Claimed by Her Panthers (18 page)

“Yeah.
We have a team
of Treaty guys. Some will be waiting for us to land, and others are already
searching,” Owen explained, eager to get on their way.

A
signal from one of the guys who had been prepping the plane let them know it
was good to go. “Well let’s go, gentlemen. We have mates to save and bad guys
to kill.”

****

Angelica
woke,
her head groggy. It took her a moment to
remember what happened, and then it all came flooding back.
The
strange noise, being surrounded and unable to cry for help when their
kidnappers moved in.

Propping
herself up, she ignored the wave of nausea that rolled over her and attempted
to get a good look at where she was, in some kind of abandoned warehouse.
Everything appeared dark. The small amount of moonlight that trickled through
allowed her to find
Jenika
, lying just a few feet away
from her, still out cold. Angelica winced at the bruise marring her friend’s
face, not sure if that had happened when they dumped her, or if
Jenika
had fought back. Knowing her friend, it was the
latter.

“
Jenika
?” she whispered, shaking her shoulder. “Come on.
Wake up. I need you.”

Jenika
groaned.
“What?”

“Get
up,” she said a little louder, panic finally settling in. “We need to get out
of here.”

“Good
luck with that,”
Jenika
grumbled, tugging at a chain
clamped around her ankle.

“What
the hell is that?”

“What
do you think?”
Jenika
grimaced, gently touching the
side of her face. “You weren’t the first to wake up, my dear. And let’s just
say the bitch running this show and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye.”

“What
do they want?”

“Didn’t get that far.”

“You
always did act first. Perhaps some diplomacy would be better given the
circumstances.”

The
metal door creaked open, and in walked the woman who had ordered their
kidnapping. “You should listen to your friend here. It really is just a simple
answer we want, and then who knows? I may just let at least one of you go.”

Angelica
didn’t need to see the woman’s face clearly to know that she was lying. It was
in her voice. Whoever she was, she had no intention of letting either of them
go
. Dammit, why did they come here?

“Who
are you?”

“You
can call me The Siren.” Her smile had a wicked gleam, but Angelica couldn’t
help but think of how ridiculously cliché this woman sounded.

Something
flashed in Angelica’s mind. “How do you know
Draken
?”

The
Siren grinned. “Heard that, did you?
Draken
and I go
way back. And let’s just say
,
I’m not the only one
looking for him.”

“He
isn’t exactly hiding,” Angelica scoffed, regretting her words instantly when
she was backhanded by the woman.

“You’d
be surprised how hard it is to get to a man like him. He had been utterly
invulnerable … until now.” The Siren seemed to study them for a moment. “So
which one of you is it?”

They
both looked at her like she had lost her mind, yet Angelica thought she knew
what The Siren wanted.

“Don’t
play dumb, ladies. It doesn’t become you,” the woman sneered. “Which one of you
is mated to
Draken
, son of
Theroes
?”

Oh shit.

She
saw the look
Jenika
sent her. Part fear, part
apology, and Angelica knew what she was about to do. “I am.”

“No,
I am,” Angelica barked without thinking.

“No,
I am,”
Jenika
said determinedly. “What are you
doing?”

“Me?”
Angelica acted outraged. No way was she letting her friend sacrifice herself.
“What are you doing? Stop trying to protect me.”

“I’m
not.”
Jenika
glared fiercely at her. “Stop trying to
protect me. You have someone else to protect.”

Jeinka’s
eyes covertly
dipped, indicating the baby. Angelica would agree if she thought for a second
that she stood a chance of surviving this, but she wasn’t stupid. The Siren had
no intention of letting her go, so Angelica wouldn’t make it easy for the
bitch. And if she could delay things, she could give her men more time.
Angelica knew Stephan and Owen were already on their way, felt it in her bones.
Her men were coming, most likely with
Draken
and a
lot of backup.
Jenika
may not have her faith in them,
but
Jenika
needed to believe in her.

“I’m
not interested in playing games,” the Siren snarled. Angelica’s eyes widened
when her nails grew into sharp talons.
Seriously?
Stepping forward, she bent down and reached out,
dragging one of those terrifying claws along the fragile skin of Angelica’s
throat.
“An answer.
Now!”

“W-we
don’t k-
know
,” she stuttered, trying to buy time.

“What?
Explain.”

Her
eyes darted to
Jenika
, hoping her friend would play
along. “We were supposed to go to some meeting with him. He claimed not to know
which of us
was his mate
since we regularly swap
clothes. We kind of freaked and ran before meeting him.”

A
serious spin on the truth, but Angelica knew that if any of these people had
senses like her mates, the tang of slight truth mixed with an emotion like
anger, sadness, or fear would be enough to mask her lie.
Sad
that she only knew that because she had done it to her own mates in order to
come here.
If only she could see them, and apologize. She’d beg if need
be.

The
Siren tapped one scary looking claw against her chin before smiling. “All right
then. If that’s true, then it will just be a matter of time until he gets here.
And then we can find out the old fashioned way.”

Standing,
the psychotic woman took a few steps away, but Angelica had to ask.
“Old fashioned way?”

The
look sent to her over the Siren’s shoulder made her shudder. “Once he arrives I
just slit one of your throats in front of him. If he isn’t overcome with grief,
then I know I killed the wrong one.”

