A Lion for Christmas (3 page)

“Blake,” Crispin
said briskly as
he waited for the King of the
Wizards
to step forward
.

Blake
held out his hands
. P
ower sparked in the air around him. Suddenly balls of energy appeared in the palms of his hand
s. H
e nodded and looked intently at the door.

“Now,” Blake yelled and he threw the energy at the magically sealed door. It exploded in a splintering mess. Crispin did
n’t
even blink, he just waited for the dust to clear, and he watched as the first of the
Wizard
Guards made
it
through the door. With a deep breath, he felt the air around him crackle as he pulled in his own magic and then he felt the shift take over.

Crispin was old, and well-practiced, it only too
k
a few seconds for him to turn into a large lion. He felt the brush of Trent as he shifted beside him, but Crispin could
n’t
wait. He leapt through the door and into hell.

Later none of them would realize how far they actually traveled. Dion had set up a nice worm tunnel with magic to transport his Rebels to and from places in the
Stratum
. Blake would even make the comment about the nice bit of magic, Dion had used.

Crispin jumped
through
the
final
doorway, and he saw the battle already raging. Guards were fighting
Shifters
,
Wizards
,
Trolls
, and other magical creatures. They were outnumbered
. H
owever
,
they did have several things on their side. No matter how many people got in their way. There were four Royal magical people in the hallway. More power than any of
them had seen before. They
were no match for Blake, Logan, Ryker, and Crispin as they plowed their way thr
ough
the battles.

Blake and Logan helping the guards, Trent and Crispin intent on finding
Chase, and
Ryker was taking on three men by himself.

When Crispin entered the hallway, he could feel the bond become stronger. Chase was somewhere around
t
h
ere. He followed his connection. Chase had been quiet since he spoke to him earlier, only a few feeling here and there to know they were still working him over. Those men would die tonight for hurting his mate.

Rebels poured out in front of them, ready to take the battle to the next level. They of course,
were not as simple as the front line Dion had put together.
Th
ese were
much
more powerful creatures.
He saw several
Shifters
he knew and roared as he ripped through the men. Crispin paused to rip out one of the Hyena’s throats as he ran. Then he grimaced when he felt claws digging into his side. A Cougar was there, trying to attack him.
Right,
as if
he could take the King of the Shifters down.
With a swipe of his paw, Crispin tore down the front of him, ripping through him, and throwing the body to the side.

After that,
Crispin refused to stop, he passed door after door, pausing to kill when he had to. Trent remained at his side, doing the same; both knew that when the time came, they would have to fight to get to Chase. Therefore, they were saving their strength for that. No matter who was with them, Chase and Trent were faster and would
be the first to find
Chase.

Trent howled and Crispin said in response through their connection. ‘
I can feel him, two doors down on the left.’
They could see two large men standing guard on a door
and
they were not moving to help their comrades. That had to be where
they were holding Chase
.

‘I can scent five people in the room with him, and Chase is hurt
,
’
Trent growled.

‘I know,’
Crispin thought grimly and then ducked when he heard Blake yell behind him. A ball of energy flew by them, and flung the two men in front of them away. Crispin was going to have to buy him a beer for that.

Trent followed him to the door and Crispin pushed his whole body mass against it until the door burst open. There were four men at the ready. Two were
Wizards
, and two were
Shifters
, one panther, and one wolf. They were evenly matched, Crispin thought and attacked quickly.

The panther feint
ed
to the right, and then turned quickly catching Crispin in the side
;
however
,
he was not fast enough, and Crispin turned his head
,
grabbed the panther by the leg and shook his head. One of the
Wizards
tried to use a spell, but Crispin could feel the power begin and he kicked the
Wizard
with his hind legs kicking the man off balance. He could hear a scuffle behind him and assumed Trent was fighting the same as he was.

The panther rounded on him, and he leapt quickly, luckily
,
he landed on the panther’s back and bit down on the back of the
Shifters
neck. The panther hissed. Crispin knew who th
ey
were
; both
w
ere assholes he had imprisoned for stealing. Crispin had no problems killing one of his subjects to protect his mate.

‘Submit,’ Crispin ordered
. T
he Panther shook his head and bucked, he managed to get free from Crispin, but not for long. Hoping he could take two of them out with one well-planned hit. Jumping once again on the back of the Panther, Crispin grabbed the
Shifter
by the neck and flung him towards the
Wizard
who had gotten up again.

