaint.” Ky snarled … until his gaze landed on me across from him. “Rina?” he whispered, and my stomach sank. I hadn’t sensed any panic or fear from my brother … until now. Until he discovered me in the You’re Screwed Scenario right along with him.

  He stared at me for a few, tense beats, and then he struggled against his bindings with renewed fury. He yanked on his fastenings so hard that the column shook and a fine dust of plaster rained down from above him. “Let. Her. Go,” he panted, nostrils flared as if he were embodying his lion without the shift of form.

  Rage stared at him, and then turned to look at me. I didn’t close my eyes in time, though I didn’t suppose there was much point to my ruse anymore anyway. He crouched in front of Ky, his thigh muscles bulging against the fabric of his jeans. “No. I’m not letting either one of you go until you’ve given me what I want. So there’s no point fighting. You won’t escape, and I’ll do as I please. With both of you.”

  “I won’t let you touch her. You’ll have to kill me first.”

  Fury grimaced, obviously uncomfortable with the situation, but Rage smiled with a lethal determination that had me wishing Ky would stop antagonizing him. “Have you not figured it out yet, boy? You have no control here. Not over your fate, or your sister’s. The best you can hope for is to make it painless for both of you. Do as we ask and I’ll make your death swift. Fight me, and I’ll make you beg for death before I’m through with you.”