CHAPTER 21
The strong smell of smoke hit Lena first as they came through the door.
She focused on the fire, noticing it wasn’t drawing as well as it should.
The inside of this dwelling didn’t look much better than the outside.
The flooring was rough. It looked as if someone had taken a blade and gouged strips out of it, dirt showing through the cracks.
Furniture appeared homemade, and the carpenter had not been talented.
Stained cushions had been thrown over the crooked pieces.
There were three males crowded into the small room.
They stepped to the side of the fireplace, watching Teo warily.
The elder with the weapon motioned to a dust-covered chair that looked big enough to hold two people. “Sit down,” he growled. “Both of you.”
“You sure about this, Pops?” a shorter male said, his golden hair worn longer than the others. All three were dressed in denim pants, plaid shirts and denim coats.
“You got a better idea, Matt? Unless you assholes want to become blood bags for the vamps, we gotta stand up for ourselves.”
“I don’t know how many times we have to say this before it sinks in,” Teo said. “It’s not the vampires you need to worry about.”
“Be quiet!” Pops snapped, pointing his weapon at Teo. “Maybe you like being food for vampires, but we aren’t going to stand for it.”
“Blood is rarely taken from an unwilling donor, and if it is, there is usually a good reason for it. The exception is rogues, and we take care of them ourselves.”
“That’s a lie,” Pops said. “One of your Hunters took blood from me against my will.” He sneered. “In fact, it was Jax, that bitch Haven’s partner.”
“Did you challenge him?” Teo asked. “It’s the only reason I can think of that he would. If he had not taken blood, he might have been forced to hurt you.”
“I didn’t do jack shit to the big bastard. We can’t trust vampires. I refuse to let them get a foothold in our pack.”
“Since Jax is not here to defend himself, it is pointless to continue arguing. Vampires are not your enemies. Djinn are. There was a time we believed vampires were the main target of Djinn. It’s not.
It’s us shifters. If you refuse the helping hand being offered, you will not survive what is coming. ”
“We don’t believe you.”
“If you had not acted rashly by taking me and Lena, we could have proven what we say is true. We would have brought the Umi queen back to speak with you. She is the queen to all shifters. But I’m afraid it’s too late for you and the other males here.”
“What do you mean by that?” one of the males said, taking a step forward.
“You have proven you can’t be trusted. Your alpha will have the last say, but I suspect you’ll all be imprisoned until after the Djinn have been dealt with.”
“Are you going to sit there and let these cats abuse you, Zephralena?”
Lena jumped at the deep, feminine voice that entered her mind. She did not recognize it, nor did she know where it came from. “Who is this?” Lena noticed Teo frowning as he looked down at her.
“A friend,” the voice said. “If you let me in, I can help you.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Lena didn’t like this. She searched for her link to Gauge but couldn’t find it. “What have you done?”
“Hush, little serpent. Your mate hasn’t gone anywhere. I simply wanted to have a private conversation with you. Tell the tracker you are fine. He senses there is something not quite right here.”
“Lena?” Teo said. “Who are you talking to?”
Lena felt confused. On the one hand, she didn’t want to lie to Teo. On the other, she was curious about this strange voice. “I’m fine.”
“What are you talking about?” Pops said, raising his gun to point at Lena. “Are you speaking to your vampire lover? He can’t help you now.”
The voice inside her head began to laugh. “These shifters are fools. They believe you need someone else to fight your battles for you. You don’t, little serpent. You are more than capable of taking care of yourself.”
“I don’t know what you mean. What can I do? They have silver in their weapons. It could kill me or Teo.”
“Only if you allow them to use it. You are Leviathan. Use your fire against them. Take out the one with the weapon first. The others will give up easily enough.”
“I’m female. Females are not gifted with fire.”
“Ah, but you are different, young serpent. You mated an ancient Laizahlian. I admit I didn’t see this one coming, but the pairing could prove to be most interesting. Of course, you need to convince him to finish the mating. Convince him to sting you with his growing shaprata.”
“How do you know about this?”
“It doesn’t matter. Now, would you like to learn how to access your fire?”
Would she?
“I won’t force you, young serpent. You can wait until your lover shows up to save the day. I just thought you might like to stand up for yourself.”
Lena looked around the room. All eyes were on her, the cat shifters moving restlessly. What did they feel? She didn’t sense the person behind this voice meant her harm.
“Lena, are you speaking with Gauge?” Teo asked, taking her hand. “I know you are talking to someone.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know who it is.”
“You may not know this, but there was a time when female serpents were born with the same abilities as your males,” the voice said, distracting her.
“Males can be prideful creatures. They wanted their females submissive, so they began to breed out their strongest assets: the ability to shift into battle form, and the ability to breathe fire. I restored your ability to shift and breathe fire when you came through the wormhole I created. All you need to do is activate it.”
