Demigod Down (2 page)

I nodded, devouring my plate.

“Shit, I didn’t make enough,” said Dean
turning around.

I shrugged and replied, “Burned a lot of
calories last night.”

Logan snagged the bacon off the plate as
well, while standing and stretching. The scent of the wild woods,
pine trees, and that distinctive salty male scent washed over me as
I glared up at him. He gently swatted the back of my head, “How
long are you here?” He asked.

I sighed, leaning carelessly against my
newly-covered wounds causing me to flinch. Before I could answer,
Dean spoke up. “The alpha here was hoping you could stay to tell
him what happened. He isn’t very happy this happened in his
territory with no knowledge. “

I nodded. “When do you expect him back?”

“Late tonight or early tomorrow.” He replied
throwing the dish rag in the sink.

I nodded. “In that case, wake me when lunch
is served.” I took my biscuit that Logan was eyeballing and headed
back to bed.

“Where are you going?” Logan called.

“Back to bed.” I answered, not raising my
voice. “Since I can’t fuck myself healthy, I plan to sleep it
off.”

The stomping of feet down the stairs
surprised me as the handsome alphas from last night stood between
me and my bed. “What?” I asked, taking a large bite of biscuit.

“You looking for volunteers?” asked the
spikey kid from last night eagerly.

“Are you serious, Paul?” Dean asked, before I
could recover from my dumbfounded stare.

“Olivia is taken,” Logan called from the
kitchen.

I watched their expressions fall, shaking my
head and continuing on my way.

Going back to sleep had its pros and cons. I
spent a great deal of time starring up at the wood beam ceiling
thinking about everything I had done and killed the night before.
Long forgotten memories of my own childhood quickly resurfaced
faster than I would like. I was loth to relieve those. Eventually
however, even my troubled soul drifted off into sleep.

I was sitting at the kitchen table downing
some fantastic mac and cheese, courtesy of Dean, when a
raven-haired man and a petite female walked in the back door.

Dean turned to them from the kitchen and
asked, “How did it go?”

The petite, dark-haired women gave a
sorrow-filled look to the man before shaking her head and walking
away.

“Damn,” Dean muttered as she went up the
stairs. Remembering he had guests, Dean used a hand to point at me
and introduced, “This is Olivia the Executioner.”

I waved my fork with a small smile feeling
awkward and out of place.

“Jay,” the raven-haired man replied, casting
a look to the stairs where his mate had run off, debating before
coming to sit next to me.

He had a Native American cast to his features
complete with perfect olive skin. “I heard you had some trouble
last night,” he stated, his black eyes appraising me with
interest.

For a moment, my despair and grief
resurfaced. Renewing my guards to protect him from my volatile
emotional state I nodded, leaning back in my chair careful to avoid
the still healing wounds. “Someone was collecting shifters or
humans and turning them into shifters for sex and sport,” I
replied, watching him closely.

“Do you know who?” he asked, anger flaring
his nostrils.

Shaking my head, I leaned forward, “I killed
everyone who was there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is only
one of many.”

“Leave the address before you go, I’ll send a
team to investigate,” he said before standing up. “If you will
excuse me.”

I sat back after finishing my meal, feeling
satisfied with a full belly.

“You seen Logan?” I asked Dean, bringing my
dish to the sink.

“Lorraine is back. I believe they are
spending some time together in the cabins out back,” he said,
raising his eyebrows suggestively.

I made a gagging noise, pretending to fall
over.

“Why?” Dean asked with a laugh.

I shrugged, “Always good to keep an eye on
the kitty.” I said and was taken off guard when Dean broke out into
outrageous laughter. His face turned red and he sat at the table
with me, laughing so hard that he had to wipe away tears from his
eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at his outburst.
“Darling,” he said, leaning forward fighting another fit of
laughter, “don’t ever let him ear you say that.”

“I’ll keep it in reserve,” I said with a wary
smile.

Dean played a few card games with me, caught
me up on the latest action movies, and sent me to bed on a full
stomach with a changed shoulder bandage.

