CHAPTER 37
Gauge was furious with himself. Why hadn’t he suspected they would use chromastin to line their helmets? Too arrogant perhaps. He’d endangered everyone with him, including his mate and the Umi queen.
Too weak yet to stand, he closed his eyes and reached out for the pilots of the helicopters. Unlike Lena, he had centuries of practice invading weaker human minds, and he could also control more than one person at a time, slipping in and out without them being any the wiser.
“You are ordered to return to base. You will remember nothing about the raptor.”
A few seconds later, the two helicopters in front of them lifted, the thumping sound of their rotors growing fainter by the second. Gauge didn’t need to see the two pilots behind the hill to reach them. They soon followed the first two and it grew quiet out.
Lena dropped to her belly and looked in at him. “Is it safe to shift back now?”
“You better not. The others will be here soon. I contacted Jax and learned they are only about ten minutes away.”
“But you need blood, Gauge. I can see you are hurting.”
He tried to smile, wanting to ease his mate’s worry.
“I’ll be fine, Lena. This is not the first injury I’ve ever faced.
” Though it was one of the more severe. Gauge suspected at least one of the bullets contained silver.
They would need to clear his system of it on the ship.
He was lucky both had gone straight through.
He would have been in far worse shape had the bullets remained inside him.
When Lena pushed to her feet, he suspected she’d caught sight of the others. Closing his eyes against a wave of dizziness, he gathered what strength he had left and pushed to his feet, leaning against the crumbling wall for a moment before he tried to step outside.
“What are you doing, Gauge? You need to stay down.”
Gauge stopped beside her, placing his hand on her chest to help steady himself, finding her scales pliable and warm. It amazed him that they had been tough enough to deflect bullets from the human rifles.
In the distance, he could see two serpents flying toward them, carrying who he thought were Neyvarre and Kimberly. A short distance behind was another magnificent raptor, the Umi queen, carrying Teo in her talons. The queen’s mate, Tallyn, rode on her back.
Gauge took a couple of deep breaths, fighting off a wave of nausea, then focused his attention on the ship’s captain. Do you have a lock on everyone?”
“Yes, Hunter, but I can’t transport serpents onto my ship. They will need to shift to their human form first.”
“Acknowledged. Have medical ready. I’ve been shot with silver, and Tallyn, Neyvarre, and Kimberly have been drugged.”
“Understood. I’ll wait for your orders to transport.”
A few minutes later, the serpents set Neyvarre and Kimberly on the ground.
Neyvarre ran to Kimberly first, checking her over for injury, even though she assured him she was fine.
Seconds later, the Umi queen landed with Teo.
His tracker didn’t look happy, which wasn’t surprising.
Wolves didn’t tend to like having their feet off the ground.
They especially didn’t like lethal claws wrapped around them. It made them feel helpless.
“You’ll need to shift before the captain can have us transported to the ship,” Gauge said. “Where’s Jax?”
“Do you want blood first?” Teo asked, already rolling up his sleeve. “Jax drew fire while we escaped. The Umi queen did something, used glamour, I think, to help distract the soldiers. Jax was going to call for transport as soon as we were all safe.”
Gauge waved Teo off when he held out his wrist. “No time. We need to leave before they can send out more soldiers. Medical on the ship has already been alerted. Since you were drugged, they will want to check the three of you over too,” he said to Neyvarre, Tallyn and Kimberly.
Turning his attention to Lena, he said, “Can you shift back?”
“I think so.”
Samantha was first to shift. Her clothing had been destroyed when she made the shift to her serpent form, but if it bothered her, he couldn’t tell. Serpents, like most shifters, weren’t usually bothered by casual nudity. Seraphym and the Umi queen quickly followed.
Unlike most female shifters, who tended to be tall and lean, Gauge found Amanda petite, her figure much fuller. Even so, if nudity bothered her, he couldn’t tell. She immediately pulled her mate down for a kiss, whispering, “I missed you.”
Tallyn wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into his arms, crushing his mouth against hers.
“Not as much as I missed you,” he said when they broke apart.
“Don’t ever do that to me again. I know you’re like all powerful and everything, but it still scared me, not knowing what you were going through. ”
Amanda rubbed her cheek against his, whispering, “I wish I could make that promise, but we don’t know what we’ll have to do to keep this world safe. I was born here, Tallyn. It’s my world. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep Djinn from destroying it.”
Gauge turned away from the couple, focusing on Lena. “Do you need help to shift?” He wanted to leave this world. Or at least this area.
Lena cocked her head, her expression thoughtful. Gauge took a step back when he felt her energy change. A few seconds later, an explosion of bright light left a shaky Lena behind, her clothes also ruined. But Lena had been raised around shifters. She too appeared not to mind the lack of clothes.
“Are we ready?” Gauge said, beginning to see black spots form before his eyes. He needed to get to the ship. He needed blood, but he wouldn’t risk the lives of his people or his mate. He could hold on for a short while longer.
When Gauge held his hand out to Lena, planning to take her pain, she shook her head and took a step back. “No, you need to reserve your strength. I’ll be fine.”
Gauge could tell by her stubborn look that he wouldn’t be able to convince her otherwise. He looked over at Neyvarre. “Can you take care of my mate?”
“I’ll try,” Neyvarre replied, holding out his hand to Lena. “I’m not sure about all the negative effects of this drug. I might not be able to.”
“Thank you for trying.”
A few seconds later, he felt the burning sensation that preceded transport.
As his body was put back together on the ship, Gauge dropped to his knees, his world spinning.
He glanced over to where Lena should be, finding her on her hands and knees, retching.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, knowing Neyvarre had been unable to help her.
Then he was being lifted onto a cot, a wrist being shoved against his mouth.
“Something is wrong,” he heard someone say. “He’s rejecting my blood. Hurry up or we’re going to lose him. Teo, you’ve given Gauge blood before. Give me your wrist. We need to try yours.”
A second later, the sweet taste of blood exploded across Gauge’s tongue, but instead of swallowing, he found himself gagging.
“This is not from silver,” an unknown voice said. “It’s something else. Let’s get him to medical. Maybe I can figure it out from there.”
“No, wait. I think I know what’s wrong.”
Gauge recognized the multi-layered voice. The Umi queen. He felt gentle fingers brush across his forehead and cheek but couldn’t find the strength to open his eyes.
“Open your mind to me, Gauge. I need to show you something.”
Gauge tried to shake his head. He didn’t open his mind to anyone. Only Lena, if she ever wanted to go there.
“It will be easier for me to show you,” the Umi queen said, her tone almost sad. “A piece of our history, my sister and I.”
Gauge couldn’t help but be curious. No one, not even Falkner, knew the real history between the Umi and Djinn queens. And here she was, offering to open up to him. But what would be the consequences? He had learned the hard way over the centuries that there always were some.
“Please, Gauge, do what she says,” Lena said from beside him. “She said you’ll understand what needs to be done then. Please, please, don’t leave me. The doctors don’t know what to do if you can’t take blood. They said you could die.”
And then what would happen to Lena? Would they give her to the Raiden prince? He couldn’t let that happen. She belonged with him.
“Okay,” he all but gasped. “But I want everyone else but Lena to leave us.” He couldn’t chance anyone else invading his mind. A moment later, it grew quiet, and Gauge dropped his shields.