CHAPTER 14
She wasn’t in control.
She was accepting.
She was believing.
Nisa was driving herself insane. Decan had left her in bed for the second time. Only a few hours had passed since he’d been gone but she could still feel him as if he were lying right there. Actually, she could feel the waves of stress and anxiety that had covered him even though he’d insisted there was nothing wrong.
“There’s something,” she’d said when he’d sat in the chair across from the bed.
They’d had crazy hot sex…again. That may have been the only part about this that Nisa understood without too many questions. She was convinced that her body was made specifically for this shifter. Everything he did, every touch and kiss…all of it was exquisite and never failed to bring her to another soul-shattering orgasm. It was the before and after the sex that still perplexed her.
“There’s nothing, Nisa,” he’d said with impatience. “Everything is not a puzzle that you have to figure out.”
She’d pulled her knees up to her chest as she sat on the bed, wrapping her arms around them as she continued to stare at him.
“Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to tell me that,” she’d admitted.
Decan continued to tie his boots.
“But there’s still something,” she continued regardless of whether or not he wanted her to. “It’s like a weight sitting right between us.”
He stood then, his face stern when he looked down at her. “It’s nothing! Let it go!”
She thought about Shya’s words and considered for another moment. Hell no, that was Shya’s nature, not hers.
“I won’t let go a feeling that’s threatening my sanity, Decan Canter!” she yelled back at him.
Then she was getting off the bed and going to stand in front of him.
“You may be older and worldlier but you are not the only one in this room with a brain or an inclination to use it,” she told him. “One of the first things I learned in training was to follow your gut. Well, that’s what I’m doing and I’m telling you that something is going on.”
There was a low rumble, his lion no doubt. Displeased with her too. Well, it could get in line. Her father was angry with her for not wanting to leave with him in the morning. Gold was still irritated with her she figured for what happened at the gala and Kyss who was normally all smiles and love for everyone hadn’t shown her face in the last couple of days.
He inhaled deeply like the action would actually calm the lion inside of him. It hadn’t, she could still feel the beast’s restlessness. It was making her edgy, as if she were pacing the floor herself.
“There is nothing going on,” he said, his voice calmer this time.
Unfortunately, his eyes and the lion that continued to give away everything the man did not want her to know, told a different story.
“You should be packing to leave with your father in the morning,” he’d continued.
Whether or not it was intentional—which it probably had been to distract her—Nisa folded her arms over her bare breasts and stared up at him.
“Who said I was leaving with him?” She shrugged. “I didn’t come here with him.”
“You should leave with him,” Decan told her and then he touched her chin.
His fingers had rubbed lightly over the line of her jaw, then back to her chin as he watched her. He continued to breathe steadily, in and out, focusing on each breath. Nisa had begun to focus too, mimicking her breaths to match his and wondering why the act wasn’t calming her in the least.
“You’ve done what you came here to do. Now, you should go. You’re safer at Assembly Headquarters with your father.”
“I’m not in danger, Decan. Those innocent humans above ground who are being murdered because of a familial connection are. The shifter who hacked into our system is. But not me. I’m fine,” she’d insisted.
“That’s not true.” His voice had been solemn. “You are a target to anyone who still hunts your father. That rogue scent we picked up that first night in Florida, they knew you were there.”
“What?” Her arms had dropped to her side once more. “Nobody knows me above ground.”
“Shifters and rogues knew that Kalina was pregnant at the time of the Unveiling. You may have been born in Oasis, but news spread quickly of the Assembly Leader’s only child. You are his weakness and anyone wishing to harm him, will gladly go through you.”
“Are you saying there’ve been threats against my father? Why? He’s been hiding down here in the world he’s created to keep us all safe. How could that still put him in danger?” she asked.
The right side of his mouth lifted into a grin. “You never run out of questions, do you?”
He did not give her a moment to answer.
“Pack your clothes, Nisa. Go home.”
He’d turned and walked out of the room then and Nisa fell to her knees as a wave of sadness rushed over her with the force of a battering ram. She stayed there, hands flat on the floor, head down as she’d struggled to catch her breath. When she did, Nisa had quickly dressed. Then, she’d sat on the edge of the bed and waited.
