Authors: Cindy Paterson
He shook his head to clear his vision. Bastard had one hell of a punch.
He heard the scuffling of feet around him, but had no time to see how Keir, Jedrik or Danielle were managing. All he knew was that this fucker was going over the edge of the cliff. He ran at him and then, one foot away from him, he crouched and swung out his right leg, sending the guy to his ass. He didn’t hesitate as he picked him up by the collar and swung his fist into his nose and then gave a hefty push. The GQ staggered backwards. His heels on the edge of the cliff, he teetered there for seconds before Balen gave one more shot to the head and the guy went tumbling.
Jedrik was holding his own with the other GQ
, attempting to do the same thing and getting him to the edge of the cliff.
Balen
turned just as Keir’s Scar left his palm and shifted into form. It looked half man, half panther with its body an animal and its head a similar likeness to Keir. Its eyes were solid white having no sight except to see what Keir could see. Its huge paw darted out, claws extracting as it hissed and sneered at the Maggot. Keir’s expression contorted in pain as his Scar took over. It made a dive for the enemy, hooked him with his front paws and pulled back in one sharp jerk. The Scar held the head between its paws. A low growl sounded as it quickly demolished the head in one swallow. He looked up. Hesitated. Then in a flicker of bright light, the Scar reconnected with Keir, once again a tattoo.
“You okay, man?” Jedrik asked, grabbing Keir’s arm as he stumbled.
Keir nodded.
Using the Scar was dangerous. It could take over your body if you let it
, and it was difficult to control. The other problem was that using it left you weak for a good ten minutes, so it wasn’t like all of them could use their Scars at the same time.
He ran for Danielle, but stopped dead when saw she was nowhere in sight.
No Long Neck.
No Danielle.
“Fuck!” he roared. “Which way did they go?” Balen had never been so scared in his entire life. She was gone. Did she fall over the cliff? Had the Long Neck killed her? No, she was alive. She had to be. He’d feel something if she were dead. He refocused and used his tracking ability, scenting her footsteps in the grass, which way they went.
“Back towards the gate,” he said.
Balen ran. His senses were all screwed up as blood, fear and pain were mixed together, giving him no clear indication of the scent of Danielle. He heard footsteps behind him and knew Jedrik and Keir were right behind him.
It came
barreling into him as he rounded the corner of the building. Her fear. Her pores leaking panic as the Long Neck dragged her towards the gates of the compound. He picked up speed, everything in his body at full tilt. Seeing her struggling form fighting against the bulky Long Neck was enough to send him over the edge of sanity.
****
Crater Face held her against his chest, his hand holding her neck so tight that each breath was a struggle. She kicked back hitting his shins, but he didn’t even react. The guy was huge like a goddamn Mac truck with the smell of rotting garbage. The same as in the bar. That night with Jedrik when the guy with the buzzard neck had attacked her in the bathroom. Balen had told her then, go for the jugular.
But the knife
had been lost when the buzzard neck had knocked it out of her hand.
Balen and the others were nowhere to be seen. Were they still alive?
God, don’t let Balen die.
The mere thought made her insides coil with dread.
“
Balen. Tell me you’re all right.”
She waited, her fingers digging into the
rotten-smelling buzzard hands that encased her neck.
“
Right behind you.”
If she could, she would’ve let out
a sigh of relief, but the buzzard guy heard the running footsteps behind them and swung her around so she became his shield. His grip tightened and her air was completely cut off. She tried desperately to pry his fingers away and her feet kicked wildly.
“Let her go,” Balen said
, his voice a low growl of fury.
Danielle looked at Balen
. Her struggles stopped because her air was slipping fast from her lungs. She had nothing left.
“If she dies, you’ll have no hostage,” Keir said.
The pressure on her neck loosened a minute amount, and she sucked air into her lungs. Each breath was a painful struggle as they stood at a standoff.
“I die if I let her go. I die if she dies,” the Long Neck said. “Therefore she comes with me and we all live.”
“Not a chance, asshole,” Jedrik said, with his bow and arrow ready to plow into the guy’s forehead.
“
Danielle, I’m going to release Talu. The Scar on my back.”
“
The what?”
Shit, he sho
uld’ve told her about the Senses’ Scars.
“Just do as I say. A tiger will come at you both. When you see it leap, move to the left. Talu will go straight for his neck. Get out of there. Okay? You understand? I can’t always control Talu, so do whatever it takes to get out of his way.”
“
Umm, okay,
” Danielle replied, wondering how on earth she was going to move her head when the hand around her neck was unrelenting. But she’d try anything to get out of the hands of this crater-faced bulk of steel, even if it meant facing this Talu tiger thing.
She had thoughts poring through her
—Balen’s, Keir’s, Jedrik’s—but the worst was the buzzard’s. Her brain was Play-doh, molding into each man’s thinking patterns until it reshaped and began again. She couldn’t control it, and she swore the first thing she’d do if she got out of this alive was learn how to fade out the thoughts of people around her.
****
Balen looked to Keir. “Ready?”
“
You sure?”
Keir asked.
Balen nodded.
“We can’t take the chance of harming Danielle with a bullet or arrow. Talu has scented Danielle all over me. He will not harm her.”
The question was what he would do after he killed his victim.
“Talu,
adeo vita quod servo quis est mei.
” Talu only understood Latin so Balen said the words—Come to life and protect what is mine—in his language.
A burning began in his lower back as the tiger sought life, crawling through his skin so quickly that Balen fell to his knees and roared wit
h agony. Another reason a Senses detested using what they were born with.
