Page 34 of Sevan

Chapter Seventeen

Lorelei watched in horror as her own sister shot Sevan. “Why?”

Nina glanced down at her and offered a small smile. “Lorelei, he agreed ahead of time. He told me to shoot him between the eyes if needed. At least I used a tranquilizer and not a real bullet. Christian and Jordan will be along soon. They’ll carry—”

Something was horribly wrong. The feeling of evil seemed to close in on them. Lorelei struggled to her feet, grabbing hold of Nina’s arm for help. “They’ve found me.”

“I know.” Nina glanced towards Sevan’s lifeless body, looking as though she regretted her decision of knocking him out.

The smell of a werewolf and something else, something familiar, threatening and close. Lorelei drew in a sharp breath. “Samson.”

Nina lunged for Sevan and Lorelei grabbed hold of her, afraid that she was going to try to finish what she started. “No!”

“Let go! He can’t defend himself.”

“Oh, I thought…” She stopped, not wanting to accuse her own flesh and blood of trying something so heinous.

“Lorelei,” Nina said, softly. “Do you love Sevan?”

“Yes.”

“He says that he won’t leave, Lorelei. That he’ll stay and stand by his family’s side.”

Lorelei held tight to her sister as she drew on the power of the earth, the Shamenian spirits of long ago, and of the werepanther within her. Power surged through her veins, harder and faster than it ever had before. Her breathing quickened and her heart raced. “By gods, I think the baby is powerful as well.”

Nina nodded. “Of course—she’s a Janelle.”

“She?”

“Just being hopeful. We have enough boys in the family. I dreamt of Bradiainn the other night. And of Kyriakos only one month ago.”

Not wanting to think of her brothers who had been forced off the planet long ago, Lorelei simply smiled, feeling invigorated and up to the task of fighting even the greatest of Stegian’s warriors. Even if that meant fighting the man she used to love.

A dark mass leaped out from the tree line and something swooshed past them quickly. The moment Lorelei saw the silver-dipped arrow sticking out of a now dead werecougar’s chest, she knew Christian and backup had arrived.

Nina wasted no time. She let her claws emerge and her eyes swirl to light blue. She took off, running straight ahead, clearly sensing something. Before Lorelei could comment, Jordan appeared next to her.

He glanced at Sevan and his brow furrowed. “He’s not…”

“No,” Lorelei said quickly. “He’s just sedated. He started to shift and Nina shot him with a tranquilizer gun.”

“In the middle of a battle? Is the woman mad?” He put his hand through his hair and then gritted his teeth. “Of course she is.”

“In her defense, she shot him before the enemy arrived.”

He tossed his hands in the air. “Well then, that makes it all better.” He looked around frantically. “Where the hell did she go? Is she trying to get herself killed?”

A blur moved at them fast. In a flash, a fully shifted weretiger had its teeth sunk deep into Jordan’s arm.

Fearing that Jordan would lose his arm if she didn’t act quickly, Lorelei let the power that had been building within her loose. It slammed into Jordan, and then his attacker.

Both men went to the ground fast. Lorelei held her breath, fearing she’d killed Jordan by accident. She reached for him, hoping he still had a pulse.

Something dropped down on her, smashing her body to the ground. Crying out wasn’t an option. Whatever was on her had knocked the wind out her.

“That was bad, Lorelei, running out before we were finished,” Samson said, pressing his body against hers.

“Get off of her!”

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