Chapter Fifteen – Damon
T here weren’t enough words to describe the tangle of emotions coursing through me as I scratched and fought the strange shifters.
They had my baby.
Above all else, the terror and anger kept my adrenaline pumping in my veins. I was going to claw and maim and destroy every single one of these assholes.
Underneath that, though, was a heaping serving of parental guilt. I’d gone out for a run —gone out to enjoy myself— and my helpless newborn had been abducted while I ran and frolicked. What kind of selfish father was I?
The yowl of a fellow mountain lion caught my attention, and if I’d been in human form, my breath would have caught in my throat.
Rex .
He was beautiful. Much larger than me, with sleek tan-colored fur and strong, muscular limbs. He radiated alpha power, much like Beck did in wolf form. But instead of fighting viciously, as I was certain he had been if the bloodied stains around his muzzle and claws suggested, he was frozen in place, his dark eyes wide with a very human expression of horror.
The epic bang that followed his yowl made my ears ring and I flinched against the sound, then understood exactly what had caught Rex’s attention so terribly.
Eric’s reflexes were sharper than I would have imagined a creature of his size’s would be. He hunched in on himself and dropped to the ground, letting out a grunt as the giant-ass bullet —was it a rocket?— caught his folded wing on its way over him. In the distance, it crashed to the ground in the open field with an explosive effect.
Rex yowled again and sprang forward off his strong hind legs, tackling one of the humans with the bazookas.
At least, I thought they were bazookas. Rocket launchers, maybe? I’d never really been much of an expert when it came to weapons. Anyway, technicalities didn’t matter. What did matter were the guns now being aimed in Rex’s direction.
With Eric down, and the other two bazookas being readied for action, I acted on instinct. Using feline wiles, I raced between the fighting clumps of wolves and bears, weaving past snapping jaws and lashing claws. I found the gap Rex had taken advantage of and launched into the fray, biting and screeching and trying to take out the threat to my mate.
Even if we hadn’t bonded, that’s what Rex was to me. He was my mate, and he was in danger. I needed him whole…and then we needed to rescue our cub.
I could only imagine what Rex was feeling. If I felt guilty for not being there, he must have been tearing himself apart inside. The first thing I resolved to do once we were human again was to assure him that it wasn’t his fault. The second would be to demand our pack rethink its security. We’d gotten complacent, even knowing that Morstein was out to get us, and this was the price we were paying.
In defending Rex, my ears picked up the sound of Cam’s cries and something inside me snapped.
I’d heard stories of human parents accomplishing extraordinary feats when their kids were in danger. Lifting cars, fighting off far stronger attackers, walking through flames; that kind of thing. The odd mixture of adrenaline and calm which overtook my body and mind had to be similar to what they had felt. It was as though I saw everything in slow motion and in even sharper focus than before, and I knew I was going to get my son back.
Gnashing my teeth against anything and everything in my way, I fought harder and with more purpose than I knew I was capable of. At my side, Rex did the same, and I knew when the tides had changed in our favor, because Ollie and Beck joined us in the fight to corner the humans holding our kids.
I was dimly aware of Brandt’s ginormous dragon muzzle snapping up the guys who had been trying to get their bazookas up and aimed his way. I couldn’t help but think that they deserved the painful, terrifying ending. When I was human, I might be more concerned by my complete lack of empathy, but in my puma form, I was just pleased that the threat was taken care of.
The other gunmen were incapacitated by our pack’s shifters. In the end, all I could focus on were those three shifters in human form. They wore scent blockers, which had a mildly chemical smell up close. But through that, I was able to still scent their fear as we approached, baring our teeth and growling.
At my side, Rex shifted back to human, his skin filthy and his hair matted. He was scratched up and visibly bruising already, but he stalked over to the now cowering men, practically radiating his alpha power.
That was new.
Sure, since he had come to Shifters Sanctuary, Rex had scented like an alpha: a vaguely electric scent that tingled in my sinuses and made me instinctively want to submit to him. But he hadn’t radiated the same dominating vibes as Beck did. Not until now.
