The Ikande family of lion shifters had been regarded for decades as royalty in the paranormal world. A large pride comprised of multiple generations, they had once lorded over a territory that stretched from the coast of California all the way to the cornfields of Kansas. Before the Purge, their wealth and might had attracted a dedicated following, but like everything else, it couldn’t last forever.
When the world had gone to hell, so had the sovereignty of the Ikandes. With the rise of a militarized paranormal government like the Coalition, shifters didn’t have much need for a king. The name still commanded respect in certain circles, and there were still those who remained loyal to the family, but the once great lion pack had since fallen from grace.
Adding to their troubles, the pride’s numbers had fallen dramatically in recent years. Obsessed with the purity of race and lineage, the Ikandes were now suffering the effects from more than a century of inbreeding. They had fewer fertile females now, which meant fewer babies born within the camp. Only a third of pregnancies made it to term, and for the offspring that survived, all were thought to inherit the albino mutation. Nearly half were born blind, deaf, or both.
They called them ghost walkers.
Eventually, the Ikandes had been forced to adapt or risk the extinction of their bloodline. At first, they’d tried breeding with other shifters, and while more of those pregnancies were carried to term, they still hadn’t produced acceptable results.
Lynk was living proof of that. Not only had he failed to escape being born a white shifter, but he’d shifted into a tiger—like his mother—rather than a lion. He still didn’t know which Ikande prince had fathered him, and he didn’t care. He could only be grateful that his mother had been smart enough and brave enough to take him and run like hell.
Realizing that producing lion cubs was something of a gamble with other shifters, the Ikandes had then turned to humans. They were ideal, a blank slate, and readily accessible. Kidnapping, buying, selling, and trading human women for the sole purpose of breeding them, however, tended to be frowned upon.
Well, it had been until the formation of the Allied Races Coalition. Now, Gemini across the world carried out horrible injustices against human without any fear of retribution or consequence. It was encouraged for them to own humans like pets, to force them into servitude, or to use them like breathing blood bags. Some communities were better than others, but those places were few and far between.
As he neared the edge of the tree line, Lynk dragged his attention back to the present and the task at hand. The Ikande settlement reminded him of those summer camps he’d seen in movies. Two rows of log cabins faced each other along a narrow, dirt path, each one identical from the other. Behind the far row, atop a grassy hill, a larger, more lavish cabin looked down over the kingdom.
At the very end of the path was their target, the biggest building in the settlement with scores of large windows that reflected the moonlight.
Just about every person in the camp had been seen coming and going from it at some point, leading them to theorize the building was probably some kind of community center. Maybe a place for the shifters to gather and share a meal or host important meetings.
It was also their target since it was the most likely place to be housing the abducted females.
Lynk crouched lower to the ground, sticking to the shadows as he watched a pair of Wardens patrol the area around the building. If they stuck to their pattern, they’d make a circle around the perimeter, then go their separate ways along the back of the rows of cabins. At that point, Lynk and his team would have approximately seven minutes to get inside the building, find the captives, and retreat back to the forest.
As anticipated, the guards crossed paths, nodded at each other, then rounded the building in opposite directions. So far, so good. Now, they just had to creep down the hill, enter through an undoubtedly locked door, and pray they didn’t trip an alarm.
Piece of cake.
Rising to his feet, Lynk swished his tail and chuffed. Time to move.
In their cat forms, he, Thea, and Deke were the fastest and most agile. Still, they needed someone with opposable thumbs to pick a lock, and that duty fell to Miles Irati.
Lynk understood why Deke had steadfastly refused to allow his mate to come along, and the fight that had accompanied the decision had been entertaining to watch. If Lynk had a mate, he wouldn’t have allowed her anywhere near the camp, no matter how capable she was. However, Roux was the best lockpick he’d ever seen, and with her left behind at the safe house, he could only hope the vampire proved to be as skilled as he claimed to be.
A team of six remained behind in the forest to provide backup and help with extraction while the rest of them started down the slope toward the camp. Since every second counted, Miles hurried ahead of the rest of them as planned, his vampire speed making him little more than a blur through the night.
Which meant, he was the first one to encounter the unexpected security measure.
Lynk realized something was wrong when the vampire came to an abrupt stop forty yards from the backdoor. Then came the click, the pressurized hiss, and he let loose a roar of warning as understanding dawned.
Miles’ whispered curse was the last thing he heard before the explosion.
Chapter Six
A day of rest and a belly full of food had done wonders for Mackenna’s injuries. The scrapes, bruises, and lacerations had completely healed by nightfall. Her hands and feet—along with a few patches
