Page 62 of Manix
Raiden held his fingers to Naja’s lips as she opened her mouth in a silent scream. Her eyes were squeezed shut but somehow the tears were still falling down her cheeks.
He was full of shit though. We were all mated. I would know if one of the guys was dead, but Naja didn’t know that and I couldn’t reassure her without giving us away.
We should have mated her when we had the chance. Should have told her we loved her.
The chilling voice on the other side chuckled. “It's always the hard way with you, Marigold... Burn the place to the ground. We’ll smoke the foxes out of their little hole.”
I could hear the stomping of feet down the stairs. It wasn’t long until the smell of smoke drifted up though. They’d lit something on fire, probably the stairs themselves, forcing us to go out through the window. We had to act fast.
“I’ll go out, draw their fire toward me, and then you guys can head for the woods. Try to get to Maxton.”
Raiden was shaking his head. “Fuck no. Ellar.” He walked over to me and gripped my chin. “I will go. I have better aim and can take some of those fuckers out.” He dropped his voice low. “If the worst happens, I can’t carry her out of here, man. This?” He pointed to his protruding stomach. “It makes me weaker, makes us more vulnerable. You need to protect her. She is the most important thing right now, do you understand me?”
I was shaking my head. No. That was not how it worked. “You can’t. The cubs.”
Raiden swallowed hard. “There can be more cubs without me, El. But not without her. You have to protect her at all costs.” He stepped away. “I’m going to head back across the roof and back through Finlo’s window. Maybe I can put out the fire and buy us some time until the Legion Force arrives. If you hear gunfire, go. Don’t look for me, just go.” He walked toward Naja, crouching in front of them. “I’m going to put out the fire, Princess.” She looked up at him and he kissed her so tenderly that it could only be construed as a goodbye. “I love you—you know that, right?”
Raiden didn’t wait for her reply, instead kissing the top of Luisa’s head and sprinting to the window. Unlatching the round panel, he swung it open on squeaky hinges. Raiden let out his Beast, scales covering his body and his ears twitching. He didn’t switch to his stealth form, which was better at hiding but more vulnerable to bullets.
He stopped and kissed me. “Look after her, Ellar. I love you.” Then he was gone.
I shut and locked the window, even though I desperately wanted to climb out there after him. The smoke was getting stronger, and I didn’t know if Raiden would even be able to put it out if he got down there.
I paced back and forth, my ears straining to hear anything, any hint of rescue. But all I heard was the crackle of the fire taking hold and the sound of gunshots further away.
When those shots sounded closer, I knew we had to move.
“Naja, baby, we gotta go.” I ran over and stroked her face, bringing her out of whatever terror she was in. “We have to go.”
I would protect them; it was the only thing I could do. The alternative was unthinkable. I dragged her to her feet, and that seemed to bring her out of her own head. She stepped up to the window and I opened it quietly, not that I thought anyone would hear it.
I shifted forms, my hands elongating to claws, the barbs of my knuckles piercing my skin as the scales ran across my body. Everything was clearer in this form, but it made Luisa whimper and I hated that.
“It’s okay, Little Bit. It's still me, El. But with fluffy ears.” She’d been fine with it before, but the situation was making her more frightened, the darkness making me more of a monster than her friend. I climbed out the window first, looking down to see if there was anyone down there to take pot shots at us.
All clear from what I could tell, so I ushered Naja out onto the roof. I put myself between her and the open space, hemming her in against the wall. We walked swiftly under the eaves, but when we rounded the corner, I froze. Four men, all dressed in black, were stuffing an unconscious Raiden into the back of a van.
“No,” Naja whispered. “No, no, no.” She peeled Luisa off her body and stuffed her in my arms. I reflexively grabbed the cub but it meant I was too slow to stop what happened next. She looked me dead in the eye, all her previous fear gone, an iron determination replacing it. “Take care of her, Ellar. She’s my whole world.”
Then she turned and jumped off the roof.
“No!”
41
Naja
One minute I was landing painfully on the dirt, and the next I was on my back staring up into the face of my worst nightmare. Him. Iago, my uncle. He smiled down at me, but it was a sharp-toothed expression. Cruel in the extreme. I also realized I wasn’t in Manix territory anymore. I was in a room, the walls concrete and cold. I was on a dirty concrete floor, and Iago had his boot to my neck.
“Hello, Marigold. I’m glad you woke; I couldn’t sell a lifeless corpse. Though, there is a market for that.” I swallowed bile as he laughed at his own joke. “In my opinion, you would be preferable in a permanent coma. I am fairly sure you can provide what the buyer wants without consciousness.”
The bile surged back up and I turned my head, vomiting on the ground beside me. It was hard with his boot on my neck but I wasn’t going to die choking on my own vomit. Iago screwed his nose up in distaste.
“What do you want, Iago? I’m just a fucking mongrel half-blood tigress. What the fuck do you want?” I screamed, but it came out more as a gasp as he increased the pressure.
He sneered at me. “Oh, Marigold, we both know you are more than that.”
I began to struggle as the oxygen got less and less. I clawed at his leg and he laughed, black spots dancing in my vision. This was how I died then—beneath my uncle’s boot heel, just how I’d lived. At the last moment, just before blackness consumed me, he lifted his boot and I heaved in oxygen.