That’s where she was now, but she knew the waiting was over. It was just after midnight and as she stared at the door Decan had closed on her, she suddenly saw straight through it. On the other side was a war zone, or what looked like one with fire licking cement walls, the stench of burning flesh piercing her senses until she cringed. He was there, lying on the ground, his face pressed into the dirt. Blood poured from the deep slashes over his back and she knew instinctively his front. Around him people were running and screaming, things were falling from the sky—steel poles, flying debris, body parts. It was sickening and frightening and Decan was just lying there not moving. Not shifting. Where was his lion and why hadn’t it appeared to help him move, to get away? Another question her subconscious thought, but one she answered quickly. He wouldn’t let it.
Just as he wouldn’t let her get any closer to him than sex, he was holding the beast inside at bay.
But this time, Nisa thought as she slowly stood from the bed, he wasn’t going to be successful.
The downpour was torrential on the night of the full moon.
Rain falling so quickly in thick drops that flooded streets, while winds blasted through at rates that threatened to knock a mere human off his feet. Good thing Decan was only half human. He was a Shadow Shifter and he knew that from tonight on not only would the shifters in Oasis know that, but every human would know and they would remember that he was the one who killed Ewen Mackey.
Hurricanes of this magnitude, along with raging forest fires, catastrophic blizzards and other amazing weather anomalies had plagued the planet in the last twenty years. His father had spoken of those who had predicted climate change due to global warming in the years of Decan’s youth. Now, he was sad to say that he’d witnessed the devastation and destruction of that very prediction.
Keller and Gold moved quietly beside them. The threesome making their way down the street where Mackey lived. This was where they’d learned he was having a private meeting with his top cabinet members. So they wouldn’t get them all, as they’d planned, but Decan had agreed with Keller that this opportunity was too good to pass up.
While they remained in human form, the eyes of their cat and the extra-sensory sight came in handy as seeing through the cloud of rain and wind would not have been possible without it. They came closer to the house at the end of the cul-de-sac. Most of the large homes in this part of town had been vacated by people who either could no longer afford the exorbitant payments Ewen and his crew exacted from them or had been killed. Because they were shifters. Decan planned to avenge them all.
“There will be six of them present,” Keller stated, the clicking sound of his claws breaking through his skin and the wind whistled around them. “After what happened the other night there will probably be armed guards at the door.”
“Armed rogue guards,” Gold added.
“Nobody lives,” Decan said, the prick of his elongated incisors against his lips going unnoticed. “But Mackey is mine.”
He was a killer. He’d been born with that natural instinct and the military, along with his shifter training, had perfected his skills. His father had never killed a man or a beast before. Decan had done both and was preparing to do so again. That wasn’t the type of mate Nisa deserved.
“We don’t have any back-up so let’s get in and get out,” Keller said.
His voice sounded off so Decan looked over at him to see that the cougar was straining to remain in human form. Water dripped from his hair down to the shoulders of his navy blue t-shirt and down his jeans. He was soaked and still, Decan could see the expanse of his shoulders increasing, the deep breathing that was steadily failing him. The claws and teeth were already visible and Keller’s usually cloudy green eyes were now a vibrant hue as he stared straight ahead. He would shift soon. They all would.
“In and out. Leave them dead. Go home,” Gold said as if he were struggling to read the words on a sign.
There was no fast fight for Gold. The rage this lion held within him came in bursts that ravaged for however long it took for the anger to subside. The Ruling Cabinet, the ones who had ordered the death of his parents all those years ago, was the proverbial thorn that would forever be in Gold’s side. That is, until he killed every single one of them.
While the storm ravaged the other houses, ripping shingles from the roof tops and breaking through windows, the house at the end stayed intact. Mackey would have used the best materials for his house, everything new and innovative that the top scientists and engineers could come up with was at his disposal. While others, such as Marlee and the six children she sold her body to support, lived in squalor.