Angelica
fought the urge to throw up and failed, turning away to empty her stomach.

“Angelica.
It’s okay,”
Jenika
whispered, attempting to reassure her. “If what she
said is true, then the guys are already on their way. You’re the one always
telling me to have faith in their abilities, in them. Well, now it’s your turn
to do the same.”

Wiping
her mouth, Angelica felt the tears fall. “I know. I know.” And she did.

God,
they needed to hurry up and get here.

****

The
plane had barely landed when Stephan and Owen exited,
Draken
and Joel hot on their heels. Joel carried at least two guns and a knife on him,
neither his service gun.
Draken’s
fangs had already
dropped, eyes morphing blood red. Not that Stephan blamed him. Hell, his panther
snarled and snapped just under the surface, desperate to find their mate and
take out the threat. Among the three of them, someone was going to die a
horrible death tonight.

A
group of men standing by three SUVs waited for them. One of them stepped
forward, first pulling down his shirt to reveal his Treaty mark, then
outstretching his arm. He was around Stephan’s height of six foot four. Stephan
discreetly scented the air.
Lion Shifter.
Skin darker
than his or Owen’s, long black hair twisted in dreadlocks.
The
epitome of Bob Marley wannabe.
Everything but the
eyes.
The hard gleam in those jade orbs suggested this man wasn’t afraid
to risk his life or take one.

Good to know.

Lifting
their shirts to show their own marks, a confirmation that was always needed
when coming into someone else’s territory, Stephan took the man’s offered hand.

“Name’s
Raziel
, I’m the beta leader here,” the man, the lion,
introduced himself. With a tilt of his head, he directed to the vehicles. Once
they piled inside and the engine came to life,
Raziel
explained. “Our faction leader is already on site with a few of our men,
keeping an eye on things.”

“Any
word on the girls or what these
arseholes
want?”

“The
girls seem to be fine, though they radioed in that they’ve been knocked around
lightly a few times. Seems one of them put up a fuckin’ good fight at first and
now appears to be chained down by an ankle.”

A
growl broke free, and he realized Owen and
Draken
had
done the same.

Raziel
grimaced.
“Yeah, fuckin’ sucks, but there was nothing they could do without drawing
attention. There are just too many of them to do that. We had no bloody choice
but to wait for you.”

Who
the hell was behind this, and what did too many mean?

As
if he read his mind,
Raziel
informed him, “Our leader
can’t quite explain it, but it looks like some Demons and Wraiths are working
with some crazy arse chick
who
goes by the name the Siren.
Not sure if she is an actual Siren, but one of the men also swears he spotted a
Troll in there, too.”

Stephan
gaped.
“A Troll?
And since when do they all work
together? Demons and Wraiths especially are known for keeping to themselves.”

Raziel
shrugged.
“Don’t fuckin’ know, dude. But they aren’t just working together. They’re
taking orders.”

Stephan
traded glances with Owen, noticing his friend looked as sick as he felt. What
the fuck was going on here?

“Who
gives a shit?” Joel barked. “I may be the only human here, but even I know that
while certain
perps
have routines they stick to,
every once and a while one of them will break away from their profile. Not
everything is foolproof. What matters is getting my sister and
Jenika
out of there alive. And you’ll all be bloody lucky
if I ever let you near them again.”

“Now
is not the time to challenge our claim, Joel,” Stephan warned his friend.

“Then
maybe you should have taken better care of my sister.”

Draken
leant forward,
ignoring their arguing and getting in the lion’s face. “You still have not told
us what this demented woman wants with our mates.”

Raziel
racked his eyes
over
Draken
, a sneer forming on his lips. “You must
be
Draken
. You want to know what she
wants?
”

They
waited impatiently, and
Draken
nodded.

“You.”

“What?”
Draken
stumbled back as if the man had hit him.

Stephan
snarled. “They’re right. The woman’s voice said your name. In all the confusion
and panic, none of us had been paying attention, but I remember that now.”

“You
heard me,”
Raziel
snapped, ignoring Stephan. “Word
has it she was asking the girls
which
one of them was
mate to
Draken
, son of
Theroes
.”

This
time it was Stephan’s turn to stumble. “Son of…”

He
turned to the Vampire, his stomach falling. He hadn’t put the names together.
Draken
was a popular name amongst leeches. He studied the
other man. Stephan had known he was old, but not
that
old. As the son of
Theroes
, one of
the most revered Vampire Elders,
Draken
had been
among the first to join the Treaty and be branded.

“You.
You’re fucking
Draken
, son of
Theroes
?” Owen
asked incredulously.

Draken
didn’t answer
them, instead keeping his gaze locked on
Raziel
. “I
don’t know any Siren. And I have no idea why she would want my mate, but if it
is me she wants, then she is mine. I’ll take her down.”

Stephan
used every ounce of control not to launch over the other side of the SUV and
rip the bastard’s throat out. He’d better take care of her, as otherwise he and
Owen would be taking care of
Draken
.
Son of
Theroes
or not.

It
felt like hours later, when it was in fact minutes, by the time they were p
ulling into an abandoned lot nearby. The engine was cut, and
the silence was deathly as they mentally prepared themselves.

“Okay. We go on foot from here. We
can make our way up to the end of the street. It should take us to the tree
line we need to cut through to come around back of the main warehouse. Let’s
go,” Stephan ordered, exiting the car.