It was a good end to a not so great last few
days.

A loud noise woke me up. Startled, I jerked
to clutch my gun hidden under the pillow, listening for another
noise to determine exactly where the threat was coming from.

I heard furniture crashing in the living room
above followed by low growls. I cursed my inferior hearing, dashing
up the basement stairs to the mess, formally known as the living
room. The females had returned. Jay the alpha from last night was
giving an order to the black wolf that had effectively destroyed
the living room.

Scanning my eyes, I found Logan’s who shook
his head before his eyes traveled down lower to where my pants
should have been instead of just my neon green undies. Oops.
Lorraine behind Logan scowled at me, mouthing something not
flattering I was sure. I sighed, lowering my gun stance, seeing as
they had it under control.

Maybe not under control but no one was dying,
I amended, huffing back down the stairs.

I heard Logan bellow my name as the weight of
the female wolf shifter landed on my back, propelling me down the
stairs. Making the decision to lose the gun in favor of tucking and
rolling, I hit the hallway wall before bouncing off and under the
black wolf.

Wonderful.

Her muzzle reeked so close to my nose,
blowing stale hot breathe. I was wrong, this situation was nowhere
near under control. Turning slowly, I laid flat on my back bearing
my neck in a submissive stance, noting the shift of the emotions in
her eyes. In one moment, she was ready to tear my throat out and in
the next, she was scared, her body language dipping only slightly
before turning back to deadly. She was no more human, but
beast.

I heard Logan wresting with someone upstairs.
If I had to guess, it was her mate. They didn’t take the change
well, ever. If they did, I wouldn’t be the one having to kill the
out of control shifters so often. I stared into the ice blue eyes
of her wolf for a long moment and saw the shift again to human in
her eyes. I could try and save her, but it was going to hurt like
hell.

The struggle against the silver chaining to
me the bed was long fought. I was conscious a few times to see
Logan sitting next to me, to see Dean cleaning the wound I didn’t
know I had on my other forearm, and to listen to the alpha beg for
his mate’s life.

Logan looked exhausted, dark circles under
his eyes hinting at a lack of sleep. Pulling emotions from a
shifter in beast form was stupid - idiotic even. No one ever
accused me of being highly intelligent.

The beast was pure emotions and only time
could dwindle the lingering emotions from my body. My only hope, as
I pulled chaffing my wrists on the chains, was that it gave the
alpha’s mate some time to get her shit together. Otherwise this was
all a waste.

I heard Gram’s voice on the speaker phone,
“Keep the room clear, too many alphas and she will break her own
hands to get out of there. Do not let anyone else in the room with
her, a submissive will kick her already over protective nature into
high gear. Also, do not under any circumstances feed her meat.”

Dean asked hesitantly, “What if we already
did?”

“Get a bucket, it’s coming back up,” Grams
answered solidly.

“How do you now all of this?” Logan asked
clearly impressed

Grams scoffed, “You think this is the first
time she has either been bitten or pulled a beast’s emotions? We
have an entire handbook on how to handle this situation.” She took
a deep breath, “If that is all gentleman?”

“Yes, thank you,” Logan answered, ending the
call.

Jay asked quietly, “They have manuals?”

I heard myself growl, “Bucket.”

“Shit.” Dean said scrambling. He guided me.
Hopefully, I wasn’t making such a huge mess as the raw meat they
gave me came back up. He touched my back and I tried to swipe at
him.

“Everyone out, “Logan commanded when my
stomach had finished.

I heard him cross the bare floor my eyes
still refusing to work properly. “How much longer of this Olivia?”
He asked, wiping my mouth of with a damp rag.

“Till it’s gone,” I answered as the beast
roared her displeasure at him being so close, arching my back and
shoulders off the bed.

Eventually I made it back to my body and felt
no residual lingering of the beast’s emotions.

Finally.

Opening my eyes, I took in the small cement
room. The mattress was thin against my back, the bars of the frame
digging into my hips and upper back. A small rectangular window let
in the early morning light. Stretching, I found my shoulder no
longer bothered me as my chaffed and bleeding wrists and ankles
caused a hiss.

