Bud smelled them coming before they arrived, but Nathan was already up and beside the front door with his gun in his hands before Bud came off the bed.

Bud was stationed at the bedroom window before every pane of glass in the cabin shattered inwards and the house was full of men.

“Pride leader — attack your boss!” Nathan yelled, “The rest of you, kill whoever you need to in order to protect our woman!”

Nickie watched in shock as one of the men in front turned to leave the cabin while the two others turned on their own people.

Bud shot the men who’d made it into the bedroom and then picked the rest off as they approached the window, while Nathan kept any from getting into the bedroom door from the living room. Nathan pulled his sword and sliced heads off, Bud ended up having to twist the heads of the hyenas he’d shot so they’d stay dead, and he eventually jumped out of the window to shoot and decapitate. The lions had turned into either a lion or their half-beast form, and were now on their side because Nathan had ordered them to be.

Nickie had jumped out of bed, grabbed her pistol, and shot a man coming in one of the windows without anyone reminding her what to do. She kept aim on the window with her pistol while she walked to the desk, and within seconds she was shooting men outside the house with the machine gun. The enemy had brought at least fifty men to take out the three of them — they weren’t fucking around this time.

Bud didn’t know when she slid into her body armor. He looked at her once and she was in the loose shorts and t-shirt she’d gone to sleep in, and the next time he saw her, she was zipped into the protective shirt. She didn’t manage the pants, but he breathed easier knowing she’d managed the top. It looked like a close-fitting work-shirt, but the military grade fabric would defend against knives, bullets, claws, and teeth. A hoodie went over her head and snugged around her chin to protect her neck and head. She’d likely have quite a concussion if a bullet hit the back of her head, but it wouldn’t make it into her brain. Nothing they could do about her face, though.

Nickie didn’t freak at the half-man and half-lion things now fighting on their behalf, nor did she shoot them once she realized they were fighting the enemy and appeared to be on her side. In fact, she barely acknowledged that people were turning into animals and half animals, and she didn’t freak when the vampires flew in. She just shot everyone she could accurately reach with the gun who seemed to be trying to get into the cabin. She was logical and methodical, and she didn’t panic or lose her shit. Bud had no doubt there’d be a million questions later, but for now, she understood what it took to survive.

The vampires were trying mind games, and Bud was glad they had Gavin on their side because he could feel the energies being bandied around as Gavin kept the other Master Vampire from taking over everyone’s mind.

Bud was glad Nickie seemed to understand some shapeshifters were on his side, because he was forced into his half-animal-half-wolf form when several hyenas made it to him and jumped him. He was thankful he was bigger than them, but they had the energy of their pack and Bud was a lone wolf. He still held his own, and he and Nathan kept them from Nickie so she didn’t have a scratch on her.

Meanwhile, Nathan had ordered the other lions to attack their master, and they circled a Master Vampire who was floating just out of their reach. Gavin was sitting in a nearby tree, and Bud shifted back to human and signaled to Nickie she should stop shooting. The vampires had put a force-field up and none of the bullets reached them.

“Stand down for now,” Bud told her as he stepped next to the window. “Let’s see how this plays out.”

“Werewolves aren’t real, right? What the fuck are you? What the fuck are they?” She spoke low, but everyone outside would be able to hear her.

“Long story.”

“The men floating above the cat-beast-things have to be vampires, since you knew they wouldn’t attack until after dark.”

“Why are you so calm?”

“If freaking out will help, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll wait until the situation’s secure before I freak the fuck out.”

Nathan rested his hand on her shoulder from behind, his body aimed so he watched the doorway into the bedroom while Bud watched to their left and Nickie watched out the window. “All lions are mine, whether they want to be or not. If one comes at you and you think it’s out of control, shoot for the eye. It’s always possible they brought a real lion, but not probable. As long as they’re shifters, they’ll do as I tell them. My disguise was good and I hid my scent and power, so no one knew to expect me.”

“The fact I think I understand what you’re saying is… fuck. You’re a werelion?”

“I prefer lion shifter, but yes.”

“And you’re the alpha?”

He sighed. “More than alpha, but that’s a conversation for later. I’m going to step outside. If Bud looks like he’s lost control, shoot his legs off. They’ll grow back. Don’t shoot his head off unless you don’t have a choice — it won’t grow back. Stay away from head and heart and he can change and heal, but you seem to have figured that out when you shot the hyenas. I’ll come back if there’s a problem. The Master Vampire isn’t likely to take over my mind, but Bud’s susceptible. Gavin’s keeping him too occupied to fuck with ya’ll, for now.”

Nathan looked to Bud. “I’ll watch this side of the cabin from outside. You take over the doorway to the bedroom.”

“I think we took out all the hyenas and we only have the vampires to deal with.”

“And my lions, once we get the vampires taken care of. I’ll have to put them in a holding cell until I figure out how best to handle them.”

* * *

Nickie concentrated on her breathing and focused on her surroundings. She couldn’t think too much about what she’d seen or she risked missing something potentially fatal, and yet not thinking too much about what she was up against could also be fatal.

“Vampire mind control?” she asked Bud. “Anything we can do to fight it?”

