We continue on to the second and third guard towers, collecting three croc guards patrolling on foot along the way. The guards become distracted, losing their patrol formation and leaving their posts to track the scents of the animas. Two of my friends are reginas, and they’re powerful, sweet treats for unmated animuses.
It’s Sabrina, with a small knife, wielding it with the precision she’s known for, who’s responsible for the deaths of the twoanimuses who don’t respond to the scents, likely because they are a part of a mated group.
The rest make up a group of twelve big, rifled males, and when Minnie flies the animas right over the main gate, the males have no choice but to unlock the gate and follow. Hyacinth and her pack lead them out into the night, while my felines jog back to me.
I don’t know these creatures, but I know they guard The Collector so she can execute the most heinous crimes of our kind. It’s not just Lorian. Who else has she got tortured and starved in the dark under her house?
Sabrina stumbles back to me, and there are tiny flecks of crimson on her cheeks. “Let’s go,” she whispers. “Hyacinth is taking them out on the west side.” She retrieves the last syringe from her pocket and offers it to me.
I shift into human form and take it with a nod, jogging ahead of them towards the main house. The syringe cap comes off with the aid of my teeth, and I spit it into the dirt before stabbing myself in the left deltoid. There’s a familiar sting as it goes in, and suddenly, the flash of bright halogens and white walls, lab coats and serpent sweat fills my nose.
But I’m not in Drakos Estate. I am free.
My feline sisters and I keep a fast pace as we jog up the long road to the house. I keep our invisibility around us all, with me being able to make out who’s who by their heat signatures. About halfway, emerge a group of five guards in a Jeep, purposefully moving in the opposite direction. In the back seat is none other than the hyena queen.
I only have a split second to make the decision, but I do it.
My telekinetic power lashes out, and I halt the truck. It screeches to a stop, the wheels stuck in place. The driver revs the engine, but Sabrina must know a thing or two about cars becauseher power zooms past me and something blows in the engine, making smoke stream out from under the hood.
After multiple curse words, they jump out of the vehicle. Silently, we move in around them, and it takes less than three seconds for them to notice the scent. Except something unexpected happens when the group halts, sniffing the air like predators.
Stacey lets out a choked sound and stumbles into me. I grab her, but she violently shoves me away, barrelling past me and into the soldiers. “My rex!” the lioness gasps, gripping one of the males. “You’re my rex!”
“No fucking way,” Sabrina mutters.
Minnie clutches my arm. The male rears back, unable to see his assailant, and I have no choice but to uncloak Stacey.
When she’s revealed, we all see Stacey clutching onto the arms of the tall male, peering into his eyes. He stares down at her as if he’s seen a ghost, and I’m sure he’s looking at her neck and the mating mark they both share. She reaches up with slender, trembling fingers, but he snatches them up. “Why are you here?” he frowns. “How are you here?”
The hyena queen stands from the Jeep. “If she’s here, the others are scuttling around here too. Just like mice.”
One of the guards closer to us raises a walkie-talkie to his mouth. Without warning, Sabrina ducks out from behind me, and I suppress a cry, keeping the invisibility around her.
“Take the front two,”I tell Minnie.“I’ll get the middle two.”
As Sabrina leaps onto the guard, knocking the walkie-talkie out of his hand and making him stumble, Minnie’s power lashes out, telekinetically wrapping around the front guards.
The males struggle to see the invisible assailant, and I charge my power into the chests of the two in the middle row, gripping their hearts and squeezing until they lose consciousness. Blood spurts from the throat of the man Sabrina has, while the frontthree have their feet swept out from under them, falling hard as if thrown and knocking the backs of their heads hard on the ground.
Stacey whimpers as her rex pushes her away and swings his gun around blindly, aiming for the rest of us. “Where are they?” he shouts.
“Are they dead?” the lioness whimpers, looking out at the rest of the guards.
“Yes,” the hyena queen says, before calling out into the dark. “Finally got some backbone, did you, Boneweaver girl?” she cackles. “You won’t leave this compound, and neither will your little lioness friend.”
“You guys need to get Stacey out of here,”I quickly tell Minnie and Sabrina, rolling my neck as I feel the heat dancing in my veins.“Find the keys from the dead guards and keep an eye on the front gate in case she calls for reinforcements. I’ll come and get you.”
“Like fuck!” Stacey shouts at me, fully hearing my conversation.
“They’re here!” comes a shrill voice through the walkie-talkie on the ground. “Shoot them on sight!” The soldier swings his gun around and shoots Stacey right in the arm. Everyone screams.
Before anyone can stop her, Sabrina bounds towards the hyena matriarch, a fresh needle and syringe high in the air. Before I register what she’s about to do, she stabs the hyena matriarch right through her dress sleeve.
Chapter 28
Aurelia
The old woman cries out, but Sabrina pushes down on the plunger before the hyena whirls around, the needle still in her arm. Sabrina dances back, but the hyena follows her with her eyes. The plunger continues to move downwards under Sabrina’s power. The hyena queen cries out, yanking the needle out and tossing it to the ground. But more than half the drug entered her system. She shakes her cane, and hyena magic flies uselessly through the air.
