Seventeen

The sounds of fighting could be heard outside the cabin—panthers, a wolf, coyotes, even a bear. Their cries mixed with pain and agony. Augur jerked away from the window and darted toward the front door. Whatever happened outside, apparently scared him. Adira watched as he jerked the door open and reached outside. One of the men who went to the back emerged and darted to the front door to take Augur’s place. A quick glance over her shoulder showed that the other guy remained in the back. Now was her chance. Taking a deep breath, she sent power through her arms, sending blue light from her forearms to sizzle and help her break the ropes that held her. They shredded, charred, and fell to the ground as she sprang from the chair, knocking it backward.

The noise startled the goon who headed to the front door, causing him to spin toward Adira. She jerked her arm out, palms up, as blue fire erupted from her hand and sent a ball of energy into the man’s chest. The power picked him up, sending him flailing through the air and into the wall, which he crashed into with a shattering crack, causing shelves and knickknacks to fall around his body.

She focused so much on the man in front of her, she forgot about the one in the back of the cabin until it was too late. He grabbed her from behind, spinning her to the ground and into the tipped-over chair, smashing it as she fell. The shattered pieces of wood sliced into her, causing her to scream as it drew blood. Rolling over onto her back, she called the power she stored and sent it into the man’s chest as he leaned down to grip her neck. The blue fire hit him like a wrecking ball, lifting him into the air and sending him flying to land on the table where he had sat earlier, playing cards spewing into the air. Adira glanced in his direction to see if he would attack her again. He wouldn’t. The table leg protruded from his chest, blood oozing out, soaking into his shirt.

The other man picked himself up off the ground, tossing the remnants of the shelf he broke in his fall to the side. His eyes flashed yellow, his coyote struggling to get out. There was no hesitation. No time for fear. She lashed out, gripping him with her power, and lifting him into the air once more. With a shove of her hand, she sent him flailing through the air until he hit the wall once again, his head snapping back and cracking against the wooden structure. His body slid to the floor, motionless.

As she took a deep breath in a feeble attempt to steady her nerves, she heard the hiss of a panther outside the cabin along with the snarl of a coyote. Dimitri! She didn’t think; she just reacted, moving quickly through the shattered mess of the cabin to the front door. She needed to get to her panther.

Reaching the door, she gripped the knob and flung it open, stepping out into the pandemonium that enveloped the grounds around the cabin. Bane lifted his body off the porch as he continued to shift into his coyote, while out in the yard Dimitri wrestled with another coyote, who she assumed was Augur. Since Dimitri had Augur, Adira turned her attention to Bane. Claws poked out of his fingers as his hands shrunk to paws, his arms and legs popping, twisting into his coyote’s legs, his torso shrinking as fur oozed from his flesh, covering his body. She needed to halt his transformation.

She heard the rustling of the animals behind her, jerking her attention back around. Augur’s coyote was on top of Dimitri’s panther, whose jaws were clamped down on the coyote’s shoulder. She forced her attention away from the fighting animals and back to Bane. Dimitri would have to handle himself for the time being. She needed to put an end to Bane.

With a flick of her wrist, she sent her power outward, wrapping Bane in a web of blue energy, bringing a halt to his transformation. As she lifted her arm, Bane’s body rose into the air, the transformation stopped. It was weird to see him that way, half human, half coyote, his face covered in fur, his ears pointed and flipped back, while the rest of his face remained that of the bastard who kidnapped her. She held him there, his legs—part man, part animal—dangling, as she stepped closer, her lips curled in a snarl. “As you can see,” she said as she drew closer to him, “my power is no longer in shards. It’s pretty much back to normal.” She squeezed her fingers together, and Bane screamed out as if she squeezed him. “We warned you to leave. A pity you didn’t heed it.”

