Page 27 of Capricorn Blessed

The sound of snapping bones fills the restaurant. I glance around to see both Beorn and Kenric in mid-shift. One of the Council’s goons is also shifting into what appears to be an enormous snake.

The other goon is making a fireball in his hands, his eyes locked on Beorn. Jumping up from the booth, I put myself between him and them, protecting my mates while they were vulnerable. I pull my power up again, focusing on the cooling effects of water. I direct the energy at the scrawny man and a ball of fire shoots from my hands, catching his sleeve on fire.

“Seriously?!” I huff, watching the man flail about before grabbing a cup off a table and pouring it over his arm to douse the flames.

A growl rips through the air as Kenric and Beorn come to stand on either side of me. A snake that must be at least fifteen feet long and as round as a tree slithers up between the two men.

Kenric lunges forward, his jaws locking onto the snake, who twists his body around. I scream, pulling the sword from my back and running forward, slashing and hacking at the snake. Part of my mind wants to feel guilt for the shifter, but as his body falls limp, uncoiling from my mate, I don’t feel bad.

Beorn locks onto the leg of the man with the long nose. Dragging him to the ground and raking his claws over the man’s stomach. I grimace slightly as parts no one but a surgeon should see fall out onto the floor.

The leader backs himself up to hide in the doorway to the kitchen. He raises his arm and motions like he’s throwing a spell of some kind. Nothing happens.

“God dammit!” he roars, running forward and throwing himself like a spear.

I jump sideways, knocking into Kenric. The man lands with a thud on the floor, hopping up and spinning around to try again. His phone dings in his pocket. He pauses, and it dings again. He changes his direction and heads out the front door.

I scramble up off the floor, racing toward the door and my other mate. I burst outside, looking left and right for Izzy and Dennis, Kenric and Beorn right behind me. Noise catches my attention, drawing my focus to the left.

A shape shifts on the ground at the edge of the lot. It’s big enough that I think it’s a person. I raise my sword and move toward whoever or whatever it is, jumping backwards as a blacked-out SUV comes flying past, thumps and thuds echoing in its wake.

The shape moves forward enough I recognize the dark brown hair of the man lying in the parking lot. Running as fast as I can, I reach Dennis’s side, rolling him onto his back.

“Are you okay?” I ask, fluttering my hands up and down, checking for injuries.

He gasps and coughs before answering.

“They took her! They took Izzy!”

Chapter 13

Is it a trap?

“What?!” I cry.

“I don’t know how they got the jump on us,” Dennis says, sounding clearer as he gets his breath back. “We were okay holding them off. It was three to two, but something was wrong. They kept doing something with their hands and getting more and more frustrated. Izzy shifted into her panther and had injured one of them. I was fighting one of them. He was awful at hand-to-hand. Then Izzy went after the third. She lunged forward and went down like someone had tranquilized her.

“I got distracted, and the bastard got a few lucky hits in, knocking me to the ground and kicking me in the ribs a few times. They scooped up Izzy and threw her into the SUV. Someone came running by and then they were gone. I thought they would run me over with how quickly they were pulling out of the lot.” He coughs a few more times, grabbing my arm and pulling himself upright. Wincing, he wraps his arm around himself. “We need to go after her.”

Reaching out, I tug his hand free. “The car is long gone. We do need to go after her, but we have to be smart about it. And you’re injured and human. We need to make sure you’re all right.”

“It’s just my ribs. Probably a few cracked, but I’ll live,” he answers.

Kenric has shifted back to human form and helps lift Dennis back to his feet.

“Let’s get you into my car and then we can devise a plan,” Kenric says, leading the way.

We cross the lot, reaching the car and carefully lowering Dennis to the back seat. I round the car and climb in beside him. Beorn and Kenric open the front doors, sliding into their seats.

“What can we do?” I ask. “We could go that way”—I point the direction the SUV was heading—“and hope we see them. We’d need to go fast, but there’s a chance.” My voice cracks at the end of the sentence.

“I don’t think that will work,” Beorn says. “They have a head start and know where they are going. I doubt they will have left the car parked on the side of the road for us to find.”

“Could one of you track her by scent? Wolves have good noses, don’t they?”

Kenric winces. “We do have an increased sense of smell, but I don’t think that’ll work. One, she’s in a car, and two, my wolf doesn’t want to come back out right now. He’s getting harder and harder to call forward.”

I purse my lips, trying to think of any other way we have to track Izzy and the goons.

---