by Sadie Jacks
An odd choking sound filtered through the noise in the room. I looked up and around trying to pinpoint it.
Red Head was staring at me as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Or a huge fricking bear, brother,” Xander said in my brain. We didn’t have to use the tech implant to talk to each other. Telepathy had always been ours for the taking. But it only worked between the two of us. Outside of the guys on the implant network. I chalked it up to a twin thing. Xander wasn’t quite sure, but he didn’t contradict me either.
“Red is getting antsy. He shits his pants, I’m outta here.”
Xander smiled.
“We might need to retain Red and Captain Silent over there,” I said to the rest of the guys. Captain Silent looked pleased with himself, but I honestly couldn’t explain why. A bit freaky looking with all the hardware in his face. And a copy of his eyes on his eyelids.
I shook my head, blinked really fast. Yup, tattoos of his eyes on his lids. People were so fucked up these days.
Captain Silent turned and smiled at me. He gave me a quick wink.
“Shit. Captain Silent has telepathy. Get him!” I yelled just as the Captain pushed through the lab doors.
Taryk looked over his shoulder. He hit a button on his watch. The entire building’s lights went from white to red as the lockdown procedure went into effect.
“Asher, you’re with me,” he said as he pushed through the doors after Captain.
Since the top of my head was starting to get hot, I trotted after him. The guys jumped out of my way.
Guess I need to remember I’m huge now. That’s right muthafuckas! I’m about to get ripped.
Xander laughed in my mind. “Just get the asshole. If he’s who I think he is, he’s the one who kicked Kiema out of the helo.”
The smile melted from my face.
Bitch was mine.
“Happy hunting, brother.”
Taryk ran while I kinda trotted to the side doors. Captain was sitting there on the floor like he’d been expecting us to show up and we were taking too long in coming to get him.
“If you can really talk, I suggest you start using your words. Or my friend here is going to experience his first raw meat snack,” Taryk said.
I snapped my jaws together.
Captain shook his head, pointed to his throat. He lifted a hand to his head, moved his mouth. Lifted his hand to me.
“I’m guessing he wants to talk to you mind to mind,” Taryk said out loud.
“The fuck?” I said on the mental network.
Taryk laughed, said it again.
“He good?” I asked.
“Kiema vouched for him.”
I turned to study Captain.
You hurt me or mine, I will end you. Got me, bro? I sent to him mentally.
He smirked and nodded.
I lowered my head so he could rest his hand on the top of it.
“Guardian, I greet you in peace.” His voice was low and deep. Like waves hitting a beach, it slid through my mind.
“Get the fuck on, Cap. I need to get back to Kiema.”
“Your mistress wanes. Retrieve her lost magic or she will perish.”
I told Taryk what Cap said. All the other guys’ minds went quiet with bated breath. Except Atlas, he was busy trying to save our lady love.
“What lost magic?” Taryk said as he got up in Cap’s face.
“Puny human. Even in guardian form you cannot hurt me. Her magic is still at the house of healing. Retrieve it. You must put it back or she will die.”
The sounds of running feet came up behind us. As soon as the rest of the guys joined us, Cap smiled at me.
“You are brave and your spirit light. She will need it in the future.” With another wink, he evaporated into thin air.
“The fuck?” I sent out over the mental network.
Chapter 8 – Kiema
It felt like someone was running sandpaper through my veins. I whimpered against the pain. Everything hurt.
A low voice next to my ear was murmuring, the tone low and soft. I turned my head, wanting more of that sweet music. With a fight, I raised my lids a fraction.
Bright light surrounded me, stabbing me through the eye straight into my brain. I snapped my lids closed, turned away. That low sonorous voice grew harsh as it barked commands. Soon, darkness descended behind my lids as a cool mist fluttered into the air around me.
Like being dipped in a cool pool after too long in the sun, I could feel my skin soaking up the moisture. I relaxed down onto the uncomfortable bench, letting my muscles lengthen as much as possible.