“What the . . .” the Long Neck said just before Talu came into a magnificent black and orange form and went straight for him.
The tiger had piercing green eyes that stuck out against his luscious striped coat. His large paws covered the ground easily in three strides, and then he leapt into the air with a low growl.
Two screams of panic tangled together as Danielle and the Long Neck struggled to get out of the way of Talu’s long white fangs. Balen held his breath
, praying that he’d done the right thing, that Talu would hunt the Long Neck instead of Danielle. It had been fifty-four years since he released Talu and he was bound to be starved for blood.
****
Talu’s front paws hit her in the chest and knocked both her and her captor to the ground. She heard Balen’s voice in the background shouting at Talu in a language she didn’t understand. With the wind knocked out of her, she struggled to breathe as the tiger stood massive and magnificent above them. She felt Talu’s drool drip onto her face, and she froze for seconds, staring into eyes that looked exactly like Balen’s.
Fear dissipated as she realized that this animal was a part of the man she loved. They were connected on a level that was beyond any human
’s comprehension. She wanted to reach out and touch the beautiful animal, run her hands through its coat and ease the fury that swam in its eyes.
She raised her
hand, just as she felt her body being dragged out from under the tiger and away from the Long Neck’s grasp. Within seconds, she saw what Talu was capable of, and it horrified her to think that she had wanted to touch him.
The beast made a
low-pitched growl just before he sank his fangs into the Long Neck’s jugular. The CWO screamed with a horrid cry, his face a mask of terror. With a sharp jerk of his head, Talu ripped a chunk of the flesh away. Blood spurted everywhere and the tiger reveled in it as he continued to eat the Long Neck until his head was decapitated from his body.
Danielle gagged, turning away from the sight. Balen pulled her up against him and rested her head in the
crook of his shoulder. She could still hear the sound of tearing flesh and bones breaking as the wild beast devoured the body.
“Talu,” Balen called. The tiger lifted his head, growled and then went back to eating. “Talu!”
Jedrik said something like “This sucks,” and Keir took a few steps back from Balen and Danielle.
“
Adveho iam vel vos mos nunquam eat iterum
,” Balen said.
Talu glanced at Balen and then at its prey. His striped coat was splattered in blood and his muzzle was now a pink hue. He seemed to be thinking about whatever Balen had said. Talu made a whine and then came bounding towards Balen. Danielle tried to
escape, but Balen held her tight.
“Don’t move,” he whispered.
Talu hesitated a foot away, his eyes staring at Danielle as if he was uncertain whether to trust her being so close to Balen. Then the tiger licked his muzzle and made a leap towards them. Danielle staggered back with Balen as Talu’s form shot into Balen’s skin. She watched, horrified and yet interested as the magnificent animal transformed into black ink and slithered across Balen’s hand. It disappeared beneath his shirt, and she thanked God because that was too freaky to watch ever again.
“Wow,” Danielle said. “What did you say to get it to come?”
“I threatened no food for a really long time. Talu loves to eat.” Balen took her hand. “Can you run?” Balen asked.
Could she? Hell
, yeah, even if both her legs were broken, she’d run to get away from these bastards.
“Let’s hit it,” Jedrik said, grinning.
They ran.
****
Kilter was a Visionary and he could sure as hell see what was standing twenty feet away from him beside the vehicle. Delara was a few feet beneath him, holding on to the edge of the cliff with her fingers.
“Told you I smel
led something funny. CWOs. One Maggot, two Long Necks and—”
“Bloody GQs,” Kilter finished. They were difficult to scent but easy to distinguish
by their otherworldly good looks.
“Crap.” Delara shifted her grip, her body pressed against the overhang of the cliff. “How many?”
Kilter raised his brows as Piranha King stepped from the vehicle and then approached the GQ gesturing madly with his hands. GQs were subtle with movements, and the guy just stood quietly listening as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “Two vehicles. Ten men and . . .” His breath sucked in like a vacuum at full power as he saw the figure being dragged from the back of the truck. Her legs appeared to give out, and the Maggot jerked her upwards with a rough haul on her arm.
Her husband strode over to her and said something.
Kilter could see the fury in his eyes as he spoke. He wished like hell he had the sense of hearing because whatever he was saying was scaring the shit out of her. He could see the beads of fear slipping off her brow.
He almost gave his position away when Piranha
King raised his hand and slapped her across the face. She went flying backwards but remained on her feet with the Maggot still holding her arm. He was ready to run over there and kill the bastard with his bare hands.
“I smell your anger, Kilter. Don’t do anything stupid,” Delara warned. “We let them go this time.”
Kilter watched as Piranha King slapped her again, and her head shot back from the force of the blow. He couldn’t just stand here and let her be beaten to a pulp.
He moved his hand upwards in order to pull his body up over the side of the cliff when he stopped. Her eyes. They were staring right at him. She saw him. And then he saw the most subtle movement of her head back and forth. She lowered her gaze, bowing her head in submission as the Maggot dragged her back to the vehicle and pushed her inside.
He lowered back down, but still watched. The Piranha kicked a stone and then shouted some curses before he jumped back in the vehicle.
“They’re leaving?” Delara asked.
Kilter didn’t answer. He was too fucked up to do anything but stare at the back of the vehicle with the woman in it. What had her husband wanted from her? Why had her husband been so pissed at her? Why had she warned him after he so cruelly broke his promise? And how the hell had she known he was there?
Delara pinched his wounded leg to get his attention. “You’re bleeding all over me and my fingers feel like they’re dislocating. Get your ass moving.”