Raven Investigation 04 - Electric Legend (7 page)

Agony rippled through her. Her ribs felt bruised, her knee
throbbed. Her head swam as she struggled to remain conscious.

The world went black for a few seconds when she heard a
roar.

Durant.

Alive.

She lifted her head, feeling woozy as something dripped down
her face. She lifted her hand and encountered a nasty gash at her temple. She stared
in confusion at the blood staining her fingers. She struggled to stand, but her
legs wouldn’t hold her. Vision blurry, she peered beyond the bars of her cage
to see Durant pacing in his tiger form, fully agitated and ready to rip into
anything that neared.

Taggert lay slumped across from her, completely
unresponsive, sweating out the toxins as fast as he could while Jackson was swaddled
in chains that had to weigh a couple hundred pounds, his body tensed to explode
into action at any second.

Though they were all captured, she sensed no injuries. They
must have been taken by a blitz attack, caught off guard and shot with darts
from a distance. They wouldn’t have allowed themselves to be taken without a
fight.

She castigated herself for not knowing they were in trouble.

Some protector she was turning out to be.

Raven struggled to remain human as her magic rose with her
agitation, threatening to expose her. Their captors thought the men were the
bigger threat.

They were very wrong.

Jackson didn’t take his gaze away from her, muscles
straining as he tried to break the chains. He must have seen her look, the one
that craved vengeance, and slowly shook his head.

Annoyance rippled through her at being forced to back down
even if he was right. Without her dragon or power to back her up, she wasn’t
sure she’d be able to take them without putting her pack more at risk.

They needed to wait until the drugs burned out of their
systems first.

The cage slammed shut in her face with a resounding thud.

Her heart dropped to her feet with a splat.

A prisoner again.

Trapped.

She repressed the growl that threatened. She had to remain
calm or risk harming her men if she lost control. She wanted to unleash all the
pent up rage on the circus and obliterate it. She could overload the shifters
with energy and force them to change. Though they would be more dangerous in beast
form, it would also suppress their human side for a few precious minutes. The
bindings to the pack would waiver and chaos would reign.

Her dragon could grab control, but there was a vital flaw to
the plan. If her dragon failed to rise, her people would be torn apart. She
could do the opposite and drop everyone where they stood but the sudden influx
of syphoning away all their energy could knock her out cold.

She couldn’t risk that they would recover first.

She’d bide her time for now, but the instant they moved
against one of hers, they were all dead.

DAY TWO: FIRST DAY OF CAPTIVITY –
MORNING

R
aven kept watch over the men all night,
determined nothing worse would happen to them. No one spoke, not with the guard
standing outside the small tent. The cages were tall enough for them to sit and
long enough for them to lay down if they curled up their legs. Though the men
were crammed into the miniscule space, they’d settled down, not quite sleeping
as they burned off the rest of the drugs.

Paranoia kept her awake, and she’d spent all last night gathering
as much information as she could. She pushed tiny strands of energy through the
earth, holding back as much as possible so the shifters wouldn’t sense the
sudden influx. Current forked through the ground, registering anything with a
heartbeat. She did it over and over until she worked her way through the whole
circus, her hands trembling under the strain by the time she was done. Her
spirits plummeted at the sheer number of people. By her estimation, the circus
housed over fifty workers, a third of them some variety of shifter.

That left dozens of humans, more than half of them soldiers.

Some of the shifters had tried to help them last night, but
she couldn’t count them as allies, not if it meant going against their pack.

The side of her face ached from the blow she’d taken, but
the gash on her temple had scabbed over. Temperatures had dropped throughout
the night, the metal cage offering little comfort. Dew glistened on the grass. Dawn
colored the horizon through the thin canvas, a smudge of red in the sky, when
the tent flap flew open.

The ringmaster entered, and Raven blinked in surprise as she
spotted his animal form wrapped around him like cloak. The man was an honest to
god bull, sharpened horns and all, not to mention damned near a ton in weight.
He didn’t speak as he trotted through the tent, observing each cage for a few
minutes like a proud owner admiring his newest acquisitions before halting in
front of her.

Without a shred of doubt, she knew her suspicions were true.

They replenished their ranks by kidnapping people, and her pack
were the newest recruits.

Calculating thoughts flickering behind the dark pits of his
eyes, and her hands clenched around the bars until her knuckles ached. Raven
concentrated on blocking as much of her magic and beast as she could. She must
have passed for human for he turned away. Relief trickled in her veins, the
tension releasing its stranglehold on her body.

Her secrets remained safe.

Now she just had to keep it that way.

She needed to think human.

How the hell was she supposed to do that when she’s never
been human?

The few humans that she’d met when growing up had all either
experimented or tortured her.

