Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Rescue [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

One of the glass windows containing the exhibit was cracking from a bullet hole. For a moment, he was seized with fear that Armand, Rosaline, or one of the other animals had been harmed. Raising his head, he found that they all appeared to be safe. Whether Villemont had attempted to hit Adele and missed, or simply fired a warning shot to prove a point, Oscar wasn’t sure, and he didn’t have time to mull it over. Instead, he focused on connecting his thoughts to Xavier’s.

What do we do
?
 

Xavier already seemed to have a plan.
I’ll handle Villemont. You break that glass, get them out of there
.

Oscar prepared himself. His skin was hard, but he had a feeling what he was about to do was going to hurt no matter what. Gathering what momentum he could get, he sprinted toward the display with all of his strength, ramming his long snout through the fragile glass. The bullet had done much of the work for him, and the glass yielded much more easily than he expected. He smashed through in a torrent of shards and found himself in the midst of the habitat.

Don’t shift
.

We weren’t planning on it
, Rosaline replied.

Rosaline and Armand quickly glided across the pool in their exhibit, climbed out of the water, and followed him through the now-open window.

Once Rosaline and Armand were free, they immediately joined the fight and joined Xavier in surrounding Villemont. He’d turned from having his gun trained on Adele to having it trained on Xavier, who was staring up Villemont, baring his teeth. Georgina had begun shaking, and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“What the hell is going on?” the Aquarium employee screamed, trying to break free of Andre’s hold.

Oscar heard Adele scream again. He turned to find her staring down the security guard’s gun.

“I told you all to get out of here before I had to get aggressive,” the guard said with a snarl. “Now you’re going to have to pay. Every single one of you. But I think we’ll start with this troublemaker, right here.”

Oscar opened his mouth and bellowed, catching the man off guard. He dropped his weapon. The impact set it off, echoing through the exhibit hall. Another scream echoed, but Oscar didn’t dare turn around. He wouldn’t be able to control himself if Adele had been hurt, and he wasn’t about to let the guard go.

Xavier’s voice came through his mind.
She ain’t hurt. Don’t worry
.
Just turn around
.

Oscar slowly turned to see Villemont crumpled on the ground, blood pooling from his pant leg. Georgina was kneeling above him, her hands getting stained red as she tried to stop the bleeding.

“Police! Nobody move!”

Oscar tried not to panic. They couldn’t shift in front of the officers, but being in gator form was always risky around people who would assume they were animals.

Keep calm, dude. Just keep calm
. Xavier seemed completely unfazed.

“Everyone carrying a weapon needs to place it gently on the ground and then step away with their hands up!” the officer ordered.

The security guard slowly stepped toward the center of the room, showing his hands.

“Who else?”

When nobody else moved, four officers rushed into the room. “What’s going on here?” one of them demanded. The officers moved quickly to put the Aquarium official and the guard into handcuffs, keeping their distance from the gators.

Adele took a deep breath. “I came here to try to stop the illegal sale of these albino gators. The museum official here was bribed by the man at my feet, and I wasn’t about to let them get away with it. Things got out of hand, though. I wanted to call you, but I ended up on the wrong side of a gun.”

“What about this woman?” the officer asked, pointing at Georgina, who had started to sob.

“She was in on it, too,” Adele said. “She was helping him.”

“I can explain,” Georgina said between gasps. “I was a pawn.”

“Ain’t nothin’ to explain,” Andre snapped, taking a step forward. “You sold out your entire family. And you don’t look like much of a pawn when you’re bendin’ over tryin’ to keep him from bleedin’ to death.”

“Sir, please stay calm,” the officer said. “Let’s not make this worse by arguing. We’ll get statements from everyone. Believe me, we have a lot of questions.”

Georgina surged toward Andre. Oscar thought she was going to try strangling him, but she fell at his feet, sobbing. “I
was
a pawn! I thought I was going in for a research job, and I ended up in over my head, I swear! Once I realized what was going on, it was too late to get out!”

“Miss, you need to calm down,” an officer said, pulling her away from Andre. “We’ll get your statement in just a moment.”

“I don’t believe you,” Andre spat out. “Nobody just gets in over their head and betrays their whole family. That ain’t how it works.”

“Sir, please do not aggravate her. This will be easier on everyone if you keep to yourselves.”

“You wouldn’t let me be myself!” Georgina suddenly screeched. “Nobody would! I just wanted to get my own job and live my own life! Ferdinand offered me that! I didn’t mean to betray you. I just wanted the chance to live the life I wanted, and it all got out of control.”

“Miss, I am not going to ask you again,” the officer said. He grabbed her arm and began pulling her toward the opposite side of the room. “Now calm down, or I’m going to read you your rights without taking a statement.”

“Somebody needs to go after those loose gators,” another officer ordered. “I don’t want them getting out. And somebody contact animal control.”

At the sound of the officer’s words, Oscar and Xavier hurried off to a dark corner with Rosaline and Armand following. They lurked for awhile, watching the police begin to take statements from everyone still at the scene. Georgina was pulled away from Villemont and put in handcuffs, and then the officer knelt down to cuff Villemont as well.

When they heard the ambulance sirens, they retreated further into the shadows, not wanting to be pursued and kidnapped. If he’d been in human form, Oscar would have laughed at the sight of the medic’s face when he realized how quickly Manuel’s wound would already have started to heal.