An unfamiliar voice called out to Logan.
“She’s awake and her eyes are back to normal.”

Normal? Huh, wonder what not normal looked
like?

The silver jail cell door slid open, turning
towards the noise I saw Logan and a few other alphas holding back.
Working my jaw, I asked hoarsely, “Water?”

Dean came forward around Logan who began
unshackling my wrists to hold a small cup to my lips. Greedily, I
drained it.

“Easy, darling. You’ve had one hell of a few
nights.” Dean said pulling the cup away.

The fresh water washed away the staleness in
my mouth but did nothing for the raw feeling of my throat. I must
have been screaming. Logan finished with my legs and I sat up
shakily. I did not like being on my back in front of a pack of
alphas.

I saw black spots before I blinked them away,
leaning my head into my hands as a shudder ran through me. Raising
my head back up, I asked, “Why are you all staring at me? Is being
an alpha so mundane you have nothing better than stare at the
resident Executioner?”

I used my title on purpose. I killed things
and I wasn’t above doing it here. Not to mention the fact I had
just taken down a shifter abuse ring. Assholes.

No one moved. That was just rude.

Dean moved around while Logan helped me
stand. I was relatively stable on my own. “Let’s get you a shower.”
Dean said, placing a hand against my back as I leaned heavily
against him.

The hot water felt amazing on my stiff
joints. It stung on my wrists and ankles but that was a small price
to pay. I stayed under the steam for a few long blissful moments
avoiding the shifters.

I found Dean sitting on the bed with a first
aid kit.

“Sorry, I wanted to get your wounds cleaned
up.” He said softly.

“Not worried.” I said quickly slipping into
jeans and a turquoise top. Sitting next to him on the bed, I rolled
my jeans up.

My cell phone picked that moment to ring.
Dean swooped it up from the nightstand, handing it to me. I sighed,
“I have to take this.”

He nodded, going to work on my ankles.

“I’m okay.” I answered as reassuring as I
could to Grams.

“Good. Now what the hell happened?” she asked
both relieved and annoyed.

I filled her in on the details, listening to
her silently absorbing it all before she asked the question we both
wanted an answer to. “How did they amass that many shifter
females?”

I sighed, “They could have created all of
them, but that would leave a huge gap in the human population which
I didn’t notice on the recent police reports. Or” I paused, putting
her on speaker phone. I wanted everyone who might be listening to
hear this next part. “someone is selling the shifter’s into the
ring.”

She sighed before stating, “I don’t like
either of those options.”

“Neither do I,” I answered. “But we have to
figure out where they are coming from if we are going to stop
it.”

She asked, “Even if it is a shifter or human
matter?”

I gave that thought. “I see your point,” I
said, shifting the phone to my other hand while Dean spread a thick
ointment over my wrist.

“I suppose we can wait, alert the law
enforcement, and Logan now knows about the shifter ring. If they
don’t successfully eliminate any additional rings do I have the
grounds to step in?” I asked.

Grams scoffed, “Since when do you need
grounds? Besides it could be over, this might be the only one.”

Smiling, I answered, “Valid, it just doesn’t
feel over. It was far too organized, too well hidden, although I
want to be wrong.”

Grams was silent for a moment before
answering, “As do I. I will notify Logan’s secretary in writing and
human law enforcement regarding the issue.”

“Thanks Grams. I’m leaving soon,” I said.

“That’s good, Tommy has been kicking all of
our asses on his new game. It’s about time he had fresh meat,” she
said, ending the call.

I smiled, staring at the blank screen.

Dean was at the small table putting the first
aid kit back together my forearm having healed sufficiently. “So
you are leaving?” He asked leaning against the table his arms
crossed.

“Yep,” I said, unsure what caused his sudden
defensive manner, I had enough of my own issues.

“Do you want to know why all those alpha’s
were waiting outside your cell?” Dean asked angry.

I sighed, “Why?”

He took a step towards me, “They were hoping
you might become a shifter so that they could claim you as their
own.”