CHAPTER3
Two bulky figures appeared at the entrance of the store looking ominous in their tactical attire while the blindingly bright sun behind them hid their faces from us. All I could notice were the blonde strands of hair appearing almost golden on one of them, while the other obviously had darker colored mop on top of his head. I blinked a few times, hoping to clear my vision so that I can see them better as if that would tell me what they were. Instead, they appeared like faceless shadows to my eyes. Too bad for them though that they couldn’t hide their true nature from Dimitri, or more specifically, his sniffer.
Lifting my own nose slightly up in the air, I subtly inhaled in hopes to get some info on our assailants. No ozone scent filled the store and I exhaled in a rush. They were not mages, and since it was not yet noon, not vampires either. A crazy thought crossed my mind that maybe we can talk it out and send the two uninvited supernaturals on their way.
As if reading my mind, a low growl started in the alpha’s chest, vibrating the air around him. Luckily for the humans they couldn’t feel magic. I was not that foryunate. It resonated inside my sternum so strongly that you’d think we were connected by a cord. For some unexplainable reason, I could’ve sworn the anger bubbling inside of him felt as if it was my own.
Char was the first one to snap out of her shock and she rushed to round the counter to stand next to me. Her arm was already elbow-deep in her bottomless tote, probably searching for a potion to throw at the stalkers while I frantically looked around and counted the poor souls that would get caught in the crossfire. We never fooled ourselves into thinking we wouldn’t be found in the store. We just dumbly believed Dimitri’s father, or whoever else was in cahoots with him, would practice little caution and try not to kill us at noon in a store full of humans.
I wanted to smack myself. You’d think a killer would follow some decorum and ask us politely where we would like to take our last breath. Obviously, the mages’ attack in the middle of the day at the pier full of tourists and locals didn’t teach us anything about the type of monsters we were dealing with.
Both brutes sauntered inside the store like they owned the place, breaking me out of my internal musings. The second the sun no longer hid their features I knew what they were. A sudden spike in my heartbeat told me I was awed to be in their presence while my subconscious was screaming danger at me. At the same time my mind was screaming at me “What are they? What are they?”
I would’ve known by the way they stepped in too. Shifters had that way of walking like they were doing the earth a favor by placing their human feet on it. Predatory and animalistic. Humans do not have that much control over every single muscle in their body.
“Dimitri, if these are your buddies, now would be the right time to share that info. I’m about to lose my shit and we both know nothing good comes from that,” I muttered under my breath for his ears only. “And keep an eye on Char, my insurance won’t cover it if my business gets blown up by magic potions.”
My friend already had a small glass jar in her left hand that was filled to the brim with some dark, purplish fluid and dangling by her side ready to be launched. She was eying the shifters with a manic grin too. At times like these, I was grateful she was on my side.
“Well?” I prompted the alpha who was frozen in place like I haven’t spoken, his eyes locked on the two newcomers. “Do you know them?”
“No.” The growl in his already deep voice made a cold sweat wash over me. In reaction to that my spine was so straight, I felt like I could snap in half by the softest breeze from the tension. “The two of you stay here. I will deal with them.”
“Like hell you are,” I said between clenched teeth, but he simply ignored me. “What kind of shifters are they?” Both were too thin to be wolves or bears, so I was assuming that they were some sort of a feline. It felt like my guess was wrong but nothing better came to mind.
The one on the left grinned back at Char, his mouth stretching wider than it was natural.
“Hyenas.” Char and I both gasped at the same time.
“Cruthaich cearcall dìon,” Create a circle of protection, I blurted without missing a beat.
Sparkles burst between the shifters and the three of us, and the air thickened and charged as the scent of ozone filled my nostrils. My fingers tingled by my sides while my magic worked, snapping tight around the three of us and sealing the protective circle as I commanded it.
Hyenas were among the bottom feeders of the supernatural world and they were easy to hire for cheap. Not because they didn’t know what they were doing, mind you. They were the most skilled assassins to have on your payroll, but they didn’t charge much because they took more pleasure than they should from killing anyone. All my hopes of finding out if anyone else was in on Dimitri’s father’s plan went down the drain. Hyenas were vicious but dumber than a box of rocks. The confused expressions on their faces as they cocked their heads to stare at the protective dome formed around us was a dead giveaway to the nonexistent IQ they had.
All muscle and no brain.
“We have to get these people out of here.” Without turning her way I elbowed Char to get her attention.
The shifters were getting the attention of everyone in the store and most were inching away from them on pure survival instinct. A couple, much to my dismay, crept closer all googly-eyed. If we don’t do something soon, we’ll end up with MPO agents crawling all over the place.
“I can remove one or two for you if you don’t mind, Little Red.” The one on the left finally spoke, gracing us with another smile full of teeth.
“That reference is getting old,” I grumbled under my breath shooting daggers through my slitted eyes at him.
“Get out.” Dimitri bit the words out slightly louder than a whisper and the shift in energy was so sudden that I had to fight the urge to turn around and bolt out of there. An eerie glow burned behind Dimitri’s irises, turning his grey eyes into living, breathing storms, tendons strained in his neck, stretching his skin, and his fisted hands shook slightly from the effort he exerted not to shift.
“We have no quarrel with you, wolf,” The second hyena spoke, his voice so raw and raspy that you’d think he chewed on glass every day for breakfast. “We will take the little ladies off your hands and no one needs to get hurt.”
“If I wasn’t so pissed right now I would gloat for being called little for a month.” Char snorted, yet her feet shuffled uneasily.
“Ya slomayu vas oboikh, durak.” Ignoring both of us, Dimitri took a step toward the hyenas.
A pleasant shiver worked its way up my spine when I heard him speak his mother’s language. He could’ve asked them about the weather as far as I was concerned, but to me, it sounded like he told them that he will rip them to shreds. It was harsh, chopped, and sounded angry. It didn’t help that his body language relayed that message too, so I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was that I was feeling warm and tingly in places I shouldn’t be feeling it. My magic was responding to the shifter's alpha power in its primal state like a moth would react to a flame.
There was something seriously wrong with me.
“Do not make me repeat myself. Get. Out.” The alpha took one more step, then another before I realized he was about to exit the protection I placed around the three of us.