Shadow Revealed (The Enlightened Species Book Two) (18 page)

Jess lifted her chin. “What assurance do you need from me that I will follow your orders?”

Smart girl, his great-granddaughter. “Your word that if you cannot gain access to the chamber safely, you will return here. Your word that no matter what you see or hear, you will not interfere or make your presence known in any way. Your word that you will leave your mind open fully to the mentor bond so that I may observe all. Your word of honor that if I say abort, you will do so immediately and without question. I will have your word, Jess?”

Jess’s mind completely opened to him. He could see himself and the others through her eyes. The field of energy that surrounded each of them was clear from her perspective. The complete access was disorienting and he was forced to close his eyes and see only through hers or risk falling. Sargon reached out and grasped his arm for stability.

“You will have my word on one condition.” The echo of her voice in his head, hearing through both his ears and hers, created a new wave of vertigo. Leave it to Jess to have her own demand.

“What would that be?” He already knew. He could read her thoughts like his own; she’d given him far more access than he’d asked for.

“You will open to allow the others the same view I am giving to you.” She was worried about Shane and Gil.

“Agreed. Do I have your word?” He knew he did. Shane needed to hear her say it.

“You have my word.” There was no further question in his mind. She would not deviate now.

“What about me?” Brae’s soft voice echoed to him. He could see Jess look over at her and then back to the family. The female’s comment was met with a long silence. “I can shadow Jess. If you’re willing to wear the collar,” she said, turning to Jess. She turned a questioning look to Enlil. He could see her profile through Jess’s eyes, and he studied her classic bone structure from Jess’s perspective. His view of her was cut off as Jess turned back, giving him a view of himself.

He had no hold over Brae. No bond. He barely knew her. How could he be sure that she would remain safe? If she endangered herself, he might never again smell her peppermint scent. Never have a chance to woo her, earn her love. Never have the opportunity to feel her slender curves beneath him. Where were these thought coming from?

Thankfully Jess spoke, saving him from revealing his fears. “Give me the collar.” Brae pulled out the chain he had seen her use earlier with Hans. She handed it to Jess. Jess snapped the links around her neck, and he heard Jess whisper to Brae, “Betcha Shane will think it’s sexy. We’ll have to get one for our bedroom.” Brae’s face reddened adorably. To be in the mind of a female was strange, though there was a fairly good chance that Jess was correct in her evaluation of her mate’s reaction. The idea of Brae in a collar was kind of a turn-on to him as well. That passed the second it occurred to him that she’d once been enslaved; she would need a gentle touch. He hoped he’d get the chance to show her there was pleasure in physical love. Damn it! Etana’s killer’s body was still warm, yet he kept thinking of Brae.

Brae took the end of the leash in hand and both she and Jess faded away. Through Jess’s vision he could see Brae’s fuchsia energy. Then two shots rang out across the desert and Jess’s vision went dark. He opened his eyes to a nightmare. Brae and Jess were laid out on the ground, neither moving. A tranquilizer dart vibrated in Jess’s neck from the power of its impact. Whoever had shot them knew the females were without protection. They didn’t even bother with a silencer. Shane tried to run to Jess’s aid only to bounce off the holding shield. The male’s roar shook the ground.

A group of Elven males crested the edge of the bluff. Enlil didn’t recognize any of them, though they were armed like warriors. Enlil tried to siphon to no avail. All those under the weave could do was watch helplessly while Jess and Brae where thrown over two males’ shoulders and carried into the night. Brae’s chain slipped off Jess’s neck and landed on the sand.

Chapter Fifteen

The first lightening strike had hit as Osiris reached his soldiers. “Show time, boss.” The guard with him had handed Osiris a set of binoculars, and he had pivoted his ears, directing his hearing to pick up the conversation as the lower bluff came into focus through the sights. Well, well, well all of the team had come out to play.

The whole Etana possession was bizarre, but seeing Umbrae kill Zakel had warmed his cockles. Though both females were weakened—this just got better and better—he didn’t detect an opportunity to obtain them, guarded the way they were. Until the High Ones and Oracles had shown up, handing him the females on a silver platter. Then Umbrae had shadowed Jess using the chain. His chain! That sealed the deal.