“That’s the way, love. Let the eggheads do their work,” Lukas said. His accent and slang making me smile.
“You can take your hands off her now. And no, that wasn’t a suggestion,” someone said from above me, voice harsh and tight.
“I’m not leaving until I hear the tale of that great furry beast you’ve running around your laboratory like it’s in an animal confinement.”
“You weren’t welcome to leave. And we don’t have to tell you anything. Now, take your hands off my patient.”
Ah, Dr. Atlas.
A low growl. “I’ll not tell you again.”
Lukas’ hands left my arm. Oh. That was the sandpaper. “Easy, mate. Just making sure you could touch her without issue.”
“And what makes you an authority on how her magic works?”
“I have no idea how her magic works. I just know what I can do.”
“And what is that?” Ransom asked, his voice farther away.
I wiggled, trying to get to him. To have him pull me into his arms. “Ransom.”
“I’m a null. And your lovey is trying to get you. Get your sexy ass over here to her before she tries to crawl off the damn table.”
I had barely heard my own voice when I said Ransom’s name. I was surprised Lukas heard it at all.
Warm hands grabbed my right hand. Not quite the velvet wrapped steel I remembered, but they didn’t hurt nearly as much as Lukas’ rough palms.
“Angel,” Ransom said. I’m guessing it was him who laid his lips carefully against my own. Drops of liquid fell onto my face.
I cracked my eyes open. His dark blue eyes were inches from mine, his overflowing with tears. “Don’t ever do that again,” he whispered.
“I’ll make sure not to get kidnapped in the future,” I rasped back.
Lukas laughed at my response.
Fast as a snake, Ransom punched Lukas in the belly without taking his gaze from mine.
The man who’d saved my life bent in half with a loud “oof!”
“You really shouldn’t be so mean to him.” I squeezed Ransom’s hand.
“Would this also be the person who punched you in the head?” Ransom asked, his voice gentle. He turned slightly, his eyes hot and hard as he looked at Lukas as if sizing him up as an opponent in battle.
“Okay, mate. Now just wait—” His words were cut off by another blow to the belly.
Ransom had both hands up near his face, standing in profile to me at the side of the table.
As Lukas wheezed beside me, he lifted his face a little. “She punched me in the crackers, gov. We’re stevens.” His hands were pushing and prodding at his belly.
“He means even,” I clarified.
Ransom chuckled. “You two might be. Doesn’t mean me and the guys are stevens.”
“Fucking bloody hell,” Lukas said, pain wrapping each word like a lover.
Ransom pushed him away from the table. “You get some rest, angel. We’ll be right outside those doors.” He pointed at the main entrance to the infirmary. Then he leaned down, kissed my lips again.
“Be careful with him, Ransom. He’s my friend,” I said on a sigh as my eyes slid closed.
Chapter 9 – Saint
I gritted my teeth as Kiema’s eyes slid closed once again. I needed to see her, feel her, hold her myself. To know that my mate would be okay. I clenched my fists at my side. Ransom was curled above her, scenting her
, touching her.
As the machines hooked up to Kiema settled into a steady, normal rhythm, Ransom reached out and collared the tall red headed man who was attempting to get away. Pushing the stranger in front of him, Ransom indicated for all of us to leave the room.
“Just outside the doors, Saint. We’ll keep an eye on her.”
I pushed the need to get in his face, to stake my claim on her, to the back of my mind. She wasn’t only mine. I ground my teeth together so hard a spear of pain slid from my jaw to my temple.
Ransom released the intruder. “Explain yourself Lukas. And fast.”
“Wait. This is Lukas?” Xander asked.
Ransom nodded.
Without so much as another breath, Xander laid into Lukas like he was a championship fighter in the ring.
All of us stood around, almost in shock. Xander was the quiet one. The one who sat back and played with his electronics. The one to diffuse the situations we typically got into.
Asher, still in bear form, swiped at his brother. “We need answers first, Xan. Then you can beat him to a pulp.”
