The Gazelle Who Caught a Lion (15 page)

activated. Great. He’d run into the area with the most security in the entire Academy grounds, where only a limited number of people could

come in. In this part of the building, the most sensitive files were probably kept and only authorized personnel were allowed inside. The system used the most recent technology in identity detection to

prevent intruders from breaking in. Clark guessed that without a DNA sample matching the ones inputted into the system, he wouldn’t have

much luck in getting inside.

In spite of this, his despair pushed him into something he wouldn’t

have tried on normal circumstances. He shifted into his lion form and wildly began clawing at the door. Shocks of energy went through his

body, making his muscles spasm, but he didn’t let up.

At one point, he sensed more people come up behind him.

“Sweetheart, back away from the door,” he heard his dad say. “Come

on. We’ll open it.”

The beast was unwilling to stop its assault on the metal, but Clark

trusted his parents. He knew they could get him inside faster than he could ever hope to manage. After a brief moment of hesitation, he

slowly stepped back, all the while giving his fathers a wary look. His
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friends and the Cunninghams were also there, which was actually

quite a good thing. It seemed Byron had the code to the door, and he didn’t delay in making his way to the DNA scan. A few seconds

passed while the machine did its job, and then the door slid open.

Immediately, Clark bounded inside. He looked around, trying to find

his mate. His mind whirled when he couldn’t find anything.

The room they’d struggled so much to get into was completely

empty. There was absolutely no sign of either Angel or Alexis there.

The shock and heartbreak broke through the remnants of his control.

He released a roar of anguish that echoed through the large, cavernous room.
Angel! Where are you, Angel?

A gentle hand caressed his fur. “We’ll find him, Clark,” his dad

murmured. “Come on. Shift back.”

His father’s words barely reached him, but Clark did indeed shift.

His beast couldn’t help him now. It was time for reason to take over.

As he changed back to human form, Skylar Cunningham pointed

to something that looked like the remnants of a burnt sphere. “He

must have taken them out of here by magic,” he said.

“Christ.” Byron cursed under his breath. “I knew it was a bad idea

to allow magical creatures to mix with shifters.”

“There’s no proof Alexis did this,” Morgan said stubbornly. “I

admit it looks bad, but you heard what he said. Someone is

impersonating him.”

Right then and there, Clark couldn’t bring himself to care about

this debate. He just wanted to find his mate. The rest would have to wait until later.

Without a word, he rushed out of the building. Something told him

that there was little more he could do while still in the Academy. He didn’t know what range the spell could have, but he still sensed Angel nearby. He needed to go, at once.

Just as he prepared himself to shift into lion form again, he saw a

car pull in. Preston and Corbin got out. They seemed concerned and a bit anxious.

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The two lynxes had always been close friends of his family, and

their abilities could help Clark in his search. He rushed toward them and, without allowing his friends to even speak, said, “Angel’s

missing. He was kidnapped by a magic user.”

“That incubus?” Preston frowned. “He didn’t seem like the type.”

“We don’t know yet,” Clark replied, “but I think they can’t have

gone far. I can still sense Angel close.”

“Got it.” Corbin began to take off his clothes, and Preston did the

same. “We’ll help.”

Clark thanked his friends then melted into his second shape.

Behind him, his parents and friends emerged from the building. They

seemed to know what Clark had planned. His father, as well as his

cousins, his grandfather, and Isaac, turned into their wolf forms. His dad chose to shift into his ram shape, too, while Reed turned into a large, beautiful swan. The others were water creatures so, instead of shifting, got into Byron’s large vehicle and Corbin’s car.

Clark roared again then started running, following his instinct and

hoping it would lead him to his mate. This area wasn’t quite suitable for lions or other shifters who generally found homes in jungles or

savannahs, but he made do. At one point, they separated into four

groups. Preston and Corbin came with Clark, while the large number

of wolves split into two and went in different directions. Finally, the two cars explored another part of the forest. Clark hoped it would be enough because they didn’t have time to wait for reinforcements.

Please, Angel, be all right
,
he prayed. Be all right.

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Chapter Eight

Angel cracked his eyes open to a pounding headache threatening

to split his skull apart. He didn’t know what had woken him, or why

his head hurt so much in the first place. For a few moments, he

seriously considered just zoning out again until the pain went away, but the sound of a whispered voice addressing him snapped him back

to focus, “Angel.
Gracias a Dios, niño. Estás bien?
”

Angel managed to open his eyes and focus his gaze. For the first

time, he realized he was in a small cage of sorts. He forced himself not to panic and continued to register his surroundings.

Through the bars of the cage, he spotted Sara trapped in a net. She

was the source of the voice Angel had heard. At first, the reasons as to why they would be bound like this didn’t really process, but then, he recalled himself and Alexis following Mr. Ruiz to Sara’s office, then, nothing. Still, it didn’t take a genius to figure out they’d somehow been captured by their nemesis.

“I’m fine,” he told Sara. His voice sounded unconvincing even to

his own ears. “What happened? How did we end up here?”

“It seems your friend didn’t much appreciate my decision,” she

replied, her voice holding barely restrained anger. “I didn’t expect his audacity to reach quite these levels.”

“Alexis?” Angel gaped at her. “Alexis brought us here?”

That couldn’t be right. Alexis would never do something like that.

He’d been unjustly accused. Angel knew it.

But his confusion became a distant voice at the back of his mind

when his connection with Clark burst to life.
“Angel, are you all
right?”
his mate asked.
“Where are you?”

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“I’m fine,”
Angel replied.
“I’m not hurt.”

