More Than Pride (7 page)

Chester’s slow breathing was the only sound in the room until a knock on the doorframe turned their attention to a pair of tall men. One of the men had an oriental cast to his smooth features and the other appeared to have Native American blood from his hooked nose and his dark eyes. They definitely looked like a matched set in the way they subconsciously leaned into each other as they stood in the doorway.

“Can I help you?” Talan asked in a cool tone.

“I’m Chen and this is Marlen. Ev said you could use us.”

“Are you the wren shifters?” Talan asked in a disbelieving tone.

Dillon couldn’t blame him. The men were thin but tall. How they transformed into tiny birds fought against the bounds of even shifter physics.

“Yeah, that’s us,” Marlen said.

“You made good time,” Adrian commented.

“Our leader has gone nuts,” Chen said with a scowl. “He ordered the owls to attack the pride land.”

Talan snarled. “How many can we be expecting?”

Marlen snorted. “Are you kidding? We might have let Tilden lead us, but he’s off his cracker if he thinks we’re going to go against lion shifters. I’ve seen you guys in action before and everyone’s heard the story of your mate there.”

Chen nodded his agreement as they both looked speculatively at Adrian.

“You guys don’t follow your alpha?” Talan asked as if it would never occur to him that people would rebel against a leader.

“First of all, we don’t call him our alpha. He’s our leader and we follow him when he’s not power hungry and stupid in the head from dealing with the wrong kind of humans. He didn’t listen to any of us when we told him they were bad people. If he doesn’t feel the need to listen to us, we won’t listen to him,” Chen insisted.
4
“What can you tell us?” Talan asked.

“There are currently fifteen of the bastards at the aviary. They treat us like we’re dirt beneath their feet and Tilden refuses to see the problem. The rest of the birds are thinking of overthrowing him.”

Dillon bit his lip. He didn’t know Evin’s relationship with his brother but if the man had had him beaten and starved it couldn’t be a very good one. “Evin’s in the shower. He’d probably like to know about this.”

He nearly stepped back when the two wrens focused their gaze on him with identical expressions of intent.

“What?” he asked, nervously clearing his throat.

“You must be Evin’s lion.” Chen’s smile could’ve lit up a city block.

Marlen’s wasn’t any less brilliant. “We’re so happy he found someone.”

“He found two someones.” Dillon pointed to the bed. “Chester’s suffering from a poison the hunters gave him. We’re waiting for a doctor to come and see if he can help.”

“Oh, poor Ev,” Chen said, walking closer to examine Chester. “What kind of shifter is he?”

“A cat.”

Marlen tilted his head. “Panther? Cougar?”

“House.” Dillon hid his smile as the pair gave him enquiring glances. “He’s a house cat.”

“Huh.”

“Interesting.”

Dillon was about to ask what was so interesting about that when Andrew Everett walked through the doorway and both of the wren shifters froze.

“Hello, everyone.” Andrew paused in the doorway. The man appeared to be barely hitting his fifties and was handsome in a distinguished way, but Dillon wouldn’t consider him breath-taking. However, the wrens froze as they watched the man approach.

Andrew scanned the room and caught sight of Chester. “I see this must be the patient.”

For the first time Dillon noticed the old-fashioned doctor’s bag the man carried with him.

“Yes, this is Chester, my mate.”
4
Andrew gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m learning about mates. I’ll do whatever I can to save yours.”

Dillon couldn’t miss the sincerity in the other man’s eyes. “Thanks.”

“Chen and Marlen, if you’d come with me and give me what info you can about the hunters that would be great. We can’t find out more about the antidote until Chester wakes up and shares the location of the hunters’ hideout.” Talan motioned to the wrens who showed no sign of moving.

“We’ll wait until Chester wakes up,” Chen said.

“Yeah, that would be best,” Marlen countered.

Neither of the birds looked away from Andrew. Dillon wondered if they’d even notice if Chester died.

“Hey, guys.” Evin walked back into the room wearing a pair of jeans and no shirt.

Neither of the wrens tore their gaze away from Andrew to greet their friend.

Evin rifled through Dillon’s drawers and swiped a shirt. Dillon smiled in delight. He was glad his mate felt comfortable sharing their belongings…not to mention, it would prove to others that Evin belonged to him.