Xander pushed at his twin. “Back the fuck up, Ash. I won’t tell you again.” Xander’s face was red, his forehead beaded with sweat. He had hate and anger on his face.
We all stood there, thumbs up our collective asses as Xander went crazy on the red head.
The grunts and groans came less frequently, from both Xander and Lukas as Xander ran out of steam.
Xander glanced up. He had tears running down his cheeks.
“He hurt her.” It was the only thing he said before stepping back and slipping to the floor at the base of the door to the infirmary.
Asher stepped over the unconscious form of Lukas. He walked up to his brother, laid down at his feet. His huge bear head almost bigger than Xander’s lap. Xander sank his fingers into his twin’s fur. More tears traced his cheeks.
A low broken moan from the floor pulled the rest of our attention. Lukas was waking up. I almost rubbed my hands together in delight.
It was my turn to play.
**
“Bit on the small side, yeah?” Lukas said around a grimace as I walked into the room across the hall from the infirmary.
We couldn’t keep him in Xander’s sight and Xander wasn’t leaving his spot. We improvised.
I ignored the bigger man’s comment. I’d heard its variation most of my life. Especially after I hooked up with the rest of the guys in college. I was just fine with my height. Didn’t have an ounce of pride wrapped up in it.
“So, getting scrote punched is on your list of favorites?” I asked pleasantly.
Lukas winced and shifted slightly in his chair. “She’s a mean one, that Kiema.”
I smiled fondly. “She’s many things. To all of us. This is your only warning: do not disrespect her in our presence. It will not end well for you.”
Lukas studied me. Nodded.
I nodded in return. “Wonderful. Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you.”
Lukas chuckled. It died a quick death as all of us watched him with stone faces.
“Because I’m Kiema’s friend.” It sounded more like a question than a statement.
“And how did you get to be her friend? She doesn’t have those apart from us,” Ransom said.
“I saved her life.”
“Yes, after you paired up with the assholes who chucked her from the helo. Well done,” Taryk said, his voice soft. The promise of danger was ripe.
Lukas held up his hands in surrender. “Look, mates, I’ve been working with Reece for the last fifteen-odd years to help get people out of Slither’s hands.”
Iron Serpent…Slither. Cute.
“And what made you decide on such a noble endeavor?” I asked. My weight was perfectly balanced on the balls of my feet. I wasn’t leaning against the walls like the others were. If this fucker did anything, I would be there first.
He opened his mouth, a twinkle in his eye.
I reached out and slapped him. With an open hand. The crack of flesh on flesh resonated in the small room. “Do not make some quip. The truth, now. Or I’ll suffer Kiema’s wrath and kill you myself.”
It would kill me to hurt her, but to save her, I would carry that weight. That burden.
The bloom of red on his face placated the place inside me that was nothing but savagery and protective instincts.
“My sister was caught up by Slither,” Lukas said through gritted teeth.
“In order to avenge your sister, you decided to join up and increase their ranks? Did you not love your sister? Not care for her as a brother ought?” I asked, enjoying the flush of rage that stained his neck and cheeks.
“Shut your fucking mouth about my sister.”
Button number one.
“Then I suggest you carry on with your story in greater detail,” I said softly.
“Slither came by one day. Drove right up to the flat, knocked on the door. Asked for Charity by name. Said they were there to answer her questions.” Lukas shook his head, his dirty red hair fluttering in the breeze of the motion.
“She was so little, just a child really. Mum and Da had gone out, left me in charge. I had no idea she was even playing on the webs. Certainly not in the deep webs, did I? When I said they had to come back later, they pushed in. Grabbed her up. Knocked me out. I woke up when Mum and Da stormed up, all in a tizz.”
The look on his face showed his confusion, even after all this time.
“It was about seven years after that that I finally found them. I was recruited after I went to a Sheocreth Center for testing. I don’t have magic. But I do disable all the magic around me with a single touch. I was pulled into Slither, set up with training for all sorts of idiocy. After I was trained up, I was sent out with Reece and his team.”