His headache was already starting to dwindle, and his captor

hadn’t injured him further. Refusing to think about the identity of the culprit, Angel chose to look around for a bit. He realized the room his cage was in seemed strangely familiar. He’d seen that wooden floor

before, as well as the wardrobes now covered by protective plastic.

He’d grown up around them. This was his house, well, his former

house. Angel couldn’t remember much of it now, since he and Clark

hadn’t spent too much time there. However, those first days when

he’d first been brought here would never disappear from his mind,

just like the time when they’d left.

After his dad’s injury, Angel and his family had moved onto his

uncle’s pack lands, for safety in numbers. Later on, the land bordering the two houses—theirs and that of Reed’s parents—had been donated

to the Academy.

This was not common knowledge, as his parents had chosen not to

advertise their generosity. However, Angel had mentioned it in

passing to Alexis. It hadn’t actually been something he’d intended to do. Rather, he always referred with a lot of familiarity to the area, and when he started feeling comfortable around Alexis, it just slipped out.

It made no sense that Alexis would bring them here, to a place

Angel could identify. Alexis had, therefore, been telling the truth.

Someone else must be behind the kidnapping.

Clark seemed to register at least part of the whirlwind of thoughts

passing through Angel’s mind.
“We’re on our way,”
the lion said.

“Just stall, Angel. Wait for us.”

“I’ll try,”
Angel promised. For the moment, he couldn’t see any hostile presence, so he hoped he wouldn’t have any trouble.

But he couldn’t rely on just that. He needed to find a way to get

out of this cage. It was very small, so even shifting in his antelope form wouldn’t help. Sara’s net seemed similarly designed to keep her from escaping. However, perhaps if they worked together, they’d have a chance to free themselves.

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Crawling to the very edge of the cage, Angel analyzed the net

holding Sara. It was hanging from the ceiling, held up by a hook with a lock which was tied to a powerful wooden beam. There was no

chance that Angel could even attempt reaching it, and even if he did, he would need to have a key. He looked around, trying to find a

weapon, something he could use to force the bars of the cage.

Nothing.

Before he could come up with a solution, he heard footsteps

closing in. Moments later, Alexis entered the room. “Oh, you’re

awake.” The incubus grinned as he knelt next to Angel’s cage.

“Excellent. I thought I’d have to torture you to snap you out of

unconsciousness.”

It was surreal to hear his friend talk like that. But looking into

Alexis’s eyes, it was easy to see that this was not his friend, not really.

“You’re not Alexis,” he said with decision in his voice. “I don’t

know what you want, but you’re not going to get away with this.”

A flash of surprise appeared in fake-Alexis’s eyes before it was

quickly masked, hidden behind a smirk. “Believe what you will. It

won’t help you.”

The man got up and grabbed a large bag from an armchair. In

fascinated horror, Angel watched his kidnapper open the sack and

grab several mechanical devices. Angel might not know much about

weaponry, but he could identify a bomb when he saw one.

Stall. He needed to stall and buy Clark time to get here. “What do

you think you’re going to gain by killing us?” he asked. “Our families will never stop hunting you.”

“If they find me.” Fake-Alexis looked toward Angel again.

“Remember, my dear Angel, I’m a magical creature. I don’t move

through the same circles you do.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Angel replied. More than ever, he was

convinced this was not Alexis. His friend liked to call him “my sweet seraphim” or “my little cherubim,” but never “my dear Angel. “No one is unreachable,” he told the impostor.

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“Is that so?” the other man asked. “I guess we’ll just have to see

about that.”

Angel would have liked to say something else to distract the man,

but everything he tried failed. He hit the cage with his legs and even shifted into his antelope form. For that, he earned a brief, amused look, but nothing else. Sara tried her best as well, but the net was thick, and even in her hummingbird form, she couldn’t break away.

After a little while, the man ignored them completely and seemed

completely focused on the bomb.

“We’re close to the house, Angel,”
Clark’s voice came through their bond.
“Just buy as a little more time.”

But there wasn’t anymore time. Finally, the device was planted

and the timer started. In two minutes, the bomb would blow up.

“Well, it’s time for me to go,” the kidnapper said. “See you in the next life.”

With that, the man turned on his heel and abandoned Angel and

Sara alone in the room with a ticking bomb.

* * * *

Alexis angrily rubbed the rope tying his wrists against the chair,

trying to break free. He’d been so stupid. He’d never have thought his nemesis was disguised as Mr. Ruiz, the seemingly harmless

Paranormal Sociology teacher.

Of course, he also hadn’t expected to have a skin-walker hunting

him. Skin-walkers lived at the boundaries between shifters and

magical creatures, but without qualifying as mythological. This was

because they didn’t actually have the ability to change into an animal or specific creature, but rather, stole the shapes of other beings.

Alexis had never thought to meet one in his lifetime since they

were despised by the paranormal world and basically considered

extinct. But this one was alive and well, and seemed intent on hurting Alexis. Alexis needed to get out of there before it was too late.

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Guilt assaulted him as he recalled the conversation he’d earlier

had with the skin-walker. His kidnapper had forced Alexis to come

with him by threatening to kill the principal. As they’d walked toward the storage facility, the skin-walker had taken Byron Cunningham’s

form, therefore finding it easy to carry the limp forms of Sara and

Angel. Seeing Mr. Ruiz turn into Byron had been like a shower of ice water, but he’d recovered and managed to ask, “Why are you doing

this?”

Fake-Byron had laughed, a sound so unlike the real Mr.

Cunningham that it startled Alexis. “You really don’t understand, do you? This shifter-magical-creature alliance shouldn’t come to pass.

Shape-shifters already have trouble within their own ranks. So