“We’re going through the front door,” Decan announced. “Just like we’ve been invited.”
They were only about five feet away now and Keller had grown tired of waiting. The cougar took off charging through the wind and rain. Decan continued to hold his shift back, as did Gold. Keller’s hatred for the Ruling Cabinet had always been a bit obscure to Decan, but the anger that simmered beneath the surface of that beast was real and so Decan had never pushed for details. Now, he ran toward the house, toward the destiny the three of them shared in common.
The plan had been to catch them off guard but to let it be known that they were being beat by shifters for Mackey’s crimes against their kind, but the moment Keller crashed through that front window and sparks of electrical volts ripped through the air in glowing gold spikes, Decan knew the plan had been changed. Going for the door he used all the strength of his lion to kick the steel access off its hinges, watching as it indeed fell to the floor and bullets quickly flew in his direction. They seemed to have been prepared for the intrusion, but Decan didn’t have time to think about that at the moment.
He removed the enhanced pistol he’d tucked in the back of his pants and returned fire until he was able to take out two of the shooters and enter the house. He had the advantage of being able to see clearly through the storm that had blown into the house with just as much force as the shifters had used. Gold brushed past him in a whoosh of growls and roars but Decan kept moving. Mackey was in here. Hiding, as was expected of such a coward. Decan was determined to find him.
The wind whipped around him as he moved through the house, a wall collapsing in front of him just seconds before he stepped into that spot. But he had the scent. It had stuck with him all these years, since he’d been set free of the SIC by that fire which had been set by someone intent on freeing their kind. He took the stairs, not caring that they creaked and moaned as if they too were about to collapse. And then he was there, as if materializing through the fog, the man stood with Lial who was showing his cougar eyes at his side.
“You,” Mackey said the moment Decan stepped through the doorway into the dimly lit room.
There had to be a generator pumping power into this house because there were lamps lit all around this room while the rest of the house had been dark.
“Me,” Decan answered as he looked into the eyes of the one who had put many of those scars on his back and torso.
“Kill him!” Mackey shouted at Lial.
The cougar still in his human form was dressed in all black with some form of body armor around his upper body and a long black leather jacket. He made a move, his teeth bared, a wicked ugly jagged edged blade in his hand as he leapt toward Decan. But he was quickly cut off as Gold roared into the room clamping his lion’s teeth into Lial’s side and taking the cougar down to the floor. They were rumbling and tussling on the floor when Decan moved quickly, leaping over their bodies and going for Mackey. He heard the shots more than he felt them and came down on top of the man, sending the gun rolling across the floor.
His clawed hands immediately went around the man’s plump neck. Mackey immediately grabbed his wrists in a futile attempt to push Decan away.
“No you bastard, this is the time we’ve both known would come,” Decan said, his lion pressing hard against the man’s body.
It wanted out. It wanted this kill for itself.
Decan couldn’t let it, not yet.
“I told you I’d kill you,” he continued, the memory of the night he’d said those words flashing quickly through his mind.
“I’ll kill you!” he’d yelled that last night as Mackey had stood behind him, wielding that steel rod that had been laced with some type of poison so that it stuck to Decan’s skin with every contact, ripping his flesh in a way that could never be repaired. In the five years that he’d been held captive at SIC he’d never been able to completely heal from the beatings Mackey liked to personally give him.
“No, you dirty animal, I’m gonna kill you, just like I’ve been exterminating the rest of your kind!” Mackey had continued. “And when we find that cowardly leader of yours I’m gonna put his head on the end of my staff and hold it for all to see. We’re in charge here, the humans! Not some twisted ass breed of feline monsters!”
He’d slapped that staff as he’d called it over Decan’s skin once more.
“You won’t,” Decan had told him. “You will die instead. Mark my words.”
The fear that instantly rose in Mackey’s eyes was all the motivation Decan needed to remain in human form. He would take the beatings for now. He would not shift and give in to the lesser persona some of the humans had given them the moment they found out they were different. He had to be better. His father had told him that often. “Be better than any other shifter, or human for that matter. Show them that it can be done.”