“Give me my son,” he demanded of the man cradling our screaming, tiny newborn. The words sent a shudder through me, and I realized with a start that he was channeling the same kind of alpha compulsion that Beck was able to wield.
If I’d thought Rex being naked might lessen the impact of the growled command, I would have been wrong. The guy holding our baby handed him over, though I could see he was trying to fight the instinct to do so. As soon as Cam was cradled against Rex’s chest, relief swept through me.
But it wasn’t over yet. I hadn’t noticed Beck shifting a few paces away, but he crowded in and added his own command in his gravelly, angry voice for his children to be returned, and another wave of that intense power rolled over us.
The two men holding Rory and Duke hesitated, but when Rex and Beck barked, “ Now !” in unison, it was as though the men became robots, unable to fight the commands at all.
Fascinating .
I wasn’t as interested in the science-y history stuff like Ollie, Eric, and Brandt were, but even I was curious to see the alpha powers at work. It had to be more than just biology. There was something magical here, too.
Which, yeah, okay; considering we were people who could turn into animals —including fire breathing dragons— at will…that shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did.
Still, how much magic (there really wasn’t a better word for it) was out there in our world, undiscovered and untapped? Could it be accessed by more than just our alphas? It was worth asking Eric and Brandt, anyway.
Shit. Eric!
With the fight over and the remaining men subdued before they could shift and run away, my limbs became wobbly as the adrenaline faded, but I still turned to look over at the crumpled dragon in the field. I was torn between checking on him, and making sure my mate and cub were okay.
A whine burst from the back of my throat, and Rex was at my side almost instantly.
“Are you hurt, kitten?” he asked, crouching beside me, Cam tucked against his chest. Our baby was no longer screaming, but I wanted to get him out of the cool night air and into the safety of our home.
Our home .
Somewhere in the past couple of weeks, I had started thinking of Rex’s cottage as ours, even if I hadn’t officially moved in. Our combined scents permeated the space, and it truly had become the setting where I imagined raising Cam.
I shook my head and then concentrated on shifting back to my human form, ignoring my aches and pains in preference of throwing myself at Rex. I nuzzled Cam and then my mate, finally letting the tears come.
“I’m so sorry, Damon,” Rex held me tight against him, but I could hear the strain of emotion in his voice. “This is my fault. I should have been upstairs with the babies. I—”
“Stop it.” As much as I wish the protest had come from me, I was beaten to it by Beck. The Pack Alpha’s expression was grim as he closed the distance between us. Ollie was pressed to his side, holding their son, and Beck himself was cradling their daughter to his chest. He frowned. “You should have been safe in our home. Everyone should have. I… we …should have considered that they’d come after the kids. After last time, we thought they just wanted an alpha. We should have realized that they might use the kids as bait. Or…God, I don’t know.” Ollie rubbed his back.
I nodded, then pulled away so I could look my mate over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? I should have been there with you.” Once again I was afraid of losing him, but now it was a fear that he could be taken from me. That he almost was. That our baby was almost taken. My voice wobbled as I continued, “The thought of something happening to you…God, Rex, I was so scared. I can’t believe none of us thought they might come for the kids.”
“We were short sighted,” Ollie sighed, leaning into Beck, visibly drawing comfort the same way I was with Rex. “We got lulled into a false sense of security. All of us did. This isn’t anyone’s fault.”
It felt surreal to be surrounded by death and destruction, standing naked as our pack regrouped. It hurt my heart to see that some of our own people had been hurt —some even killed— in the struggle. They were innocents in all this mess.
Those who weren’t hurt were corralling the survivors from the attacking group, herding them into a small group guarded by Brandt’s looming dragon form. I had no idea what we were going to do with the handful of bad guys, but I figured that was something Beck and the council would need to decide. Maybe hand them over to the authorities? That didn’t seem the greatest idea, when these guys were shifters and the human police had no way to manage that.
Anyway, that wasn’t going to be my problem, and I didn’t feel guilty in washing my hands of them. Even in human form, I thought Brandt eating them might be the best course of action. I mean, they’d taken my baby. They couldn’t possibly redeem themselves from that.
