Electric Heat (6 page)

 Chapter Five

R
aven
sprinted for the door when Durant grabbed her arm. “This isn’t your fight.”

“I’m an alpha. I can help.” She didn’t understand why he’d
stopped her

Durant didn’t disagree, but his hold didn’t loosen. “You’re
also human and female.”

She tightened her lips against an automatic protest. “They’ll
kill him.”

He only shrugged. “He agreed to this when he threw in his
lot with the witches.”

His compete lack of compassion stupefied her. She couldn’t
live that way. Life mattered. She went up on tiptoes and got right up into his
face. “Do you really expect me to stand aside while they kill him?”

He gave a wry smile. “I was kind of hoping…but expecting?
No.” He narrowed the space between them down to nothing. His warmth washed over
her, and she stared up at him, part of her ire melting. “Just be careful.
Remember the witches own him. They won’t thank you for your interference. In
fact, they might demand reparations.”

Raven nodded, and the sense of urgency swept over her, as if
the Reaper had run his hand down her spine. “It’s a chance I have to take.”

They bounded down the stairs in two leaps. By the time they exited
the house, a crowd had gathered. Primitive, animalistic snarls echoed in the
distance. The scent of pain and blood smashed into her, and every inch of her
prickled as her body roared to life. When they neared the crowd, Durant took
lead and pushed his way forward.

Raven quickly followed in his wake. As soon as he reached
the center, Durant stepped aside, allowing her to see the small shifter male.
Small being relative. The man was slim, just under six feet, his body practically
vibrating with pent-up rage. A handful of older witches and wizards had
cornered him where two buildings adjoined.

At least they had the good sense to keep their distance.

That’s when she saw the bloody knife he brandished at anyone
who ventured near. The shifter was in human form, hunched over, his side
covered in blood where it appeared he had sliced off a six-inch section of his
flesh from his ribs to hip.

“He cut himself.” She hadn’t realize she whispered out loud
until the shifter turned toward the sound of her voice and quieted a little.

“He cut out his tag.” Heloise’s answer was grim.

Raven blinked, sure she couldn’t have heard right. “Excuse
me?”

The witch looked at the end of her patience. “You should
leave while we handle this.”

She meant put him down like some stray animal.

Raven snapped straight at the condescending attitude, and
the casual intent to do murder. “And if he’s part of your case? We need to keep
him alive and question him. Tell me why he nearly gutted himself. No shifter
would voluntarily maim himself without reason.”

The witch clearly didn’t care for being told what to do, and
those spooky eyes of hers darkened as magic gusted in the air. In response to
the rising tension, the young shifter snarled.

His longish hair was tangled, the black strands matted with
blood. His blue eyes were so vivid they appeared lit from behind, making the bruised
circles under his eyes even more pronounced. The angles of his face were sharp,
his cheekbones prominent. His body was a bit too lean, his ribs clearly delineated.

It was as if he’d been starved, pushed to his limits and then
left lying around like a loaded gun. There was a subtle tremor in his body,
indicating some sort of trauma…if he had been able to shift, she had no doubt
she’d be facing his beast right now.

Before Durant could block her, Raven scrambled forward, halting
a few feet away from the shifter…just out of striking distance. The shifter
hunched down, looking ready to spring.

“Tell me about the tag.” She directed the softly spoken
question to Heloise, not removing her focus from the injured beast.

The shifter stopped snarling, lifted his face and scented the
air.

“There are two types of service. Those who pledge themselves
as familiars in return for protection and upkeep, and those who sell themselves
for a specific time frame. Those who commit are marked. The tag connects the
witch to her familiar.”

“So, tell me why would a familiar be willing to practically
kill himself to remove the mark?”

That gave Heloise pause…for all of two seconds. She turned
her head and gave a regal nod to someone behind her, a queen giving the kill
order. “Do it.”

Two men crept forward, the small charms on their persons
their only protection. It wouldn’t hold against tooth and claw.

The bait.

A third man hung back with a gun big enough to take down an
elephant.

One shot would blast a hole through a shifter’s chest,
ensuring he would never get up again.

“I need him alive.” Raven darted in front of the gun,
ruining the shot, praying that if they pulled the trigger, there would be
enough of her left to regenerate.

The gunman and Heloise both cursed.

Magic built in the air, and Raven planted her feet,
concentrating on thickening the armor under her skin to take a hit. Much to her
surprise, the power obeyed. Molten heat funneled along her veins. When it
cooled, it hardened to a thin armor.

She’d expected the process to be painful, feel weighted down
and cumbersome. She flexed her fingers, rolled her shoulders, surprisingly
comfortable with the change.

She’d expected to feel different.

Expected her beast to take over.

The creature didn’t even stir.

“You asked me here to solve your problem. You interfere now,
and I will assume I’m relieved of my job.” She pointed to the shifter behind
her, noticing the two men continued to advance. The fools. “He’s a clue. I need
him alive.”

The man with the gun hesitated and lifted his finger from the
trigger. Raven stepped forward, grabbed the barrel and twisted. She wasn’t sure
which of them was more shocked when the thick metal bent like taffy.