“How?” Lena asked, fascinated by the idea. Excited. How she would love to be able to use serpent fire to destroy Ngozi. Maybe then she could finally get rid of the terrible nightmares.
“Let me inside,” the voice said. “Let me inside and I will show you.”
Lena shivered, her uncertainty returning. “What do you mean by ‘let you inside?’”
“I have been studying serpents for centuries, young one. I know what males do to activate their fire. I know what they do to initiate a shift of forms. But I do not know how to explain this to you. I need to show you. To do this, I need to move my consciousness inside your brain.”
“How do I know you’ll leave again?”
“Why would I want to stay? I have my own body.”
Lena felt someone shaking her. It surprised her to find Teo standing, leaning over her. “What?”
“Whoever you are speaking to, send them away. Lena, if it is who I suspect, she is not a friend. Wait for Gauge. He is almost here.”
Teo jerked around as a loud bang filled the room, his body slumping to the filthy floor. The scent of blood immediately filled the air, but Lena’s eyes were locked on the shifter with the weapon. He’d hurt Teo with it. She came to her feet, never taking her eyes off the cat.
“Sit your ass down, bitch!” Pops said. “Unless you want to end up on the floor next to the wolf.”
Thunder boomed, rattling the windows. Lena gasped at the sudden pressure that filled the room, making it hard to breathe.
It felt like she was trying to move through a vat of thick syrup.
A second later, the door to the cabin exploded as Gauge stepped inside, his eyes glowing red.
She gasped again when the pressure locking her in place eased.
“Check on Teo,” Gauge growled.
Lena nodded, looking between Gauge and the shifters. Whatever had held her locked in place a few seconds ago still held them. Only their eyes moved, their terror easy to see.
She kneeled next to Teo, her gaze drawn to the bloody spot on the back of his right shoulder. She used her claws to tear the shirt open, finding a small, round hole there, bleeding heavily. “Is it silver?” Lena knew it would be a death sentence if it was.
“No. The elder lied,” Teo said through gritted teeth. He took her hand as he pulled himself into a seated position. “Lucky for him.”
Lena looked back at Gauge, finding his eyes still glowing red.
Behind him, the alpha stepped inside, his mate beside him, both of them naked.
They had obviously shifted forms to get here.
This didn’t bother Lena. She’d grown up with serpent shifters.
Nudity was common. It didn’t mean anything sexual.
What did bother her was the same energy that held the elders now also held Raif and Haven trapped.
“Lena,” Teo said. “You need to try to calm Gauge down. He is acting as any male Laizahlian when their mate is being threatened. He will kill those males if you don’t stop him.”
“How do I stop him?”
“Go to him. Talk to him. Tell him you were not hurt. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Hurry, before he loses complete control.”
Lena pushed to her feet, turning to face Gauge. Outside the empty doorway, she could see the wind whipping the trees around. Lightning flashed and thunder followed. This was Gauge’s doing. He was furious.
She walked up to him slowly, trying not to flinch when he turned those glowing red eyes in her direction.
“Stay back, Lena. I am not in control of myself.” His deep voice echoed through the room, almost a power in itself. “These men thought to hurt you. They thought to use you to control me.”
“I’m not hurt, Gauge. Please, you need to calm down. Let the alpha and his mate handle this. They are his people.”
Gauge turned enough to cast his angry gaze toward Raif and Haven. “I’m not sure this alpha has control over his people. This should never have happened.”
Lena could see Raif wanted to speak. She was the daughter of a powerful alpha.
She knew how difficult the job could be, how it wore on her father at times.
The worst times were when he was forced to kill one of their people.
“At least release the alpha and his mate, Gauge. They have done nothing wrong. Let him speak.”
When he didn’t move, Lena gathered her courage and reached up to cup his cheek.
She found him almost burning hot. “Gauge, please, come back to me. I don’t understand everything that is going on between your people and these shifters, but I know you need to work together, not against one another.
If we kill these males, we are no better than they are. ”
Gauge took a deep breath and released it slowly, some of the glow leaving his eyes.
He reached out to cup her cheek. “I am responsible for your safety, Lena. I should never have let this go so far. I can read their minds. I know what they wanted to do with you. What they would have done had I not arrived in time.”
“Teo would not have let it go so far.”
“Teo didn’t believe they would really hurt either of you. He was wrong.”
“If they had wanted to kill him, they would have used silver. Teo will hurt for a few days, but he will heal.” Lena was relieved to see more of the red leave Gauge’s eyes. The storm outside seemed to lessen with his mood.
Lena didn’t see Gauge do anything, but suddenly the alpha and his mate could move again. They went over to check on Teo first, helping him to sit in the chair. She could see caution in Raif’s expression when he turned to face Gauge.