At one point, an officer hurried past but didn’t notice them. After several more minutes of waiting, it seemed that he wasn’t coming back around. When he was sure everyone was sufficiently distracted, Oscar took the initiative and shifted. Checking to ensure it was safe, he hurried to put his clothes back on and grab Xavier’s pack where it had dropped. He quickly handed clothing to Rosaline and Armand as they completed the shifting process, and they made a hasty exit out the door they’d broken earlier. Oscar led them around to the rendezvous point near the river. Pulling out his phone, he called Serafine and told her that the mission had been accomplished and that they would be waiting for her on the riverbank. The second his responsibilities were done, he flopped down on the bench. When he saw Adele, Manuel, and Andre emerge, he could finally breathe.

* * * *

Xavier raced toward Adele and scooped her up into a hug as soon as he saw her exit the Aquarium.

“I’m sorry I ended up trapped like that,” she whispered. “I was just trying to do right by your family. Maybe I shouldn’t have rushed at Villemont like that.”

Xavier sighed. He hated that Adele felt even the slightest bit guilty. They’d accomplished their mission, and even though things had gotten intense, everyone survived.

“Adele, I ain’t angry with you, and nobody else in the congregation should be, either. In fact, I’m grateful to you. You did right by Oscar and me today, and you did right by our family. We couldn’t have accomplished this if you hadn’t been there. I don’t know how to thank you for what you’ve done for us today,” Xavier said. “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive Manuel and Andre for being harsh. Oscar and I like havin’ you around, and we want everyone in the congregation to be on your good side.”

He was relieved when Adele gave a small smile. “Of course I forgive them. I wish things had been a little smoother between us, but what’s done is done. I’m just glad I was able to help.”

Manuel and Andre came walking up, with the recently arrived Serafine close behind them. “I suppose we owe you an apology,” Manuel said. His face was stern, but his eyes danced with excitement.

“We was a little harsh with you,” Andre said. “And you were right about Georgina. We should’ve listened to you about that. Might have made things easier.”

“We still succeeded,” Adele said. “Thank you for being willing to trust me again.

Manuel beamed. “Now that Andre and I got our son and our mate back, I’m ready for some celebratin’ in the Quarter. I think we’re all ready to head down to Bourbon Street.” He turned to Rosaline and Armand. “Unless you’d prefer to get back to the congregation and the river. I know it’s been a damn long time.”

Rosaline smiled and kissed her husband. “I’ve been trapped behind glass for over a year. I’m anxious to get home, sure, but I can’t wait to walk out on Bourbon Street again. But you’re injured, my love. We really should go home and rest.”

“You kiddin’?” He rolled up his sleeve. The wound was already well on its way to healing, the bleeding long since stopped, fresh skin starting to appear. “Have you forgotten after all your time trapped there just how fast we heal?”

Rosaline laughed. “If you’re sure you’re okay.”

Manuel grinned and turned toward Oscar and Xavier. “Let’s move out and enjoy ourselves. We’ve earned a celebration, that’s for sure.”

“Wait a second,” Serafine said. “I know we all wanna celebrate, but there’s some business to take care of first.”

Adele’s heart sank. She knew what had to be done, but she hated that it had to happen. “We have to banish Georgina.”

Serafine nodded. “It’s a sad time for us. But then we’re gonna follow it up with somethin’ happy.”

“What’s that?”

Serafine smiled. “Well, we gotta reintegrate Rosaline and Armand. I think you’re gonna like that ritual. Come on, now. Let’s get over to the boats where we can have a little bit of privacy.”

* * * *

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Adele said as they walked. “Why would she betray us like that?”

Andre sighed. “When the cops took her statement, she said she just got in too deep. Kept repeatin’ that over and over. Then she changed her story a bit, said she was tryin’ to help us.”

“Well, she ain’t a very good criminal,” Oscar scoffed. “She should’ve tried to throw us off. She should’ve said the sale was gonna be on a different day.”

Andre shrugged. “That’s the part where she said she tried to help us. Figured we’d show up and get our family back.”

“Well, she was right,” Xavier said. “It just don’t make sense. She betrayed us, then tried to help us? It don’t add up.”

“Maybe she just felt guilty,” Adele said. “Maybe she felt bad about hurting the congregation, so she thought she’d give you a chance.”

“That don’t make it right,” Manuel snapped.

Rosaline patted his shoulder. “No, it don’t. But she’s already sufferin’ the punishment of the law
and
she’s gettin’ banished. Ain’t no sense in harborin’ more anger. The pain of banishment is gonna be bad enough.”

Serafine sighed. “I should’ve looked in her heart. But I usually get a feelin’ when somethin’s amiss. Georgina played it cool the entire time. Never let a bad vibe out of her.”

“Maybe she’s a better criminal than we’re giving her credit for,” Adele murmured.

They kept walking until they got to the dock where their boats were set up. Serafine marched right to the edge and turned to face the rest of the group.

“Stand and face me in a line, but don’t join hands. This ain’t a connection spell.”

She pulled a black taper out of her robes and lit the wick.

“I want Armand, Rosaline, Manuel, and Andre to come forth and assist in this ritual. They were the ones most harmed by her actions, and I need their hands to release her.”

The four of them stepped out of line, and Serafine arranged them in formation. With her free hand, she pulled out four lengths of string and handed one to each person.

“As I approach each of you, please tie your string around the candle in a tight knot.”

She walked up to Armand. His expression was blank as he tied his string around the bottom of the candle. She chanted as she walked.