She didn’t have a shifter’s strength.

No way should she have been able to physically manage that.

As quick as the power came, it vanished.

A vicious snarl came from behind her, and she froze.

Idiot.

She made a rookie mistake by turning her back on a threat.

“Look out!” Durant launched at her, but much too late.

When she whirled, it was in time to see a body flying at
her.

Raven ducked and received a knee in the face for her
trouble. Her lip split and blood spilled into her mouth while Durant hauled the
body off her. Free of the weight, Raven pushed herself up on her hands and knees
then froze at the life or death struggle just feet from her. The jaguar shifter
had the second human on his back, his fangs bared, snapping at the man’s
vulnerable throat. The charm around the man flared, barely keeping the bleeding
cat shifter at bay.

But even as she watched, the amulet’s small glow began to
fade.

It wouldn’t be long before the man’s throat was ripped out.
As if he understood, the man desperately tried to scramble away, but the shifter
had him firmly pinned.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

In the background, she heard chanting. Magic rose from the
ground, creating a shield.

And she was firmly on the wrong side.

With her heart in her throat, Raven crawled forward one inch
at a time until a warm hand wrapped around her ankle.

Durant.

She would recognize his touch anywhere.

She expected to be yanked to safety. When she glanced over
her shoulder, it was to see him shrug. “If he even thinks of hurting you, I’ll
pull you free and personally rip off his head myself.”

He trusted her.

She swallowed hard and gave him a nod of thanks.

“Do something.” The man held beneath the shifter stared at
her with stark terror etched on his face. He had only seconds of magic left.

The wounded shifter was so focused on getting to the man,
the rest of the world didn’t exist. Raven picked up a rock and chucked it at
him.

The stone struck true.

The shifter lifted his head and snarled at her, the beginnings
of large fangs flashing as he pinned her with neon blue eyes. Raven lifted her
hands and slowly came up into a crouch. “You have to stop.”

He twisted his head as if listening intently.

“You have to let the man go.”

A grumble came from low in his throat, but he never once
removed his attention from her, the man all but forgotten except for the way the
shifter’s piercingly sharp nails kept him pinned to the ground.

Giving in to the gamble, she reached out to jaguar. “Come.”

The shifter tentatively leaned toward her, his mouth open, tasting
her scent. As if satisfied, he crawled off the beaten, nearly unconscious man.
Not wanting to end up pinned under the jaguar, Raven slowly stood. Durant’s
hold tightened, giving her one last caress before he withdrew.

 The man crouched lower and lower like he was actually in
jaguar form until he reached her side, and then sat, docile as a trained house
pet.

The chanting had stopped, and she was surprised at how loud
silence could actually be.

“What’s his name?” No one spoke. Raven took a risk and
lifted her focus from the cat. The crowd had grown to thirty-some people. And not
one of them had lifted a finger to help. As her gaze moved from face to face,
she had a startling realization. “You don’t know.”

No one had troubled themselves to learn it.

Why bother?

He was just a familiar.

The entire sordid affair disturbed her. No one deserved be
treated like a piece of furniture.

“You wanted me here, so let me do my job. Leave him with us.
You have more important things to do if you want to find your witch alive.”
When Heloise turned and started issuing orders, Raven stopped worrying about
them and focused on the wild beast staring out at her through human eyes. He
was too weak to shift. He had no pack, nothing to keep him grounded.

Wildness clung to him, the scent of his jaguar slightly off,
almost spoiled.

And there was absolutely nothing human left in him at all.

“Why would anyone commit themselves to this? To be marked and
treated as a possession?”

 “It’s been a way of life for many shifters. He would have
been dead long since if he had remained on his own. Weak shifters have very few
options.” Durant didn’t remove his gaze from the jaguar, his face grim as he
studied the stark condition of the man. “It shouldn’t be like this.”

“So he was a rogue.”

“No, he was sold. A coven this rich would deal with only the
best packs, not risk bringing in a wild animal who might lose command of himself.
Packs can’t afford to keep the weak. He had to prove he was useful some way.”

“Treating him like a commodity instead of a pack member.”

“You’re doing it again, thinking like a human.” Durant’s
patronizing tone grated on her. “Pack members
are
a commodity to be used
to better the group. They’re sacrificed all the time. His service here bettered
the pack.”

“It’s barbaric.” Nothing he could say would ever make her
understand how this could be a perfectly acceptable way to live.

“It’s a system that has worked for centuries.”

Which didn’t make it right. Frustrated by his attitude, she
glared at him.

The instant her focus moved from the shifter, the young man
grew agitated and began pacing.

Durant stepped closer, and the shifter snarled, the sound
eerily animalistic, which ought to have been impossible from a human throat.
Durant immediately stopped.

“It would be a mercy to kill him, so he won’t have to suffer
this way.” Pity shaded Durant’s eyes to green. “He had to be insane to even
attempt to cut out the tag.”

The logic just didn’t sound right to her. “Or maybe he cut
the mark out to stop the madness.”

Durant didn’t seem to have anything to say to that. “You
might be an alpha, but there is nothing human left in him to call back.”