“Your friends seem fascinated with Andrew,” Dillon said with a smile.

Andrew looked up at the wrens for a long moment. A blush stained his cheeks as he turned his concentration back to Chester.

Neither wren commented but they didn’t move their gaze from Andrew, either.

Taking out a needle, Andrew drew a vial of blood from the still shifter. Chester didn’t even twitch during the ordeal. “I’m going to take this with me to see if I can create at least a temporary counter-potion. If they used what I think they did, then it will take too long to make a cure. We need to get the one they already have or he’ll die.”

Dillon appreciated that the scientist didn’t try to sugarcoat the situation. “Can you wake him up enough for him to tell us where his brother and the cure are located?” Adrian asked.

“I think so.” After a bit of rummaging he pulled a pre-loaded syringe out of his bag and popped off the top. “This should shock his system enough to snap him awake but not kill him. It’s sort of a liquid adrenaline. I think he’s having an allergic reaction to the poison.

From what you’ve told me, he should’ve had several more days before the poison attacked his system so strongly.” He paused to meet Dillon’s eyes.
4
“Go ahead,” Dillon urged him. Usually he’d be against jolting his sweet mate but desperate times called for psychotically dangerous measures.

Even though he was expecting it when Andrew slammed the needle into his mate’s thigh, the wren shifters had to grab Dillon’s arms so he didn’t tear Andrew apart.

“You can’t hurt him,” Marlen whispered desperately in Dillon’s ear. “He’s our mate.”

Dillon stopped struggling as surprise swept through him. He’d never heard of a human mating with birds. He looked over at Chen who gave him a nod in confirmation.

Chester shot up off the bed. Sitting upright—gasping, his eyes wide open—he made noises that wrenched at Dillon’s heart. Chester’s wild expression calmed only after he found first Dillon and then Evin beside him.

“You’re all right?” Chester asked after he took a deep breath.

Dillon shook free of the birds and took Chester’s hands in his. “We’re fine. You’re having a reaction to the poison and we need you to tell us where the people are that have your brother.”

“Dillon!” Evin hissed.

“What? We don’t have time to tiptoe around this. We need that antidote.”

Chester’s eyes started to blink closed.

Dillon shook him. “Tell me where they are.”

In a slow, slurred voice, Chester told them the location of the place. From his description it was less than ten miles away. “Okay, honey, you can sleep now. We’ll take care of this.”

Dillon’s hands transformed into claws and the rest of his body soon followed. With a loud roar, he shook off the remnants of his clothing. A shrill cry had him tilting his head to see an owl perched on the back of a chair.

“Before you two go rushing off, take the wrens with you to scout ahead. You aren’t any match for a posse of armed hunters, not to mention you should take a car—you don’t know for sure how far away the place is.” Talan frowned in a disapproving way, telling Dillon in more than words how much he disapproved of his ‘shift and charge’ technique. Dillon lowered his head, indicating he understood his alpha’s disapproval.

The owl gave a disappointed screech at Dillon. Dillon roared back.

Chen laughed.
4
Keys sailed through the air towards the wrens. “Take a Hummer and a few pack members. If you crash it, Adrian won’t be the least bit upset,” Talan said with a grin towards his mate.

Adrian rolled his eyes.

If Dillon had been in his human form, he would’ve also rolled his eyes over the familiar argument. Instead he tamely followed the wrens. They didn’t have time to mess around. The poison was travelling too quickly through Chester’s body.

5
Chapter Four

Evin swooped down over the treetops and spotted a cabin nestled in the woods. He didn’t dare to get too close—after all, they knew about shifters and specifically about owls.

Getting shot and having no way to save Chester didn’t figure in his plans for the afternoon.

He settled for landing in the upper branches where he could see into the second floor windows.

Peeking inside, he spied one man in camouflage looking out of the window. He didn’t appear to have any weapons on him but then, they didn’t expect anyone to attack. In fact, Evin wondered if they really expected the tabby cat to return or if they were just stalling.

What could they achieve by sending Chester in as a distraction?