He could see Trent holding his own with the other two,
and a good thing too
because Crispin's eyes were drawn to
the man in the center of the room
.
Battered and bruised, Chase stood with chains around his wrists, fighting the last man in the room. He held him by the neck with the chain under the man's chin, choking him from behind.
Wow
, Crispin fell in love a little right then. His mate was a fighter
. That
would come in handy in the future.
Shifters
tended to argue a bit
. Th
ey liked to fight and make up. It was like courting to them.

Logan and Blake finally made it to the room and with a quick succession of blasts; everyone in the room who was not a friend was dead.

Crispin shifted in the blink of an eye and caught Chase as he stumbled when the man
he was choking
fell in front of him.

“Dude, it took you fuckin
’
long enough,” Chase gasped. He was hurt, Crispin could hear a wheeze in his chest, and there were at least a few completely broken ribs.

“Sorry bud, next time you are kidnapped and tortured leave a damn map. I was a little confused on what was going on
,
” Blake drawled and took one side of his friend as Crispin to
ok
the other.

“Deal, can we go home now. I kinda need Bria.” Chase coughed and Crispin grimaced when he saw a small amount of blood come from his mate’s mouth.

“Logan
,
call
M
a,” Blake said
. H
is brother nodded and ran from the room.

The battle still raged on as they exited the room. Crispin noticed that a barrier had gone up just past the doorway they entered. Dion knew they re
s
cued Chase, and he would be pissed.

Crispin didn’t care, as long as his mate was out of
t
here and safe
,
he was good.

“Let’s blow this popcorn stand
,
” Chase murmured.

Chapter Two

Two months, it had been two months since the rescue, and Crispin was slowly going out of his mind. His mate was polite and nice making comments to him,
as
he would to a stranger. However, he refused up until now, to discuss mating.

Crispin was at a loss with what to do. All he knew was he wanted and needed his mate. The day he rescued his mate would stay in his thoughts for a long time to come.

When they arrived back to the Palace that fateful day, Crispin was shocked at his mate’s state of being. He could see the signs of torture, but when he stood in the room, listening to what the sick fucks had done to him, it made him sick. It also became hard to listen to and to watch, with his mate bruised on every single part of his body. And the other marks, which were apparently from electrical torture
,
just pissed him off.

Chase laughed it off, ‘he survived’, was his response.

When Crispin growled, Chase had looked at him in surprise, “I know you.”

“Of course you do, I am your mate,” Crispin announced confused, as Blake covered his mouth with his hand.

“Oh really? Well, dude, I look and feel like shit, so the whole mating thing is on hold.” Chase groaned when Bria pushed on his ribs. “Ma Bria, really?”

“Hush,” The woman said, looked at Crispin, and smiled gently.

“Will he be alright?” Crispin asked.

“I will be fine, Ma Bria, just likes to mess around. I think you can all, maybe turn around. I know, I think the doc here is gonna make me drop trou,” Chase laughed.

Crispin growled again and looked around the room. Blake, Logan, Trent, and Ian laughed and shook their heads.

“Dude, get used to it, he drops trou all the time,” Blake said.

“Fuck you,” Chase said.
Bria scoffed and shooe
d them out of the room.

Crispin shook his head as if he could shake the memory away.

He knew Chase felt more comfortable around Blake and Logan. They had grown-up together. So, when he would see his mate with the other men, he tried not to let it bother him, but it was hard.

Blake and
Chase
talked a lot. Crispin would watch them walking in the garden in deep discussions.
He
knew his mate worked through some of the shit that came along with his capture. However, Crispin wanted to be the one who Chase leaned on. He wanted to be the one to soothe his mate. It was frustrating
to Crispin
.

They had one conversation since the rescue; it consisted of Chase acknowledging that he felt the mating pull. But he was not ready to commit.

“How about dinner?” Crispin had asked.

“Listen, I know you are my mate. I just have to work through some stuff.” Chase had responded.

“That is what I am here for!” Crispin ground out and Chase frowned.

“Good kitty, no marking you territory.” Chase had said and walked off.

It had been one of the shortest fuckin’ conversations Crispin ever remembered having.

After that,
Crispin did the only thing he could. He backed off and stalked his mate.

Chase was beginning to get pissed about it
,
too. Crispin could feel the
irritation coming fro
m his mate as he followed him on his daily run. He refused to allow his mate out of his sight if
Chase
was
alone for
even
a second.

Dion and the Rebels were still out there, and they were planning. In the last few weeks, more and more attacks happene
d. Dion had found out the Kings of
the
Stratums
were all here.