Fun times.

“Imagine my surprise when we stumbled upon these two skulking
behind the circus. We offered our hospitality while they waited for your
return.” Their scent. Raven cursed her carelessness, sick to her stomach. The
people from the circus must have searched the cars until they’d located their
scent and found Durant and Jackson waiting like sitting ducks.

While Taggert and she were playing hide-and-seek, they’d
been hunting her men.

The ringmaster walked around the cages in a proprietary way,
remaining just out of swatting distance. She didn’t like the possessive way he studied
the three men, judging their worth like he already owned them and could do whatever
he pleased.

“You make it sound like we set a trap for you.” More the
other way around. Rage seethed under her skin, and she was proud her voice
didn’t shake with her volatile emotions. Raven leaned back as casually as
possible until her spine hit the cage, refusing to be intimidated, keeping him
in view as he continued to clomp through the tent. “What do you want?”

She wanted it spelled out. She wanted to know exactly where
they stood.

His brows rose, as if surprised that she would speak for the
group.

Then a satisfied look settled on his face.

“My name is Clancy, the ringmaster here. You all have been
given the honor of being chosen to join my pack.” He paused as if he expected
some sign of appreciation. When no one even moved, a frown furrowed between his
brows at the slight. “You will be expected to work for your food and board.
You’ll be given a one-week trial, so you’ll want to make sure you pass
inspection.”

A slight smirk danced about his lips, but it was the
malicious gleam in his eyes that made it clear that if they failed to pledge
allegiance, they would not enjoy the consequences. Then he nodded toward her.
“For your own safety, you will be separated from the shifters and housed with
the other women. If you obey the rules and earn your keep, you’ll be granted
the privilege of a few minutes alone with each other at meal times.”

Giving them a taste of what they were missing, a nasty
reminder of what they had to lose if they didn’t behave. Everything inside her
rebelled at being separated from her men. Fury scorched her insides raw at
being used as a damned hostage, and she quickly reined it back before it could
leak pass her shields. If she hadn’t been in a damned cage, she would’ve leapt
at him.

“And if we don’t obey?”

The man cocked a brow at her, clearly not impressed. “If you
don’t earn your keep, then I have no use for you.” He gestured with two
fingers, signaling to a man hidden outside her range of sight.

The man who entered the tent next appeared no more than thirty
years old, but age could be deceiving when shifters lived a few centuries. Definitely
a shifter from the energy roiling under the surface, but he had himself locked
down so hard, she couldn’t tell which breed. Muscles roped his body, not a speck
of fat on him. Trimmed dark hair and plain nondescript clothes allowed him to
pass as forgettable.  

Until she saw his eyes.

Guarded.

Ruthless.

No mercy.

There would be no help from that quarter.

“Touch her, and you die.” Taggert threw himself at the cage,
nearly upending it. Durant swung out with a massive paw, and the man easily
danced out of the way. Jackson worried her the most. He did nothing but watched,
his eyes cold and deadly.

At the first opportunity, the man would be dead.

“Ah, Greggory, see to the human. She can stay with Veronica until
they take their pledge.”

Greggory stiffened slightly, then held his hand out, waiting
for Clancy to remove the key from around his neck and hand it over. Without
missing a beat, he opened the lock and straightened. She waited for him to grab
her and drag her out, but all he did was stand patiently by the door. Giving
her the opportunity to run or prove herself or just plain manners, she wasn’t
sure which. For now, she’d play with the hand she was dealt.

In order to convince them that she was human, Raven hadn’t
allowed herself to heal.

Now she paid the price.

When she pulled herself toward the opening, her ribs creaked
in protest. Every movement, every breath sent agony rippling through her body as
she struggled to stand and walk. They almost reached the door when the
ringmaster spoke again.

“Since you’re such an animal lover, you can work with the beasts.”

Grunt work, not that Raven cared.

They considered her human and therefore worthless.

Good.

That meant they wouldn’t see her coming.

* * *

Her escort didn’t talk or touch her as they wove their way through
the fairgrounds. They slipped through a small section in the canvas, more of a
cut than an opening, and entered a maze of trailers and tents.

A tiny village where the workers lived.

People stopped as they passed. Some smirked, while others
dropped their eyes, pity leaching them of all emotions. One trailer stood off
to the side, bigger than the others, and her guard pounded on the door.

It opened to reveal the last person she expected.

The mermaid.

She filled the doorway, but not the woman Raven had seen
last night. Oh, the tail had morphed into legs, but it was more than that.
Instead of a young woman, she had aged a good ten years overnight. The glorious
fine blond hair now looked limp and oily. The flawless skin had drooped,
covering her in a layer of fine wrinkles, taking her from a beautiful princess
to a middle-aged crone in a matter of hours.