And Decan had. He’d gone to school and he’d served in their military. He’d walked like them, talked like them, lived and regretted in the same way that man had and still they hated him.
Now, was his chance for revenge. He leaned in closer to Mackey’s face, roaring so loud and so long, tears poured from the man’s eyes.
“Decan! Stop!”
Her voice was like spikes of ice piercing through the heat of his blood in painful intervals that snapped his head back as he struggled to distinguish between memory and the present.
“Stop!” she yelled again. “You don’t have to do this. You’re better than this. Better than him.”
Decan roared again, this time feeling the crack of his bones as his body prepared to shift into the animal that wanted desperately to sink his teeth into Mackey’s throat. The hand on his shoulder stopped everything. Her scent seeped inside him, filtering through his nostrils and moving quickly to fill each corner of his body, warming him until he wanted to lay docile on the floor. The animal bucked against the submission, but the sound of the jaguar’s low murmur calmed the animal’s soul.
“We’ll take him with us. He’s more valuable to our cause that way,” Nisa said.
Mackey’s grip on Decan’s wrists slackened, the man’s face turning an ashen color.
“Let him go,” Nisa said, this time her lips close to his ear. “Take a deep breath and let him go.”
Decan took that deep breath, his head throbbing with the effort. His fingers ached, claws sinking into the man’s flesh. He could hear Nisa’s heartbeat. It matched his own. He took another deep breath and even though he was still staring down at Mackey, he could see Nisa’s face. She was everywhere and, Decan thought as the calm he’d always possessed covered him once more, she was everything.
He pulled his hands from Mackey’s throat just in time for the man to choke out a breath just as an unfamiliar sound rocked them and everything in that house.
After gagging and tying Mackey as quickly as they could, Nisa and Decan ran down the steps toward the light that poured in through the front door. The rain had stopped and as they stepped through the door it was to see nothing but fog surrounding them. A thick fog that even their extra-sensory vision couldn’t pierce through.
It had grown colder, the wind still blowing as an eerie sound filled the air.
“What is it?” she sked Decan, but before he could answer someone else did.
“It is Death.”
Blaez Trekas with three other lycans stepped from around the side of the house. Decan hadn’t even known the lycans were there.
Nisa didn’t bother with introductions, but asked yet another question, “What or who is Death?”
“They don’t live here,” the lycan dressed in leather pants and jacket and who looked unmistakably like a sexy biker answered. “They are from far away but like all of us have been in a state of upheaval since the Unveiling and the supermoon that soon followed.”
“The supermoon that reportedly ripped through the veil separating the Human Realm from the Otherworldly Realm,” she said.
Blaez, whose eyes glowed that intense blue that Decan recalled seeing when the lycan was in his complete wolf form, nodded to Nisa.
“There are more here than shifters now and unfortunately, much more at stake than a lowly human who rules with hate in his heart,” Blaez told them.
A screeching sound bellowed through the air then and they all stared ahead in silence. Waiting.
Decan stood near Nisa, pulling her close and reveling in the fact that she did not attempt to pull away.
Something cut through the fog. Something big and dark. The ground shook beneath them, almost to the point of sending them all tumbling. They managed to remain upright and continued to stare when the big and dark pierced the fog once more, this time in one quick motion that produced a heavy wave of warm air to fall upon them. In the next second more was visible, until it was no question they were staring at a wing. A more than one hundred foot wing so dark it appeared to be a deep purple color.
Nisa gasped as the second wing appeared and then a golden arch of fire was spewed into the air. The cold that had greeted them when they’d first stepped outside immediately vanished and heat filled the space. As suddenly as it appeared, the wings and the fire vanished. The fog rolled back in a motion that seemed as if the owner of those massive wings had sucked it in with its departure.
And lying on the ground just about ten feet away from where they stood was the body of a man.
Blaez moved first and Decan immediately followed him. They both came to a stop—Blaez’s pack behind him and Nisa beside Decan.
“That’s Cole Linden,” Blaez said and looked up at Decan who stared at the man once more and then looked at Nisa.