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Chapter 6
Ipushed my stallion into a gallop down the path and up the stairs of the dining hall. Three hundred pounds of muscle slammed into a pirate, knocking him through a window. I held on tight, squeezing with my thighs as Poseidon bucked, dealing another deadly blow to a man’s ribcage.
More screaming and shouting echoed from inside. Smoke choked the air, and I coughed. Heat from the burning hall beat at us.
Poseidon slowed, shaking his head, as if he didn’t like the idea of going in there. Looked as if I was on my own from here. I climbed down from the saddle and bolted inside.
At the opposite end of the room, pirates chained some of the cowering shifters. Others resisted their captors, fighting them, earning backhands to the face. One of the pirates whipped a group of women who huddled on the floor. Another taunted two women with his sword. Those poor women didn’t stand much of a chance against ten armed pirates.
“Why can’t we shift?” one of the woman murmured.
The violence and fear filling the room stirred a dark rage inside me. A searing tornado whisked through my blood, ready to unleash hell. After the torture I’d endured, I’d vowed no man would harm a woman in my presence if I could help it. Chair in hand, lifted above my head, I crossed to the first pirate. Roaring, I brought it down hard, cracking it on his skull, fracturing the chair’s leg. The creep sagged to the floor. Around his neck he wore a chain with a pendant engraved with a sigil. I knew that symbol. The eye inside the pyramid. My stepmother’s sign. I ripped the chain from his neck, and it tingled in my hand. I glanced down at it to see a puff of dark vapor weeping from it. Magic. A protection spell of some sort. Was this what prevented the panthers from transforming?
“Get their neck chains off,” I shouted, hoping it was the answer. “They have magic in them that’s preventing you from shifting.”
The rest of the pirates spun to face me. Eyes narrowed, licking their lips, three rounded on me with swords raised.
Yep. I’d discovered their secret all right.
Women launched to their feet, leaping onto those pirates’ back, scratching at their necks. More chains snapped and were hurled across the room. The men batted at the woman and tore them off, hurling them onto the floor.
Snarls ripped across the room as the spells preventing the panthers from shifting released. Green flickered in the eyes of several shifters as they changed into their animal forms. The panthers herded four pirates into a circle and launched at them, tearing at their throats.
Many of the females remained human, crouched underneath tables. I didn’t blame them. My chest thumped so hard, I was surprised it didn’t burst. But I wasn’t letting my stepmother’s minions rape or murder anyone.
Those brave enough to stand lifted chairs and cracked them over the remaining pirates’ heads. Wood splintered over their backs. The men stumbled and slashed with their swords at the attacking women.
A panther leaped onto one pirate’s back, and he crashed to the floor, allowing the shifter to take him out. One smug creep flung his hat to the side and brandished his weapon at me.
Fear choked me. Everything reminded me of the torture I’d endured. But if I let the fear overcome me now, I’d never get beyond it.
I blocked one blow with the remaining piece of the chair. He shoved me backward, and I almost lost my footing, crashing to the floor.Flipping hell,he was strong, and I didn’t stand much of a chance against his brute power. My bowels turned to water at the thought of failure.
One of the female panthers saved me, tearing at his legs, bringing him to his knees. More of the frightened shifters dealt with the rest of the pirates until all of the attackers lay bloodied on the dusty floor.
“Get out of here!” I shouted to the panthers and remaining women.
Once everyone was safely outside, Shadow’s sister, her naked figure streaked with the crimson liquid of one of the dead, approached me.
“Where’s my brother?” she asked.
“Gone into town to fight the rest of them,” I replied.
“We must go after them,” she said, her body creaking as she transformed before me.
Many others followed her lead, racing off into the night.
Damn straight.They could be in danger. It was time for me to go with them. A quick hunt around the building led me to Poseidon.
“We have to go, boy,” I said, stroking his side.
The stallion jerked when I tried to climb onto him, eventually conceding when I refused to let go. Nickering with complaint, at first, he refused my command to head away from the burning building.
“What’s wrong, boy?” I asked.
With some prodding, he finally obeyed, cantering down the road leading out of Shadow’s plantation.
Black plumes rose up into the air. Orange glowed along the fields. Laughter carried above the crackling fire.