“If you have a thought, make sure it’s your thought and not planted there by someone else. Doesn’t always work, but it’s a start. There’s a way to pretend you have a wall up around your mind, but it takes years of practice.”

One of Nickie’s martial arts teachers had taught her how to put up a shield to keep punches from reaching her as easily, and she took her hands off her weapon long enough to form it around her.

“What did you just do? I felt it.”

“Martial arts thing. Don’t know if it’ll work, but it can’t hurt.”

“No, it can’t hurt at all. Hold it strong, Nickie. God, I think I love you.”

Nickie laughed. “See, now I don’t know whether to hug you or shoot you.”

She focused on the men outside again, the ringleader of the human traffickers and Gavin, who seemed to be in some sort of silent standoff.

“Do you know what’s going on between them?”

“Not exactly, but I can feel a lot of energy being tossed around even though they aren’t moving.”

Nathan stepped to the circle of lions around the floating vampire and ordered, “Grow.” Nathan looked even bigger than usual, and Nickie focused on keeping her breathing steady as the lions surrounding the Master Vampire went onto their back legs and turned into giant half-man and half-lion monsters. The vampire went higher into the air, but one lion-beast jumped up and grabbed him, and the others helped pull him down once the first had him.

“No. You’re mine!” The vampire screamed. “You will do as I say! Stand down! Stand down!” The lions ignored the vampire, and within moments there was blood everywhere. Nickie forced herself to watch and not look away as the lions tore him to pieces. They didn’t eat him, but they literally ripped and shredded him until he was pieces of meat.

“Hold your places!” Gavin said as he floated down and motioned with his hand. Three more vampires floated to him, and Nickie immediately understood Gavin was manipulating them as if they were marionettes.

“Two need to die, the other I’ll hand over to Abbott.” Gavin looked at Nickie through the broken window. “If you have any questions for them, you should ask.”

Nickie looked at the men and asked, “Have you captured more humans?”

It took ten minutes to get the details of where the children and teens were being held in several cities while waiting to be auctioned. She also got details of where she could find out who their biggest buyers were, though the men said there were no records of who’d bought most of their acquisitions. They only had a way to reach out to the people who bought in volume.

She looked to Gavin and he answered her question before she asked it. “They aren’t capable of lying right now. Whatever they say is the truth as they know it.”

She looked back to the men. “Is there someone else who’ll know more?”

Nickie wrote down a dozen names and asked questions another fifteen minutes before she finally told Gavin she was finished.

“The FBI agents may want to question them.”

Gavin shook his head. “We froze them as soon as I realized shapeshifters intended to show themselves. I picked it out of their heads before they shifted, so the agents didn’t see anything. We’ll burn the cabins and implant a memory of a bomb we all barely escaped. You may or may not be allowed to remember what you’ve seen, but we’ll make the memory work so you’ll have your answers.”

Nickie’s blood ran cold. “My memories are MINE. You can’t touch them.”

Gavin sighed, walked to the vampires, and pulled a long sword from a sheath on his back. He cleanly sliced the heads off two of the vampires and stabbed them in the hearts when they hit the ground.

“I’ll take the third with me. Who’s responsible for Nicole?”

“I will be,” Nathan said. “My lions showed themselves before Bud went through a partial change. Do you know who we’ll be dealing with?”

“If you want to argue for her to keep her memories, you’ll have to go through the Concilio. If you just want to implant a memory so she won’t remember supernaturals, Abbott can do it.”

“What’s the Concilio?” Nickie asked.

“Our governing body,” Bud answered, his eyes weary. “Nathan won’t be able to leave your side until we either have permission for you to keep your memories, or they’ve been replaced with something else.”

Nickie considered whether to use the machine gun still in her hands to take them all out so she’d be able to keep her damned memories, but the next thing she knew she was floating out the window and it was out of reach.

“I can’t let you do that,” Gavin told her. Nickie landed on her feet without being jarred, right beside Nathan, and Gavin asked him, “You sure you’ll take responsibility for her? She knew to shoot you in the eye and then decapitate you, to take you out.”

“Yeah. If you can replace that memory with one that tells her to shoot us in the thigh to kill us, I’d appreciate it. We’ll disarm her and keep an eye on her. She’ll be fine.”

Now, Nickie had to concentrate on breathing to keep from freaking out in a whole ‘nother way. She strengthened her shield and stopped thinking of anything except her surroundings.

“You’re safe, Nickie,” Bud told her. “We won’t hurt you.”

“Taking my memories will hurt.”

“Let’s focus on what needs to happen next,” said Nathan. “We need to remove the bodies and then get situated so it looks like we survived the explosion and escaped before the cabin became totally engulfed.”

Nickie considered whether she could hit Nathan and Gavin in the thigh to take them out, but she was too far from the gun. Why had she moved away from it? She couldn’t remember doing so, but Bud was walking her into the bathroom and telling her to shower to get the blood out of her hair. She hadn’t even realized she was bloody — it had spurted everywhere when Bud had ripped the hyenas’ heads off.

“Hyena shifters? Will they be burned with the cabin?” she asked as she turned and pointed to the bodies.

“No. Get in the shower and they’ll be gone when you come out.”