“Shit!” Minnie cries, pulling Stacey into her arms.
“You fucker!” I cry, shoving back the feline guard with telekinesis as Minnie plucks his gun from his arms. I squeeze his heart until he falls unconscious with a heavy thud.
“We don’t have time. Go!”I shout into their heads.“Take them out to Hyacinth!”
We go our separate ways. My friends whip up Stacey and her rex and run towards the front of the property. I give the hyena matriarch a wide berth as I head towards the house. Sabrina shouts, and the lady hyena gives pursuit, her cane working overtime as she hastens after them, muttering curses into the night.
What she plans to do, how she plans to catch up to them, I don’t know. And Stacey’s bastard rex is something we’ll have to deal with later.
The constellations look different tonight as I jog alone to The Collector’s house. Tonight, they look like a hundred eyes on me. Ready to see my downfall or my rise.
I take off my eighth shield. I brought no clothes with me, and while I’ve spent the majority of the last few weeks buck naked, for the first time tonight, I feel exposed. The hormones spin through my system, making me sweat, flooding my core with wet desire that I’m struggling to control.
Violently pushing the lust away, I settle into my anima and the regina in me who’s about to fight for her mates. Lowering my head, I follow my nose across the compound, following the scent of The Collector.
I come across her at the entrance, speaking furiously to the guards. The lights of the house spotlight Connor, standing tall next to his mistress, his dark mane in a big bun as his crown. He looks worse for wear; there’s a darkness under his eyes, and fine lines around his mouth as if he’s been frowning a lot. His eyes widen with fear when he sees me. Fearforme. He glances at The Collector, who stands with her bandaged hands on her hips, nostrils flaring.
Those slitted eyes drag up and down my naked body. I don’t know how she’d expected me to arrive here, but I doubt it was naked, walking right up to the front entrance. “I’m going to have you killed,” she hisses. “And I’m going to watch your mates do it.”
I mark her slender form with every part of my being. From the dark bob of her hair to the red and bleeding marks my curse has made up her arms and torso. I cock my head before I make my promise. “Before morning, your blood will paint these floors.”
Pure murder festers in those slitted eyes, but she steps backwards. “Connor!” she orders, harsh arrogance dripping off every word. “Bring my mates to me. All of them.”
Connor scrambles inside, his fear perfuming the air. He glances back at me like he wants to say something, but we know any warning won’t work now.
Katerina and I stare at each other, the very air tightening between us. I don’t blink as I examine her and the new bandages wrapping around her body like an Egyptian mummy. I hadn’t even known that the spell would work. Only that it was worth the shot and the risk to try. She knows as well as I do that her breached crocodile skin makes her vulnerable now.
Ancient instinct feels their approach before I see their feet cross the threshold of the entryway. The other pieces of my soul stalk out one by one, in slow motion, their towering, terrifying human forms taking up all the space, power and menace oozing from every pore.
They look in even worse condition compared to when I saw them at the Jewel. A weariness hangs about their forms, as if dragging them down into the depths of nothingness. The spell is taking its toll on them, and my instincts tell me they feel it creeping through their bodies like black poison. Before long, it would make them shadows of themselves, wandering behind The Collector like wraiths.
Their souls are screaming, and they don’t have the ability to understand why. Savage’s bare torso bears a sheen of glistening sweat, making the wolf head on his chest gleam under the floodlights. His dark hair is mussed, hazel eyes wild. Lyle’s hair looks more like matted locks at the moment, the twists hanging limply around his bare shoulders, a tattered white shirt hanging uselessly over his arms. Scythe’s shark eyes are ferocious behind the glassy film, shark teeth gnashing like he’s trying to speak, and it stretches a new, deep gash on his cheek. And Xander.My dragon’s eyes illuminate the night in painful contrast to the rest, his fists clenched at his sides. He alone looks groomed and aware.
Every bone in my body screams out for them and their pain. Just as every vessel in my body feels the heat serum kick in with full force. My breath comes fast, and it makes my head spin.
“Catch her,”The Collector snarls from Connor’s side. “Bring her to me; donotbe gentle.”
I force my feet to walk backwards, never taking my eyes off them as they advance towards me as a predatory, stalking group. Savage notices the scent first, the flare of his nostrils and the curiousness in his eyes that no spell could take away from him.
“You know me,” I say to him. “Your body knows what I smell like in heat.” I glance at Scythe. “And your heart knows mine.”
I nod reassuringly at a worried Connor before turning around and sprinting. But of course, my mates are apex predators of the highest order, and the sudden movement makes them growl and snap. They lunge for me. And I let them.
Strong hands band around my body, and I groan softly in awareness of Lyle’s body, hard and hot behind me. He growls in my ear, and a second animalistic growl enters the other. I close my eyes as the four of them surround me, noses sniffing, breaths hot, the combined scents wrapping around me like a blanket of bliss.
I squirm, those oestrous hormones sliding through my veins, making firm hands feel like heaven. Someone’s nose touches my neck—Savage’s, I think—and I let out a whimper of longing. “Savage,” I whisper. Teeth scrape around my bicep, clamping down on the same muscle the injection went into. It’s Scythe’s teeth surveying the spot, and I sigh under the burn.
“I can’t believe this was your plan,” Xander whispers by my mouth, lips brushing its corner. “I can’t believe you thought this would work.”
“Shup,” I sigh. “I mean, shut up, dragon.”
But Lyle has collected up my legs and is bringing me bridal style into the house. I look up into his eyes, and though he’s striding quickly like he knows where he’s going, he does not take his eyes off mine.
His animus is in there, hungry, ravenous, and powerful. I feel his chaotic power on my skin. As if a fucking spell could take overhisunhinged animus.
His gaze is terrible on mine, and I search for him within it. I can’t help but smile at his proximity. At his focus. His fingers dimple my thighs, and I reach down to touch them. Such strong fingers that hold me. “Gods, I missed you,” I whisper to him.
But then we’re in a familiar room with cold white lights and a triggering smell of antiseptic.