He jerked his twisted face to her, his gold eyes filled with rage and hatred. Through clenched teeth, he sneered, “I’m going to kill you and everyone else in this god damn pl…”

A tawny blur darted across her vision as she heard the angry hiss of a panther. Dimitri struck Bane in the chest, his claws digging into the other man, knocking them both to the porch as Dimitri’s fangs bit into Bane’s throat. With a snap of his head, his jaw broke Bane’s neck. He dropped the man to the ground, almost as if he spat Bane out as something disgusting.

Adira heard rustling behind her. Turning she saw the others—Josh, Alanna, and Ezra—coming out of the forest, blood covering their naked bodies, some of it theirs, but most appearing to be that of their enemies. She let out a sigh of relief as she turned back to Dimitri. He had already transformed, his naked body still on the ground held up by his hands and knees. Blood dripped from his mouth and covered his chest and arms. She didn’t care. She raced to where he knelt on the ground, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him against her. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.

Sirens cried out in the distance. Dimitri waved at the others to get out of there. While Chet knew about shifters in his jurisdiction, he didn’t need it thrown in his face so that he couldn’t use deniable plausibility and have to start making arrests. The attacks looked like they were done by animals, and that didn’t need to be contradicted by a bunch of naked, bloody shifters in human form.

Josh nodded once and then led the others back into the woods and out of sight.

“Help me stand,” Dimitri said, his voice harsh, his breathing heavy.

“All right, Catnip, take it easy,” she said, slipping a hand around his arm as she helped him to his feet. “You know, I did have him under control. Although, you looked sexy as hell when you knocked him out of my spell, all snarly and furry.”

He chuckled, as he stood. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun, now, could I?” He straightened, stretching his sore muscles. “Let’s find me some clothes in the cabin. I don’t think Chet or Deputy Johnson want to see me in the buff.”

She gave him a salacious grin as she raked her gaze up and down his taut body. “I don’t know. You look pretty damn hot to me. I may want to keep you this way.”

“Later,” he promised as he led her to the cabin. “So, what happened in there?” he asked, gesturing toward the cabin.

Adira shrugged. “Seems your mate mark did more than permanently leave an impression of your teeth in my flesh. My power is healed, no more shards I can’t trust. Bane assumed I was still broken, but I guess I surprised him.” She winked at Dimitri.

He laughed again as he stepped onto the porch. “I guess you did.”

They entered the cabin and rummaged through the back bedroom until they found something that came close to fitting Dimitri. Adira had to admit, she dreaded watching him cover up his body. She would much rather he stay naked, that they both were naked, and he was pressing his body against hers, her hands running over his chest, down his legs, and grabbing his cock. She couldn’t understand it. She should be exhausted after the battle they just fought, but she wasn’t. It turned her on, needing him to take her, satisfy her. She grabbed him, pulling him to her, her lips searching out his as she ran her hands up and down his back. He glided a hand up her spine and into her hair, pulling her head back as he bit down on her neck, hissing as he did.

She cried out, clawing him, as she felt her body tense. Only the sound of sirens and the flashing of lights through the windows kept her from throwing him on the bed and having her way with him. She growled her frustration, to which he only laughed as he finished slipping a shirt on to cover up the blood on his arms. No time to wash up.

“Shall we go fabricate a story for Chet?” he asked, as he gestured to the door.

“Not what I really want to do, but I guess if we must,” she said with an over-dramatic sigh, which she didn’t really fake. She didn’t want to talk to Chet about Bane and the misguided coyotes; she wanted to fuck Dimitri. Needed to fuck him if she was honest. Never before had lust filled her so much, but the desire she felt for Dimitri right then almost overwhelmed her.

He kissed her nose. “Soon, my witch. I promise. I want it as much as you do, trust me.”

“Then let’s get this over with quick. I need your cock.”

He grinned at her. “Good.” He passed through the doorway, and she wanted to spell him back to the bedroom. This needed to go quick, or she would go crazy with want. She stared at his ass as he walked away. Scratch that. I’m already crazy with want. Chet better not be chatty.