Thinking about Brandt reminded me about Eric again.
“Eric,” I gasped, taking a stumbling step out of Rex’s grasp in the other dragon’s direction. Only, the dragon was gone, replaced by a curled up, human form. I hurried over to him, understanding that he was the person I would call for to give medical assistance, and Brandt —our dragon guard— was the other.
“Where the fuck is Sage?” I demanded of Beck and Ollie. “Or even Dexter?” We could use another dragon right now. One to threaten the remaining bad guys so Brandt could see to his brother.
Beck frowned, passing Rory to Ollie as he hurried over to help me with Eric. “I don’t know.”
“Shit. Dex is at the house. He was with the babies. They knocked him out somehow,” Rex explained as he joined us, hovering anxiously as he still cuddled Cam. “And the others are locked in the bathroom downstairs. I should go check on them.”
“But Sage?” I repeated, frowning. “He wasn’t running — flying — with the pack?”
Beck shook his head. “I assumed he was with Dex.”
On the ground, Eric groaned. “He’s…out of town. ”
“Stay down,” I told him, eyeing the epic open wound over his shoulder blade. “Don’t move. We’re going to need to get you an ambulance.”
He groaned again and attempted to push himself up, shaking his head.
“Stay down,” Beck issued the command using his magical power, and Eric flopped back to the ground.
“That’s cheating,” he complained weakly. “Asshole.”
My lips twitched. Eric and Beck had a funny sort of friendship, and it was a reassuring sign to hear Eric falling back into banter.
Beck snorted and relaxed a bit, too, probably thinking the same thing I was. “You love me, Weldman. Stay put. We’ll get you help.”
“Come back to Beck and Ollie’s with me,” Rex all but pleaded, and I would openly admit that there was no way I wanted to be separated from him, either. “I need to check on Lena and Dex. And let the others out of the bathroom.”
“I’ve just sent Sandy to grab our phones and stuff,” Ollie told me, awkwardly trying to readjust his hold on his kids. I took Duke from him and he sagged with relief. “Thanks. Anyway,” he tilted his head in the vague direction we’d been frolicking in before we’d heard about the attack on the house, “our stuff will be here soon. Brandi and the others were already heading to the house before we came this way. As she put it, she’s more menacing as a woman than as a rabbit.”
I snorted. Ollie’s best friend, Brandi, was dating Lena, and she was a riot. But she was also fiercely protective of her friends, and I imagined that she could do a whole lot of damage if she wanted to. I definitely wouldn’t underestimate her, even though she was a petite blonde woman and a rabbit shifter to boot. With a veritable herd of equally determined smaller species shifters at her side, I assumed she would be okay.
“Good,” I said, nodding. “Then we’ll head over to the house and see if she needs a hand.”
I felt bad leaving Eric behind while he was injured, but it made no sense to have both alphas out in the fields when half the town were probably going insane with worry at the Pack Alpha’s house. Besides, I was exhausted and felt grimy, and I just wanted to wash up and snuggle up with my mate and cub. Cam was due for a feeding anyway.
It was funny how even with all the drama, my instincts were still attuned to his schedule.
Biology. It was wild.
As expected, the half of the town who were smaller species shifters were crammed into Beck and Ollie’s house when Rex and I got there. Jazz offered to hold Cam while Rex and I washed up, but neither of us were willing to let him out of our sight, so we took turns showering. We also borrowed clothes from Ollie and Beck’s closet before we headed back into the crowded living room. There, Rex hovered over me while I fed Cam, and he answered as many questions as he could, assuring the townspeople that we’d neutralized the threat for now.
Dex and Lena were among the assembled group, too, which was a relief. Brandi had Lena’s head in her lap as they sprawled on the floor, her expression dark. Dex was slumped on the end of one of the two couches, nursing what appeared to be an epic headache. He looked grim and defeated, which was unsettling considering his usually smarmy, snarky personality. But they were otherwise okay, and there had been no further attacks on the house.
But I was officially once bitten, twice shy, and I hoped that the pack would behave that way going forward, too.