From his perch, Evin watched Chen and Marlen land on the windowsill. He’d kept them away from the humans, so the hunters might not know about the tiny birds. He knew the strangers thought they were all owls, and his brother hadn’t disabused them of the notion because he wanted to appear strong. Tilden had never considered the smaller birds to be of much worth. He’d only kept them around because he knew Evin would cause him problems if he chased them away.

Tilden might be the bad brother and a poor leader, but he wasn’t stupid. He’d waited until he had more people on his side before he tried to get rid of Evin. The cut of deception still stung. They might not have been super close, but they were brothers.

A sharp tweet snapped Evin out of his melancholy thoughts. There were five people and a cat carrier inside, according to Chen’s chirping. Evin didn’t respond. A hoot in the middle of the day would attract the attention of the people inside.

To Evin’s astonishment, one of the men inside opened the window, leaned out and lit a cigarette.

Chen took advantage.

The wren shifter fluttered inside, shifted and slammed his fist into the human. After the hunter went down, Chen let out a long, shrill whistle before opening the window wider.

Marlen hopped up to the sill and fluttered in after him.
5
After the two men were clear, Evin glided through the window. Once his claws hit the floor, he shifted.

Shaking his head, he looked at his accomplices. “We’re probably the least intimidating rescuers in history. Three naked, unarmed men.”

Chen grinned. “Good thing we’ve got backup.”

Screams came from down below mixed with the roar of lions. Footsteps thundered towards them. They took out the two men who rushed in with a few well-placed punches. It was amazing what you could get away with if you took someone by surprise.

An enormous lion with a blood-covered mouth trotted over to Evin and deposited a human arm at his feet. Then he plopped down on his ass and waited for praise.

“You are seriously disturbed,” Evin said. “I’m not thanking you for your present, either.”

The lion made a sad noise.

Chen walked over and scratched Dillon behind the ear. “Who’s a good maneater? You are! Yes, you are.”

Dillon closed his eyes and let out a rolling half purr, half growl.

“I’d rather be shot by the hunters.” Evin shoved past the cooing pair and made his way to the staircase. No noise from below. Still careful, Evin went down each step, mindful of his feet placement. He didn’t want a creaking piece of wood to be responsible for his downfall.

When he reached the bottom, he realised he hadn’t needed to be so careful. Pieces of the hunters littered the cabin and he didn’t want to think about the bright splashes of red dripping from the walls. A dozen lions sprawled about with varying degrees of satisfaction on their faces. One of the lions lay next to a cat cage in the corner.

The female lion occasionally batted at the cage door but didn’t seem able to muster the energy to turn into her human form. Evin didn’t know the lions well enough to be able to name which lion pressed her nose towards the still cat inside.

“Hey, let me see.”

A low growl had him lifting his hands up to show he didn’t mean any harm.

“Tia, scoot back.” Dillon’s voice directly behind him made Evin jump a little. He hadn’t heard his mate approach.

The lion shifted a few steps back, her eyes never leaving the cat in the cage.
5
Evin opened the cage. There was no lock on it. No need when the only person who would want to save the cat shifter was already gone. Reaching in, he lifted out the small animal inside. He’d thought Chester small for a cat shifter, but his brother wasn’t any bigger.

“I found some vials.” One of the other lion shifters spoke—Kevin or Kyle or something like that. Evin knew he’d learn their names eventually but a two-minute orientation hadn’t helped them stick in his head.

“Did you find some needles too?” Evin asked hopefully.

The lion shifter shook his head. “We don’t know if this is the right stuff, anyway.”

“I’ll take one to Andrew and he can tell us.” Chen transformed into a wren, snatched the vial from the lion’s hand and flew out of the open door.

“Good thinking, bringing Andrew with us,” Dillon told Evin.

Evin gave a wry smile. “I don’t think the wrens would’ve left him behind.”

The wrens had insisted on bringing Andrew then had equally insisted he stay in the truck a mile away so he wouldn’t be in the direct line of fire. The older man had appeared a bit embarrassed by the wrens’ attention, but he’d wanted to help out.

“We’ll take the cat with us,” Dillon decided. “We can’t wait to find out if this is the right stuff or not. He’s fading fast. Grab all the vials—that way we’ll have everything.”

Evin felt a spurt of pride at how quickly the others jumped to Dillon’s orders.

“Come on, love,” Dillon said, “we have a cat to save.”