“Fire,” he had instructed his sharpshooters. Who was he to say no to such a gift? His men returned a few minutes later with his trophies and they took flight immediately. There was no telling how long the holding weave would stay. He needed to get the females contained quickly.

****

His first opportunity to protect Umbrae’s back and he’d failed her. Hans watched the group under the other holding weave going ape-shit. Irsu’s unit, though silent, was no less angry. “Back up.” Didn’t matter that he was standing on solid rock; he had the power. Although it wouldn’t be the first time he’d done it, it would be difficult to gauge the distance.

“What?” Irsu asked him.

Hans turned to the female unit leader. “Back the fuck up, all of you. Far as you can.” They formed a semi circle around him with their backs against the weave; the others had not yet noticed him.

Holding his hands to the side he sent a small burst of ultrasonic energy into the stone to test if the weave fully surrounded them or merely covered them. The rock beneath him liquefied, dropping him a foot. The weavers had been in a hurry, thank the Fates. This would require more than just liquefaction for his travel. He would have to create a somewhat stable tunnel for the others to pass through. Pulling several deep breaths into his lungs he directed the oxygen into his specialized cells. He wouldn’t need another breath for up to an hour.

His arms extended, he pulled out the stops of the power in his royal bloodline and tapped into the energy of every Tellus within a hundred-mile radius, as was his birthright. The two Tellus members of Irsu’s unit sagged under the draw, but he ignored them. It didn’t matter that they had been unaware of who he was until now, he was not required to seek consent from anyone. He had been grateful to see them in the unit. Regardless of who they were, they were obligated to care for him when this was over.

Curling the wave of ultrasonic emission into a vortex caused his body to spin faster than the speed of sound. Hans shot the power into the stone with a thunderous boom. The tunnel would only be as wide as his arm length; everyone would just have to crawl out.

He cut a path ten feet straight down and then tried to turn toward the others. A deposit of platinum almost stalled him, forcing him to detour around it. Midway between the two parties, he turned to the surface. The platinum detour had thrown him off by several feet, and he was covered in the liquefied skull and brain matter of the Morsdente’s head. Fucking disgusting. He emerged outside the hole, exhausted. He saw Irsu head toward the hole he’d carved.

“Not yet.” His fatigue made his voice tremble. “I am going to join the tunnel to the others first. If I stop now I won’t be able to finish.” Irsu stepped away from the hole with a nod. He turned to Enlil and the others, who were watching him intently. “There are some platinum deposits that are throwing me off course. I am going to try to come up close to the weave but I will be doing it blind.”

They’d seen the skull liquefy, so he wasn’t going to bother explaining the danger this posed to them. It was Enlil’s twin Ninlil who addressed the issue. “It would be safer for you to emerge in the middle. What if we form a circle around the hole and stomp the ground? Would that give you direction?”

Hans recognized the brilliance of the female’s suggestion. No wonder she sat on the SOSC council. “That would work.” Hans reloaded his cells with oxygen, crawled back into the hole, and lay down at the horizontal point.

Starting centrifugal spinning in a standing position was far less difficult than starting horizontal. The skin of his fingers peeled away on the rock while his speed gathered. Gritting through the pain, he pushed through.

He heard the soft thump, thump, thump above him. Too tired to turn his body to go head up through the surface he raised his feet skyward, coming through the rock in the center of Enlil’s family, feet first. He braced himself for the fall that would land him on his head at the bottom of the tunnel he’d just created, an inevitable consequence when he quit spinning.

A hand reached to him when his momentum started to slow, and Sargon yanked him away from the opening. He landed on his back, the impact knocking the wind out of him, but at least he wouldn’t have a concussion. He could only lie there, letting his body cool down. Sargon’s hand was blistered from the heat generated by the vortex. His clothing had burned away halfway through the second tunnel. Right now he was thankful for the cool desert air on his body.

Without a word Sargon handed his mate his T-shirt. Ninlil lifted Han’s feet and slid the neck of the giant garment up his waist. A skirt was better than nothing. Ediku lifted his upper body while Sargon lifted his feet. The two males carried him between them back into the hole and headed for freedom with the others following. It had taken nearly three hours to complete the passages.
Please let Umbrae be safe,
Hans thought before he surrendered to his exhaustion, allowing the darkness to overtake him.