Shifter aged slowly, but they can’t function at their peak
so far out of their natural habitat. Without water, this woman would die a
brutally slow death. She aged so fast, Raven could actually smell the death
around her.

“The little human. You didn’t make it.”

Raven shivered at the purr in the voice. The sound should’ve
been seductive, but the woman rubbed her the wrong way.

“Clancy wants her to stay with you for the first week, show
her the ropes. She’s the new animal trainer.” The man gave nothing away as he
issued his instructions. “She’s human. Make sure you handle her with care.”

A moue of disgust crossed the woman’s face, and she lowered
her eyes demurely. “He promised me my own trailer.”

“Take that up with him.” The man turned and walked away, abandoning
Raven without another word. Some shifters resented humans, treating them as a
pest to be dealt with when they couldn’t avoid it. As she watched his lean form
disappear into the crowd, she realized he saw her as nothing more than a chore.

The woman heaved a sigh and pushed the trailer door wider.
“You might as well come in, but don’t bother making yourself at home.”

Veronica flounced away, the nightgown she wore flaring out
in her agitation. It appeared more than a hundred years old, something a woman might
wear in the Victorian age. She lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, nervously
flicking her nails. She parted the window curtain and peered outside.

 “It might look like your guard walked away, but everyone
will be watching you. You have to be careful. Few of us are human. The longer
you remain, the more dangerous it will become. You have to prove your worth. The
instant you mess up, they’ll pounce.”

She turned away from the window, puffing on her cigarette,
the confined space filling with the stench of smoke. Raven unobtrusively
covered her nose, but nothing would block the invasive smell.

“Sorry.” The woman stabbed out her cigarette, the ashtray
filled with a dozen or so half-smoked butts. She waved a hand then picked up a
can and sprayed the air.

It only made things worse.

Now Raven smelled smoke and a heathy dose of sickly-sweet
flowers on top of it. With a shifters enhanced sense of smell, smoking should’ve
been intolerable. The lack of sleep combined with the smoke left her head
pounding and the bruises on her face throbbed.

“Here, let me change, and I’ll show you the job.” Veronica
dropped the robe and threw it across the bed, quickly dressing in a simple pullover
gown. In under a minute, they were out the door.

Raven gulped fresh air, feeling a bit green, swallowing
compulsively so as not to be sick. They travelled through the maze of tents and
trailers, people edging out of their way, avoiding looking at them directly,
something usually they only reserved for alphas, and everything inside her
froze.

Her heart thudded painfully against her ribs.

They couldn’t know the truth.

Raven quickly scanned for her beast, but she couldn’t find
hide nor hair … er … scales nor tail of the stubborn creature. She chalked the
reaction up to her imagination.

Instead of proud warriors, they were cowed and so submissive
they didn’t meet anyone’s gaze. Afraid to draw attention to themselves.
Violence hovered around them, drawing their beast closer to the surface—not a
healthy place to be for a shifter, not when they could go furry and rip out
your throat at any second.

Every shifter she saw had been a rogue at one time, and less
than a handful of them could shift.

“What’s wrong with them?”

Veronica glanced around and shook her head, a tinge of
sadness clinging to her. “The circus used to be booming. We had our choice of pledges,
but people have gone missing in the last few months.”

Raven glanced around the park, seeing it through new eyes,
the way the people scurried in fear. She’d assumed the circus itself was the
threat, and couldn’t help but wonder if she’d gotten things wrong.

“Since we’ve been targeted, our attendance has plummeted. We
move every few weeks, but trouble follows us everywhere we go.”

Raven wasn’t sure she believed the woman, but couldn’t sense
a lie. “When did Clancy take over?”

Veronica raised a brow at the impertinent question and
snorted. “I like you.” Then she waved a hand. “But you’re wrong. Clancy took
over years ago. The trouble only arose a few months ago.”

Raven wanted Clancy to be the root of the problem so she
could go after him. “Then how do you explain the kidnappings?”

Veronica shrugged, smiling at a few male shifters constructing
a small tent. They ducked their heads away, pretending not to see. “We need
workers. It’s a lot better life than most of the rogues can expect.”

Abducting people to protect their pack didn’t make it right,
but at least she could understand. She’d do whatever was necessary to protect
her people, too. Raven noticed all the closed, boarded-up trailers. “And
those?”

The mermaid’s face fell. “Gone missing.”

The prospect of an investigation to keep her occupied perked
Raven up, and her senses sharpened. “They just left?”

Veronica ducked her head when a group of rowdy humans
charged past. “We used to be overflowing with workers, turning shifters away.
Now we’re more human than not. We thought one or two of the crew might have
just left, but everyone who vanished left all their belongings behind.”