Sixteen

Adira’s head throbbed where Augur cracked it with…well, with whatever it was he used to hit her. Adira had no idea what that was, only that it hurt like hell. Then and now. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to open them, the light in the room stinging. She could hear voices off to the side—Bane and Augur—discussing what to do with Dimitri when he arrived to rescue her. She struggled against her bonds, pressing against the ropes that held her in place. She couldn’t allow Bane to use her to hurt Dimitri. She wouldn’t allow it.

She tried to twist her hands, so she could use her power to get out of her bindings, but the coyote pack was smarter than she gave them credit for and bound her wrists so that she couldn’t move her fingers. She grinned as she glanced off to the side where they stood, Bane conversing with Augur, while two others sat at a table in the corner playing cards or something. Not one of them seemed concerned with the woman bound to the chair. They were so naïve. So stupid. It would cost them in the end.

She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. With her inner core, she reached out to her surroundings, called to the earth around the building in which they held her captive, reached for the wind as it brushed through the trees, pulled in the power of the nearby Crabgrass Creek that ran to the south of Bull Creek. She called to the energy from every life source around her, filling her own reservoir of power. When she opened her eyes, she could feel the power thrumming within her, filling her, ready to explode. She bit her inner cheek, tamping down the power, holding it at bay until she needed to unleash it. With another deep breath, she opened her eyes and stared at the men who set off to the side, knowing she didn’t need her fingers to cast her magic.

Bane looked up and noticed her watching them, his leer turning up the corners of his mouth. “Nice of you to join us,” he said, as he crossed the floor to where she was held. “I hope Augur here hasn’t hurt you too badly. He’s always been a little overzealous in his pursuit of our cause.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Your cause? This isn’t some charity you’re trying to raise money for or some political issue to which you’re trying to raise awareness. This is a bunch of shifters being a prejudiced gang of bullies. You don’t have a cause. You have a fucked-up view of life.”

His mouth turned into a sneer as he leaned down, his face inches from hers. “Ah, but it is an issue of which we’re trying to raise awareness. You see, humans are such inferior creatures, and it’s about time they were put in their proper link on the evolution chain. Shifters need to rise and take control.”

“Shifters and humans coexist, and they do it peacefully until bullies like yourself try to think themselves better than they are,” she said. “Your chest thumping only means you have a tiny dick and a narrow heart. What’s the matter? Did mommy not love you enough when you were little?”

He backhanded her, and her cheek stung from the blow as her head snapped to the side. “I’d be careful, my little witch. I’ve noticed your sporadic magic the last few times we’ve been close. I kind of think you’re in no shape to be so mouthy to me. The other shifter races may like that. Coyotes prefer a female who knows her place.”

She slowly turned her gaze to Bane, her eyes narrow slits of hatred. “This woman’s place is to see you’re banished from Bull Creek.” She was about to show him just how wrong he was about her magic when Augur called out to him. She held off, waiting for another opportunity.

“What?” Bane yelled as he left her and walked back over to his first-in-command who peered out the window. The other two at the table paused their game and stared at Augur.

Augur didn’t turn to face the bigger man. “Looks like we have company.”

She wished she could see what they saw. She didn’t want to be the reason Dimitri walked into a trap. She needed to get out of her bonds, and now!

Bane grabbed at the curtain, pulling it to the side to give him a better view of what was happening outside of the cabin. “Do you see anyone else or just him?”

“No one else that I can see,” Augur answered. “I’ve got coyotes hiding around the perimeter. If he did bring others, they’ll find them and put them down.”

Bane nodded his approval without turning to look at the other man. “Show no mercy,” he said. He then turned his focus to Adira. “Anyone who sympathizes with the riff-raff will join them in their fate.”

She strained against her ropes, wanting desperately to get her hands around the man’s thick neck and snap it. She’d show him no mercy once she was free from her bonds.

Bane just smiled at her before turning toward Augur. “I’m going out to meet our neighborhood panther. You keep an eye on Witchy Poo there.” He then gestured to the others. “You two keep an eye on the back door. We don’t need any surprises.”

They jumped to obey as Bane crossed the distance to the front door. As he gripped the doorknob, he turned once more back to Adira, a smirk on his face. “I do hope you had a decent farewell kiss,” he said. “You won’t get another one. At least, not from Dimitri.” He winked at her as he turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped out into the Florida heat to face his adversary.

Adira growled as she felt the sparks sizzle from her fingertips behind her. She couldn’t wait to wipe that smug smirk from his pathetic face. He would regret ever sending his goon squad to fetch her.

Augur smirked at her before he turned his focus back to the window and the scene that unfolded. Good, she thought. Keep your attention outside for just a little while longer.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dimitri watched, as Bane stepped out of the cabin, the smug, over-confident grin on his face taunting Dimitri’s panther. He could scent Adira inside, could smell her blood in the air from where they hurt her, and it took all Dimitri’s willpower not to give in to his panther’s urgent desire to rush in and rip everyone inside the cabin to shreds.

“Dimitri,” Bane said, “I warned you. I told you to send everyone packing, but oh, no, you just had to show how pathetic you are by sticking up for people who can’t stick up for themselves.”

“Isn’t that the opposite of being pathetic?” Dimitri said as he took a few steps toward the cabin. “I kind of think you’re the weak one, Bane. You’re afraid of anyone who’s not like you, afraid of diversity. You’re a coward, and you only want to run everyone off, so you don’t have to deal with what you’re afraid to face.”

Bane growled. “Your words mean nothing. Humans are a scourge on the forests, and they need to go. They destroy what we cherish, wasting resources that we need. You keeping them here only prolongs the inevitable. My patience has run out. It’s too late for you to save them. My pack will kill them, just as soon as we finish with you and your little girlfriend.”

Snarls and howls erupted from the woods around the cabin, and a loud roar from a bear burst from the woods behind it. From off to the side, a panther and a coyote tumbled out, their claws ripping into each other as they bit down on the other’s neck, doing their best to get a grip on their opponent. They sprawled out on the earth, snapping and clawing at each other. Dimitri ignored the fight Josh was in and stayed focused on Bane. The leader of the coyote pack did the same, his gaze riveted on Dimitri. More fights broke out in the woods around the cabin as coyotes found the shifters Dimitri brought with him. He heard the howl of Alanna’s wolf fill the air, followed by a yelp of pain. He needed to end this and now.

His panther hissed as he began to shift, claws stretching from his fingers as his panther’s tawny fur slid out from his skin, his bones popping and snapping as he surrendered to the transformation from man to panther. This ended tonight.

As soon as he was on all fours, he hissed again and sprang toward Bane who was also transforming into his coyote. Dimitri hit the other man in mid-transformation, knocking him down on the cabin’s porch, Bane’s bones still popping as he shifted. The door behind them opened, and Augur lunged out, reaching out for Dimitri’s neck. Dimitri leaped backward out of Augur’s reach, just as he heard Adira scream from inside the cabin along with the sounds of breaking furniture.