****

Irsu’s unit’s tunnel had been shorter, and they were waiting for Enlil and the others when they emerged. The tunnel was narrow. Sargon had struggled with his size behind Ediku; carrying Hans between them further slowed the process. Enlil had never seen anything like what Hans had just done. The minute they were free of the tunnel, the two Tellus members of Irsu’s unit took him. Tellus began pouring onto the bluff from every direction. Tellus weren’t telepathic; Enlil wondered how they all knew to come and why they hadn’t come sooner to help Hans. It was obvious whatever he’d just done was taxing.

Irsu must have had the same idea. She addressed the two members of her unit under her command. “Why weren’t all these people here to help while he was doing that?”

The male Enlil had been introduced to earlier named Gord answered her. “We were helping him. Every Tellus for hundreds of miles helped him. Only a member of royalty has the power to do what he did. He tapped into the cumulative powers of every Tellus in the area. I didn’t even realize he was Prince Hansi Alba. Our duty now is to care for him until he is fully healed. We have to go.”

There were thousands of Tellus waiting below the bluff for the twenty or so that had surrounded Brae’s partner to be carried down. Hans’s eyes fluttered open, meeting Enlil’s, and he uttered a single sentence, barely discernible: “Save her.”

“We will, thanks to you.” Enlil answered, though it was doubtful Hans heard. The
Prince
had already been carted down the hill to his people.

Sargon took control, his voice booming over the group. As the SOSC warrior leader for the western US, he held the highest rank. “Irsu, leave your second in command and five members of your unit here to handle the Morsdente’s remains and to organize the protection of Shane’s campus. You and the other two plus your medic will go after Jess and Umbrae with Shane and Enlil. Ediku, will you see to the protection of Gil’s campus?”

Enlil was aware Sargon had no say over Ediku, yet his son nodded in agreement. When this was all over, maybe they could find their way back to each other. Sargon continued. “Ninlil, Gil and I are going after Innanna.”

The four ported, and Enlil turned to Shane. “The mentor bond indicates she’s close, but I can’t get a good read on her. What about you?” Enlil had never seen the male so broken. Shane shook his head.

A teal blue energy rose over the bluff and hovered a few feet above their heads. “Who are you?” Enlil asked the ghost. Shane was growling at what must to him look like nothing.

The form of a male came into view. Until Brae, everyone thought the shadowing bloodline had died out long ago, yet here was a second one. What the hell? The male landed and tucked his wings in a non-threatening manner. “I have been sent to bring you to where the females are being held.” The male’s eyes were blue gray and he had dark hair like Brae. The resemblance was remarkable. Who was he?

“Sent by whom?” Shane growled between clenched teeth.

Enlil snatched up Umbrae’s discarded chain and shoved it into his pocket. The shadower watched him warily before he shifted his attention to Shane fearlessly. “Does it matter? The females are being held in a heavily lead- and platinum-fortified chamber beneath a house north of here, by Lake Powell. Osiris has guards surrounding the area, so we can’t port in. We can either fly or chortal-hop. The choice is yours.”

Osiris! Another shadower, thought to have been dead for thousands of years until the SOSC heard rumors that Osiris had been behind the breeding labs raided last year.

Chapter Sixteen

Gil marched into the High chamber with his parents right behind him. He was greeted with chaos. The usually subdued groups of High Ones and Oracles were at each other’s throat.

“What the—” He heard his father say from behind him.

“Find Innanna.” Gil strode straight through in search of a short blonde. They were so deep in arguments, no one paid him any mind. When he couldn’t locate her, he looked for her parents. Adonia and Leanna were likewise nowhere to be found. Then he spotted her brother and aunt leaning against a far wall, silently watching the mayhem, and he headed toward them.

“I was wondering when you would show up,” Laliel addressed him.

“Where’s Innanna?” He demanded.

Durian answered, not bothering to meet his eyes. “Sequestered.” Arrogant ass. His resemblance to his sister was undeniable. His hair was sandy blonde, his eyes a shade darker violet, yet he was two feet taller. Even leaning against the wall, he was taller than Gil. “Awaiting the decision.”