A low snarl erupted from my lips. Reece. I wanted to get my hands on that fucker.
“It wasn’t until I got Kiema to the camp that Reece started acting bonkers. And not just one little thing. He was right batshit from the get. Then after they took Kiema into hospital, I knew we were cranked.”
“What did they do to her in the hospital?” Atlas interrupted. He pushed off the wall, got into Lukas’ space.
Lukas licked his lips. Winced when he hit a cut with his tongue. “Strapped her down. Shoved every kind of needle into her, sucked out blood, some clear fluid from her spine. I had to hold her hand to keep her magic from working on any of them.”
I watched his face. His eyes were bone dry, haunted. He looked the same now as when he was telling the part about his sister.
“Well fuck, Lukas. You love her, too,” I said out loud.
The words just fell from my lips without any thought or command from my brain.
The men around me all growled, low and dangerous.
“Like a sister. Like my Charity.” He backed up, his hands up in surrender once more as he touched the far wall with his back. “I don’t fancy her knickers, or what’s inside them. You sexy lot are more my speed.”
I blinked.
“Not interested, but thanks so much for the compliment,” Taryk said as if he was hit on by men every day.
Lukas shrugged. “Don’t think I’d actually go for any of you brutes.” His eyes lingered on Atlas’ lankier frame before he shook his head. “Too big and beefy for me. But I’ve no designs on Kiema beyond keeping her safe.”
I stabbed a finger in his direction. “Stay here.”
“Let’s go back out to the hallway and discuss what we’re going to do,” I said down our mental pathway.
We filed out the door in single file.
“Not quite what I was expecting. Think he’s for real?” Atlas asked.
“You and Taryk have spent the most time with him. What are your thoughts?” Ransom asked.
Taryk nodded. “I think he’s on the up. He only bucked an order when he had to let go of Kiema.” He looked at Atlas.
Atlas rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Yeah. That’s true. He sa
t with her, held her hand, stroked her hair, petted her.”
A growl broke through my control.
“Not like that, Saint. You heard him, he’s gay.”
I didn’t fucking care. Until she was mine, I didn’t want anyone not in our group around her.
“What about the other guy?” I asked.
“He disappeared,” Asher said from his spot by his drowsy twin. “Just vanished like smoke. He did say if we don’t restore Kiema’s magic, she’ll die.”
“What the fuck did you just say?!” I yelled at him out loud.
Chapter 10 – Saint
I rushed back into the room that held Lukas. Wrapping my hand around his wrist, I yanked him to follow me. He groaned as he clutched at his stomach. Stumbling behind me, I half carried him out to the hallway.
“Touch him.” I pointed at Asher’s bear.
Lukas leaned down, another pained groan flowing from his mouth, and touched Asher without another word.
Awful rips and groans, tears and screams emerged from my rapidly changing brother.
Xander woke at the first tearing sound. He pushed back as far as possible, a horrified look on his face. “What the fuck is happening to Asher?”
“I think Saint has some questions for him that he didn’t want to wait for answers over the implant,” Taryk said, a hint of a chuckle in his voice.
I snarled at the man behind me.
Asher lay naked, panting and retching on the cold concrete floor of the lab. “The fuck, Saint?” he said between dry heaves.
“Explain yourself, Asher.” I could feel myself going cold. That place inside me that held not my magic, but rather it held my antipathy. The place I went to when things needed to be done…hard things.
“Don’t push him right now, Ash. Look at his face,” Ransom said softly.
Asher looked up at me from the ground. His golden brown eyes at first narrowed and pissed off. They slowly widened as he righted himself and sat cross legged on the floor.
Lukas choked, his face flamed red out of the corner of my eye.
“Clothes. Now,” Taryk ordered.
“They disintegrated when I shifted.” Asher shrugged, his usual disregard for who saw him naked shining through.